Music videos can be incredibly varied. They add to the mood of a song and can play a big part in the whole vibe and experience when you are listening. Over the years, a lot of musicians have chosen to include casinos in their music videos.
Casinos give a feeling of glamour and can provide a colourful and interesting backdrop for a video. In genres such as hip-hop, flashing the cash in a casino has become a pretty normal way to promote a song via a video.
In this guide, we’re going to go through some iconic music videos that feature casinos in them.
Poker Face by Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga is known to be a casino fan and a frequenter of classic games that can be found on typical casino sites. She has been seen playing in casinos with her friends in her spare time, and with a song called Poker Face, it was pretty inevitable that a casino was going to play some part in the video.
Poker Face was one of the songs that helped turn Lady Gaga into a huge global sensation. Though the video isn’t all about casino gaming, there are some shots in there of Gaga and her buddies enjoying some games at a casino. For some people, this song defined a whole era of music and, with gambling in the name of the tune itself, it is little surprise that there is a reference to a casino in the video, too.
Waking Up in Vegas by Katy Perry
Another megastar in the form of Katy Perry talks about her experience in Las Vegas when she was a much younger, breakthrough musician with her song, Waking Up in Vegas. It even has some samples that sound like the noises of slot machines.
In a list of the most famous songs by Perry, this might not be right at the top but it has nearly 100 million views on YouTube at the time of writing this.
When the video starts, Katy Perry wins a jackpot at the casino. Directed by Joseph Kahn, the rest of the video then sees Perry and her partner enjoying a night on the strip, with fancy cars and visits to loads of casinos. The song has a sombre message in it too but is generally very upbeat. Not many sad songs are set in Vegas. A song like Sometimes I Wanna Cry, for instance, has a much more fitting video of being sat alone at home for most of the day!
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2
Back to the 1980s for a song from Irish megastars U2. In this video, the group are in Las Vegas and walk around as they chat to locals and tourists.
The song was one of the biggest that the band made in the whole of the 1980s, which is definitely saying something, and it is still popular to this day.
Those involved in the city of Las Vegas were even quoted as saying that the video served as something of an advertisement for the area, helping to boost tourism.
Since the video was remastered in HD and put onto U2’s YouTube channel in 2017, it has amassed over 180 million views, showing it is still super popular in the modern age.
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino by Arctic Monkeys
“Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino, Mark speaking, please tell me how I may direct your call,” may not sound like one of the catchier lyrics in recent years, but it works for the Arctic Monkeys.
This was the title track of a whole album that had some casino themes scattered throughout. Though the video is rather abstract in general, it certainly has casinos as the main focus, with scenes of frontman Alex Turner walking around some slot games.
Other themes from the album can be found in the video, including a seeming obsession with horses and the countryside, but gambling and casinos are clearly the key.
Summary
There are lots of other great examples of videos that are set in casinos or refer to them in some way. For instance, 24K Magic by Bruno Mars and Bounce by Calvin Harris. A lot of songs also have references to gambling and Las Vegas.
The glitz and glamour of the Vegas Strip will always be appealing to those who are looking to make impactful music videos. As you can see from our examples, some mega hits have been accompanied by videos set in gambling hotspots.
