It's actually a sad but true story. The song Rock Me Tonight was already a hit, Billy Squier was hot as hell, this was the first single from his new album. MTV promoted the World Premiere of the video for it, promoted the hell out of it actually, before the video had even been made. Billy fired the first two directors, who both had shiity ideas, and this is what the third one came up with. With pressure on to just make the damned video, and people saying "Come on, man, it doesn't matter; the song is great!" he caved and okayed the video. Then it debuted, people reacted badly, and the video really did kill the radio star.
Lonely is the Night, The Stroke, Everybody Wants You... I'm sure I'm forgetting a few... then this video dropped, and his career never recovered.