Please post your choice for Favorite and Least Favorite Video of all time, and the reasons why you like or hate it. Hating the artist(s) or song aren't valid excuses.

My favorite video of all time would have to be "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits. The computer effects and art direction were just killer at the time. "Every Breath You Take" by The Police would be my second, because the black and white tone and contrasting use of darkness and light fit the song perfectly.

My least favorite video of all time is "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails. It looks like it was designed by someone who escaped from an insane asylum. AFTER the frontal lobotomy!

Incidentally, I HATE the song "Money For Nothing", and "Closer" is the only "Nine Inch Nails" song I like. Funny, huh?

Ok, Im a bit embarassed by this but.... My favorite music video isn't an offical one. During the 4th season of Babylon 5, someone put together a beautiful music video of the evolution of the relationship between Sheridan and Deleen to The Police's "Every little thing she does". Thats the tune, but Im not sure of the name or the band, 'cause its too dang late.

I would kill to see the video of New Order's "True Faith" again. It stuck in my mind the first time I saw it and I've only ever seen tiny extracts from it since - and then only once in a blue moon!

My strongest memory is lots of people in coloured inflated rubber suits (careful!) jumping up and down in time to the music, and at one part a couple of them slapping each other's faces, again in time to the music.

"I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear"

Superb video.

Merat: I could tell you about all the Babylon 5 music videos I've got, but you'd die of jealousy ... ;-)

Favorite - The Cars You Might Think
Special effects have gotten better, but I don't think any video has ever come close to doing what this video did.

Worst - a tie between almost every performance video ever made.
Performance Videos *ugh* why don't they just put up a sign that says "We have no imagination!"
If I want to just see a band perform, I'll buy a ticket or watch them when they perform on some talk show.

That being said, there are a couple of Performance Videos I like.

Billy Idol Rebel Yell
He gives a very compelling performance here.

Prince 1999/Little Red Corvette
These 2 videos tend to blur together in my mind, so I tend to list them as one. I think the unusual outfits they wear helps make this visually interesting.

Honorable Mention - Bruce Springsteen Dancing In The Dark
The Courtney Cox & friends stuff keeps this from being a straight Performance Video, but Bruce gives a watchable performance.

Callie:
"Merat: I could tell you about all the Babylon 5 music videos I've got, but you'd die of jealousy ... ;-)"

*Decides to die of jealousy anyway at the mention of those highly desirable videos*

Oh, by the way, I've also seen a few SG1 music vids, one of which seemed to be a "slash" view of the Jack/DannyBoy relationship....

Merat! Remind me - are you in the UK? If so, you need not die - we may well be able to work out a way to let you have them. If you're interested, email me.

Nope, Georgia, USA.

The South SHALL rise again! Yee-hah!

(I'm in Tennessee)

But Im origianaly a D*mn Yankee.

Wellll, I can occasionally be nice to Americans too if I really have to be ;-) Can British CDs be played on American systems? If so, and you'd like a CD of B5 music vids, let me know!

As far as I know, any CD made anywhere can be played in any computer anywhere. Just make sure that you burn the CD in a format that can be read by all operating systems.

I like the video for Smash Mouth's Allstar off the Mystrey Men soundtrack. The video incorporates footage from the movie into the plot of the video instead of the standard cut to movie footage inbetween clips of the video. Also it's much more enjoyable than the film Mystrey Men turned out to be.

Offspring's Pretty Fly For a White Guy, I thought it was helarious because I know a guy who looks and acts just like the geeky white guy in this video.

Rob Zombie's Living Dead Girl video is great, fake newsreel footage of Rob as the PT Barnem from hell staging a freek show.

"Maenner sind Schweine" from "Die Aerzte" starring Lara Croft (a big hit in 1998) was quite nice.

The aforementioned video can be downloaded here(12MB AVI).

Callie, I remember that "True Faith" video, really liked it, but like you haven't seen it in years.
Worst videos, hard to make any absolute choices, but here's 3 that I thought fell well short of the quality of the music
The one that tied in with the movie "Amadeus" (don't remember what piece of music was used).
The cameo by David Lee Roth at the beginning was the only good thing about the visuals. The rest was an assortment of clips from the film that seemed to be put together in random order. Looked like it was made by somebody who THOUGHT they knew how to make a video.
"Don't Stand so Close to Me" by The Police
The band apparently got bored about halfway through the shoot and decided to just jump around and act goofy for the rest.
"Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac
I swear when I first saw this, I thought it was a behind the scenes/making of the video documentary. I kept waiting for the real finished video but, it never came.

KAM, I don't like performance videos much either but, one that I did like was "You Better, You Bet" by The Who. Shot in black and white with some interesting camera work.

Whoops, I didn't mention my favorite videos so here they are in no order.

"Take on Me" by A-Ha

"Losing My Religion" by R.E.M.

"Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles

"Rhythm Nation" by Janet Jackson

"Centerfold" by The J. Geils Band

My favorite video of all time would have to be "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits. The computer effects and art direction were just killer at the time.
Well, I certainly have to agree on this. At the time I never really thought of it as computer animation. What gets me is that sometimes you'll still see animation being made that looks just like that now, like in videogames. You'd think by now that they'd be much more detailed and realistic looking than they are, what with how fast technology progresses.

I also like The Cars' "Magic" video. To this day I still can't see the clear plastic or glass platform Ric's standing on in that pool. Maybe it's just me.

A-Ha's "Take On Me" is great, and rightfully won one or more awards for its groundbreaking visuals at the time. And the girl in it is so cute (but weren't they all in those videos?)

The one that tied in with the movie "Amadeus" ...
Are you referring to the song, "Rock Me, Amadeus", by Falco? I like that song but his "Der Kommissar" video is so bad it's funny as hell. All he does is run in place in front of a blue screen with some kind of footage showing behind him, like maybe in a street or out in the country or whatever. It's been awhile so it's a little hazy to me.

I've always thought Janet Jackson was pretty but I never realized just how beautiful she was till I saw her very sexy "Love Would Never Do Without You" video, the first one after she'd gotten rid of her baby fat and showed off her buffed midriff and wears that Bardot 60s hairstyle which works for her. Then again she could be completely bald and she'd still be very sexy. She wanted to break out of her good girl image and succeeded very well with that video, and nevermind that it's in B&W either.

Favorite Videos:

Take On Me-- A-Ha
Don't Come Around Here No More-- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Big Log-- Robert Plant
Cloudbusting-- Kate Bush
Sledgehammer-- Peter Gabriel
Land of Confusion-- Genesis (clever video with the Spitting Image puppets)

Worst Videos:

Everybody Have Fun Tonight-- Wang Chung (gimmick did not work for me)
Back on the Chain Gang-- Pretenders (video's approach did not quite work)
Rock Me Tonite-- Billy Squier (Was he trying to imitate Prince in "When Doves Cry"?)

MarkN, no the video I'm referring to was from the movie "Amadeus" starring Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham. The video used one of Mozart's pieces from the movie.
Sorry I took so long to reply.

My favorite video for a song from a movie?

Cradle of Love by Billy Idol (from the soundtrack to Ford Fairlane). Do I even have to say why? ;-)

By the way, the name of the actress in the video is Amber O'Shea. And, tying into Butch's post right before this one, I once saw her in a movie called Intimate Power with....F. Murray Abraham!

He's a sultan, and she ends up becoming his wife. I don't remember the specifics, but it takes place in the 1800's, I believe. She's a rich English girl, or something like that, who gets shipwrecked and ends up becoming a harem girl, or something like that. You'll have to forgive me, because its been at least eight years since I've seen it.

I haven't seen many videos, but one that always sticks out for me is Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know. I love the song, and the video is just genius. The total insanity and anger of what she is saying is depicted perfectly with the random gesticulating and arm-flailing. I also like the grammatical and eloquent nature of the song. It is like a well-written poem that fits so well the music.

If anyone knows where I can download an MP3 for this song, please let me know, BTW.

Peter.

Hope you own the CD, Peter.

This is Peter isn't it? The real one? Can't be. He'd never approve of this song. (Especially the line about the theater. And the line "Are you thinking of me when you f*ck her?") And asking for an MP3? That's the same as Napster. Isn't it?

I have the CD, but I doubt that's gonna help you. I do recommend the album, though. I love it. There are two versions of the song on the Jagged Little Pill. As far as Mp3s are concerned, I rarely use them. If I ever get a burner for my computer, I'll probably hook up with Audio Galaxy or something like that.

Great. Now I'm gonna have to slip Jagged Little Pill into my stack of CDs to play. Thanks alot.

Yes, it is me. The F-word fits the angry tone of the song perfectly and although I wouldn't approve of oral sex in a theatre, I don't see why that is a good reason to dislike a great song that mentions it.

Peter.

Morality?

I am not sure what you are trying to say. Romeo and Juliet has fornication, murder and suicide from middle to end. And of course, these things were written to be depicted by actors, not simply read or heard like a song. Presumably you think that Christians cannot like Shakespeare then?

Peter.

Well, Christians generally have an animus towards rock music that is based on the loose morals presented by the musical genre. While the word f*ck may not be as objectionable to you, I'm just a little surprised that the hint of premarital sex doesn't offend you. Keep in mind, I'm not trying to diss or flame you. (The Music boards have been flame-free. I'd prefer to keep it that way.) It's just that this does not, based on all other information provided by you, seem like a song you'd be interested in. I'm basing this on what I've taken to be anti-rock comments you've made on the Classical Music boards. In particular this comment: "Whereas they could only manage symphonies, amazing and moving anthems and hymns, we have the tribal war dance/mating ritual music of rock..." It seems to be a contradiction is all.

As far as Shakespeare, maybe not Romeo and Juliette, but if you'll check out this site, you'll find some of the Bard's works have been banned. Presumably on moral grounds. http://www.adlerbooks.com/banned.html (One website I found, http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1998/05/19/p55s2.htm states the "Twelve Night" has been challenged because it encourages homosexuality.)

"Leave It" by YES was unique...and kinda cool.

Peter,

If you insist on violating copyrights and stealing from Miss Morisett, I recommend Kazaa.com

I'm posting as annoymous because I am providing a temptation and would rather avoid the obvious references.

It is a mistake to think that mp3s are always theft. If someone was never planning to buy the single under question in the first place, then downloading an MP3 makes no difference to the finance or property of *anyone*. Computer data is not a finite resource, and so theft is not always an issue. Anyway, thanks for the link, and this debate probably belongs elsewhere.

Peter.

If you don't mind my nonetheless responding to it, Peter, copyright infringement is not predicated on finance or the infinity of the resource. Any unauthorized duplication of a protected work is infringement. I once heard that Disney, who protect their copyrights vigorously, went after a young artist who drew some free illustrations of Disney characters at a comic book convention for the kids there. I admit I don't have specific sources, or know what happened to that case, but the legal grounds therein are solid.

But hey, if you want it, I'll transfer it to you over AIM if you have it.

Benn: Well, Christians generally have an animus towards rock music..
Luigi Novi: Whoa, there, buddy, I have to disagree with you. I don't know if this is even "generally" true. I have no problem with rock music. (BTW, is rock 'n roll the same thing as rock? Or related, perhaps? If so, my mom also disproves that statement, since she liked Elvis. The only musician I can recall her ripping was Madonna, and I don't think her pop music qualifies.)

You don't know the Christians I do. Nor have you you seen Bob Larson's lovely, but wildly iinaccurate books ranting against the "evils" of Rock/Rock & Roll. (And Larson's not the only one.) Not to mention Jack T. Chick's hilariously paranoid anti-rock tracts. If you want to read one such tract, please go to http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0034/0034_01.asp The Christians I refer to believe Rock (and Rock & Roll) is "of the Devil". I do agree I should amend my statement to say "Many Christians have an animus against Rock (and even Rock & Roll)." Better?

The video to Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" (directed by Spike Jonze) is very weird. Original, but weird.

Incidentally, a panel of experts at VH-1 recently voted Jonze's other Fatboy Slim video, "Weapon of Choice," (starring Christopher Walken) as the greatest pop video ever. (Source: Metro)

My favorite from when I actually paid attention to videos in the early eighties was the Police's Wrapped Around Your Finger for some reason.

Best:
"Scream," Michael & Janet Jackson
"Black or White," Jacko
"Runaway," Janet Jackson
"Sonne," Rammstein (the Snow White one)
"Seemann," Rammstein (black & white)
"Du Hast," Rammstein (directed by Q. Tarantino!)
"Links 2 3 4," Rammstein (ant colony holds a rave, then attacks two big beetles [yeah, it's weird])
"Eyes of a Stranger," Queensryche
"I Disappear," Metallica
"Enter Sandman," Metallica
"Bedtime Stories," Madonna (one of THE BEST vids ever)
"Take a Bow," Madonna (beautiful)
"Human Nature," Madonna (the [blessed] end of her S&M phase)
"Parabola," Tool
"Black Hole Sun," Soundgarden (mid-nineties...the really trippy one...good for an anti-drug commercial..?)
"Imagine," John Lennon
"Right Now," van Halen (fantastic...just everyday life scenes playing out, with messages superimposed)
"Closer," Nine Inch Nails (I also LOVE the song)
"More Human Than Human," White Zombie
"Take on Me," A-Ha
"Money for Nothing," Dire Straits
"The Unforgiven," Metallica (beautiful. Simply amazing.)


Worst:
"Start Me Up," the Stones (love the song, but Keith Richards and Mick Jagger [in the 80s] in SPANDEX??!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!)


And many more, from both categories, that don't come to mind..

CC, how could you mention Metallica without Turn the Page?

I love the video for Tribute by Tenacious D.

Haven't seen it, Bri. I'll download it.

Favorite: Vanessa Mae's "Toccata and Fugue" and "Classical Gas" videos. Its just her performing, but she is just so INTO it and obviously having fun. Incidently, I can't recommend her CDs "The Violin Player" and "Storm" enough, especially the first one.

Wierdest: Anything by "They Might Be Giants." I love most of their music, but their videos are just bizzare!

Merat: re TMBG - I remember vaguely the video for "Birdhouse In Your Soul" as being exceptionally "wierd". Good song, though, that never fails to entertain.

These are a few of my favourite pop videos (of which they're probably your favourites too):

"Take On Me" - A-Ha. Without doubt one of the most original and finest pop videos ever made.
"Money For Nothing" - Dire Straits. That's the way to do it. I want my MTV indeed.
"Wonderwall" - Oasis. Trippy.
"(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" - Beastie Boys. Made the VW badge a fashion statement.
"Sledgehammer" - Peter Gabriel. It made pop videos an art form.
"Wannabe" - Spice Girls. The only way to film a great party is to throw one. Preferably all in one take. (Incidentally, towards the end look out for Geri Haliwell nearly tripping over.)
"Ashes To Ashes" - David Bowie. Just strange.
"Land of Confusion" - Genesis. The attractive and funny Spitting Image video that gave me my first ever dose of Phil Collins's band.
"Radio Gaga" - Queen. One of their most memorable videos ever. Based upon Fritz Lang's "Metropolis".
"Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen. A performance video that went just a little beyond.
"Let Forever Be" - Chemical Brothers. A well-choreographed piece of work.
"Thriller" - Michael Jackson. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAH!!
"Firestarter" - Prodigy. A jolly family outing for everyone.
"Killer" - Adamski. OK, so it looks a bit naff now, but at the time it was awesome.
"Stan" - Eminem. A bit too dramatic, but still nice and moody. Another one for the kids, I think.
"Praise You" - Fatboy Slim. Lo-fi videos are just as great as the full SFX ones.
"Come Into My World" - Kylie Minogue. Based loosely on Neneh Cherry's "Feel It" but does a better job with the concept. Deja vu all over again.
"I See You Baby" - Groove Armada. No particular reason.

Not really a music video, but I wasn't sure where else to put this. The online cartoon Master Zen Dao Meow took a recording of the B-52's & made up a cartoon that can be viewed along with the song.

WARNING! Implied drug use & implied sexual situations in this cartoon. If that offends you, don't click the link.

Also this loads very slowly. Don't click if you are in a hurry. Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiig file.

"Owner of a Lonely Heart" Yes
"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" The Eurythmics
"Here Comes The Rain Again" The Eurythmics
"Love is a Stranger" The Eurythmics
"Time After Time" Cyndi Lauper
"Self Control" Laura Brannigan
"There Must Be An Angel" The Eurythmics
ANY video of Weird Al Yankovic
"Every Breath You Take" The Police
"Eyes Without A Face" Billy Idol
"When Doves Cry" Prince & The Revolution
"Money For Nothing" Dire Straits

"It's Alright" (Baby's Coming Back) The Eurythmics
"Take On Me" A-Ha
"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" WHAM!
"Ghostbusters" Ray Parker Jr.
"Who's That Girl?" The Eurythmics

Among the worst videos ever are anything made in the early 80s by 70s rock bands who were probably being forced against their will to make them. For example: any video by Journey.

According to an MTV show I saw in late 1999 called "Twenty-Five Lame," hosted by Chris Kattan, Janeane Garafalo, Denis Leary, and someone else, the lamest video ever is "Heartbeat" by Don Johnson. To commemorate it's winning the title, they pulled the tape out of the casette and ground it up in a blender.

My local paper stated that Starship's "We Built This City" was the worst song of all time. That's debatable. The video for the song is fairly fanciful for a mid-eighties song.

Purely for visual effects, I think some of the most impressive videos are:
"Can You Feel It", Jacksons
"Scream", Michael Jackson
"Toxic", Britney Spears (and she looks incredible in only glitter!)

Least favorite video: All of them.

Music videos have really fed the "style over substance" tripe that has passed for music recently. Granted the music industry has almost always done that, but it has become much worse since the advent of the music video.

OK, I'll name a favorite: "Napoleon".
It's a silent film that requires a live orchestra to play the music.

Ooh, bringing back too many memories (good and bad). The mention of Don Johnson above reminded me of one of the most ridiculous videos I've ever seen, done by his Miami Vice partner, Philip Michael Thomas. The one scene that I can't forget (and want to!) is his head in five or six kaleidoscopic bubbles spinning around a pregnant woman's belly.

Another one that seemed way "over-produced" was the Jacksons' "Can You Feel It?".

Although in deference to Derek above, the SFX were pretty impressive.

Gack, I just realised I haven't seriously sat down and watched a video since around 1990. I feel oooooold.

For me, a video only got really fun when it played around a bit with the format's possibilities, got truly imaginative. So of course I lurved Money For Nothing, You Might Think and Take On Me. Total classics.

Others I can remember being genuinely impressed by:

Cry, Godley & Creme. The original 'morphing faces' video, which I found about 10x more compelling than Michael Jackson's. Maybe because it was done entirely in black and white, which heightened the effect.

Legs, ZZTop. Revenge of the Nerdy Girl was a theme to which I could deeply, deeply relate during my teenage years, and this version was aways more satisfying than the one in Grease. Besides which, of course, great song.

1999, Prince and the Revolution. Ordinarily I'm in complete agreement with Benn re: performance videos being lazy, but this group was just fun to watch.

Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four), The Eurythmics. One of the great band/movie pairings ever, and the video shows it off to full effect.

Strange Animal and Criminal Mind, (Larry) Gowan. This guy may not be familiar outside Canada. In the late 80's he recorded a CD of just slightly twisted technopop, dressed himself up like a male Cyndi Lauper - tattered clothes, mass of multicoloured hair - and made a couple of wonderfully goofy sci-fi videos to go with his two Canuck Top Ten hits. Then sales dropped off a bit, so he toned down the look and started using his first name. Not surprisingly, sales continued to drop.

Crazy For You, Madonna. It's the love theme to some 80's teen flick with Matthew Modine, and the video is simply Madonna singing in a bar, almost to herself, while the low-key film clips come up...and somehow it all just got stuck in my head.

One of the more recent videos I've enjoyed watching (hell, I love the song, too) is "Hey Ya!" by Outkast. Admittedly, the concept of one man playing the entire band has been done before. (Paul McCartney's "Coming Up" was probably the original one.) But this is still a fun video for a cool, funky song.

np - Lolita soundtrack - Ennio Morricone (Forget John Williams. I'm quickly becomig a Morricone fan.)

"Music is a world within itself and a language we all understand."

The Jackson's "mini-film" of "Can you feel it" was spectacular. It was made by Abel & Associates who made those psychedelic Levi's commercials in the early 1980s. Remember the ad with a man walking a bouncing Levis logo (or the 7-Up "Butterfly" commercials from the 70s).

I don't agree with Scott though. I enjoy visually spectacular music videos. One's taste is their own business. I respect anyone's right to enjoy their own style whether it's rap, country, or classical. Who's to decide what music is better. What is meaningful to one person may have little meaning to another.

I enjoyed the videos that mixed live action and animation such as:
PAULA ABDUL "Opposites attract": the "Anchors Away" inspired animation of Paula dancing with a hip-hop cat was fun
A-HA "Take on Me": it's a fast paced and suspenseful video with beautifully hand-drawn animation.
FIVE STAR "All Fall down": the dissolves between live action dancing and animation are fun

I also like Madonna's "Express Yourself". The lavish "Metropolis" inspired video with its Art_Deco style helped Madonna move from her eighties "trashy" style (Lucky Star) to a more "classy" nineties style.

My least favorites are the heavy metal videos.

Garbage did a fun video of some dualing pilots in futuristic planes a few years ago. I wouldn't mind seeing that again. It was a nineties video. VH-1 Classic only plays requests for 80s, 70s, and 60s videos, so no luck asking them!

WORST: Samantha Fox; "Naughty Girls Need Love Too"-----a skank-arama!

This is what I've been trying to say.

From a very insightful Frontline Interview with David Crosby:

---

Quote:

FL: Be specific. I mean, Jesus, one moment, you're talking about Woodstock and the incredible beauty of what you guys had--

DC: And many others.

FL: -- everybody on that stage, many people on that stage did, to Britney Spears shaking her ••••. How did we get there?

DC: Several ways, the first of which -- and I'm probably shooting myself in the foot by saying this publicly, but to heck with it, it's the truth -- the first of which is VH1 and MTV, who unwittingly and without any mal intent -- you know, they didn't mean to do anything bad -- have turned it from being a musical experience to being a theatrical experience. Again, what you look like, not what you can do.

That's not a good thing, because it means that anybody that looks good in a well-shot video is suddenly at the top, whereas hugely talented people, who are great musicians, can barely get arrested. I mean, they can barely get any notice at all. And that's not a good thing. That's had a terribly bad effect on the music business, and on music.

---

The obvious fact is that the music industry, like tv and movies, primarily markets towards a young audience. Just like all the summer blockbusters aimed at teens. How many middle-aged folks rush out to buy a CD on its first day of release (like teens do)?

Of course, plenty of other music is available (may be not on MTV, then again most everyone over 25 has outgrown MTV).

I saw probably one of the worst songs and videos in history last week. It was a treasure from the 80's: Vanity's "Pretty Mess". I wouldn't have payed attention to the song (since Vanity has one of the thinnest and weakest singing voices I've ever heard), except for what the lyrics were about. The " such a pretty mess on my dress" Vanity was singing about obviosly refered to a semen stain on her dress. Other than the fact that this could be the theme song for Monica Lewinsky, I have to ask: Is this another one of those Prince penned tunes (along the lines of Little Red Corvetten and Sugarwalls). I know Vanity associated with him for a brief time in the 80s (or was it just Apollonia?).

Heh. Well, Rona, you're probably gonna hate me, but I actually like the song. I think it's kinda funny. I love the bass guitar, too.

The song was written by Vanity and Bill Wolfer. So unless Wolfer was another of the Purple One's psuedonyms, he had nothing to do with the song. And I really don't think he did.

Vanity was a member of Vanity 6, an all girl trio and one of Prince's side projects. They released one album featuring the hit "Nasty Girl". (The album is pure fluff.) Vanity quit after that album, I think mostly because she disliked performing in her underwear, as that seemed to be the requirement His Royal Badness had set up for Vanity 6. A new lead singer was found (Apollonia from the movie, Purple Rain) and the group was renamed (predictably) Apollonia 6. "Sex Shooter" was their big hit.

If it's any comfort for you, Rona, Vanity is now a born-again Christian, goes by her real name, Denise Matthews, and has been on the evangelical circuit. You can find out more here.

"Vanity's a deadly sin/It's what the flesh is buried in." - "Mirrors", Blue Öyster Cult

I would prefer that Vanity would become a devout Buddist, but that's another matter. My beef about the song was her very weak vocalization. She undeniably has a VERY weak voice. She is a beautiful woman, but I have to at least give her credit for not getting huge breast implants.

I saw some videos I haven't seen in a while last night. I really enjoyed Extreme's "Whole-hearted". It was nice to see an old fashioned, straightforward song with just nicely done guitar work and vocals. The visuals were fun too; throughout the video, more and more people gather round to enjoy the song.

Pebbles' "Mercedes Boy" was more problematic. It is a catchy song indeed, but the message is questionable. She teases with the promise of "so many things she would do to her passenger". In reality, few women pick up men to do such things. Most drivers in convertables looking to "give rides" are dirty old men, not beautiful young women. When I was 14, a dirty old man offered to give me a ride in his convertable. Not for one second did I want to think about the many things he would do to me.

...and as for Billy Idol's "Dancing with Myself", lets just say he wouldn't need his tap-dancing shoes for that kind of dancing. The video is kind of brutal too. He sends many young men and women plummeting down the side of a high rise building. Sounds a bit like mass murder (just kidding, I know they were Zombies, so they were already "dead").

"Once in a Lifetime" by "The Talking Heads"

Bizarre...but GREAT!

Tears for Fears - sowing the seeds of love... looks like it was directed by Salvador Dali! Incredible, Stunning, and Imaginative. MJ's Leave me alone is by the same director, Jim Blashfield.

Level 42 - Take Care Of Yourself
Go West - We Close Our Eyes and Call Me
Helloween - Kids of the Century (reminding of surrealism and Storm Thorgerson/Hipgnosis)
Crowded House - Chocolate Cake (reminding of the movie Joe's Apartment)
Pink Floyd - Learning to Fly
Duran Duran - Is There Something I Should Know (looks like it was directed by Magritte!)
AC/DC - Heatseeker (A Missile Blows up the Sydney Opera House Video Screen!)

Cheers Everyone, from Ivar in Norway :-)

PS: Does anyone know 80s/early 90s videos reminiscent of these (other than the more famous like money for nothing and You might think?)

The Best Video of all time is 2008's "St-upid S..." by Girliscious. Tiff is amazing.