Cheesy 80s Music Videos (1 Viewer)

[Jake Gove]

Just got VH1 Classic a few weeks ago on DirecTV and have been watching the "We are the 80s" show on it. I saw what has to be the cheesiest music video ever produced last night:

Seperate Ways by Journey circa 1983

It has their keyboard player playing "air keyboard", drummer playing "air drums", weird posing shots of the band members and a woman, singer Steve Perry trying to lip-synch while being "extremely intense", and more. See it and you will laugh out loud.

Anyone else remember any particularly cheesy videos?

 

[Jeffrey Forner]

I think they may have watched this video on Beavis and Butthead once. I don't think either one of them thought Journey or the video was "cool."

But yes, I know what you mean. The 80s produced some wonderfully terrible music videoes.

 

[Jon_B]

I love 80's music, however 80's music videos are too embarassing for me to watch. I was shocked to see what many of my favorite bands looked like when MTV premiered. As a result I didn't watch many music videos as a kid.

Jon

 

[Rachael B]

How's about the originally banned from M-TV classic Fred and The Shake Society (the B-52's by another name), MONSTER, there's a mnster in my pants and it does a nasty dance...hit it with a broom....

 

[Eve T]

How about that annoying "Mickey" video by Toni Basil? OMG I think I used to like that song....I saw the video recently and was like....did I like that? No way....say it isn't so.
I did like the Wierd Al video that spoofed the Mickey Video it was called "Oh Ricky" and it was about Lucy and Ricky Riccardo. "Oh Ricky you're so fine you play your bongo's all the time hey Ricky! Hey Ricky."
Hmmmm I think if it weren't for wierd Al that music videos in the 80's would have pretty much sucked all together for me. Who can forget the ever so popular "Eat it" and "like a surgeon" videos?
There were a few bands out there that were kind of cool and had okay videos like "The Art Of Noise" but for the most part 80's videos were a wash. I still love a lot of 80's music though.

 

[Jon_B]

I can't remember the exact video but "Talking Heads" had a video where they must have been on some kind of hard core drugs.
Jon

 

[Alex-C]

What is even more cheesy as in let me put some gouda on my swiss on top of some parmesan, Journey now tours with a Steve Perry sound alike because Journey went, well...their Separate Ways !

 

[Jake Gove]

I just remembered the one for "The Safety Dance": a man and a dwarf in medievil garb running around the countryside. Also "Whip It" by Devo, some guy with a whip whipping articles of clothing off some mannequin looking woman while the band sings.

 

[Michael N]

Anyone see the video, starring John Carpenter (YES, him!), for the title song for 'Big Trouble in Little China'? Never have I seen anything so appallingly bad; the song AND the video!
Check it out on the DVD and see if you can sit through the whole thing without squirming in embarrassment!
Mike, Australia

 

[Stacey]

Jon,
I swear every Talking Heads video is them wacked out on something...lol
Anyone remember the Rush Video for Distant Early Warning with the kid riding the bomb?...talk about fake and cheesy looking.
Love the 80's Music tho!

 

[Matty Bradshaw]

I have always liked Duran Duran's film clip, Girls on Film, for it's full frontal nudity

 

[Jason Boucher]

Hey, the Safety Dance video was ahead of its time. Now everyone has midget sidekicks (Blink 182, Kid Rock, Howard Stern, Manshow, MTV awards). I don't get this phenomenom, but Safety Dance was there 20 years ago.

 

[Dustin D]

Don't forget Cyndi Lauper! Has anyone else seen the music video on the Goonies DVD? Laughable!

I shouldn't talk, though. I have her music video compilation on DVD...

 

[Mike Broadman]

Anyone remember the Rush Video for Distant Early Warning with the kid riding the bomb?...talk about fake and cheesy looking.

Oh god, tell me about it. There's also one for "Time Stand Still," with the band members flying around, and it unintentionally looks like they're cardboard cut-outs glued onto a wall. *shudder* It really ruins the an otherwise beautiful song.

Rush has a DVD of their videos, and even though I'm a hardcore Rush fan, I just can't bring myself to buy it. I couldn't tolerate seeing them embarassing themselves like that.

Remember that song that had something about "Science" with the guy with the pink Kramer hair? What the hell was that?

You want something that's really 80s? Whitney Houston had a dancy-pop tune where her video had her all decked out in 80s regalia. Deliciously awful.

 

[John Kilduff]

I love 80s music videos, and I would kill to get VH1 Classic to see them, no matter how cheesy.

I still want to see the video for Laura Branigan's "Self Control". It had to be banned from MTV and then edited to get on there again...I heard it was cheesy, but it had a good pedigree.

William Friedkin, the man behind "The Exorcist" and "The French Connection" directed this video as well. I want to see it, but I can't find it.

Back on topic:

For me, I'll watch an 80s music video, no matter how cheesy it is. I'd rather watch 80s music videos than today's music videos.

Sincerely,

John "And I'm only 19 years old" Kilduff

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

Have we forgotten about Billy Squier's The Stroke already? Please tell me we have.
Bruce

 

[MikeH1]

Mike, I think the video your thinking about was "She blinded me with Science" by Thomas Dolby.

The ultimate in 80s cheeze.

I remember staying up in the wee hours to watch Good Rockin Tonight with Terry David Mulligan. And then my favorite CBC program came out around 1985 with Video Hits. The babe hosting it was Samantha Taylor. I wonder what ever happened to her?

One of my favorite vids is Pop Goes The world by Men Without Hats. Also, a great video that had me roaring a few weeks ago was Genesis's Land Of Confusion.

 

[Jon_B]

Land of Confusion is a classic that is one of the greatests music videos ever imho.

Jon

 

[Ryan L B]

Dire Staits "Money For Nothing" The computer animation just looks so cheesy and out dated. Also, how about Ahha with "Take on Me"

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

The Whitney Houston song was "I Wanna Dance With Somebody", her first hit song. Yeah it was an 80s fashion statement.

Land of Confusion is classic, it's funny now as it was back then, not funny because it's from the 80s. What was the Phil Collins video that parodied a lot of other videos? I think it was "(Billy) Don't Lose My Number".

How about The Cars "You Might Think"? The video effects are so cheesy they just decided to go over the top and have fun with it. The complete opposite of the excellent "Drive" video.

The Police had some good videos, in particular "Every Breath You Take" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger".