Elders: Tell Us About the Worst 1980s Music Videos

Hall and Oates videos were always awkward, mostly because the director never knew what to do with Oates.

Were they a couple?

I don't know what is worse, the song or the video?

R3, that’s not from the 1980s.

This one was a favorite in our household. We always had to stop and watch it to marvel at Steve’s over emoting and the entire cheesy set up and storyline 🤣

Bowie and Jagger duet Dancing in the Streets. Awful cover and the video is the biggest pile of crap EVER.

R6, yes, it was awful. One of the worst things I've ever seen.

Hall and Oates also just didn;t care for music videos versus artists like Madonna and Michael whose stardom was tied to them.

Is it really that hard to link a video?

Most random collab of the 80s; Laura Branigan and William Friedkin, resulting in a naff video to a great song.

Phil Collins serving a fully cooked ham in this video.

Classic track, one of their best but the video is just so basic. Agnetha moves into a new home and.....decorates it. They blew the budget on studio wizardry for the music while the videos were secondary to their success.

Miami sound machine music videos often looked like they cost ten dollars to produce and ten minutes to make.

The fact that they get so much praise today fills me with wonder and derision — some of the gay man’s very favorite emotions!

This is either the absolute worst - or the absolute best - depending on your perspective. Super camp and overdone, with all of the excesses you’d expect from the 80s.

Tina Turner’s “Private Dancer” and Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield” fall in the same category.

R10, I like that video. William Friedkin--director of The Exorcist--directed it. It's a cool snapshot of early 80s New York.

Just noticed you mentioned Friedkin, my bad.

This song is the biggest steaming pile of hot diarrhea ever committed to vinyl.

The cheesy video is almost as bad. Not that a great video could have saved it, but still.

What the fuck were they thinking?

R14, think of the misfortune of being called Patty Smyth. Patti Smith must have laughed when she heard of "new singer, Patty Smyth".

OP, when vintage John Oates is the issue, you’ll have to pry my stiff penis out if my cold dead hands!!

Erasure's Always is the weirdest video ever made and I'm dying on that hill.

The video for Self Control might have been the first that could only be shown at night on MTV.

Her video for Gloria looks like it was filmed in a Paramus Mall Exercise studio.

“Always” by Erasure came out in 1994 but please explain how it’s a terrible music video from the 1980s….

R20 types fat and floats.

This one ruined my career.

You have to watch this version of Dancing in the Street to appreciate the full horror of that video.

I must have been the only person who liked "Rock Me Tonite." Video and all.

Jesus, R25! I almost had a stroke laughing at that video.

This one was the final nail in the coffin for Miss Manilow's hitmaking career.

"Read 'Em and Weep"

All of them. Videos were the least necessary development in the music business. If music can't stand on its own merits, it doesn't deserve to exist. What's more, without them, we might never have had autotune.

This turd looks like it cost $25 to film and the lead singer looks so oily I called the EPA.

r19, is Oates the blond? Both names sound so waspy, I can never remember which is which. The dark haired one should have renamed himself Rivera or Rizzoli—or even Rosenzweig.

Agnetha was NOT about to spend any of that ABBA money on lighting.

R25 that was hilarious - thanks!!

In defense of the Dancing in the Street video, they were originally supposed to perform it at Live Aid, with one in London and the other in New York. They couldn't figure out how to make it work with the satellite delay, so they had to pull this version out of their asses to make it in time for the concert. They recorded the song in four hours, then ran out and filmed this video mostly improvising their choreography. It's still shit, but considering the time restraints it could have been worse.

R24 beat me to posting the Billy Squier video. He was a huge star in the early 1980s, and that video literally killed his career within weeks. Squier was touring arenas at the time, and he said he could see the audiences getting smaller and smaller each night until they had to cancel the whole tour. The video was directed by future famous choreographer Kenny Ortega, who apparently watched Billy flounce around that bedroom set like a ladyboy for hours and said, "Looks great!" If Billy had murdered Ortega I don't think any jury would have convicted him.

R31 Hall is the blonde.

Handsome, but not 🔥 Oates 🔥.

Sam Harris - "Sugar Don't Bite"

This one comes pretty close to "so bad it's good" territory.

Everything about it is amusingly awful.

I'm sure you will all dig the butch dancers as much as I do:

I can't decide what's the best bit here?

The rubber gloves?

The Space Invaders sequence?

The women in black face as pianos?

Trevor Horn nervously spinning around on a plastic disc?

Completely disagree, R29.

Videos SAVED the music industry. Music sales were down.

If not for music television then the music industry would have died 😛.

Not really but it did revive record sales.

Cannot get my head around this video. Just so many cheesy vignettes that spoil a beautiful song. What were they thinking?

R3 die in a grease fire.

R40 that was the most expensive music video ever produced when it came out in 1982.

This cheesy movie tie-in with Billy Crystal, Gregory Hines, and singer Michael McDonald. F/F to the second half when they pretend they’re so cool with the ladies.

On the one hand, I admire the attempt to make music videos meaningful (star directors, cameos, production values), but in so many cases, it's wasted money.

You'll die on that hill, but not post the video, r20?

R44, R20’s video wasn’t even an 80s video.

Fleetwood Mac's Gypsy may have been the most expensive video of its day, but that's lost in soft focus slo mo' vignettes.

Stevie comes across like a dollar store version of Kate Bush- floaty lacy dresses and wafting around.

Phil Collins/Philip Bailey - Easy Lover

great pop tune though

Was the coke spoon featured in the video?

R48 = R11

Queens on the loose in a haunted Victorian mansion! Great song though.

I didn't like the video for "Johnny, Are You Queer?" (1982), because it failed to capture the campiness of the song and was nothing like the art work that had accompanied the release of t he single. There, they got it right. (See photo in next post.) Instead of the stupid looking nerd seen in the video, the guy she's singing to should have been a hot jock dressed in the "All-American Boy" preppy uniform that was fashionable among gay boys at the time. And rather than being shy and timorous about her advances, the guy should have simply been disinterested and looking over his shoulder at some hot shirtless guys playing football in the park.

R40 That's a beautiful video.

most videos from the 80s dont hold up. even boundary or budget pushing ones such as LIKE A PRAYER or WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE are great for nostalgia viewing if you liked em at the time. but young people today would be bored shitless. Same thing for visual effects heavy videos (and movies). Young people take all that stuff for granted.

Who cares about young people? They watch shitty lipsync and dancing on Tiktok all day...hardly the arbiters of taste.

R20, I don’t know about that Erasure video but here is one I think is late 80’s and is unique and their best song to me.

Police - wrapped around your finger

Jacksons - Torture

This is actually 1977 or so but have to post it. Tommy Seebach was a legit Danish rocker and think this is meant as a joke. I hope.

The "Out of Touch" video from Hall and Oates is fucking terrible

They were the '80s. They were fun. The Hall and Oates videos were fine. Oates looked good and he seemed to enjoy doing the videos from what I remember.

I agree about Madonna's Like a Prayer video. I love Madonna's videos but LAP has never been a favourite. The part where the gospel singer throws her back in the sky looks so cheesy. The other Like a Prayer videos - Express Yourself, Cherish, and Oh Father - are far superior.

There is no way Madonna could make the Like a Prayer video today. A white woman dancing in front of burning crosses? She would be crucified.

R61, she was crucified at the time. Didn't Pepsi drop her because of the controversy over the video?

Some people have short memories

She wasn't crucified. She still got her Pepsi money, a #1 single and a #1 album.

That's not being crucified. She benefited from the publicity.

She didn't have social media to contend with back then. The response on social media today would be hostile.

R63, so what, being criticized doesn't stop anyone from having a career

I love the video for “Warrior.” Who IS (or was) that guy??

Girlfriend wandered onto to Falcon porn set to cast spells on men who have no interest.

Music videos in which the lead singer thought it would be their big acting break were the worst.

Scorsese isn’t going to put you in his next film, Dennis DeYoung.

Stacy Q. "Two of Hearts."

She had a two episode arch on "The Facts of Life" playing the character of Cinnamon. Yes, her character was named Cinnamon.

The cheese. The 1980's Kitsch. The glory. Stacy Q. "Two of Hearts."

Eddie Murphy's video for "Party All The Time" was so cheesy

Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush's "Don't Give Up" - beautiful song, boring ass video of 3 minutes of them just hugging.

Which is worse - the song or the video? Safety Dance!

From the so bad it’s good category…

I always liked that one, r71, but I was the prime audience at the time. I was fascinated by the blond girl dancing so hard I worried she'd give herself a concussion. Girl, this probably was your big chance but you blew it

This green screen nightmare is pretty embarrassing but Falco was never one for subtlety

[quote]This one was the final nail in the coffin for Miss Manilow's hitmaking career.

Several observations:

1.) I was today years old when I first saw a shirtless Barry Manilow

2.) Shirtless 80s Barry could get it!

3.) The background dancers probably wandered in from Elton John's I'm Still Standing video

4.) Without looking it up I'm going to assume this was directed by Russell Mulcahy (see also I'm Still Standing, Total Eclipse of the Heart, and multiple Duran Duran videos)

Apparently the entire budget went to a wind machine (definitely not dancing lessons)

[quote]Fleetwood Mac's Gypsy may have been the most expensive video of its day, but that's lost in soft focus slo mo' vignettes. Stevie comes across like a dollar store version of Kate Bush- floaty lacy dresses and wafting around.

I love that video, and I think it was the videos director (who was a big name himself) who tried to convince Stevie to audition for movies based upon her performance in it.

I love Linda Ronstadt and this song and the accompanying album, but dancing was never her strong suit.

And Toni Basil of Mickey fame even choreographed it!

This thread is why I love DL. Thanks, OP

One of Barbra's two real efforts at making music videos.

The usual: Being pursued by several hot men, with the obligatory shots of her legs.

R20 here. My apologies to all of you for doing two unforgivable things: 1) missing the decade; and, 2) failing to post the video. I am now glad I did not. I would be mocked even worse.

The Carpenters should never have left the 70s.

Just the worst. Abysmal, insipid song. Lead singer at his ugliest. What were they thinking?

OMG R50 I had totally forgotten about that song ! I havent heard it in decades ! I forgot how much I liked it and what fun it was to dance to .

A mirthless affair, seething with toxic masculinity.

Billy Joel's Piano Man. The song was released in 1973, but this video was shot in 1985. It's cast with what appear to be cheap, non-union background actors, mugging their way to the bitter end. It's like watching community theatre up close.

[quote] The background dancers probably wandered in from Elton John's I'm Still Standing video

Incidentally, R75, one background dancers from Elton John's I'm Still Standing video is Dancing With the Stars’ judge Bruno Tonioli.

Toxic masculinity, R85?

I think some of these are pretty terrific and capture the mood of the songs well. Chains of Love, Wrapped Around Your Finger and Safety Dance in particular.

No list of bad 80s videos is complete without an uncomfortable looking KC dancing like Seinfield’s Elaine in skin tight aqua pants.

I'm playing opposites, [R88]. Should be doing about ten tasks with deadlines. Instead, I'm here.

R3 what a cunt you are.

R90, are you the OP of the law school final exam thread?

Well, reading the comments on that video I feel terrible about making fun of KC’s dancing. He was in a car accident in ‘81 which left him paralyzed for six months requiring him to relearn how to walk and dance again. So good for him being able to dance his way through that cheesy video from ‘83.

Any video by a Jackson that wasn’t Michael or Janet.

I love the song but the video is uninspired and cheap-looking with the least athletic looking extras they could find for a boxing gym.

Air Supply’s “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” almost seems like a parody of a bad 80s music video.

Full of hilarious moments - in addition to the wooden acting, I love the moment with the flower lady…and the black backup singer steals the show 😆.

[92], nein.

If you thought Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder was bad…

John Mcvie was very handsome in the Gypsy video.

I still don't understand what they were trying to do in Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes 1981.

That's amazing, r96! Not sure I've ever seen the video for the song. Love the girl spinning like she's in a shampoo commercial

As bad as Mick Jagger was in the "Dancing in the Streets" video with David Bowie, I think this video for "Let's Work" (and the song itself) is even worse. Absolute shit.

Madonna's videos stunk. "Oh look me, I'm so edgy and controversial".

I love the Self Control video. It was a rare occasion where Laura Branigan did something that wasn't so predictable.

The "A Little Respect" video is corny but I love it.

The worst '80s videos were all about throwing tons of money out the window.

I love that song and video, R105.

R106, they indeed spent a lot of money on that video, but it’s amazing.

R96, have you seen this?

A lost treasure from DL Icon Carly Simon. In this video, Carly is fed up and exhausted from the rigors of being a beautiful blonde lady. It's very hard work being an object of sexual desire 24/7 and Carly is putting her (size 14) foot down.

Diana Ross - "Pieces of Ice"

WTF was she thinking ? WTF was she singing ?

Two years after "Pieces of Ice", Ross figured a bizarre video for "Eaten' Alive" would push it to the top of the charts.

At least we got sexy Joey Gian from "Knots Landing" soaking wet.

I loved Olivia Newton-John in the '80s, but her "high concept" music videos were shiteous.

R113 I'll say!

Culture Club made (mostly) great videos.

They made "Victims," which was over the top, but still a great video.

They made this and the WTF moments just pile up.....

Another vote for the "Now I'm going to ACT!" type of video.

I can actually say that I’ve never seen a single Air Supply video.

They made videos for their songs??

Never knew.

[quote] I’ll say!

Ha ha ha.

"All of them. Videos were the least necessary development in the music business. If music can't stand on its own merits, it doesn't deserve to exist. What's more, without them, we might never have had autotune."

They weren't a development in the music business as much as a development in the television business. They weren't "necessary' to the music business. Music could have gone on without videos, and it did in many ways - people still bought albums, tapes and CDs; people still went to concerts; people still listened to the radio - all things they did before widespread music videos. But they were a development of how music was shown/advertised on TV - different from artists appearing on talk shows or variety shows or made-for-tv live music events.

"most videos from the 80s dont hold up. even boundary or budget pushing ones such as LIKE A PRAYER or WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE are great for nostalgia viewing if you liked em at the time. but young people today would be bored shitless. Same thing for visual effects heavy videos (and movies). Young people take all that stuff for granted."

True, but why do they need to "hold up"? They existed to promote artists at the time - hopefully spur interest, album sales, concert ticket sales. In a way they SHOULD be dated and shouldn't "hold up." Many didn't "hold up" at the time - we knew they were of-the-period cheese.

Vitamin Z, “Burning Flame”. My own pick for the worst band of the 80’s, and this video makes my case.

As a teen, this video grossed me out & I resented its constant airplay on MTV. I hated everything about it, the melody, the vocals, the grody reptiles.

Fast forward a few short years, I fell in love with the song, the band, & yes (pun intended) the video. I always get so sad (now) as the song ends, I love how high Jon’s vocals go & love the background singers too.

Moral of the story: if you truly hate something bad enough, it’ll probably flip the script on you someday. Same thing happened to me with the Spice Girls.

R42 Michael McDonald could get it! Those eyes, that face. 🫠

R89 COCAINE!!!

UK DLers will be familiar with Toyah. She had a handful of hits in the early 80s. The songs themselves were catchy tunes but the. accompanying videos were a combination of histrionics and amateur dramatics.

This little gem is a dig at bourgeois conventions, the patriarchy and gender norms, all against a budget of about 50 quid.

Those Diana Ross videos just prove that she needed someone like Berry Gorry to help guide her career. Left to her own devices at RCA, Diana didn't know how to position herself as a pop star. She tried too many genres and the videos just looked cheesy, especially Pieces of Ice, Work That Body and Eaten Alive.

[quote]that video literally killed his career within weeks. Squier was touring arenas at the time, and he said he could see the audiences getting smaller and smaller each night until they had to cancel the whole tour.

That is a crazy story and video. And a good song that could have gone top 40 ruined.

The whole thing could have been easily salvaged if they had just spliced in some cheap footage of him cruising some chick in a bar during the really embarrassing parts.

I can't believe any record exec would have given that his blessing.

R124 - you're so right! One of Godley & Creme's misfires as directors.

Love this song, and love Depcehe Mode but their early videos are atrocious.

This one being the most pungent example - especially the space hoppers (!) bit.

Another Depeche Mode disaster. The director thought Alan Wilder was the lead singer because he was the most attractive so he gets to do most of the lip-sync. The band were too embarrassed to tell the director he was wrong.

Bad song, worse video and then Robin Williams steps in to wreck it completely.

I loved the format, in fact my dream job in grade school was “music video director.” And they mocked me!

They spent about $1.98 on this video and Carly’ s ice cream cone was probably the biggest expense. Still I love everything about it.

I could never make up my mind about Self Control.

R10 already.knows, R133. But why read in a thread about videos, right?

Speaking of cheap early Depeche Mode videos this one pretty much centers around Dave Gahan walking around in Woolworths.

Some of these are truly bad in some way....others are just artifacts of their era(s).

R125 Poor Diana tried to remain 'edgy' and 'relevant' with her music and videos in the 80s, trying so hard not to pass the baton to the younger generation of female singers who were dominating the charts and MTV in the 80s.

I found this video akin to being strapped in a dentist's chair . Hellish. Song is equally hilarious and horrifying.

i love 95% of the songs posted,but I loathed R130 with the heat of a 1000 suns. And it was everywhere. You couldnt escape it .

R134 It's a long thread.

^^^

I also blocked R10 in the past and didn't see it.

You should check out the Tubes video for “Sports Fan” which features full frontal nudity by lead singer Fee Waybill. He’s got a very nice big floppy cock.

The kid in the Tubes video was the late Robert/Alexis Arquette.

The worst Hall and Oates video wasn't for "Family Man." It was for "Adult Education," which is one of their better songs. The video, though, is an incomprehensible mess that has nothing to do with the song at all.

R144 the depiction or scene action by artists DO NOT have to match the narrative of the song lyrics. Only a moron would suggest otherwise.

R145 is the director of the "Adult Education" video catastrophe.

Pfft. Amateurs, all of you mutherfuckers.

I had a bathtub of gentlemen in my video.

Any video with random synchronized dancing for no reason. The titty-shaking dance in Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield" ruined an otherwise decent little story.

But did it really need the little story?

Of course it did, R149. And the adorable airplane.

The "Adult Education" video seemed like they were going for an Indiana Jones thing, maybe? I totally agree with R144, it's a good song with an inexplicable and creepy video.

But they HAD to do the titty-shaking dance to defeat the evil pimp! It's well known that pimps are terrified by titty shaking.

[quote] That is a crazy story and video. And a good song that could have gone top 40 ruined.

But it did go Top 40. The song itself was a hit, in fact it was Squier's biggest chart hit, reaching #15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Thanks for posting that R147.

It's the usual standard of a Janet Jackson video. But, did Janet have singing lessons? She sounds a lot better than I remember.

R141, seeing as R10 agrees with you on something, maybe a little rash to have blocked them previously.

Think back....were they a Terf? Klan granny? Frau? Karen? If so, you might be too!!!

R58, I see your "Torture", and I'll raise you a "Can You Feel It?"

Darryl Hall was so hot in that video though.

I’ve never understood why the video for Love Resurrection is just Alison Moyet walking around the desert in a burka. It’s a song about penises for Christ sakes. Total missed opportunity to do something fun with that song.

I had forgotten how terrible that Benatar video was—that dance was as sexy as the zombies in MJ’s Thriller.

R158 Alison had quite a few weird videos that were basically the record company trying to hide her size.

There was also "Invisible" which did a lot of weird shadows on the face sort of things (to be copied later by the same record company for Romeo Void's A Girl In Trouble).

I've got all you bitches beat. I was sure my song would be a hit, but the record company wasn't, so they only invested $32.18 into the video's production. Wait for the 3:00 minute mark where you see the dirty feet of my panty hose.

R59: From one bad Apache video to another. Behold, The Sugarhill Gang! (1981) I don't think it gets any more low-budget than this.

You all have to remember that several of the videos you're deriding for being low budget WERE low budget because they were at the very dawn of the music video era. Don't forget that MTV for its first year was barely available. The network was based in NYC and even they couldn't get it added to cable systems there. So there was no guarantee the network was going to last or that music videos weren't going to be a quick passing fad. It made sense that the budgets were rock bottom. It was only around 1983-84 where you saw the majority of music videos begin to have a less slapdash quality to them because the network had made great strides in viewership, and several other networks were adding their own music video programming.

Gypsy being touted as the most expensive music video at that time didn't really mean much, as the majority of music videos really did cost $1.98.

The video for the trashy but catchy I Eat Cannibals is so cheap the group is literally wearing trash bags for costumes.

R135 made me remember this annoyance from Toni Basil. It’s bigger budgeted than I remember but still looks and sounds like a demented Sesame Street clip. Plus Fred “ Rerun” Berry!

[quote]It's the usual standard of a Janet Jackson video

Stupid cunt. You tried it. Janet's Pleasure Principle video is arguably the BEST music video by a woman to come out of the 80s, with her Rhythm Nation being a close second.

Toni's videos were all basic as fuck. Mickey was the lucky breakout.

[quote] You tried it.

Janet slays!

Madonna decays!

Fun Fact: The bodybuilder with the fantastic smile in "Muscles" is Gil Birmingham (Thomas Rainwater, Yellowstone; Billy Black, Twilight). When I worked at Universal Studios in the mid-'80s, he was one of the Conans in the live-action "Conan The Barbarian: Sword & Sorcery Spectacular."

R156 Can You Feel It is an awesome video! You shut your whore mouth or I’ll revoke your gay membership!

[quote] Stupid cunt. You tried it. Janet's Pleasure Principle video is arguably the BEST music video by a woman to come out of the 80s, with her Rhythm Nation being a close second.

Shut the fuck up, Jabba. You're the only one who would ever think this, you fat gorilla.

Don't make me get the hoseeee, girls.

This was supposedly pulled out of rotation after about a week because it was so awful. Despite the video or lack there of, the song made it to #3 in 1988.

Please get the hose, R172, and beat the shit out of Jabba with it.

The original video for Stand Back. Stevie did an audio commentary for it about ten years ago and poked fun of it herself.

I posted this on another thread discussing Yacht Rock, but this has to be one of the worst videos I've ever seen.

A nun is sexually assaulted in this one.

R174 is PRESSED beyond belief.

[quote] A nun is sexually assaulted in this one.

Always a positive.

R175 I find the other video of "Stand Back" just as bad. My boyfriend and I used to laugh how it looked like they put her on treadmill with a wind machine.

R144 = complete moron

R181, are you calling R144 because he thought Adult Education was one of the worst Hall & Oates videos or because he thought it was one of their best songs?

sorry, that should have said calling R144 a moron

Did someone say nun?

R180 - the treadmill thing was weird but I thought she looked beautiful in the video (and in the Gypsy video posted earlier).

It was her next album that she started going crazier with the hair, wardrobe and makeup. David Letterman used to poke fun of this video:

R185 wow, you can really tell the drugs are in the drivers' seat there.

My favorite part of the I Can't Wait video is at 2:36 where the director just told the 5 of them to freestyle dance instead of their synchronized moves. I would love a gif of that.

Another thing that Stevie does in Stand Back is she lip syncs to her backup singer's vocals. Still, love her and love those videos.

R181 - director of the "Adult Education" video.

Music videos really determined who from the '70s was going to keep going on in the '80s. Christopher Cross was huge in 1979/80/81 but with the dawn of video, it was said "he had a face for radio" or something like that.

Donna Summer did well enough despite the disco backlash but she seemed to embrace videos, with Love is in Control, The Woman in Me and the much-played She Works Hard for the Money.

A lot of the '80s videos are cheesy. I don't think the video format really found its artistic groove until the '90s. The budgets were higher and the concepts and cinematography were better. Madonna, Bjork, Radiohead, all had great videos.

The first video for Owner of a Lonely Heart was bad. Really, really bad.

[quote] A lot of the '80s videos are cheesy. I don't think the video format really found its artistic groove until the '90s. The budgets were higher and the concepts and cinematography were better.

I kind of lost interest in watching videos because of this. A lot of 80s music videos may have been crap, but they were also extremely fun to watch because of the camp value.

The song was a piece of shit, and the video just made it all that more shitty.

Who the fuck thought doing an homage to "Cats" was a good idea here?

The director could tell Gloria was much more interested in pussy than any "bad boys"

Anything done by Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine was garbage.

This shot always freaked me out. It looks like the part in The Exorcist when Regan escapes her shackles and stands on the bed.

R196 I think she was going for the "white winged dove" look, but ended up looking like a rabid vampire bat.

Videos were initially very low budget and just meant to take the place of promotional tours, so that established bands didn't always have to go to every single little market to get their record played or noticed.

Animotion, Obsession

199 posts in an no mention of the worst of them all - I Ran by A Flock of Seagulls?

Mark Romanek really took the art of music videos to another level. His video for Janet’s “Got ‘til it’s Gone” is one of my favorites.

"Gloria," which looks like it was shot on an old Mike Douglas Show set.

What's so bad about the Flock of Seagulls video?

R203 Well, for starters, you can see the stationary camera in the mirror reflection, which they tried to hide under a mountain of aluminum foil.

Donna Summer had a huge hit in 1983 with "She Works Hard For the Money" - a very energetic dance song. Why she turned out such a low energy video for the song is beyond me. She looks like she's on sleeping pills while she sings in the video, while the woman who plays 'the working woman' isn't too television friendly (she's rather blah looking).

However, Summer's video goes down in history as the first female black singer to go into heavy rotation on MTV. That same year, Michael Jackson became the first black singer to go into heavy rotation on MTV for 'Billie Jean'. (Diana Ross' "Muscles" in 1982 was mostly played on BET when they did their 'Friday night videos' - it was hardly played on MTV).

Ehh, that just means it was super low budget. But there's nothing wrong with the video itself. It as edited well, it doesn't have a dorky, stupid storyline, and the band isn't doing anything to embarrass itself. Again, this was in the early days of music videos and of MTV. The label was not about to spend tons of money on an unknown band.

Yes, early MTV was known for not being especially welcome to black artists. And outside of MJ's huge album it didn't get much better until after David Bowie called them on it.

I always thought Billy Joel's Uptown Girl video was cheesy

Anything Billy Joel ever did was cheesy. He's a textbook definition.

R208 Thanks to Christie Brinkley's attempt at "dancing."

[quote]Anything Billy Joel ever did was cheesy.

Plenty hot guys in "Allentown."

[quote] Donna Summer had a huge hit in 1983 with "She Works Hard For the Money" - a very energetic dance song. Why she turned out such a low energy video for the song is beyond me. She looks like she's on sleeping pills while she sings in the video, while the woman who plays 'the working woman' isn't too television friendly (she's rather blah looking).

It’s a great video! I thought the actress who portrayed the working woman was perfectly cast. It was nice they didn’t cast a de-glamorized model with tousled hair and glasses.

R205 has nothing on Rethas Freeway of Love

I love Rock A Lott. Great song, quirky video.

I agree that stuff like this was cheesy, but it was entertaining in its own unique way. Videos started taking themselves way too seriously in the 90's. and a lot of the fun went out of them.

Most 80s videos were cheesy.

If a song was great it sure didn't need a fucking video.

R201, this is a thread for worst videos of the 80s. Not best ever.

R216 but it's the DL, where people constantly post things not relevant to the original thread.......

Ignore Jabba, R216. The rest of the world has.

R211 One of my "gay awakening" moments happened the first time I saw this video.

R218 has a massive hard-on for Janbot. He literally follows JB in EVERY. THREAD.

R220 IS Janbot

Are the videos of the English and German versions of "99 Red Balloons" the same or different?

Laura Branigan's Shattered Glass video is fucking weird. Especially the last 30 seconds.

Singer/Composer/Actor/Dancer.

I fucking hated this.

This video actually scared me as a kid, though it’s a good song & video overall.

My mother actually once said, “I wonder if that’s any good, pudding on a Ritz.”

Oh duh.

I’m one of their biggest fans, & she always looks amazing, but WTF? I was always drawn to watching the band mates secretly controlling the light-up sunglasses.

[quote]Singer/Composer/Actor/Dancer.

You forgot, "co-starring Royal Shakespeare Company actress Trudie Styler". Yes, horse face Trudie was in the RSC.

The Ray Parker Ghostbusters video with the most awkward celebrity cameos ever. They all look like they’re being held hostage.

Don't look any further. This is pretty bad.

Dennis Edwards ft. Siedah Garrett - Don't Look Any Further (1984)

Filmed for $20 on a loading dock.

I forgot about this Italo disco gem.

Puttin’ on the Ritz used to give me the willies too, the song and the video.

No one dares mention the weird Bonnie Tyler video for 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' featuring the boys from Lord of the Rings ?

R234 Nothing "worst" about that video at all. It was wild and eclectic and some of those dancing boys were hot!

Total Eclipse of the Heart is actually a classic. Both the song and the video.

Kajagoogoo's follow up to Too Shy, the deeply philosophical Ooh To Be Ah

R163 Music videos were around for many years before MTV.

I'm well aware, R238. But until MTV, nobody gave a shit about them and they were sparsely aired. MTV was the beginning of the music video era.

R239, R238 isn't talking about rock music videos, they're talking about music promo clips from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, they were being produced long before MTV came along.

Yes, R238, videos were around for many years before MTV, but they weren't called 'music videos' and they weren't as elaborate and costly to produce.

Mike Nesmith of The Monkees was credited with creating the first long form music video, IIRC, it was called Elephant Parts. Think he won an award for it.

The $2 budget for Journey’s “Separate Ways”:

Sweetheart, I'm aware of the history of music videos. Both your arguments still have nothing whatsoever to do with what I initially posted, so why are you continuing to bore the shit out of me?

Technically this is a TV performance instead of a promo video (it must have been German television because the audience always sit like stone cold statues during music performances). Anyway, it’s a classic of terrible video and I don’t think the song had a proper one, so here it is.

Rapture may be a silly song and video, but still, both are sublime in their own way and groundbreaking. Island Of Lost Souls is their worst song and video. Fat Deborah in the frog green, and princess pink dress, and Chris sick/dying. They had decent budgets for videos at this point. It must have been blown on coke.

R243 - it does have a video, and yes it is terrible.

Peter Cetera & Amy Grant

The Next Time I fall

Billy Ocean

Get Outta My Dreams

I always felt this was a cheap, silly video. Typical of its era but firmly within the realm of 'shit' video.

Some hair product company, I think it might have been L'Oreall, used the song, or a version of it, in a hairspray ad. The ad was done somewhat in the style of Duran Duran's Wild Boys, and was superior to Cyndi's apeing and gooning.

R237 had me in stitches.

^ Sean Mendes

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun isn't a shit video. Low budget, yes, but they made the most of it, it's a fun, funny watch, and it matches Cyndi's style and the way they were trying to promote her back then. The video works, plain and simple.

Material Girl - I thought all the stuff involving Keith Carradine was stupid even back then.

I love this video and this song but how much did it cost. It feels throwaway because many of Prince's videos were nicely produced. People thought the song was a throwaway too but it's still good.

WTF? They cut the best part of the song out, where Cat raps. That's the only memorable thing about that song.

I think it's the single version.

What was so great about these videos was that you can see the optimism in people. They weren't afraid of being corny or cheesy or cringe.

I remember that unashamed spirit of the '80s to express yourself without shame or worrying about people. Really talking about you too much. I think it was because we didn't have social media to instantly give you negative feedback.

Love Billy Idol

Lovesexy was Prince's least successful album since 1981, failing to break the top 10, being certified Gold and spending just 21 weeks on the US Billboard 200. While "Alphabet St." managed to crack the top 10, it did not make a lasting impression and the subsequent two single releases failed to chart on the Hot 100. The situation in the United Kingdom was more positive, where the album debuted at number 1 and all the singles became top 40 hits.

[quote] I think it's the single version.

Oh wow, I didn't remember there being a single version. I bought the cassette and just listened to that.

No wonder the damn thing didn't do all that well.

"Material Girl" was one of the best videos of that era.

I can tell we're at the point in the thread where every idiot contrarian is out trying to top one another.

This is probably the best worst music video in the world

All I can do is focus on how Gregg was already losing his hair at that young of an age.

Barbra Streisand's fiirst video was "My Heart Belongs to Me" from 1977. It's silly and it's fun - looks cheap today, but probably cost a fortune to produce for her specifications 46 years ago.

Yep he was practically bald a few years later

R263 I remember in the late 1970s, movie theaters would often play these before the main feature. I remember seeing this one and another than Elton John made. It was a way for artists to promote their songs and albums in the days before MTV.

Alphabet St. was released without a video at first I feel like. Sometimes that didn't bode well, like the label wasn't doing a big push. Very nearly 35 years ago.

R252, of all the videos made in the 80s, you choose Material Girl?

Not trying to be a contrarian! I just hate the Keith Carradine bits.

268 posts and you bitches still haven't mentioned me?

Fuck you, assholes! You can't ride in my limo.

[quote] Alphabet St. was released without a video at first I feel like. Sometimes that didn't bode well, like the label wasn't doing a big push. Very nearly 35 years ago.

Lovesexy felt like an album of outtakes, like the label needed Prince to put something out before Batman because they worried it wouldn't be commercial, and maybe Prince was so busy with Batman that he didn't have time to really do much promotion for it. I'm just guessing, but Lovesexy definitely seemed to be a cash grab with no real enthusiasm. And the fans could tell.

I did like the long version of Alphabet Street, and if you watch the Sign o' The Times concert film (excellent, btw), you can see Prince pushing Cat as his next muse, but something between then and the release of Lovesexy seems to have cooled him on her.

R269 I "love" Jan Terri but that video is from 1993 (it says so in the video).

R271 Fuck you! The awfulness of my video transcends any decade!

Canada had a ton of awful music videos (and bands) in the '80s.

[quote] Canada had a ton of awful

You could stop right there and we'd all agree.

R272, when I saw "Losing You" and "Get Down Goblin" 15 years ago in college, I sent the links to all my friends. I could not stop laughing for weeks. It's just....on a different. It's like Eastern European low-budget bad.

[quote] Lovesexy was Prince's least successful album since 1981, failing to break the top 10, being certified Gold and spending just 21 weeks on the US Billboard 200.

He ditched Wendy and Lisa, his very talented collaborators, and went up his own ass.

This Barbra video is a hoot. Still sporting that godawful poodle perm in 1984 she half-asses a noir-ish storyline intercut with bored lip-synching in a nightclub. My favorite part is when she takes a drag on her cigarette mid-verse (see ~4:25) Plus random Kris Kristofferson!

[quote]Lovesexy felt like an album of outtakes, like the label needed Prince to put something out before Batman because they worried it wouldn't be commercial, and maybe Prince was so busy with Batman that he didn't have time to really do much promotion for it. I'm just guessing, but Lovesexy definitely seemed to be a cash grab with no real enthusiasm. And the fans could tell.

Lovesexy was his reply to the scrapped Black Album, which Prince had pulled at the 11th hour because he felt it had evil vibes. LS is the bright, spiritual antithesis of The Black Album’s gritty, dark, violent tone. The only track to make the LS cut from TBA was “When 2 R in Love.” Everything else was material created for LS. As for Cat, part of the reason she left was because she didn’t get along with Sheila. She was also supposed to be part of Graffiti Bridge, but I think Prince stopped putting a lot of time and effort into her, so after the LS tour, that was the end of her time with the Purple One.

"He ditched Wendy and Lisa, his very talented collaborators, and went up his own ass."

I don't know. Wendy and Lisa were great (as evidenced they their contributions to The Revolution and their work together as a duo), but I don't think ditching them was an artistic mistake, even if Lovesexy wasn't comparatively successful to the albums before it. He turned right around and released the brilliant Sign O the Times which didn't involve Wendy or Lisa.

As for Lovesexy, I like it well enough, though there's several Prince albums I like better. Alphabet Street, Anna Stesia, Glam Slam, When 2 R in Love, Lovesexy, I Wish U Heaven - all good to great, IMO. I just hate Eye Know. I did come to like it all more over time as I listened to it more. I guess that was an advantage of the pre-streaming age where you'd let the album play through more often before taking to it or dismissing it.

If the Prince estate continues with the deluxe reissues, I'd imagine that Lovesexy isn't high on the list. But a deluxe version incorporating the Black album and other material coming out of those sessions or written around that time would be interesting.

Lovesexy was originally a one-track CD - No individual tracks for the songs because Prince wanted it to be considered as a whole. While I get what he was aiming for, It's still annoying, and I'm glad I managed to snag a version with all the songs separated.

Whoops. That wasn't entirely clear. When I said Prince "turned right around" and released Sign O the Times. I meant turned right around after letting Wendy and Lisa go, not turned right around after releasing Lovesexy.

So good

Rod Stewart's not gay.

Yet

Obviously it's an amazing song, and the video is going ok...until 2.28 when Roland starts...well I suppose it's dancing.

[quote] part of the reason she left was because she didn’t get along with Sheila

Because Sheila is a shady, manipulative cunt. And that's the NICEST thing that can be said about her.

[quote] He turned right around and released the brilliant Sign O the Times which didn't involve Wendy or Lisa

They had some input or influence into a bit of SOTT. True, a majority of the album was done without them. But they were part of the seeds of a few songs. And in some ways, SOTT was Prince proving to himself, maybe to them, that he could deliver the specific flavor of pop/soul hybrid that the Revolution had before without them - all on his own.

The Tears for Fears video at R283 is the one that always makes me all but certain Curt and Roland have tasted each other's penises.

Did you enjoy their albums, R284? I like all of them, and absolutely loved the first Wendy & Lisa album - Everything But You; Blues Away; The Light. They had a unique sound - at first evocative of the Revolution (I think many of the songs off the first album could easily be Prince & The Revolution songs), but then adding other layers.

I love almost all of W&L's albums with the exception of the second one, which sounded very much like the record company trying to make them sound like Prince.

But yes, the first one has a special place in my heart. And I loved Eroica and Girl Bros.

Prince was a genius, but I think W&L are never, ever recognized enough for the layers they brought to the Revolution. On a good day someone will remember they actually played instruments - most of the time, they're lumped in with the "proteges."

R287, only hardcore Prince/"Minneapolis sound" fans will differentiate between the proteges - Apollonia 6, Vanity 6, early Time (with Prince writing all the material), to name a few, - and the "independent musicians" like Wendy & Lisa and Jesse Johnson. It's unfortunate, but it's a such niche bit of knowledge, even more niche due to the the passage of time.

R241, good choice, that one is cheesy as hell

Steve Perry's "Oh, Sherri" video is cheesy, too

[quote]The worst '80s videos were all about throwing tons of money out the window.

And 50% of the budget went to cocaine.

This video is problematic AND shit.

Presumably the dolphin was one of those kept in captivity, so for a tree hugging lentil huffer like Jane, not the most appropriate moves.

Pat Benatar's "Love Is A Battlefield" is such a craptastic 80s time capsule, it's great. I love the pimp's horrified reaction when Pat busts a move 80s style.

R261 it's like the Room of music videos. I can't get over it.

R277 I remember reading something about Barbra's video was longer than what was broadcast (it was edited down for VH1) and she had tried submitting it to the Academy for an Oscar, claiming it qualified as a 'short film' of some sorts. The Academy rejected this notion of hers. Don't recall all the details, but it's original form is lengthy (met the minimum of a short) and she spent a fortune on quality lighting, audio, etc.

I happen to like a great deal of these videos and their songs.

Promo video was in its infant stage in the 80s. Lots of subversive stuff made it into these things (sometimes because the band or the director blew the whole budget on drugs). Like using burning metal trash cans for night shoots, making the video look edgy and gritty, supposedly.

This one makes me uncomfortable. He looks like Eugene Levy

How could you forget this?

I love Ah! Leah. Great fucking song. Donnie Iris was awesome.

R187 Here ya go

Love is a Battlefield is cool fo rshowing early 80s NYC.

You do God's work, r299.

Love is a Battlefield is cool for showing Pat Benatar running away from home at age 33. "You leave this house, you're not coming back!" Maybe Pops should have tried that 10 years ago.

Even with world famous parents and probably no budgetary limits this nepo baby video looks cheaper than a Jan Terri production

R302, she's definitely the oldest looking teenager I've ever seen.

Why they decided Pat should be a teenager is anyone's guess. She looked almost as old as the actors playing her parents. They should've made her a woman running away from her abusive husband.

I thought it had an LA vibe.

🤷🏻‍♀️

haaaaa

[quote] She looked almost as old as the actors playing her parents.

What's wrong with that!?

I think it's interesting that Talking Heads' Once in a Lifetime has not been mentioned. Byrne acts like a total spaz, but it works in favor of the song and the video, and it becomes performance art.

It reminds me of Joanna Lumley's quote as Patsy Stone in AbFab (Death, I believe) about the difference of an artist painting like a child and a child's painting.

R309, the choreographer for the video was none other than Toni Basil!

I'm reminded of a different quote from Joanna Lumley as Patsy in AbFab. "Quite big tits".

R268, I'm sorry, but with all due respect, no. You're wrong. Okay, fine if you don't like "the Keith Carradine bits," maybe you don't like Keith Carradine. You're entitled to your opinion. But it's just wrong and so are you. "The parts with Keith Carradine" aren't "stupid," they're actually brilliant, and the video, which is a classic for good reason and still holds up almost 40 years later, would not work without them.

Carradine sets up the framing device; Madonna is basically playing herself, a rising singer/actress, and Carradine is a major player in her world, but he's anonymous to her. He's her foil, the one who wins her over by pretending to be a poor nobody when he's really the biggest somebody in this little mini-universe. "The Keith Carradine bits" provide a pivotal twist that shows "Madonna" has a heart after all. It's what makes the whole thing work. Without it you just have Madonna ripping off Marilyn Monroe (and a bunch random guys left and right) for 5 minutes, which would be awful without a storyline to explain it.

"Material Girl" was one of the first truly cinematic videos, knowingly but charmingly referencing classic Hollywood, with plot lines, dialogue, supporting characters, and an epic set piece. And it had a real movie actor: your hated Carradine. This was a big get for 1984 whether you like it or not. Most videos just had the band, a few extras, and maybe semi-famous "vixen" (or stud for female artists). Getting a real star and a respected actor to boot was a big big deal. Robert Wuhl wasn't small potatoes either, he was red hot then.

You can hate it for personal reasons but "Material Girl" is not a bad music video by any means. It's a classic of the genre.

I liked the Keith Carradine bits. I thought he was handsome. I loved the message of the video.

R312 has obviously never heard of Michael Jackson's Thriller, arguably THE first cinematic music video in history, helmed by film director John Landis and complete with a plot, dialogue, amazing practical special effects from Oscar winning make-up artist Rick Baker, the prestige of horror icon Vincent Price, and it was released more than a year before Material Girl.

r314, r312 said that Material Girl was ONE of the first cinematic videos, not THE first. JFC learn some reading comprehension.

Deviating from OP’s topic a sec, Thriller really is still the reigning champ of music videos. It’s great.

R316 I always thought Thriller was overrated. It's not bad, but it seemed to be a big MJ ego trip more than anything else.

R314 obviously has low intelligence and virtually no reading comprehension whatsoever, since I clearly stated that I thought "Material Girl" was "[bold]one[/bold] of the first truly cinematic videos."

The Thriller music video IS overrated; it's over-long (a ridiculous length, really), overly serious, and creepy for all of the wrong reasons, such as MJ trying to play straight and acting rapey towards the female lead. It's also not remotely scary aside from the thought of being manhandled by creepy MJ. The big dance number is one tiny step above "Love is a Battlefield," nothing at all groundbreaking. It was a circle jerk for Jackson and John Landis, nothing more. No real lasting impact. 40 years on and at best it's a novelty.

The song is pretty good so there's that.

[quote]MJ trying to play straight and acting rapey towards the female lead.

He did the same in The Way You Make Me Feel, he and his gang chased some poor girl all over the place. It's only in hindsight you realize how messed up some of this stuff was. Don't get me started on Lover Boy!

I think A Ha's Take on Me is a better view than Thriller.

Poor Michael Sembello. This is the 2nd awful video of his I've seen this week. He might have done well at bear night in some Silverlake bar, but he was not made for television. You do have to admire the director for finding ways to hide his girth creatively. I wonder if Heart got the same guy to handle Ann Wilson in their videos in the late 80s-early 90s.

[quote]No real lasting impact.

From what rock in what backwoods bumfuck po'dunk town did you just crawl out from under? No lasting impact? Thriller? The insanity of that statement is boundlessly ignorant. You (and R317) are not only wildly, hilariously delusional, but are clearly in the minority about what is arguably the greatest music video of all time. It doesn't matter how you personally feel about Michael Jackson, his THRILLER video is genius in every way and not only broke barriers at MTV, but it remains the most influential music video of all time, with the plaudits (including a US National Film Registry Library of Congress induction), the YouTube views, and scores of copycats and tributes to back it up. The only thing semi-noteworthy in your post is your "Love is a Battlefield" reference, seeing as though both videos had the same choreographer (the late Michael Peters).

I like the Thriller video a lot. The dance sequences alone, but the whole thing too with him dating the chick and then warning her, turning into a zombie and chasing her, and then the final turn at the end. That said, I actually think it's pretty much the worst song on the album. So many better songs. Billy Jean is a better "standard" video from that album - the usual scale for a video; cheesy but fun. Thriller works as a one-off extravagance.

Michael Jackson was a freakish pedophile, a self loathing black man, and a plastic surgery addict. His music was overblown disco heavily-laden with MJ's gimmicky vocal tics and Quincy Jones's studio wizardry. He fooled some of the people some of the time, but MJ couldn't fool all of us forever. He was one note and should have been completely washed up by 1982. Thriller was a gift to him alone and no one else.

In 2023, decades past the earliest allegations, his music has little lasting impact outside of a handful of his few remaining and always equally-weird-as-their-idol fans.

Pick yourself up off the floor, R328. I said what I said. NO. LASTING. IMPACT.

MJ really did set the standard for music videos and how high the level of artistry could be raised for them. Even Beat It, which preceded Thriller, was reminiscent of West Side Story and had a plotline and a director who would go on to make feature films.

[quote]I said what I said. NO. LASTING. IMPACT.

And you will remain a fool at your pitiful little table for one.

I still like the video though.

[quote] In 2023, decades past the earliest allegations, his music has little lasting impact outside of a handful of his few remaining and always equally-weird-as-their-idol fans.

Yet Thriller is still on the Billboard Album chart.

Yeah, you said what you said. And you're wrong, as usual.

[quote]Yeah, you said what you said. And you're wrong, as usual.

Facts.

I don't see how anyone could have the cojones to fix their fingers to type some shit about Thriller not having any lasting impact. The delusion is astounding.

[quote]I said what I said. NO. LASTING. IMPACT.

Said while stamping your feet.

Can we please stop arguing about MJ and get back to the assignment? I present the excellent singing and dancing duo, Milli Vanilli

"Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Production budget: $200 (to rent the tiger cub).

[quote] and creepy for all of the wrong reasons, such as MJ trying to play straight and acting rapey towards the female lead.

You just know MJ really wanted a 12 year old boy as the love interest.

[quote] are not only wildly, hilariously delusional, but are clearly in the minority about what is arguably the greatest music video of all time.

IMHO the greatest music video of all time is Madonna's "Bad Girl."

Nope. "Sledgehammer" is the greatest video of all time.

Sledgehammer is good, but not cinematic. David Fincher knew WTF he was doing with Madonna.

r319 you should try the medicated douche.

It's early 90s, but remember that U2 video that just had The Edge singing into camera while people did stuff to his head?

[quote] MJ trying to play straight and acting rapey towards the female lead.

[quote] He did the same in The Way You Make Me Feel, he and his gang chased some poor girl all over the place.

It was even creepier and more ridiculous when he continued to do the same nearly 20 years later, as a 40something freak show, in the video for "You Rock My World."

What the hell was the “Say,Say,Say” vid about? The song’s lyrics don’t even remotely evoke the “storyline” — or was it just another excuse for MJ to have a pervy time with all the kids?

Janet’s Rhythm Nation is one of the best videos of all time. The film short is a Blade Runner-esque masterpiece.

r348 r342 r341 You're all wrong.

for the 80s, it was Mylène Farmer – Libertine

Please. People are retroactively ascribing everything that happened with Michael to Thriller. At the time, his interactions with Ola Ray, the female lead wasn't odd or "rapey."

Michael actually had chemistry with Ola and back then he was seen as cool. By the time Bad came around, he was starting to look less cool, and although the Way You Make Me Feel video had some great choreography, it was harder to believe MJ as this stud. I don't think MJ and the actress had much chemistry.

[quote] The ‘Let’s Dance’ music video, directed by David Mallet, was released in 1983 with the intent of drawing attention to systemic racism towards Indigenous Australians. “The message that [the videos for ‘Let’s Dance’ and ‘China Girl’] have is very simple –– it’s wrong to be racist!” Bowie told Rolling Stone in 1983.

I really don't get how they decided on taking that song and make it a video about systemic racism. And if that's the message they did a pretty poor job of it.

[quote] The ‘Let’s Dance’ music video, directed by David Mallet, was released in 1983 with the intent of drawing attention to systemic racism

Today, I am signing into law a bill that bans the airing of David Bowie's "Let's Dance" video in any public establishment.

This is purposefully cringy, but I think it crosses over to actual cringe.

Nelson twins "Love & Affection". ALL of the horse hair was utilized and dyed blonde for those twits - I was always a Gunner fan myself.

r323 I love that video! So Lene Lovich.

“Misled” by Kool and the Gang:

“The Exorcist” meets “Raiders of the Lost Ark” meets “Thriller” meets Shirley Eaton in “Goldfinger” (Whitefinger, in this case) meets Eyes Wide Shut (16 years before that movie actually came out). In other words, a glorious mess!

Confession: I loved this song and video when I was a kid.

^Oh gawd, Misled was such a blatant Thriller rip off that it's hard to make it through the whole thing. It's an unbearably corny song, too. I was fascinated by the albino dancer when I was a kid, though.

[quote] Janet’s Rhythm Nation is one of the best videos of all time. The film short is a Blade Runner-esque masterpiece.

Jabba has arrived. I thought I smelled yeast encrusted fat rolls.

^PSYCHO.

IS someone pressed, fat ass?

[quote] His music was overblown disco heavily-laden with MJ's gimmicky vocal tics and Quincy Jones's studio wizardry. He fooled some of the people some of the time, but MJ couldn't fool all of us forever.

Oh no. Some of it is bad, isn't it. I loved him as much as any Gen X kid but a few of the biggest singles aren't my favorite. Beat It is kind of annoying. Thriller's not a great song either. Billie Jean all day other those two.

Michael Jackson has a lot of amazing songs. A lot of it was played into the ground. Is the songwriting inconsistent? Some of the biggest hits are not among his best tracks, eg the song 'Bad'

R346, the part where he lifts her dress up...you know he was thinking of little boys wearing diapers. So gross.

Michael had many great songs but (unpopular opinion here) only a couple of truly great videos versus Madonna. None of Madonna's video will ever come close to being respected the way Thriller is but overall, she had way more great videos than he did.

Early Celine Dion...dramatic looks galore!

I forgot Celine was quite pretty at one time. Shes been such a haggard skeleton for so long now.

Wow, R366. That video is craptacular.

This thread needs some Jermaine.

Thank you R296! I love that song, and somehow forgot all about it. I really like the video too.

This thread needs more Jermaine...and Pia!

Madonna looked just a tad old to be a pregnant teen in "Papa Don't Preach"

^^She was pushing 30.

And, yet, the video is still a classic, R372. Maybe you can't understand the assignment.

Michael Jackson also plays a bullied "teen" in the Bad video

What a great thread! Some of these comments and videos😂😂 R359 R360!

Papa Don't Preach a classic? The song maybe but not the video. From the same album, Open Your Heart is a better video.

Papa Don't Preach is an iconic video. In fact, all the True Blue videos are iconic, even the cheesy, made-on-the-cheap title track which is somehow endearing because of Madonna's presence.

Say what you will about Madonna nowadays but back then she could sell a video. Odd that she couldn't bring the same magic to her movies, but her videos were great. She just glowed in her videos. Borderline works from the sheer force of Madonna, those eyes and the camera loves her. Which is why it's so sad she wrecked her face.

Open Your Heart was a big controversy back in the day. Madonna working at a peep show and ***gasp*** a GAY couple! People were outraged.

PS the gay couple were hot.

Renee and Renato - Save Your Love - 1982

Debbie Gibson - Electric Youth

Lene Lovitch! God I loved the album "Stateless" and the EP for "New Toy" - oh-a-oh, nothing to demanding.

[quote]“Misled” by Kool and the Gang:

YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH. It's a classic, I'll fight all you bitches.

"Electric Youth" is hilarious

I loved Debbie's first album, but my God, Electric Youth is really shitty. Lost in Your Eyes is pretty ghastly. Which is a shame because Out of the Blue is solid pop.

But the second album was pretty much tuneless, and Electric Youth is so cheesy. Definitely a precursor of why Nirvana et al took over in a few years.

Can the Madonna fangurls please exit stage left?

Not to derail the thread, but has Debbie's "We Could Be Together" been claimed as a lesbian anthem? Because I think it should.

I was 13 years old when Electric Youth the video came out and even back in '89 I could tell you those dance moves were uncool.

r388 you and I are exactly the same age and I agree. I know Electric Youth was a POS even at that young age.

Hungry like the wolf

I would watch Electric Youth any day over any Britney Spears video.

R390, shot in Sri Lanka!

A lot of 80s music videos looked like "The Year of Living Dangerously"

Also: why, Don, why?

Whatever the hell this was:

Spazzy Lindsey Buckingham, with the giant shoulderpads and elevated heels, biting his lip and making googly-eyes at the camera is cringey as fuck.

Walter "Magnet and Steel" Egan (cute blond guy second in the line of white t-shirts) steals it with his relaxed demeanor and easy star quality. Lindsey should've just had him do the lip-syncing

More Lindsey cringe! This time he's stuck in a haunted mansion with a ghost that looks a lot like "Bella Donna"-era Stevie Nicks

I loved the "Self Control" video.

And "Safety Dance" ain't so bad from the proper perspective

Is it safe to dance?!

Billy Squire - Rock Me Tonight

I apologize for the previous Billy Squire video. I thought I was pasting a regular video. Didn't notice it was embellished with commentary posted on screen that is rather homophobic.