Johnny Hates Jazz "Shattered Dreams"

"I dreamt the impossible, that maybe things could work out right..."

Berlin "The Metro"

"I remember hating you for loving me..."

Motley Crue "Dr. Feelgood"

"He's the one that makes you feel all right..."

MOTLEY CRUE'S "DR. FEELGOOD"

David Bowie "China Girl"

"Oh, baby just you shut your mouth..."

DAVID BOWIE'S "CHINA GIRL"

The Go-Gos "Vacation"

By far the best all female water-skiing team/band of the 80s...

THE GO-GOS' "VACATION"

Glass Tiger "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)"

"And I can't stop loving you (and your mullets)...Oh, can this be true..."

GLASS TIGER'S "DON'T FORGET ME (WHEN I'M GONE)"

Cyndi Lauper "She Bop"

Cyndi Lauper. I’ll always remember her association with WWF wrestling, because Captain Lou Albano and his rubber banded beard played her father figure in one of her videos. Turns out she liked wrassling with herself too.

I remember soon after getting cable TV, watching Headline News Anchor Chuck Roberts (I think) say these words heading into commercial, “And Cyndi Lauper says ‘It’s okay to masturbate’”. I was shocked. I didn’t know they could say that on T.V. 5^th grade sex ed had left out the concept of self-service, yet the Cable TV was telling me it was a legitimate news story.

Pre-She-Bop, I remember getting an obscene phone call where the caller asked if I knew how to masturbate. I told my dad some weird guy was on the phone wondering if I knew how to "mast a pig". I didn't, but that changed thanks to Cyndi's timely and thoughtful words, “I can’t stop messing with the danger zone”…

CYNDI LAUPER'S "SHE BOP"

The Greg Kihn Band "Jeopardy"

"Don't get cute. Don't get funny now..."

Cutting Crew "(I Just) Died In Your Arms"

"It must have been some kind of kiss..."

CUTTING CREW'S "(I JUST) DIED IN YOUR ARMS"

Men at Work "Land Down Under"

"I met a strange lady, she made me nervous..."

Ratt "Round and Round"

We are Ratt...we are so bad ass, we can get Milton Berle to cross-dress..."what comes around goes around..."

Vixen "Edge of a Broken Heart"

"And you're gonna be sorry baby...when it's OVER..."

VIXEN'S "EDGE OF A BROKEN HEART"

Elton John "I'm Still Standing"

I always got this song confused with "Always Something There to Remind Me". Watching the two videos has helped me differentiate between the two. John's song has more dudes in thongs. Sir Elton does good work and this is a great 80s video.

"If our love were just a circus, you'd be a clown by now..."

Elton John's "I'm Still Standing"

Naked Eyes "Always Something There to Remind Me"

"You'll always be a part of me..."

Naked Eyes' "Always Something There to Remind Me"

Van Stephenson "Modern Day Delilah"

Van Stephenson is my Valentine's Day selection. Now, admittedly, I’m a sucker for any song set in a hair salon, but this one is the class of that genre. MDD is a wizard with her shears. But, damnit…do not…I repeat, do not let her find your weakness, else something horrible might happen...she might stab you in the heart or even worse, she might slip something into your shampoo? I don’t think you can really sing about shampoo and be taken seriously as an artist. Still, I loved this song. No wonder it was #40 with a bullet…

INXS "Never Tear Us Apart"

"We all have wings, but some of us don't know why..."

INXS' "NEVER TEAR US APART"

Whitney Houston "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"

"Dontcha wanna dance...say you wanna dance..."

P.S. Crack is wack.

Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"

Stray Cats "Stray Cat Strut"

"Don't cross my path..."

Stray Cats' "Stray Cat Strut"

Squeeze "Tempted"

"Damnit...the background dancers didn't show. Who can we use to represent the sultry temptress of this song?"
"How about these three substitute teachers?"
"Perfect."

Squeeze's "Tempted"

Chris DeBurgh "The Lady in Red"

Chris DeBurgh took my breath away..."cheek to cheek"...


Chris DeBurgh's "The Lady in Red"

Murray Head "One Night in Bangkok"

Most of my favorite songs have at least one Yul Brynner reference in them…and are usually from musicals about chess. Spinal Tap claimed that there’s a fine line between stupid and clever, while Murray Head uses this song to say there’s not much between despair and ecstasy. Both could have been talking about the tightrope walk attempted by most 80s musicians.

Does Murray walk the thin line or tumble for ya?

Elvis Costello "Veronica"

This is another song that I quoted a lot...usually when introducing myself. And yet, I didn't have a clue as to the subject matter. Mr. Costello's biggest U.S. hit was about his grand-ma-ma's battle with Alzheimers. You can call me anything you like, but my name is Slim Shady...

Huey Lewis and the News "Power of Love"

"It's got to be a good movie, they even got jackets."

Van Halen "Jump"

Feather your hair, put your colorful, long handle comb in your back pocket, take off your Member’s Only jacket to reveal your Van Halen KICKS ASS! concert jersey and crank the volume to eleven…

Bruce Springsteen "Tunnel of Love"

"Tunnel of Love" was another tape that got a ton of play on the boombox in my 1973 Plymouth Duster, which did not even have an FM dial on its radio. "You got to learn to live with whatcha can't rise above..."

Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel of Love

Samantha Fox "Touch Me"

My memory of Samantha Fox is that she was hot. Watching this video, she looks like a slightly thicker version of Julia Duffy, who played Stephanie on Newhart. So, my memory was correct…smo-king! This video is priceless. It’s mostly the keyboardist twirling and Samantha vamping it up until the 3:00 mark when it turns into a weird 20 second variety act. She swings! She stands by a fan! She throws water on her drummer…Oopsies! She wants to feel your body…

Jackson Browne "Lawyers in Love"

"Eating from TV trays, tuned into Happy Days..."

Winger "Seventeen"

Before barely legal girls went wild, Kip Winger wrote a song about hot 17 year olds. Just…plain…wrong. And yet, it was a top 40 hit. Ahh the 80s…a simpler time when rock stars were celebrated for dancing close to high school junior’s “borderline”. “Daddy says she’s too young, but she’s old enough for me”.

This video is now older than the object of KWinger’s affection…