Songs which would not have become hits without music videos

Blind Melon - "No Rain"

Good idea for a thread, OP. I am stumped.

A-Ha's Take On Me

r1 is that the one with the bumblebee girl?

I choose Safety Dance

OP - I don't think this is what you had in mind, but it's truly one of the greatest examples...

R5 - I have been racking (wracking?) my brain for an example, and damn you picked a good one!

“Crazy” by Aerosmith

Like a Prayer

Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel - the song really isn't that good. Also, Money for Nothing by Dire Straits.

Any song by OK GO. (But I do love their videos).

Virtual Insanity

I think this is a great song and would have been a hit no matter what, but the video sent it into the stratosphere.

If you want an example of great song matched by a great video, this could be it!

I would say that the 80s was the peak of having a great video push sales and everyone knew it. There are a lot of 80s songs that fit this bill, including some MJ songs. (Sorry but Black and White is just a forgettable song).

Sometimes it pushed good new songs from new bands that wouldn't have received the same treatment - so it went both ways.

God the 80s were fun and creative - at least for me as a teenager.

Everything by Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Madonna, etc etc etc

Addicted to Love-Robert Palmer

I disagree r3, Take On Me would’ve been a hit.

What r12 said

R13 closed the thread,

OkGo Here We Go Again. WHET that band..

Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under

It turbocharged Shania’s career

November Rain. Its an amazing video, but the song on its own goes on and on and on and on.

I was gifted their first album when I was 7,my older sister wanted it, but she got our grandma to buy it for me (she of course copied the tape before Christmas day was over), probably because my mother was totally oblivious whereas her dad, my uncle , was WAY more observant and conservative.

Random tangent: how amazing was it getting a whole set of ten blank tapes as a birthday or Christmas gift!!

^omg sister 🤭, my cousin was the bad influence, Im and only child.

Julie Brown’s “Vague.”

Everything since the year 2000. Young music fans don't have the concentration any more to listen to audio for 3 minutes without video to distract them.

Janet Jackson - "Runaway"

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - "Mary Jane's Last Dance"

Weezer - "Buddy Holly"

We're close to owning this thread

I’m Too Sexy.

Actually R26, their video kinda ruined the song for me. When I first heard it on the radio, I thought it was a true parody/send-up of what being a '90s male runway model was like. Then I saw those two muscle queens behaving exactly like what they were allegedly making fun of in the video!

When I saw that they had but two brain cells between them on The Arsenio Hall Show, I was thoroughly disillusioned.