February 3, 2012

Greg's Top Ten Favorite 80s Music Videos (6-10 today, 1-5 yesterday):

6. "Hot For Teacher" by Van Halen: I always got the impression by watching this video that it was art imitating life. You just know the boys from Van Halen were the popular kids in school checking out the smoking hot teacher! The video is a riot and easily my favorite of their extensive library. There are so many lines from the video that I still hear people blurt out today and it's nearly 30 years old! "Class Dismissed!!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyMQLrnbBgE

7. "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer: The coolest Halloween outfit I ever saw was a guy dressed to the nines like Palmer walking around downtown San Jose with six stocking-clad models at his side. This video is so freaking awesome on every level. The sultry lyrics, the Patrick Nagel-inspired models and Palmer looking as sharp as ever. It's really a testament to what a force Palmer was in his prime to be that sharp looking with six supermodels surrounding him. Though he would go on to use the models again in his videos for "Simply Irresistible" & "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" for his next album, this was the song and video that came first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcATvu5f9vE&ob=av2e

8. "Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads: When I first saw this video it was 1987 and Martha Quinn was hosting the now defunct MTV Classic program that aired old videos from earlier in the decade. Upon viewing it I thought it was the most unusual and bizarre thing I had ever seen in my life. Today, I still think it's completely weird and that's why it's so memorable. Seriously, what the hell is David Byrne doing in this video? It's like watching someone on an acid trip try to perform a Talking Heads song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU

9. "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel: Like there was any doubt this would make the list. I am not a big fan of the song but I can't deny the video for this song is awesome. In 1986, when this video debuted, nobody had seen anything like it. It's comparable to A-ha's "Take on Me" for utilizing what was breakthrough special effects at the time of it's release. The video won 9 MTV Music Video Awards in 1987. It's also the most played music video in MTV history, which makes it's entry here on this list easy to defend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1tTN-b5KHg

10. "Rockit" by Herbie Hancock: Though there are a plethora of great music videos out there to choose from, I couldn't leave this gem off of the list. It was directed by Godley & Creme who also directed Duran Duran's "Girls on Film" in two years earlier. The song is one of the first hit singles to feature record scratching and the video was the perfect compliment to what was thought of at the time as an odd type of music. It's a video that most everyone has seen at least once and most walk away perplexed at how anyone could come up with the visual content they've just witnessed. See it and judge for yourself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JicmU_MtOjE