Everything is better when puppets are involved. This is just a FACT. And this fact is especially factual when it comes to music. Whether it’s Feist singing with furry friends on Sesame Street, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog putting J.Lo and Bon Jovi in their place, the stars of Team America: World Police belting out expletive-filled odes to the U-S-A, Sifl & Olly spoofing Devo on their brilliant short-lived MTV show, Debbie Harry and Alice Cooper guesting on The Muppet Show, the late Robert Goulet partying in Vegas with the Anipals on TV Funhouse, Lady Gaga hosting a Muppets Thanksgiving special, or even Spinal Tap opening for a puppet show in a memorable mockumentary scene… well, pop music and puppets go together like Kermit and Miss Piggy.

So naturally, over the years various music-makers have featured puppets in their music videos. Our latest favorite puppet-tastic work of video genius is Parquet Courts’ “Human Performance,” featuring some very non-human felt stand-ins for the band members:

And who can forget last year’s “‘Cause I’m a Man” by psychedelic Aussies Tame Impala? Puppets never seemed so trippy, man:

Bad Veins’ cover of the Muppet classic “The Rainbow Connection,” with the alt-rock band transforming into Muppets and looking surprisingly cuddly while doing so, is another recent favorite:

But these are just the latest entry in a puppet-tastic video tradition. Let us not forget, for instance, the Ben Folds Five’s “Do It Anyway,” which features the beloved cast of Fraggle Rock. It totally rocks, of course:





This of course brings to mind OK Go’s cover of the Muppets’ theme from a few years back, starring a cast of felt friends even cuter than the dogs in OK Go’s “White Knuckles” video:

But Weezer’s “Keep Fishin’” is still perhaps the ultimate puppet video of all time, trumping all others, as it stars the entire cast of The Muppet Show. According to Weezer’s official site, Kermit the Frog said, “It was wonderful returning to the set of The Muppet Show to tape Weezer’s new music video… I know I speak for all the Muppets when I say it was great working with such a talented band. I just hope Pat has recovered from Miss Piggy’s extra attention — both the kissy-kissys and the karate chops, sheesh.” Pat surely thought it was worth it, since it’s every drummer’s dream to one day jam with Animal:

As for non-Muppet puppet videos, X Factor winners Alex & Sierra made basically THE cutest lyric EVER video a couple years ago, starring adorable, lip-synching puppets that look just like Alex Kinsey and Sierra Deaton. Um, where can we buy these? Are Alex & Sierra selling them on tour?

Country-punk band Timeshares also recently released a new video, in which puppet versions of themselves burst into flames. It would be sad to witness such a waste of perfectly good felt, if this video weren’t so damn cool:

Metal band Mastodon’s “Deathbound,” a collaboration with Adult Swim from which no puppet emerges unscathed, is also pretty awesome, albeit not as adorable. See the felt fly below:

And how does a much more clean-cut artist like Ed Sheeran get away with drunken debauchery and soliciting strippers? By asking his puppet alter ego to do the dirty work for him, naturally:

HUMANS’ puppet video, which also features bonus cats, is described in the band’s press release as a “the hallucinatory journey of two Muppets as they transition from the Muppet realm to a psychotropic dreamland unlike any other.” Sign us up!

Other recent puppet favorites include Coldplay’s Thunderbirds-meets-Punch & Judy sendup “Life In Technicolor ii”; BPA’s (aka Fatboy Slim’s, aka Norman Cook’s) “He’s Frank,” featuring the vocals of the real Iggy Pop and the uncanny puppet likeness of a fake, felt Iggy Pop; Kanye West’s Olympics-themed “Champion”; and the hilarious strumpet-puppet saga “Sugarbaby” by New York rockers Morningwood.

Below is the Iggy/BPA video. It may have taken years for the Stooges to get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but we think Iggy’s immortalization in “He’s Frank” is, frankly, a far more honorable tribute anyway:

And here’s Kanye’s puppet show. We all know Kanye can be kind of a jerk sometimes, but he sure makes a cute puppet. It’s hard not to root for him here: