My Favorite Music Videos of the 80’s
They don’t make videos like they used to. Hell, they don’t ~play~ videos like they used to. Back in the day, they used to mean something. A group could be unknown, but if they had a good song and a good video, they could get played on MTV and they would get heard. I also heard someone say that in the 80s MTV days, everyone watched the same channel, listened to the same music, and saw the same videos. There was a wide range of music types that people saw and heard, and we liked it all.
- Talking Heads “Burning Down the House” – Great song and interesting video. The simplicity of it—the projection of David’s head onto the road—is nice.
- Michael Jackson “Thriller” – What a breakthrough video! 15 minutes long. For the first few days after it’s release, they played it every hour, on the hour. You couldn’t miss it. But I didn’t mind because it was good.
- Peter Gabriel “Shock the Monkey” – Way, way, way ahead of it’s time. A little bit creapy, but defiantly ground breaking. Or ground “sinking.”
- “Herbie Hancock” RockIt – You have to see it to believe it. Robotic arms, legs, heads, hands. Just about every part of the body but not a whole body. In sync with the music, it was innovative.
- Neil Young “Wandering” – Even Neil Young got into the game. Not very many people saw or remember this video. But me and my husband did, and just couldn’t get it out of our mind. Seeing a disheveled Neil Young wandering the streets being shown in a disjointed way made a lasting impression on me.
- The Cars “You Might Think” – Another innovative video. Mild to today’s standards, this video helped usher in computer animation.
- A-Ha “Take On Me” – Just see the video and you’ll know why I like it. Very cool concept and very interesting art.
- Duran Duran “Hungry Like A Wolf” – Okay, okay, not the most innovative, not the must interesting. But Duran Duran owe a lot to MTV and I used to love them a lot. So they are in this list. I chose Hungry Like A Wolf because of it’s edgy sexuality. But people who really know me would know that I like Rio!
- Dire Straits “Money for Nothing” - The first computer animated video. Today it looks like a bunch of colored boxes with moving lips, but it was still very cool.
- Genesis “Land of Confusion” – Who can resist a bunch of puppets parodying the group, Genesis, and famous world leaders like Ronald Reagan?
- Frankie Goes to Hollywood “Two Tribes” – Another appearance of Ronald Reagan. This time, in a wrestling match with Gorbachev from Russia. Great story and great message.
- Weird Al “Eat It” – Wonderful parody of Michael Jackson. We get to see how talented Weird Al is. I love seeing a music video making fun of a music video.
- Peter Gabriel “Sledgehammer” – The stop motion animation in this video is awesome. It didn’t surprise me when I learned that Nick Parks, the Wallace and Gromit guy, helped with this video. The elaborate set-ups make sure you never get tired of watching.
Check out MTV's first hour! The commercials are a blast
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
16 comments:
I am surprised with your list of favorites. I remember you in your early teens as the "MTV Girl". The way I recall I would have thought you would have 13 different Duran Duran videos. I can see how my sister has grown and matured. I am very proud of you.
The Ah-ha one was really cool, with the animation and all.
I've seen the Duran Duran one!
Happy TT
Is it sad that I can only remember "Whip It?" I must be getting really old....I did notice they were showing some of the early ones on the Today show this week....sad, I know.
Great list!
Good list..
I just found a vid I liked and put it on my blog. The Corrs is the group name..
My TT is up
Great list! I LOVE the Thriller video! Happy TT!
Loved all of those videos! :)
Happy TT!
Mine are up.
Ah, the 80's! Good times. I was in high school then. Now I tutor high school students, and they have NO IDEA what any of my 80's cultural references mean. Nothing like that to make you feel old! Jenny, a TT newbie :)
This list takes me back. I love MTV back then too.
A-Ha and Duran Duran were favorites of mine! :)
I very much enjoyed reading your blog from Thursday.
Ooh I loved the 80's music. Some of my favourite were 'Dexys Midnight Runners' and Bob Marleys - 'No woman no cry'
Mandy :=)
I loved music videos back them it was such an exciting time. I think you make a good point that the experience was more communal then when we had less tv channels. I still love videos though. I loved thriller, Burning Down the House and you're right Rock it was way out there!
I also loved Hungry like the wolf, would play it over and over.
Other videos I liked from back then were all of Madonna's, Princes, and David Bowie.
As for the communial aspect of music videos, tv and the movie theatre used to be like that too...less tv channels so more people had tv shows in common and could talk about them...and as for movies, they are in some ways like church, very quiet mutual respect then go for a coffee or beer and talk about them in a public spot. Now many people rent movies true...but often fall asleep or rush to bed and don't take time to discuss them.
I enjoyed this post very much
Cheers,
Candy
my TT are here
http://gnosticminx.blogspot.com/2006/08/thursday-thirteen.html
Back when MTV was good! I remember and loved most of these.
Mine are a size medium in pink.
Amy: I wonder if you like Queen and Freddy Mercury in concert.
AHH! some of my favorites... Burning down the house is an all time favorite song of mine.
I remember watching the Thriller video when I was a little girl! All 5 of my aunts, my mom, and me lived at home with my grandparents, so you can imagine, a small girl, and 6 teenage girls LOL MTV was a big hit!
Post a Comment