Best 80s Music Videos, Ranked: The MTV Generation

We all are so excited about this new concept in TV. We'll be doing for TV what FM did for radio, and let's get into it right now at MTV.

Hey all, welcome to another episode of Past Times at 80s High, the cast that takes you back. We are looking forward to this one today. I find it to be very exciting in my department anyway, and that is we're doing our top seven favorite music videos, which I'm sure this is going to be a very repetitive episode, if you will, because I feel like we'll be able to do this countless times.

Absolutely. Yeah, they could do you could do this for the rest of the next few years.

Absolutely. And of course, I have the boys with me today. Hello, brother Mark.

Hey, how's it going, peeps?

Awesome. Dungo. Hey, what's happening? Hey, and Kevin. Good afternoon. Yes. So yeah, so I think this will be a great one. One thing we always like to get started with, of course, is a few shout-outs, as we usually get some new listeners every week, which is very exciting. Kevin, you want to roll with that?

Yeah, we'd like to welcome our new listeners in Nakahara, Nagata, Japan. And I'm hoping I said that somewhere near right. Um, also, and I might get this wrong too, Leesburg, Florida. Did I say that right?

Sounds good.

Alcoa, Tennessee, and Derby, Pennsylvania. Welcome all.

Awesome.

How's it going in Derby?

Awesome. Yeah, that all sounded correct to me, Kevin. Of course, I have no fargin idea.

I was a little stuck on Leesburg. No, I'm just kidding.

Lesburg, Leesburg, it's one of them. Awesome. Yes, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Also, I want to get the email out there real quick, which is pta80H at gmail.com. PTA80H at gmail.com. We were just talking about it, and although we have endless subjects, we were thinking that maybe some of you out there had, you know, something you might want to hear about that has, you know, flown under our radar. So we welcome that. So if something you want to hear about, please let us know. Awesome. Awesome. And I I believe I have the on hairs today, yes?

Your Honor, Your Honor.

All right. Hmm. So off the top of my head is how I did my list. And my number seven today is going to be from 1982. And it is KISS. Yes, it is KISS.

No way.

And it is I Love It Loud. Yes. And I have spoken about this in the past, I'm sure on here and on Preachers of the Night, our little side kiss cast. It has so much importance to me because of just where it takes me in my life. And it does, it takes me right back to 1982. And we had somewhat of a shag carpet until Mark and Dave ruined it with ChewSpit. But yes, we did. But just to be on that carpet in front of one of the old school cabinet TVs, and to watch this video. And when you watch the video, that's exactly what the kid's doing. He's watching it on the cabinet TV, and it just puts me in my parents' living room and family room. It just is really important. And a few things about the video, you know, you got the kid with the white eyes at the end, and starts out with him being hypnotized by the music, if you will. Then of course, everything in the house starts going to hell. The the walls are cracking, the phone's melting, the refrigerators blowing up, coffee cups are exploding, you know. Yeah just your basic good old high-tech 1982 special effects. But uh just one little note I wanted to get out there. Well, a couple things is that Ace is in the video. Of course, on the album cover, we all know that he did not, well, you folks may not, but he was not part of this album whatsoever. And then the other thing is that the dad in the video is Howard Marks, which uh he was Kiss's business manager from 1976 to 1988. So 12 years he was with him. Uh and I kind of recognize the guy, so I I don't know if I know him from something else, but anyway, there's my uh number seven. So we will go to yeah, of course, Mark.

I just gotta mention one thing. What did you call that type of television?

Uh cabinet TV.

A cabinet TV. Okay. I just want to give people advice if they still own said thing. Uh do not take a massively large rubber band and send paper clips into center of tube. You will ruin said TV and you'll have to go buy a new one.

It was a BB, Mark.

It was a BB. Okay, that was a great idea, AJ.

I broke the TV, everyone. I'm fucking sorry. All right, Dongo, number seven in your.

That's okay. You only had to have eight people come over to lift that console out of the living racket, and they were massive.

Exactly 7,000 pounds. And it was like a 17-inch 17-inch screen.

Yeah, right. 20-foot long piece of furniture weighing 8.4 tons.

Awesome.

It was a good size, but uh all right, dongo. Cool. So when I was going through my picks, I I noticed a trend, and that and the trend was chicks. I mean, there was a lot of chicks involved in the in the videos that I I liked. And uh, but I'll start with this one. It was uh a group that was cruising down the street and they saw a girl and she was really hot, so they turned around to to see her again, and uh she was gone. So then they asked, Where'd that girl go? And the person on the street said, She's got legs, she knows how to use them. Z Z top and the video is is legs, and I loved it because it was like in the video, the it was the girl next door kind of girl working at a shoe store, and there was a guy working across the street in a grill, and uh, you know, they're being treated like shit, and then these hot girls, I think they're called the uh I can't remember what the the Z Z top guys call them. The it's something like Excalibur or something like that. Ah, it probably was, yeah. And they come in and they like give her a makeover and get her all hot looking, and and uh then she goes and grabs the dude and they take off, and it was pretty cool. Nice. It was a happy ending. Very happy. Yeah, yes, and isn't that the girl? So the the main girl, the the girl next door who became hot, she was she was gorgeous and she had nice legs, but there was another girl in there, Kimberly Heron, who was wearing like a red tube top and a black mini skirt, and she is a smoke shit. Ah, that's that's awesome. Yes, a shout out to her. I don't think she's with us anymore, but she passed away.

Is that the also the pink furry guitars with the spinning them? I don't know if that was that video.

Was that gimme all your lovin'?

I don't know, but but they had some awesome videos, yeah. Yes.

And another thing I noticed about this topic is that one, it was like the the age of the 80s was like the heyday of it, you know. That was like the the pinnacle. Um, because it kind of went downhill after that. Oh my god, terribly. The 80s is when it kind of came in the you know, like, hey, we got this, and it was like everybody was doing awesome videos, and uh so it was like we hit it, we hit it at the right time.

Damn right we did.

Yeah, yeah.

Awesome pick. Nice. All right, Kev, so do you.

My doctor says I have to take a laxative.

Not in my story, you don't have to.

Not in my story, or you don't I think just such a great, great video. It was, I mean, the intro part after that, it turns to just a stage performance, which really, when you think about how many bands did we see throughout the years just turn into a stage performance. You know what I mean? There was yeah, there wasn't any fun with the video, it was just oh, it's just us on stage, and some of the bands kind of like that better than all the other stuff. But as a kid viewing it, those story videos were like, you know, Donnie talking about legs, those were fun. They they much more fun than just you know, and and so many of the live performance ones I think were them just on stage in an empty stadium. Oh, yeah.

Help me out. You didn't mention who does a video.

Oh, David Lee Roth. David Lee Roth, Yankee Rabbit.

Sorry, but I not everyone knows that.

I guess the fabulous Picasso brothers. Uh huh. Pete Angelus was the guy that says, Hey, I always bring two along. That way, if there's any conversation, I don't know. Exactly.

Forget about it's human in here tonight, isn't it, girls?

Um so the two of them, and it's actually this goes back to the the breakup of Van Halen and Dave's original plan. And actually, I found out there's a 77-page script. He had written a movie, and they were going to produce it, and that was part of that, and the other videos from that era that he did were all supposed to be part of a movie that um CBS gave him 20 million and then changed their mind. Yeah, once they met Dave, probably. No, no, actually, it wasn't Dave's fault at all. Dave Dave did a great job. CBS was kind of having some financial trouble, and they were trying to fight off uh uh hostile takeover, so they so they pulled the money back, and the movie never got made. And I'm guessing that it's probably something better of legend than if we actually saw it. I don't know if I love Dave, but I don't know if he really had the wherewithal to make a feature-length film. No, he would I would find him very annoying.

Where have they all to do with talk show? That's for damn sure.

Yeah, exactly. Well, um, so we've got we've got that, and I still think that's just the opening to that is just so many quotable lines and just so over the top, and and just so amazing. Incredible, just a great, great, fun video. At the I wouldn't say it was the pinnacle of the video era, but it was towards the beginning of it was 1986.

Yep, 1986. So it was right in the the heart of it. Yeah, yeah. Awesome friggin' pick, Kev. Such an awesome video. All right, brother Mark, to you.

Alright, I'm going all the way back to 1966. This is uh a pop, it's just pop uh what's the word I'm looking for? Pop candy, if you will. It's the Beatles paperback writer. It was filmed at the uh Chiswick House in London. You know, it's only like two minutes and two and a half minutes, and you have uh Paul Paul John and George, they're playing their instruments, and then you have Ringo sit just sitting there, you know, bored out of his mind. And uh it was just kind of neat. It seemed like you were in there, and this was kind of in their transition between uh going into you know the straight edge with the ties and everything, going into the uh psychedelic age. And it's it's it's just a fun, fun song. And I mean it's nothing crazy. There's a there's a part in the tune where they're just all sitting down in front of a lilac, and it it looks like you're in the in the parlor, the outdoor parlor with them. And it's it's just it's a video I watch all the time, and uh that's at the start of things, man.

That's awesome.

Well, no, I mean it's in the middle, it's 1966. You know, it's at the start of the they're going into their psychedelic age. Your hair's a little longer at this point, but uh it's just a fun little ditty and awesome. I just yeah, yeah.

So yeah. But it's it's cool to think about, and I think what AJ was saying uh is like video, because as far as a promotional tool, it wasn't there was no real outlet for it, like you talked about before. That was night flight, it was HBO used to play them in between to kill time, they'd play the videos. Um, but then the Beatles were on the forefront of making movies and oh yeah, and promotional stuff like that. And there's other people, I think Bowie did some stuff like that. Right. Other people in that era when it wasn't even really a medium, but they were they were doing it because they were being experimental.

Right, the OG. Yeah, that's kind of what I was saying. That's the OG, if you think about it. I mean, not that they didn't have TV appearances of Elvis and shit, but you get my point. Like, that was like your fur one of your very first, you know, acting videos, if you will, when you talk about Ringo sitting there like that.

No, he just yeah, he just sat there like I'm so irrelevant to this band, you know. Not that he was a bad drummer of any, yeah. It was just kind of, I don't know if you want to call it disrespectful, but it was just kind of I'm sure it was on purpose.

It was cartoonish, it was cartoonish, yeah. Awesome, you know. All right, that wraps up number seven. So that's six to me, yes. And uh, this is gonna be probably the one I'm gonna talk about least, but that doesn't mean it has any less meaning to me. Uh, this is from 1982, and it is, you know, in an English folk imagery, if you will, and that would be men without hats doing safety dance.

We can dance on the water, we can be all friends of mine, cut the friends don't dance, and if they don't dance, but no friends of mine. We can go where we wanna go. Let's play well, friends of the fine, and we can dance if we don't world go up on the fine.

Yeah, I absolutely could not leave this one off. Is that if you dance no, that's you can dance if you want if you want. It is that time if you can leave your friends behind. Exactly. And the importance to me of this is not only is it stuck in my memory and including the the parody video you sent me of it, Kevin, which is friggin' hilarious.

Oh, the literal, yes, absolutely hilarious.

Uh we'll have to get that out there somehow to show people, but it's friggin' funny, but just yeah, the like I said, the English folk imagery, and you know, you got the dwarf with them, you got the the womb kooky woman, and it's just a lot of fun, and that was not my music, you know, back then. So the fact that I can sing every word to that song, J.J.

It kind of was. I have memories if you listen to a lot of that stuff. Oh, I don't don't fool your audience, don't lie to your audience. I remember.

Maybe I it's because I had to hide it.

You were in the closet, yeah, if you will, with that kind of stuff. But yeah.

God, was it a fun video, though? And what a great song to this day, you know. Talk about a one-hit wonder, but you know, hey, it was awesome. All right, Dongo, six to you.

All right, staying with my girls theme. This is gonna be another David Lee Roth video, and it was California Girls. Yes, because that video hit me at the right age where I was heading into puberty, and there's just numerous I haven't reached it yet. Bikini clad women in that video that are amazing. Unbelievable video. And it it starts off with him being like a tour guide on a bus and his like weird photography that he did with the Picasso brothers. And fasten your seat belts, signpost up ahead.

As they take a turn into the sunlight zone.

So it was it was classic. It was just having so much fun, and yeah, I just remember that video, like like woo. Yeah, anything lied home about, but you can just sit and watch the whole thing just because of the yeah, the young the young ladies, yeah.

And that was kind of controversial, if I remember, with Roth kind of going off and doing that solo ish stuff while he was still with VH, right? Am I yeah, I think he was.

Yeah, that was that was uh again, that was part of that separation as he came in and said, Hey, I'm doing this, and they went, You can't do something else, you can't be in another band when you're part of Van Halen. Yeah, yeah. And that's where he was like, Okay, see you later.

And he was the only one with an ego in that band, too.

I mean, oh yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, certainly the biggest. I'm joking. Eddie had a 40-foot ego in his three-foot body, but yeah, God bless him.

Unbelievable. All right, Kev, what do you got?

All right, before I take my number six, I just want to step back to the safety dance for a moment. Yes. Um, as so many songs were at that time, people assumed that that was some kind of anti-nuclear protest, and that's not the case of what that song was. Really? That song was was about doing the pogo. As punk was taking over disco, the bouncers at the clubs used to get pissed off at the punk guys that were doing the pogo dance because they thought they were gonna hurt the little disco dancers, so they'd throw them out of the anyway. I just thought that was funny. That's where it came from. And also, sorry, I should have got this in before, but the little fella in the video, Flash Gordon, Empire Strikes Back, Time Bandits, The Dark Crystal, Marlow Private Eye, Return of the Jedi. I mean, he was in everything.

Nice. I wonder who he was in the world.

Many, many times his name in the movies was Dwarf.

But anyway, I wonder if he was an Ewok.

He must have been. Well, not an Empire Strikes Back, right? But no, he was an Ognot in Empire Strikes Back. Oh, yeah. He wasn't Ewok, he was Low Gray in Return of the Jedi.

Nice. And Dark Crystal came up in your spiel there. What a great movie!

Oh yes, classic, absolute classic. Great movie, but anyway, on to my pick. And this one was just like one of those early ones that if I remember correctly, that was you know, with that story thing that I enjoyed in those in those videos. Uh so it was 1983, uh, Screaming in the Night, Crocus. Yeah. I mean, what a great you can tell that it wasn't a big budget, but they made the whole feeling of that video with you know just the filters that made the trees and the ground look different, and and whatever. However, they dressed up the dancers and and all of that. I mean, it was it was all low budget, but still entertaining. Yes, absolutely. I mean, it was it was it was very cool. I mean, he gets put into that, and I wish I could, I didn't get a chance to look it up, but they end up putting him into that pyramid thing that reminded me very much of Land of the Lost. Yeah, yeah, the slea stacks. Yes, yeah, yeah. And you know, they close him up in that, and then he ends up. I guess they were painting that room because there's tarps all over the floor, and then he goes down into the trapdoor and After he finds the Nikes in the jean jacket and he's in a diner.

And he transports to the 80s.

He transports to the 80s and walks across the band's food and screams at the TV set.

Is that the band with that kind of a he's got a weird voice? I don't know. I don't know much about that.

I'm trying to think of what you might. They did a uh remake of Ballroom Blitz, right? Yeah.

Midnight Maniac. What the hell is a crocus? It's a flower. Aren't you the smartest thing? I mean, I I never heard of a crocus.

I it's funny you never heard of the band, but hey, cross between a cockroach and a locusts. No. Yeah, exactly.

No, they they I think they had a song on uh the soundtrack to Bill and Ted's.

Uh maybe it's a possibility.

Well, Mark Storres, the lead singer, was actually um one of the possible selections to replace Bond Scott. Yep, I remember when he passed away. That makes sense. I'm thinking of the right person. Yep, Rob Halford sang some backup on that, and they did a Bachman Turner Overdrive song. Uh Stayed Awake All Night. Pretty literal translation of it, too, except it just sounded like Crocus. Right, Crocus, right? Not like Bachman Turner Overdrive.

You know, that's a good thing to bring up when when people do covers, which that's another episode right there. You know, covers. I would I would prefer this covers better than probably.

We only got about 80.

But I I would prefer my covers to be after the actual song with a tiny change. I hate it when they fucking butcher them. You know what I mean? And make it complete a completely different song.

So I don't think if you're gonna do it exactly like the record, then what's the point of covering it?

Well, well, that's what I mean.

Not exact, but you're still my covers to be like a comforter or you know, like a duvet. Moron.

As long as I know what a crocus is, I suppose I can use a duvet. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it has something to do with betting.

All right, wrap up number six, Mark.

All right, we're going back to Jude of 1991. Um, this is Skid Row Monkey Business. Yes, uh and uh it's it's done at the Liberty Theater in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The reason I love this video is I mean, Sebastian Bach is just absolutely loaded with adrenaline. I mean, I think Ephedrin, I'm not sure if Ephedrin was out yet, but my God.

That comes up in this podcast a lot.

I'm just saying, I mean, it's just he's full of adrenaline, and I mean they do reverse lighting a lot on this video, if you recall, but it's just one of my favorite Skid Rose songs, and it's just the whole band is just rocking out, and you just want to just move about and just get, you know, get crazy.

And how they kind of came out of what the norm was and got heavier and heavier as they went, instead of trying to fit in, if that makes sense.

Right. Yeah, I mean they they just my favorite uh 80s hair metal band, if you were remember the show. I don't know if you have to edit that out, but yes. So yeah, that's my number six, and uh it's just a fun video to watch. It just if you want to get pumped up. I mean, I know when the song comes on when I'm at the gym listening to it, I mean I can lift a little bit more and just add 20 pounds to each side. Exactly.

Well, you know, you said you said you thought Sebastian might have been a little jacked up, but he actually had the t-shirt that said I spent all my money on drugs, booze, and women, and the rest I wasted.

So that's a great shirt. Uh too funny. All right, number five to me. And this is 1984, and it kind of stems off of a pick earlier, as it has David Lee Roth in it as well. But that would be Van Halen's Hot for Teacher. And talk about a video with women dongo and a video with story Kevin, just oh, friggin' Waldo. Who, mind you, everyone out there, is the voice of Phil Hartman. Yes, really, yes. I'm nervous and my socks are too loose. Sit down, Waldo! But uh, just when she the video starts, and the mom with the thick get uh goggle glasses is squeaking his hair. It makes me think of Mo. It's like but uh it's just spectacular. All of their videos are so fun.

Sweet, sweet, Waldo. Now, Waldo, I hope you find some friends this year.

Oh, Mom, you know I'm not like other guys. I'm nervous and my socks are too loose. Sit down, Waldo.

But then they get to the school, and oh that teacher. But then little girl from Cherry Load.

Well, so AJ, some of the um some of the biggest sluts out there are teachers. Perhaps look at Pam Smart.

We have Pam. And thanks for listening, teachers. Thank you. Bye now.

But anyway, just when they start the video out in the classroom, and the kids, you know, you got the Van Halen kids, of course, and then you look at the rest of the hairdo's on these kids, pure 80s, and then you get VH, you know, in their orange suits, like dancing around together. It's just it's a they're always creative, you know, and there's a few well, I won't talk about them because they could come up as well down the line, but this one was the most creative to me off of that album. And I also have a one memory I want to mention about it is when uh brother David Mark did the air band in whatever year it was, with I think it Blaze was Roth, Moulton was Eddie, and Kevin Shaw was Michael Anthony, and that was one of the best air bands I ever saw.

I Ben Blaze nailed it.

I will say, Ben, if you're listening, which I don't believe you ever will, but it he was phenomenal as Roth, and it was a memory because Dave had the white Tama drum set and put all the black tape on it to make the black stripes, and had the strobe light and did that solo at the beginning, and it was fucking awesome. Oh, it was great. Anyway, enough of that.

So off to you, Dongo. Okay, so girls, girls again. Uh, but this one's a little different because um this girl, this singer, wasn't that attractive, her voice wasn't that good, but for some reason she was like an icon of the 80s. I know where you're going, and she was amazing. And I, you know, at the time when I like rock and roll and heavy metal, I still would listen to her and be like, she's got something there, she's very talented. And it was Cindy Locke. Yeah, I knew this one I mentioned. Okay, yeah. You know, the her videos were fun with Lou Albano. Uh you know, they just told a story, and they were just simple and Americana.

And the mom is like my mother when you come.

Good hair, kind of, yeah. Incredible, man. Just yeah, I was gonna say, does this include Captain Lou?

Yeah, yeah, and she is beautiful, but in the 80s, she just kind of like you know, she wore like weird hair and weird clothes, but like she she's 72 now and she looks fantastic. She looks amazing. Um, and she's still that new you're it is pretty. She knows she doesn't chops, but she's good.

She is unusual, good one, Kev. Yeah, but I mean, she was fucking amazing. Like, I mean, the the hits she had just yeah, she was awesome, and that video was on my scratch list. Yeah, you watch them uh when she's pulling the crowd through, you know, they come like off the streets and through the house, and yeah, I love Captain Lou just pointing at everyone, like, get out, get out. But you know, it's just fun. She is a lot of fun. I love Cindy Lopper.

Yeah, can we agree on one thing, guys? Yes, Cindy Lopper never would have gone anywhere without Captain Lou Albano. I mean, I think that's obvious.

I think it's obvious. I mean, they showed it on Piper's Pit.

Yes, and yeah, but I don't know. She'd be some broad from New York out there. I don't know. Probably I don't know, sitting there on welfare in some bungalow. I don't know.

Oh, you morons.

So the song was actually written by Robert Hazard in '79. Used to play it around Philly in different bands, which is kind of weird that that because we know it as a girl's anthem.

Absolutely.

But it was definitely written from a different perspective.

Too funny. Yeah. All right, Kev, number five.

Oh, number five, you say on. Let me see here. This is probably one of the latest or newest picks in any of our podcasts for me, but it had to be in the conversation, and that was Beastie Boy Sabotage. Ah, because it was just such a great video. Nathan Wind is coachies. I mean, those guys dressed up in the different outfits and and the whole cop show theme that's going on. The song itself was uh the the inspiration musically was MCA jamming on the bass, and then they all joined in. Lyrically, it was because Mario, the the producer, kept giving them a hard time about not working, and so they just were making a joke about him sabotaging what they were doing. Uh nothing. Yeah, exactly. Um it was originally called Chris Rock, having nothing to do with the comedian. Oh, yeah. Wow. There was a sound engineer named Chris who thought it rocked, so that's so that's so they nicknamed the song Chris Rock, but anyway, just not a lot of stuff that I get into in the 90s era that much, but that one was just a slice of genius from that time.

Nice, nice, and that's about the end of it, in my opinion. You know, well, we'll get to that later, I won't discuss. But anyway, awesome pick. All right, brother. Number five, wrap her up.

All right, well, I'm going with a song from 1993 from the band Porno for Pirates. Forget it, it's irrevolent. Irrelevant. Whatever, it ain't jam into the conversation, which is an offshoot of Jane's addiction. Um, I'm not sure where this video was done, but it was in black and white, and Donnie talks about girls a lot. Now I'm gonna talk about girls, and uh this video is it's basically just people going to work, and I mean, I think one girl smiles on this whole video, and it's it's just people in a city, and they're filming girls dressed in professionally extremely sexy dresses, you know what I mean? Models negligence. Well, they're not well, no, they're just regular girls going to their office or whatever.

So they're just dressed sexy and good. Yes, and instead of business casual, it's business sexy.

I would say business sexy, absolutely. And you know, the song is about uh is there a better race out there that's gonna take over for us and everything? And it it just it reminds me of working at the state. It's in that time period. All these girls, they every time they face the camera, because some of the hottest ones, they don't even leave, they leave the face to the imagination. They show this incredibly sexy looking figure walking away with gorgeous hair, and you don't see the face.

Is that what we'll make great pets? Is that what you're talking about?

We make great pets. Did I not say that?

You know what they say, it's not the it's not the face you're facing.

But then they look at you and they just I don't know the saying.

Uh it's not the face you fuck, it's the fuck you face. Exactly.

But I I I just get the idea that they probably had that too. But um, or they wouldn't dress like well, no, you'd be have more reason to dress that way. But it's just something about this video that gets me, and they show people they're just looking with absolute blank stares, and it reminds me of going in on a Monday morning, filing papers, just that it was always the most mundane task on Monday morning for some reason. I was always hungover, and it just reminds me of that time in my life, and again, the girls. So, yeah. That was in early 1980s. I worked at this uh for the state in a depressing building with a bunch of depressing people, except for one other room that had all these gorgeous girls working in it, and uh of course the reception. No, there was like a room of 20 girls, and half of them were really kind of caught. And of course, they all wanted to be with yours truly, but you know, they couldn't. So anyway.

Awesome. All right, where are we here? Number four, yes, all right. I believe have we had a repeat yet? I don't think so. Well, here we go. All right, all right. This is 1986's Yankee Rose. I could not not take this because it's probably a video I quote more than any other in history of videos. You know, I mean, just not in my store, you don't. Or this is what my what is it, Kev? My third honeymoon.

I have this is my this is my honeymoon. I'll probably only have three or four more of these in my whole life. You're gonna stay in that dump that your brother called the hotel.

But Consuelo, okay? My honeymoon night, okay? You check me into that dump. Conselo.

But no mention of the Statue of Liberty, of course, what the song's about. I can't not talk about the band, okay? Fucking Steve Vai, Billy Sheehan, and uh Craig Bissinet, right? Craig Bissonet. Did I say it right? Greg Bissinet. I said Craig, I think. That's a but just an amazing, amazing band. And to come out of Van Halen, obviously, you you couldn't get Joe Schmoe, you know, on guitar. And but he nailed it, and that's what I like about when they do kick into the you know, semi-live footage on the stage. You got Vi going crazy, spinning his guitar around his neck, shh, they're all going nuts. And you got Dave and his assless chaps and his cup. It's just shit that would have been canceled back, you know, nowadays. But Dongo 40U.

Cool. I'm gonna take a little break from the girls, and this one had like very quintessential 80s with like pastel colors and you know, very acid trip uh video, and it's the cars you might think I'm crazy.

I'd love that. I'd love that video.

It's a great video, you know, with a lead singer. What's his name? Uh Rick Rick Ocasic, and he like turns into like a fly, you know, and is a very attractive girl in that video, though. Um, but it's just a great song, great video.

You might think of it.

Yeah, yeah. It's fun, it's a lot of fun. But yeah, I just remember like it has like black light colors and you know, just shit spinning all over the place. It's very psychedelic. Absolutely. It's very fun and it captivates you when you watch it because you want to just see what where is this going?

You know, like a blast. That band should have just been so much bigger than they were.

Yeah, which I love that song.

Awesome. That was like where they first got um, they were getting their feet under them as far as video editing and doing crazy shit like that. And that was very cool.

And now a short commercial break.

Welcome to Halftime at 80shigh. Want to just get a little info out there for you folks, including our website, which is pasttimes at 80shigh.com, and that is 80s for 80s, past times at 80shigh.com. Shoot us an email at pta80h at gmail.com, pta 80h at gmail.com. Love the feedback you've been sending. We can't appreciate it more. Check us out on all the socials, including our new Facebook, which is past times at 80s high. And then for interaction, past timers at 80s high. Find us on all the major podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. And please remember that those five-star reviews and the comments go a long way helping us move up that chain. So thank you so much. We couldn't appreciate it more. All right, that's number four to you, Kev.

Number four to me. I'm going with the tubes. She's a beauty. What a great great song, yeah, great video. Um, and at that at that time, to see those scantily clad women and and all of that that was going on in said video was just magnificent. Um, it was directed by Kenny Ortega, who went on to be the choreographer for Dirty Dancing, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and a series of movies that I have never seen called High School Musical. I'm aware of them. I have not watched and will not watch them, but good for him. He made some money. It's really the idea for the song came to Fee Wabel, the lead singer of the tubes. He was going through the tenderloin district in San Francisco, and there was like a phone booth, and it said, pay a dollar, talk to a naked girl. And he was like, There, why not? So put the dollar in, the thing came down. He says, and the girl was gorgeous. And he says, I was such a rub. I was talking to her, like, what are you doing? You could be a model. You could be, why are you doing this? Which I think is I think when you're young, and the first time you see a stripper or whatever else, that's your like, you could I love you. You could, I love you. You could you could live with me. You don't have to do this. This is degrading. And anyway, so then the then after he talked to her for a minute and she's totally ignoring him and just trying to get him to go into the massage parlor. Right. And then the dollar ran out and the thing came back up again. He put another dollar and he's like, No, seriously, you could be a you could be a dancer for the tubes. I'll give you a job. And she was like, Head on inside and get a happy ending, and just totally ignoring him. So that's where he got the idea for uh she's a beauty. Which I thought was pretty hilarious.

She's right here. Don't gonna like her. But she's gonna fly.

I saw them at the Capitol Theater back in 1981, I think. Did you really? Yeah, my friend's like, who the hell are the tubes? And I don't know. I don't know. That's when they did talk to you later.

Yeah, that was just the tubes are just they were a great band. I mean, uh punks on white, I'm sorry, that's the way we used to say it. It's actually white punks on dope, not punks on white dope. Which was a different era, but anyway. Uh a great band, and oddly enough, the keyboard player ended up playing with the Grateful Dead, which seems oddly out of place.

Right. Nice pick, though, Kev. Awesome. Thank you. And deep yet again. All right. Gotta go deep. So we we are now to you, brother.

Okay, number four to me is Let me take you back here. We're going to Kmart here. Uh, this is where I was working when this this was like the heyday of music videos, in my opinion. And we're going with the Rolling Stones undercover of the night built in Mexico City. And it is just absolutely life down there, lots of violence, lots of Mexican girls, just and they would just show up. They would the stones would show up in people's living rooms and Santa Fatato. You know, he's out there singing, and just I mean, he was still young at the time, obviously. This is by far my favorite Rolling Stones song.

I'm gonna have a slave. I'm no colour.

I'm gonna have a slave on the colour of the nose.

And you guys recall this song at all?

I know the song, I don't know the video, but I love Mexican ladies.

Yeah, and the guitar is tremendous on it, and uh, it's just very graphic, very graphic, it's violent 1983, and uh I mean I remember watching it more in 1984 at Kmart in the break room, but uh just it was a music video, it wasn't an actual music video, a music show. It was you know, it was a script, it was great. So that's what I went with for number four.

Awesome. All right, so we're at number three to me, and this is an OG for me, and it's We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister. Okay, yeah. Just everything about this video, including uh including Mart Metcalf as the dad, Needle, Needemeyer, Needlemeyer, yeah, just uh I this always brings up the PMRC to me. They tried to tear this song apart and how violent the video was, but the song itself was just kick-ass. But just the little boy at the end, okay, is in the front row at a general admission concert, banging his head and pumping his fist, and for them to show that it's like, yes, this was me back then, you know, and in the 80s, it was definitely a little later in the 80s, probably for me, but fuck, it's an awesome video. And I will leave it at that to you, Dungo.

Okay, so this one is another like different type of, you know, like the other one had the first computer graphics. This is the uh land of confusion from Genesis. Yes, where they used they used the puppet character caricatures, spitting on. It was just they were just amazing. Yeah. Um, great song. You know, I just love that video because it's just you're just watching it like enamored with these puppet character caricatures that are amazing. You know, they had like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, and you know, just the band and all kinds of people, and it was really fun.

The company was called Spinning Image that made those puppets, and they actually had a weekly program in in England where they did characters like that more. So they they were actually a very well very popular group scaring everybody with their frightening muppets.

It's like clowns and dolls. Dolls and clowns, exactly, and mannequins even. Awesome. All right, Kevin, take number three away.

Is it me? For three, well, here we go. So I had to bring these guys in because they they met in art school and they did some wicked creative stuff on again pretty low budgets, but I'm talking about, and it was unavoidable at the time, completely. Talking about burning down the house by talking heads. Great one. What a great video.

You might get what's up after. Cool, baby.

And even then, you know, I'm looking at it and like, you know, they took David Burns' head and put a eight millimeter movie projector on the hood of a car and drove down the street while they recorded. That was so cool. They projected on the side of a building. They had, you know, the different people dressing up as them on stage in the in the dance hall, and then at the end, like the kid hanging on on uh David Byrne and and using his arms to play the guitar and the other the other instruments. So I think it's a little old lady that's kind of got like uh Chris Franz and a headlock playing the drums with them or whatever else. And it's just like they were just so creative in what they did, because now you see, well, I mean, not now, but later on, you saw videos that had huge production, millions of dollars. And these guys are like, Well, we got a dance hall, a camera, and uh, and a super eight. That's all we needed. You know, that's it. That's all that's all. That's all that's all.

I mean, the best movie of all time was done that way. Uh the Blair Witch Project, it was very low budget.

Oh, that was the worst movie in the history of all time, I hope you're all right, all right.

Well, I mean, you know, it's not a good comp. Okay.

Oh, but just you know, simple, bizarre, strong imagery that sticks with us. I mean, you as soon as you hear that, like being of our age, once you hear the intro of burning down the house on the radio, yeah, the image of David Burns' face on the highway comes into mind, or the or the house with the concert on the side of it, whatever. It's just to to make that stark imagery on such a low budget is very impressive.

Absolutely. And the low budget videos, in my opinion, were still the best. Like you look at these multi-million dollar things, it's like what a waste of fucking money. Because you could have done it with your well, nowadays you could just use your fucking iPhone. Oh my god. Better than yeah, with way better. Awesome, Kev.

The best of TV combined with the best of radio. Now, starting right now, you'll never look at music the same way again.

I'm Alan Hunter. I will be with you right after Mark. We'll be covering the latest in music news coast to coast here on MTV Music Television.

I'm Martha Quinn. The music will continue nonstop on MTV Music Television, the newest component of your stereo system.

Well, all right, I'm JJ Jackson, and I'll be sitting in with the latest video music performances the way they were meant to be. That's in stereo on MTV Music Television. You'll never look at music the same way again.

Hi, I'm Nina Blackwood, and I'll be with you after JJ, right here on MTV, the world's first video music channel, all day, all night in stereo.

Are those guys the best? We all are so excited about this new concept in TV. We'll be doing for TV what FM did for radio, and let's get into it right now at MTV.

All right. That's three to you, brother.

All right, okay, three to me is Freely's Comet Into the Night. Oh, nice. I absolutely love this video. It's it's filmed in San Francisco, California. You know, the the video starts with the comet coming down and they're they're playing, and it went back and forth, which a lot of these videos do with the band playing and going into the city and everything. But uh this is a Russ Ballad written song, by the way. Yes, it is. But uh anyway, the Ace is on top of his game at this point. You know, he's coming out of uh Leave and Kiss. This is the first album. I mean, he's for Ace at the time is pretty much straight comparatively. Probably we wouldn't be able to survive what he was doing at the time, but he was he was sober at that point. You have bums and hookers on it, and the thing is, one of the things I liked about it, and I'm assuming the girl is a hooker, she's she looks into the limo uh window and she sees herself out as she wants her to be. And so does the bum. He looks like a classy guy, and he's up in his suit. Yep. I loved it from the moment I saw it, and my favorite part of the whole video, other than hearing Ace shred away, is uh the end where Ace helps the hooker up off the ground, puts his arm around her, and they walk away, and it's sleeping in the hall of the town.

A lady in black suit turns around.

I love the the mirror images that they see of themselves in the window. You know, just to see them where they really want to be in life rather than where they really are in life. And who which one of us doesn't do that every fucking day?

Well, I mean, I I I look in the mirror and I see exactly who I want to see.

Oh, good. I'm proud of you. The best professional wrestler that ever lived.

Um great. Awesome. Well, no, it's a great it's a fun video.

I mean, it's just you're going deep today. You you know, usually it's Kevin going super deep today. You are. I love it.

Yeah, I mean, you know, it's really yeah, but seriously, paperback writer, monkey business to make great pets undercover the night into the night.

Right, not what you would think of when you think of those videos. I love it. It's fucking great.

There's there's a trove of videos that I didn't really put too much energy into because I figured everyone was gonna have them.

Yeah, I know. There's still one that I'm waiting for that I don't have, but it's gotta be on some.

Well, there's more than one, but I think that's a good one.

Well, my number two is gonna be one of them, I'm certain.

Well, why don't you do your number two now? That's what I should do.

Oh, wait, it's his turn. That's correct.

How convenient.

Let's get right to that. And I'm not even gonna go that deep on it. This is 1983, and it's fucking thriller. Michael Jackson. I couldn't leave it off my list. Just him and was it Ola Gray? Am I? Ola Ray. Ola Ray, yes, sorry. Ola Ray plays the girlfriend in it. Of course, you just have that huge long skit opening where he turns into a wolf. And you know, I watched it again last night, and I was absolutely fucking infuriated as he's changing into a wolf at how long she stares in his face with her hands up screaming, ah!

Get away!

Like for about five minutes, I'm like, you could have been running five, you could be a mile away by now if you started fucking running.

Kind of against the Eddie Murphy of you know the horror movie would be over instantly. Sorry, honey, we can't stay. She just stands there and waits till he transforms slowly.

Yeah. Like the second the five-inch fingernails pop down, I'd be on my way. Gotta go! But so then you have that, and then of course, well, before that, you have. I'm not like other guys. We know, Michael. We know. But uh, but then the the dance, you know, yeah, choreography in this is absolutely amazing. I was really paying attention to it last night with like everyone in their loose clothing. You know, they're climbing out of graves, of course. Just the groove and the moves, obviously all professional dancers, but it's fucking incredible. The whole video, you know, it was a a thing. It was okay, this is coming out Friday night at nine o'clock, you know. Release. Yeah, right, right. Waiting for it. Everyone was on their couch just waiting for it. Right. And then hit the Super Bowl kind of thing.

Then he went to his surgeon and went back and went back and went back and went back.

You know what's crazy though is the album had already peaked and was starting to fall off down in sales.

So when they asked the executive three.

Yeah, when they asked the executives for money to make the video, they're like, Yeah, I don't think so. And so it was MTV and Showtime, who was new at the time, that put up the money to fund it to produce the the the actual video, um, which is really bizarre because you think you would think that everything aligned to make that happen. Like everybody'd be like, Michael Jackson making a 20-minute video. Yeah, yeah. I'll fund it, I'll fund it.

But yeah, I had to obviously take it, but we shall see here. Dungo, number two to you.

Thank you. Yeah, Michael Jackson. Man, he that was like he he was top bill in that 80s, you know. Oh my god. He was he was definitely one of the best video makers. Oh, I had to scratch other. So I'm going with one that I've used in another cast, but I have to use it because I I love the video, and it's Walk This Way by Run DMC. Yes. Because it did bring back Aerosmith. Um, I just love the combination of the hip-hop and the rock and roll and the studio. I love the you know, the dynamic of them being in the studio and them hearing it and then smashing the mic stand through the wall and yeah, yeah. I love that. So it was just a classic video, and you know, it's kind of iconic how it kind of brought them back together. And that's definitely.

That is when they started taking off again.

I think you're right, definitely.

Yo, turn it down, man. Turn that noise down, man. Yo, stop with this, turn it down, bud! One, two, three, five.

Is when they knock the sheetrock out. Yeah, get the two scenes. But I'm working with two to one, you know what I mean?

Just Tyler sticks his head through.

Yeah, yeah. Just classic. Awesome. All right, good pick, Don. All right, Kev.

All right, you want to go deep. I am gonna go deep because again, it's those videos that were so bizarre that that stuck out in my mind in those days. Is this the one? Is this the one? So I'm going. I'm going with Herbie Hancock off Future Shock. Wow. Rocket.

Nice.

Rocket was the most like bizarre friggin' video. You had the mannequins that were like computer or or mechanized, like the legs walking around, and the swan or or ostrich or whatever it was, and the and the headless, the headless mannequin to the woman slamming the guy's head into the into the breakfast table. And it just so absolutely bizarre. I don't even think I listened to the music until years later, which I actually kind of every time it came on, you're like, what in the fuck is this? Interesting though, because it was directed by two guys, Godly and Cream was their name. They had a big hit with the song Cry. They came from the band 10cc. These guys were very creative, they worked in the studio. All of the backing tracks were them singing, and they had just multi-tracked it and multi-tracked it and multi-tracked it. And just these guys, and they invented a guitar called a gizmatron. And um the widget, the thing on the widget, it had like a rubber wheel that came that that ran on the strings. Jimmy Page used the gizmatron on in the evening and Carousal Lambra on In Through In Through the Outdoor. So it was something that got used. There was probably 10 or 12 other instances where this thing they invented was used. Uh, but just to round it out, they got five MTV awards for that video, including Best Concept and Special Effects in 1984, and just uh an incredibly memorable video.

Awesome pick, Kev. Awesome pick. And I cannot move forward without saying this anytime I hear that name. Okay. But I have to go to Tommy Boy because when he's taken the test in the classroom and it says who signed the Declaration of Independence, and Herbie is one of the names, and he checks it. Or he writes it in. I can't remember if he if he checks it or writes it.

It was supposed to be supposed to be John Hancock, and he wrote Herbie.

And he says it out loud and nods his head like he's so proud. I got this. Herbie. Herbie. Great pick, Kev. All right, Mark.

All right. Well, I'm going from this is from Lick It Up. It's Kiss All Hell's Breaking Loose. Oh, nice.

All hell's breaking loose. Hey, hey! Have you read the news?

Welcome to Radio 1990 and Heavy Metal Wednesday. I'm Catherine Kinley, and this is my special co-host today, Eric Carr of Kiss. Welcome to the show.

Hey, thanks, Catherine. Let me tell you, I have to tell you something. This girl is so pretty. I don't know if I'm gonna be able to keep my mind on what's going on today, but I'll try.

Let me tell you, I like this guy. I'm gonna keep him the rest of the week. But today, we've got video music from April Line Heaven Girl School and a band that Eric pounds the skins for.

It came out in 1984. This is an era which I call violent kiss. You know, their songs were I mean you know, I mean, listen to Undercover of the Night. That's kind of a violent song. Maybe that's kind of the era we were in. But what a great video. I mean, they're coming out right off the straightaway. Gene's eating a turkey leg. You know, people are coming up to attack them. I mean, all they gotta do is a little elbow or forearm uh smash to the head, whatever. They're falling over. And of course, this is Kiss. So there are girls, girls, girls everywhere. They come out with a sword fight. This is the um post-makeup album. And the thing is, Gene did not start looking like a fish out of water yet. He still looked, using your word, AJ, battle axe.

Well, he still looked a little lame, but he looked a lot better than the next album. That's for damn sure.

I still think he looked pretty damn cool. And, you know, Vinny was in it. He still looked uh a little bit more masculine than he does these days. And uh it was a fun video. It just it's dark. I like dark. I don't know what that says about me, but um, you know, this whole era, this is my favorite era of cast or certainly one of them, other than you know, you had this many eras I liked of them. I'm not gonna get into that scene that this is not preachers of the night.

Street Hustler comes up to me one day, and I'm walking down the street, minding my own business. Now he looks me up and he looks me down and says, Hey man, what be this and what be bad? And why you gotta look like that? Well, I just looked into my catapult. I said, Hey man, I am cool, I am the free.

Alright, I believe we are to number one. Alright? Yes, and I guarantee you, nobody has this one. This is from 1992, and it is a bookend for me, and that is Kiss Unholy. I could not not take this one because of the memory of it and what it meant to me, and what it meant for music videos to me, even more importantly. But this is like the last time I remember a video being of super importance to me. And is that sad? Maybe, but just the fact I can't remember. I think you were with me earlier in this night, Donnie. We went to some party that sucked and we left early, and you went home. And I walk into our old Prescott Hill house and up to David's room to pop on the headbanger's ball. Pop it on, here it starts playing, yes? And I don't even recognize the band for five to ten seconds, I have to say. And it's fucking KISS, okay? I'm a huge KISS fan. I'm like looking, you there's this guy that looks really cool and battle axe with his eyes rolled back into his head. You can only see the whites of his eyes, and then there's an embryo and an ultrasound and weird fucking kids dancing around in blindfolds, and then bam, there's Paul Stanley wearing a fuck t-shirt. It says fuck on the front. I think they did something with the U or something to like cross it out, but I couldn't believe it. I mean, here's Gene Simmons, okay, looking absolutely fucking kick ass. Finally found his look. It only took him 10 effing years, and he finally looked cool with the goatee, good hairdo or good wig, I should say. And it was just unbelievable. I couldn't fucking believe it. And thank you that I have we had a VCR, not a Betamax Donnie, but a VCR. And I was I hit record always for the ball. So I was able to back it up and watch it over and over, and it was kiss returning to badass kiss. It was just such an important video to me, and I will leave it at that, but just wow. I mean, if anyone out there hasn't seen it, go watch it. And if you're a metalhead, like it just made me look at Gene and be like, wow, after everything that came out through the 80s, like with Metallica early on, with you know, uh Ride the Lightning and Master and the rest, just like in seeing how some of these people looked, yet they tried to stay into the wrong fold of things at times, if that makes sense. Yes, it makes perfect sense. But they could have been heavier and kick-ass, and this was it.

So that's my important number one. Tonight, on Friday Night Videos, brand new videos from Billy Joel and Cheap Trick, Def Leopard, John Cougar, Madness, a video vote between Robert Plant and Z Dop, with a free Friday Night Videos t-shirt given away every 15 seconds during the voting, classic videos from Tom Petty and Santana. A private reel on Loverboy, plus Elvis Costello, Peter Schilling, Peter Gabriel, Olivia Newton John.

So off to you, Don. Cool. I'm going back to the chicks. Or I should say chick. Like uh Kev likes to go deep into picks. I like to go deep into the cheese because I love the cheese.

I thought you were gonna say deep into the ladies. That's what I thought too.

No, and this one's weird. It's way out in left field, but it just I I liked it. It's fun, it's it's classic 80s, and it's oh, I want to dance with some bad. I want to be in the sheets with some bad, you know, Whitney Houston with I wanna be on the sheets with some bad with some butter. She this was her peak. I mean, she looks banging in this video. Um, she wears like every classic 80s outfit. You know, she changes like outfits like a hundred times, and it's like a classic, like I don't know if it's the first one, but it seems like it's like a montage type video where you know they they constantly cut to different scenes, and and it just reminds me of a lot of you know music videos um in movies at the time. Yeah, and uh it's a fun song, um, it's classic 80s, and it's just it reminds me, brings me back to the good times. Awesome.

All I know, I can close my eyes and see what she looked like in that video. And unlike certain other people, I wouldn't have introduced her to crack cocaine, so she'd still be with us. Yeah, she obviously made a bad choice there, yeah. But that's just me. Yeah, she was a triple threat.

Awesome. All right, Kev, number one to you.

All right, now you want to talk about going deep. This was the first one that came to mind because even though Rocket was bizarre, this was absolutely even more bizarre. And this was called Close to the Edit, and it was just unbelievable. The name of the band was Art of Noise, um, directed by Zabignu Rubizki, uh from Poland. It got MTV's most experimental and best editing awards that year. Um, part of the band was Trevor Horn, who was from Yes, but also from Buggles, and I hope this isn't Mark's first pick, but obviously the first the first video ever played on MTV.

Yeah.

Um and it's it's just so bizarre because they're in like a uh they're on train tracks. I don't know if you guys remember this at all. There's like an eight, nine-year-old girl dressed up in punk outfit with with like punk makeup on, and there's these three guys, it's not even the band. There's just three guys in suits wearing goggles, and they each have a weapon of destruction. One of them has a skill saw, somebody else has a pair of pliers or whatever, and they're just walking. She walks around, there's like kind of a stop motion thing, and she like just goes around these different instruments and directs them on how to chop them up, and then they go about chopping up saxophone and a and a piano and whatever, and it's just the most bizarre imagery ever. It's so mind-bogglingly like you just one of those videos that you just went, wow. Nice. Awesome.

Alright, brother, wrap her up.

Alright, I am wrapping it up with Guns N' Roses, the Garden. Oh my god. 1993 filmed in New York City. Just a class. I mean, this is by far one of my favorite GNR songs. It starts out with Slash, he's sitting there and it's dark, it's all black and white, and he's just sitting in a hotel room. The TV is if you remember back in the day, if he didn't have it tuned right, it was like squirrely things. You know what I mean? And uh and he's like, Yeah, and he was passing out and everything, and you know, it starts off kind of slow, and then it goes when it gets heavy, it goes directly into the red light district. And you want to talk about hot girls, they're everywhere. Classic Guns N' Roses, great video, great tune. Awesome. Just you know, it's five and a half minutes long, and I I just love it. I love it. I I watch it all the time, and uh, that's my number one. So I guess I wrapped it up.

All right, boys. What a great episode, guys. This will become ongoing. We'll get some out there that, and I know a lot of you people are wondering how we miss certain things. Trust me, they will come up. But anyway, guys, great, great fun. Everyone out there, thank you so much for listening. Uh Dongo, thank you for joining as always. Here we go.

A lot of fun, yes, Kevin.

Hey, thanks for having me, man. Um, and if anybody's got anything out there that that we've missed, obviously you can email us.

Absolutely. PTA.

Let us know that we've missed something, but there will be more.

Yes, PTA80H at gmail.com. Brother Mart.

Yeah, that was a lot of fun. And uh again, we could do that episode every week for 25 years. Yes, it would be enough material. And so, you know, there's many more, so that's what I got to say.

Well, thank you everyone out there for listening. We can't appreciate it more, and we are out.

I got your children. What did you tell them?

But Jews came and broke your heart.

And now we meet in an abandoned studio. We hear the playback, and it seems all on a goal.

And you remember the jingles used to go.