POP MUSIC: ROCK / COUNTRY / R&B; / RAP / LATIN / JAZZ : Bjork Ignites Explosions : MTV airs ‘Army of Me’ in the wee hours, not so much to downplay the video’s bomb sequences, but because of the timing of it all.

It blowed up real good. And that’s bad.

Not surprisingly, Bjork has made one of the most interesting videos of the year, reuniting with the great director Michel Gondry (who also helmed “Human Behaviour”) for the stylish, effects-filled “Army of Me.” But MTV has relegated it to the wee hours.

For once, you can’t blame the channel for not giving a powerful clip better rotation: It does center on the Icelandic singer’s planting and setting off a bomb. Never mind that its explosiveness is meant as an emotional metaphor; even if the viewer has a clear understanding of the symbolic intent, the ill-timed imagery of detonation and disaster is still rather unsettling.

Bjork’s one-woman militia takes the lead in this edition of Sound & Vision, which also includes its share of bombs somewhat lower on the 0-100 rating scale for currently airing pop videos.

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Bjork, “Army of Me.” Before you get around to wondering what it all means , there are digital effects aplenty to marvel at in Gondry’s visual feast. While driving a tank, Bjork makes a stop to see the dentist, who turns out to be a gorilla who removes a diamond from her mouth. After a struggle, she puts the now-giant gem under the hood to use as fuel to get to an art museum, where her beloved is enshrined as an exhibit. The ex-Sugarcube plants a time bomb, then re-enters the wreckage to discover the object of her devotion has been set free by the blast, like a sleeping beauty by a kiss.

Too much garlic right before somebody’s bedtime or what?

Though it might seem oblique for all its surreal quirks, “Army of Me” is intended as a pure statement of tough love, with Bjork shown helping someone throw off his chains, much as the lyric is meant as a compassionate slap in the face. Bjork is the kind of army you don’t want to mess with--especially if you’re a loved one. 89

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TLC, “Waterfalls.” The cautionary scenarios in the trio’s No. 1 hit--a somber ballad about life in the fast stream--are re-enacted here, offering up warnings about the deadly lures of crime and casual sex. The AIDS story line, with scenes of condom-shunning and shock in the bedroom, is obvious enough. But it’s the street-themed verse that’s more chillingly rendered, with a single-minded teen passing right through his screaming mother’s spectral figure as he heads toward a transaction on the street corner and his demise.

Lest this be too much of a downer, the gals look great walk ing on water, out there literally on the ocean. And, briefly done up by the effects folks as “The Abyss”-style liquid figures, they make fine waterspouts, too. 85

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Blues Traveler, “Run-Around.” What kind of video do you make for a band that’s famously unphotogenic? In this case, a video about that very lack of video-readiness. This grunge-era takeoff on “The Wizard of Oz” has a Lolita-esque Dorothy, plus entourage, sneaking into a club where a handsomely frisky group that sounds very much like--but looks not a whit like--Blues Traveler is galvanizing the kids. It’s up to Toto II to expose the ruse; pay no attention to that band behind the curtain, etc. 77

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The Catherine Wheel, “Waydown.” If you have a fear of flying, here’s a definite must-avoid. The excitable direction and edgy music combine to create a real feeling of scary vertigo in portraying the panic inside a commercial jetliner heading for a presumed crash landing. But, of course, the Catherine Wheel wouldn’t really be an English band if, in hosting this on-board chaos, it looked anything other than completely bored amid the impending doom . . . which it does, magnificently. 75

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Skee-Lo, “I Wish.” Isn’t it novel to see a video set in the Crenshaw District that has no gangstas, no guns and, best of all, no portent? Skee-Lo also bucks the rap tide in not just avoiding braggadocio but also letting loose with a relaxed litany of all his shortcomings--no girlfriend, no decent car, not enough height for basketball, etc. Set to an ingratiatingly breezy track, his easygoing collection of woes may be this season’s “Summertime Blues.” Anyway, you’ve gotta like a guy who lets himself be “pantsed” on national television. 74

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Michael Jackson, “Childhood.” “Have you seen my childhood?” The answer begged by this question is pretty much the same as Rosie O’Donnell gave in “A League of Their Own” when Madonna fretted about someone seeing her bosom: Who in America hasn’t?

But lest we forget Jackson’s fascination with all things Disneyesque and Spielbergian, the video is pretty much Michael’s remake of “E.T.”--except that in a heartbreaking reversal, he, the resident extraterrestrial, remains earthbound in the forest, while little Elliott gets in touch with his innocence and gets to float off into a moonlit sky in a replica of one of the flying ships from Disneyland’s Peter Pan ride.

At least the director has the good taste to zoom out just as Jackson is choking up at the clinch. 45

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Primus, “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver.” Are they not men? No, these (f)art-rock doofusses are Devo wanna-bes in this faux -cowboy clip--though, with their weird facial latex appliances, they’re also dead ringers for the plastic family at the barbecue in that battery commercial. While the surrealistically made-up band affects down-home accents and annoyingly slap-happy bass lines, a bouncing ball follows the more air-suitable of the naughty lyrics. Rumor has it no less an offendee than Winona Ryder has given them hell for this, though probably not as much hell as their sniggering merits. 12