What is the best video of the 80s

[KevShmev]

I tried to pick videos that were hugely popular at the time.

[wolfking]

Duran Duran - Girls on Film

[King Postwhore]

Duran Duran - Girls on Film

The unedited video.

I voted Duran.  It's filmed like a movie.  So well done.

[Cool Chris]

Duran Duran videos were amazing! They could have their own thread of ranking/rating their videos.

I loved the Sledgehammer video and would always watch that when it was on. Then at some point I heard the song on the radio, and realized how much I didn't like the song.

[PetFish]

Could easily make a list of just MJ videos; nobody even comes close.

[Stadler]

Personally, I liked the Duran Duran videos.   Always fun.  Simon LeBon on a boat!  Always a fan of the Asia video (Heat of the Moment).

[AngelBack]

I went with Madonna because Like a Prayer (and Borderline) were amazingly good songs.

But props to Huey for the vid with a nip slip.

[Stadler]

Any video with Susannah Hoffs was a pretty big winner, too. 

[Dave_Manchester]

Thriller, by a country mile. Pioneering in so many ways, the concept and the choreography are incredible and the pastiche of 50s horror films is lovingly observed (to be expected of John Landis). There are some culturally very significant choices on that list, but for me, none of them come close to Thriller.

[Mladen]

Sledgehammer

[Dream Team]

Ah-ha

[The Walrus]

I'm a child of the 90s so my judgment is skewed on this but I'm still going with Thriller.

[KevShmev]

Thriller, by a country mile. Pioneering in so many ways, the concept and the choreography are incredible and the pastiche of 50s horror films is lovingly observed (to be expected of John Landis). There are some culturally very significant choices on that list, but for me, none of them come close to Thriller.

I have ones I prefer - The Boys of Summer is one of my favorite songs ever and I think the video captures the mood and feel of the song perfectly - but you make a strong argument.

Could easily make a list of just MJ videos; nobody even comes close.

Yep, his videos were always just well thought out and executed.  I included only Thriller here because I didn't want to put more than one per artist.

Duran Duran videos were amazing! They could have their own thread of ranking/rating their videos.

Ha, no doubt.

Remember how cool The Reflex video was at the time?  My God, that video was played non-stop for months.  However, it didn't take long for that water effect to look outdated and cheesy.

But props to Huey for the vid with a nip slip.

It's hilarious that it is still shown on MTV Classic unedited.  I mean, it's very brief and easy to miss (I didn't notice it for decades!), but it's still there.

Any video with Susannah Hoffs was a pretty big winner, too.

If that ain't the truth.

[Nekov]

Ah-ha

Yep, when I read the title of the thread I immediately thought of this one

[rumborak]

A-ha, because they even made a sequel to their original video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3ir9HC9vYg

EDIT: Wait, wtf, that's not the video.

[bosk1]

I have ones I prefer - The Boys of Summer is one of my favorite songs ever and I think the video captures the mood and feel of the song perfectly - but you make a strong argument.

Interestingly, I have only a VERY vague recollection of hearing the song back when it was fresh, and I don't recall the video at all.  A few years ago, my band wanted to cover it, and I was very lukewarm to that prospect.  But I have to say, once I learned it and we started rehearsing it a lot, I warmed up to it pretty quickly.  It's a lot of fun to play, and more challenging on the vocals than it may initially appear.  And despite me not really remembering it from back in the day, I get major '80s nostalgia from it now as well.

[AngelBack]

Boys of Summer is awesome and the Atari's cover is one of my fave covers of all time.

[bosk1]

Boys of Summer is awesome and the Atari's cover is one of my fave covers of all time.

Yeah, our cover was basically a hybrid between the original and the Ataris' version. 

[KevShmev]

Eagles fans sometimes look at me like I am nuts when I say that The Boys of Summer is the best song anyone from the Eagles did, but I honestly believe it.  And that is with all due respect to Hotel California, which, despite being very overplayed, is still an incredible song.

[King Postwhore]

Hotel California is one of those rare overplayed songs I have never got sick of.

[TAC]

Boys of Summer is awesome and the Atari's cover is one of my fave covers of all time.

Yeah, our cover was basically a hybrid between the original and the Ataris' version.

Atari version??

[Anguyen92]

I do enjoy the Ataris version of Boys of Summer.  I heard that frequently on the KROQ radio station here in SoCal.  That version and its music video that remind me of the early 00s of alternative rock.

[Crow]

came in here to vote smooth criminal and was massively disappointed

[Big Hath]

Boys of Summer is awesome and the Atari's cover is one of my fave covers of all time.

Yeah, our cover was basically a hybrid between the original and the Ataris' version.

Atari version??

2600

[Crow]

no

[IDontNotDoThings]

starting to make a dent in my roulette stuff, hopefully i can decide on albums to get within the next week or so? 



pretty cool, a bit rough-sounding but it's energetic and intense. dunno if i love it but i very much want to relisten to it at least one more time



hmmm... nah schizophrenic is the best song here for sure, they try to make their music really pretty but it comes off kind of sterile, and a bit slow at times. there were some other decent tracks and i may come back to this at some point but i don't think i'm that keen on this right now, though it's not bad really



i sort of expected this but yeah this is just... very flavorless and kind of generic, i really did not get much from this. the last track was decent enough as was the song from my roulette but neither are that impressive and the rest of the album sounds exactly like itself anyways. oh well

i think there's only like one album in round 1 i still wanna check out 'cause i already checked out the best stuff from that round but round 0 stuff is pretty much checked out & the only thing it's looking like i might get at all is windir, oh well 

Those are my favourite videos from the 80s

[Crow]

i'm in the wrong thread somehow

[Stadler]

Eagles fans sometimes look at me like I am nuts when I say that The Boys of Summer is the best song anyone from the Eagles did, but I honestly believe it.  And that is with all due respect to Hotel California, which, despite being very overplayed, is still an incredible song.

I wouldn't argue with you on that.  When I saw the Eagles, they actually played Boys of Summer.  Maybe it's because it followed perhaps the WORST song that anyone from the Eagles did, "You Belong To The City", but it was a show highlight.

[AngelBack]

Eagles fans sometimes look at me like I am nuts when I say that The Boys of Summer is the best song anyone from the Eagles did, but I honestly believe it.  And that is with all due respect to Hotel California, which, despite being very overplayed, is still an incredible song.

But....but....."In the City" ?

[bosk1]

Boys of Summer is awesome and the Atari's cover is one of my fave covers of all time.

Yeah, our cover was basically a hybrid between the original and the Ataris' version.

Atari version??

2600

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKCv2jKzsx8

This is a VERY good cover, IMO.  They didn't change much, other than just making it a bit heavier and a teensy bit faster.  Otherwise, pretty true to the original, and pretty tasteful, if you ask me.

[T-ski]

went with my first instinct, A-ha.

Thriller to me is more than just a music video, its more a mini movie.

[KevShmev]

Eagles fans sometimes look at me like I am nuts when I say that The Boys of Summer is the best song anyone from the Eagles did, but I honestly believe it.  And that is with all due respect to Hotel California, which, despite being very overplayed, is still an incredible song.

But....but....."In the City" ?

In the City is great, but that is not even my favorite song featuring Joe Walsh on lead vocals. That would be Take a Look Around from the first James Gang record.

   When I saw the Eagles, they actually played Boys of Summer.  Maybe it's because it followed perhaps the WORST song that anyone from the Eagles did, "You Belong To The City", but it was a show highlight.

That might be true, if we are talking hit/known songs, since Joe Walsh was known for padding his solo albums with a lot of shit.

Thriller to me is more than just a music video, its more a mini movie.

So true. I don't think it was ever in regular rotation on MTV. It was usually only played a few times a week, like Friday evenings at 9 pm.  Those few instances were always marketed.

[WDADU]

As soon as I read the thread title, the first thing that came to mind was "Thriller". Nobody beat Michael Jackson when it came to music videos. Even nowadays, nobody beats Jackson. Both "Thriller" and "Smooth Criminal" are aces.

[Stadler]

   When I saw the Eagles, they actually played Boys of Summer.  Maybe it's because it followed perhaps the WORST song that anyone from the Eagles did, "You Belong To The City", but it was a show highlight.

That might be true, if we are talking hit/known songs, since Joe Walsh was known for padding his solo albums with a lot of shit.

I'm admittedly not on the Glenn Frey bandwagon.  I get what he did for the Eagles, but solo, he was a big miss for me.   BIG miss. 

[KevShmev]

I love Smuggler's Blues, but I can't name another solo song of his that I like a lot.