What Are The Most Memorable Music Videos Ever

Aha - Take on Me

OK GO - Here It Goes Again

Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

Duran Duran - Rio

Rhythm Nation.

We are the world

We are the world

Tous Les Memes

My favourite video and the best representation of alcoholism I've seen

Pink and costarring Tatum Channing

Why don't we do it in the road?

That is a hell of a shocking video, R8. My heart cries for people whose lives are like that.

"Oh Father" by Madonna - an underrated song and a haunting, creepy, beautiful and sorrowful evocation of child abuse, seen specifically through the eyes of the child. The details - the dead woman's thread-sewn lips, the shadows clawing at the vast door - alternate between dreamlike and documentary.

Cars "Why Can't I have You." The music video with the most takes for a single shot - nowadays I expect they'd just CGI it. Also, it was years before I started to suspect why the dancer was unavailable.

Nineh Cherry: "Kisses on the Wind" A great track, an amazingly beautiful woman and a panoply of LA skyscrapers moving in fractal arrangements that suggest a mash-up of Blade Runner and Pepperland.

Jody Watley: "Most of All" Another beautiful woman, tons of beautiful men, Art Deco B&W photography: every frame looks like a Helmut Newton spread.

Fleetwood Mac, "Tell Me Lies," a melancholy song about past regrets set in a beautiful faded estate north of San Francisco: probably the most effective use of fade-in/fade-out of any music video.

Tone Loc, "Wild Thing," sometimes the buck-fifty budget works, but it helps to have a tolerant girlfriend who doesn't mind you filming her flawless ass.

David Lee Roth: "California Girls", a hilarious spoof of the original's sun-kissed fatuity. Roth manages to pull off straight camp like nobody's business. Never has goofy been so sexy.

ZZ Top: "Velcro Fly", featuring the only full-clothed 1950s nightclub dancing that could be referred to as somehow X-rated.

Roy Orbison: "Mystery Girl", filmed just after the singer's death and simply a montage of items and locations - postcards, lipsticks, bathtubs, limousines - that suggest the story of lost love. Eerie, stately and hypnotic.

Eurythmics: "Don't Ask Me Why" - Annie at her most elegant, deep saturated colors borrowed from David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" and a cast of musicians trading lewd asides. According to legend, two of the male musicians were a couple in the stages of breaking up, just as Annie and David were at the time. The hostility shows.

Robert Palmer: "Get it On" Holy shit.

And, yeah, A-Ha's "Take on Me".

It's the truth, R11, that's why it's so powerful. That was my life too for a while. I can testify it's the raw truth

Björk - Bachelorette

En Vogue "Free Your Mind"

the song with the fashion and the runway theme just made such an impact. This was before runway music videos became cliche btw. En Vogue proved they could sing any genre of music and even succeeded going pop-rock here. 4 beautiful women with great voices. A shame they didn't want to keep making more albums as a foursome

Buggles - I Am A Camera Simply beautiful and years ahead of its time. The makers of Take On Me had clearly seen this prior to making that video.

Hello!!

Siouxsie & The Banshees: Kiss Them For Me.

(Pink) Champagne, Leather Daddies, a poodle, heart shaped pool, Siouxsie "fisting" the mirror, earrings (no caftan though), a song about Rita Hayworth (on the road to New Orleans, a spray of stars hit the street). Campy, Bollywood pop

[R19] Not Rita - Jayne Mansfield. IIRC, "Kiss them for me - I may be delayed" is how she rang off her last phone call.

1.1 billion views on YouTube

Bjork- Human Behavior (good song, too).

Memorable for being the absolute worst, least creative video ever is Donna Summer’s Dinner with Gershwin. She swivels her hips and her dress keeps changing for the entire song.

Kate Bush The Sensual World

Beautiful and a bit barmy. Like the lady herself.

I would nominate Kate's "Wuthering Heights" because it was our intro to her and we all copied the dance moves, at least those of us with dance training.

Kate Bush's "The Woman's Work" is also amazing. Great acting - which you normally wouldn't say of a music video.

Paula Abdul "It's Just The Way That You Love Me" directed by David Fincher.

Perfect

This is the better version of Paula's music video.

r20, Fuck. You're right. Jayne Mansfield (not Rita).

Bedtime Story - Madonna

Let Forever Be, by The Chemical Brothers. Directed by the very imaginative Michel Gondry. Modern psychedelia and a catchy beat.

All of the Madonna/David Fincher collaborations with a soft spot for "Bad Girl".

I think Diane Keaton directed this one by Belinda Carlisle =

This video by the Go-Go's had every 80s theme you could think of =

With over 788 million views =

This classic video where the actor playing the "boyfiend" died of AIDS in the early 90s =

LIANT =

I'm second to none in my love of Kate Bush, R24 , but that video? Babooshka is her most notable.

Hold On =

The #1 song for 1986 in the USA...

Lest we forget.

Pat Benatar - Love Is A Battlefield. Fierce

R39 - I love all Kate's videos - although King of the Mountain is my least fav. I agree Babushka is a great video and 40 years old!. She was so ahead of her time.

[quote] En Vogue proved they could sing any genre of music and even succeeded going pop-rock here. 4 beautiful women with great voices. A shame they didn't want to keep making more albums as a foursome.

It was even sadder than that. I had lunch with them wile they were promoting their second album. They were essentially treated like a 60's era girl group. They were essentially the hired help and their producers and the record label were making all of the money. I remember one of them (it may have been Cindy) telling me she hoped to be able to buy a house soon. This was while they were promoting the successful followup to a multi-platinum debut.

On another topic - Lady Gaga has never looked hotter than she did in the final verse of Bad Romance.

[quote] Although, I did not like his actions, IMHO, he was a musical genius. Michael Jackson

Was he a musical genius? The only thing genius about him was hiring Quincy Jones.

The man who also directed Thriller indirectly killed Vic Murrow, and two innocent children by helicopter.

Don Henley, "The Boys of Summer".

The quality of the clip isn't good, but it's the best I can find.

always makes me laugh

xoxo

R45 OMG WHAT? You had lunch with them????? Can you please elaborate? What were they like in person? How were their personalities? Did they get along? Did they spill any tea? I was a fucking superfan 7 year old in 1992 lol

Pet Shop Boys: Go West

HELLO

I agree about Love is a Battlefield. I'd add Come on Eileen (Dexy's Midnight Runners), and to bring out the leather daddy or son, "Another Thing Coming" by Judas Priest.

Jody Watley - Still a Thrill

R.E.M. "Losing My Religion" won a bunch of awards. Recognize me in the video? Enjoyed having lunch with the band, very small cast & crew plus young director straight out of USC.

I remember seeing Pat Benatar's "You Better Run" in the early 80s.

It was shocking to me (as a kid) to see a woman tough talking her way thru a music performance (by the end of the decade it was a common thing).

This video opening is a classic =

Shadows Of The Night (where she plays a Nazi fighting pilot) =

I thought this video lived up to its title =

I don't think she ever looked better (in a music video) than this classic =

Great song. Iconic images.

Great song. Iconic images.

This DL classic =

Hazy Shade Of Winter - The Bangles

For R1 (with 956 million+ YT views) =

Also for R1 (with 48+ million YT views) =

Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box"

Radiohead's "Paranoid Android"

Tool's "Sober"

Another one who loves Gaga's "Bad Romance"

Stand back, bitches.

Why are most of the videos here from the same era? (80s/early 90s)

My vote is for this ABSURDLY GOOD video/tune by the Chemical Brothers. Rarely does a video complement the music so much.

Love Pat Benatar. They don't promote super talented women singers like her any more. Sad.

Because they are? R69

David Bowie "Ashes to Ashes"

Talking Heads "Once In A Lifetime"

Ultravox '"Vienna"

The Human League "Don't You Want Me"

Visage "Fade To Grey"

Possibly the best ever use of stock footage Devo "Beautiful World"

Loved The Smashing Pumpkins' Méliès inspired video for Tonight, Tonight.

Also Bowie's Space Oddity.

Right Now - Van Halen

The now classic rock band joyride around town

& bonus lawbreaking (wading/swimming in a fountain) =

Heaven Is A Place On Earth - Belinda Carlisle

Club At The End Of The Street - Elton John

You bitches are slipping...

I Heard A Rumour...

R69 - because the 80s were the decade when most DLers were in their 20s and 30s.

Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity

Umm no R86 some of us were still in school during the 80s.

How To Be A Millionaire - ABC

I always thought that, if a time machine is invented and I get into contact with older civilizations and they ask what we're like, I'd give them the true flavor with this (from a time when I was actually proud of humanity):

Meatloaf - I Would Do Anything For Love

Pearl Jam - Jeremy

Midnight Oil - Power and the Passion

With over 468 million YT views...

Dancing On The Ceiling

Mistake No. 3 - Culture Club

Their most memorable video (forgotten on the DL?)

Meatloaf anything for love.

When I saw the lesbian scene I was like whoa! It was so shocking for me.

Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer

Found this in the last few months or so while cruising around YouTube never heard of this "group" before.

It's a cover but a good spin on the original.

r100 this is the most frau thing I've ever come across

Massive Attack have terrific videography. Live with me was mentioned already, and it really is a great video - haunting and raw. But there are others worth mentioning. Teardrop - one of the most original videos in history. Carmacoma - directed by amazing Jonathan Glazer, director of Under my skin. Protection - by Michel Gondry, endlessly original. And many others.

Come to Daddy

R103

YESSSS!

Rockit by Herbie Hancock

This was on MTV all the time when I was little.

Afrikaa Bambaataa... lots of brilliant stuff from 20-ish years ago.

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

R97, I think this is a more memorable Simple Minds video. It was cool for it’s time.

Even if you don’t like Madonna, the Herb Ritts touch is unmistakable and memorable.

Constant Craving by kd lang

Wicked Game by Chris Isaak

Hazard by Richard Mark

When Doves Cry by Prince (one of my all time favorites)

Did I miss it? Someone must have posted this classic!

Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart

Pia Zadora's Magnum Opus

Groove Is in the Heart

Is there anything more 90s than this?

George Michael - Too Funky

R.E.M. - Losing My Religion

George Michael - Faith

Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

INXS - Never Tear Us Apart

I prefer this version of Bonnie Tyler's big hit: "Total Eclipse of the Heart Literal Video Version."

Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up

One person is stinking up the thread because the fucker is the only one posting.

This thread has deteriorated quickly into posting any pop song from the 80's. Memorable videos are for a reason - because there was something special and unique about the video. Not because the song was memorable or popular.

Lonesome Town - Ricky Nelson

These Boots...

"You Need Us" (on this thread) =

Indian Lake - The Cowsills

Classic coming in at 0:53 =

Daydream Believer =

The Further Advs. of Scary & Scarier =

New Order, True Faith

Kudos to R125 , the epitome of The Swinging Sixties!

I think the most influential video ever was Michael Jackson's "Beat It".

A simple, quiet video I loved was Elton John's "Nikita".

Call me sappy, but still can't watch this without starting to cry.

R126 wins the prize!

Robert Palmer - Addicted To Love

Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)

Eurythmics: "Sweet Dreams"

Grace Jones - Slave to the Rhythm

I'm With Stupid

Madonna - Express Yourself

Janet Jackson - When I Think Of You

Tracey Ullman - They Don't Know

Van Halen - "Hot For Teacher"

Eurythmics - I Need A Man

If I Could Turn Back Time - Cher

All those randy sailors.....

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax

Public Image Ltd - Rise

Tom Tom Club 'Genius Of Love'

The Residents 'Hello Skinny'

White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

Speaks volumes.

Sigur Rós - Untitled #1 (A.K.A Vaka)

Way better than Girls Just Wanna...

"Vogue" - Madonna

"Let's Dance" - David Bowie

Janet Jackson - Love Will Never Do (Without You)

Directed by Herb Ritts.

(Unfortunately Youtube won't allow the music video unless something is "done" to it. However, there is a version of it that shows BOTH versions of the video.)

Duran Duran: Wild Boys

Duran Duran - Union Of The Snake

"Chinese Dance" from the Nutcracker Suite - "Fantasia" (1940)

Coil - Tainted Love

Jet Screamer : "Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah"

Opera imaginaire - La Traviata

Opera imaginaire - Tosca

'Big in Japan' by Alphaville.

Grandma...

70s music videos were rare & 90s music videos were vanity "look at me" projects. The 80s music videos had creativity on their side =

The Go-Go's as Cypress Garden water skiers...

The Go-Go's as drag kings =

Miami Vice...

Love the song. Love Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

Loverboy...

Lovergirl...

Lots of good choices on here. So many are from the 1980s because that's when the video became a thing.

I always loved Here Comes The Rain Again by the Eurythmics. Filmed in the Orkney Islands and I believe other parts of Scotland during the winter. Poor Annie Lennox froze her ass off when she was walking on the cliff. It's a hauntingly beautiful song and video.