I think in the days of The Smiths he objected to music videos on the grounds that they were crass commercials and not a "primary" way to appreciate a song. Also there was a cynical, meretricious, and incredibly mindless marketplace for music videos which by association tainted even the good clips-- I mean MTV but some other video outlets, too. Tim Broad seemed to open up his mind to some possibilities for videos, but videos conceived of as tongue-in-cheek vignettes and not the more ambitious, "hip", deliberately cinematic affairs that almost never, ever stand the test of time.
To my eyes and ears, Morrissey has made a number of really wonderful videos if only because he has pointedly avoided the pitfalls of the medium by insisting on those funny little clips. I would rather see a low-budget, half-serious, unpretentious montage of simple scenes than the work of a 23-year old huckster fresh out of film school looking to make his name so he can go on to direct an F/X orgy for Jerry Bruckheimer. True, there have been some excellent videos made over the years by more "serious" directors (I love Anton Corbijn's stuff), but the percentage of success has been dismal.
Also, what is it that unavoidably marks all those Eighties bands as permanent fodder for novelty compilations? Their music videos. The striking visual images that made them cool in 1984 also forever entombed them in the pop culture junkheap. For example, I know many people like Duran Duran for their music-- I have friends with taste who like a few of their albums-- but for ninety-nine percent of the music-buying public Duran Duran will forever be associated with slow-motion B-movie bondage fantasies, Eurotrash models crawling on tropical beaches, and poncy douchebags lip-synching from rented yachts.
Ever watched an old VHS tape of a TV show from a few years ago? It's amazing because the commercials in between the show segments transport you right back to that time and place, but in a bad way: TV does not age well, to put it mildly. "Cutting edge" video techniques almost always look idiotic even a few years later. You can be sure that if Morrissey gave "proper" video-making a go his videos would suffer the same fate. One "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" calamity is worth a dozen of Sire's "How Soon Is Now?" misfires. Just how it is. When people rave about how wonderful certain commercials or TV shows are, their enthusiasm underscores another side of things-- namely the absolute stupidity of almost everything else on TV at the same time as that commercial or show. Pearls found in pig slop are all the more treasured.
Happily, a few artists were smart enough to avoid that trap (or were aided by a lack of funds from their indie record labels). New Order also skipped the video peril in the Eighties, either not making any or, when they did, making strange, inscrutable clips like "Round & Round" or practical jokes like "Touched By The Hand of God". Their one bona fide video hit, "True Faith", was silly and tongue in cheek. Morrissey was smart to do it the same way. I know there are at least a few eye-rolling moments in most of his videos, but think how much trauma he spared us!