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Jonas Åkerlund

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Jonas Åkerlund
Born (1965-11-10) November 10, 1965 (age 59)
Bromma, Stockholm, Stockholm County, Sweden
Occupation(s)Film director, music video director, drummer
Years active1983–present

Jonas Åkerlund (born November 10, 1965) is a Swedish film and music video director, and drummer. He is best known for directing music videos, which are often mock forms of movie trailers and short films. His video for Madonna's song "Ray of Light" won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form, and a record seven awards at 1998 MTV Video Music Awards, including the Video of the Year.[1]

Life and career

Åkerlund was a member of the Swedish black metal band Bathory from 1983 through 1984. He would also direct Candlemass' first video "Bewitched." He first found fame as main video director for Swedish pop act Roxette. In 1997 he directed the acclaimed video for The Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up", which sparked controversy due to its depiction of drug use, violence, and nudity. In 1998 he worked with Madonna for the song "Ray of Light", he has since worked with acts such as Metallica, Christina Aguilera, U2, Blink-182, P!nk, Rammstein, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga. He directed the music video for the Smashing Pumpkins' single "Try, Try, Try", from which a short film Try was spawned. He also turned his hand to designer and photographer for the Roxette album Room Service in 2001. In 2002 his first full length movie, Spun debuted. He directed recent adverts for Swedish clothing retailer MQ and the re-imagining of the Devo song "Watch Us Work It" used in Dell Computers commercials.

He is a long-time collaborator of pop singer Madonna having worked on such music videos as "Music", "American Life", which was pulled due to its graphic content and the Iraq War, and "Jump". He also directed her documentary film I'm Going to Tell You a Secret and her concert television special The Confessions Tour: Live from London.

Among his more recent works were the controversial pornographic music video for Rammstein's "Pussy", the video for the song "Telephone" by Lady Gaga featuring Beyoncé, Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera's 2011 single "Moves Like Jagger", and Duran Duran's single "Girl Panic!".[2]

Videography

2013

"Standing on the Sun" for H&M and Beyoncé

Filmography

Books

References

  1. ^ Edwards, Gavin. "Video Visionary Jonas Åkerlund Pushes the Limits". Wired. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  2. ^ Wigler, Josh. "The Man Behind Lady Gaga's 'Telephone' Video: Jonas Akerlund". MTV. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  3. ^ "Jonas Åkerlund Bio". Encyclopedia Metallum. Retrieved 24 July 2012.

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