Top Ten '80s Music Videos
Eighties Theme Week Continues! Today, I'm counting down my Top Ten 80's music videos:
I've always loved this video because it takes all the lyrics so very literally. It's a hoot to watch characters come in and out of the "story" to pass on warnings or information from the song lyrics. Goofy, goofy early attempt at music video.
I'm not a huge fan of the Dead Milkmen, but I could watch his video over and over. I love the bemusement of the chorus, and the strange objects that find their way into the video. It's like watching an anti-video being made to appease the music moguls.
In a bit of perfect casting, Tom Petty is the Cheshire cat in this Alice in Wonderland music video which always haunted me a little as the cast cut up Alice.
This video sort of blew away all the hair bands wanna-bes. Seeing Slash plug in his guitar was a warning to all the hair metal days was dead and gone and real metal was going to be defined by his Les Paul.
You will believe that Ric Ocasek can walk on water.
Man this song makes me eyes all misty. One of my favorite Elvis Costello songs, not too mention videos.
I couldn't get enough of this song at the time. The puppetry is amazing, and I was also attracted to the anti-Reagan material as well. Man, Invisible Touch was a pretty good album.
It's been seen a million times, but still this video is a joy to watch. It stands along side Dexy's Midnight Riders as one of the 80s overplayed songs, but the video is still the cat's meow.
Even though is an early attempt of music video, Byrne and Co. still knew had to use it like an art tool. I dig the video so much.
A classic. I can listen to the song over and over again, but the video is a feast for the eyes as well.
Stay tuned tomorrow to see my Top Ten favorite TV shows from the 80's...hopefully with assistance from YouTube.
Comments
Thanks, Chris! What a blast! You do the leg work for us who want to see things like this. How 'bout "You Might Think" or even "Drive" by the Cars? Been on a Cars kick lately. Is Dexy's out there? How overplayed was that one? Living in the sticks, we saw it just once and that was in '81. Don't ask why I still remember it.
Posted by: paul | May 15, 2007 01:19 PM
Nice collection. Thanks. :-)
I didn't listen to rock through most of the 80s, so that music resonates with me a bit differently than the music of the 90s, when I shook off my classical snobbery.
Posted by: Garrett Fitzgerald | May 15, 2007 09:10 PM
I was absolutely terrified of that Tom Petty video when I was a kid. No clue why, but I'd run from the room whenever it came on MTV at my Grandma's house.
Posted by: Sam | May 16, 2007 09:50 AM
The Petty video STILL weirds me out. The strange thing about the Veronica video is that Costello sings along with his recorded self, not always to good effect. Men at Work, Cars, esp. Talking Heads, all classic choices. But of the 10, my #1 had to be the Genesis video, which I watched, and watched, and watched...
Posted by: ROG | May 17, 2007 01:12 AM