Drake, Lady Gaga, M.I.A.: ‘Storyline’ Videos Return!

Improvements in online video have meant that artists can say what they want, for as long as they want. By James Montgomery Drake Photo: Young Money Entertainment In 1992, Guns N’ Roses wowed fans — and tormented programmers — with the release of “November Rain,” a nearly nine-minute-long super video that featured lavish costuming, gratuitous supermodel-ing, lots of emoting, plenty of the titular rain and exactly one screaming guitar solo played outside a church. It was remarkable as much for its excess as it was for its scope. GNR certainly weren’t the first group to test time constraints (Michael Jackson’s iconic “Thriller” clip went beyond the 13-minute mark), nor were they the last, but with “November Rain,” they accomplished something few had ever attempted: a clip that kicked off an expansive, (sort of) linear storyline, one that would continue in subsequent videos. It almost didn’t matter if said storyline didn’t make a whole lot of sense, the point is Guns (or, more specifically, Axl Rose) realized they had the means to launch something this epic, and they went for it. Of course, nearly 20 years later, this kind of thing is no big deal: Lady Gaga pulls off the whole “storyline” thing in her sleep. And she’s not the only one to go big with her clips. In recent months, much to the delight of superfans and the woefully employed, a host of artists — from Beyonc