Ten Criteria for the Perfect 80's Music Video, Groups Beginning with A

Compiled mostly by Chris Pyhtila with the help of Andy Pachmayer, Chris Burger, and Aaron Fynewever

Further commentary added by ChuckyG and various web visitors...

This page currently edited by: Rio Rhodes. Past editor: Rock 'n' Roll Fan

The Original Criteria

  1. At least one babe
  2. Poofy hair
  3. Torn clothing
  4. Cheesy keyboards
  5. At least one change of clothing
  6. Stage effects (smoke, lasers, etc.) or visual effects (artist jumping through a TV, disappearing, etc.)
  7. Wild instrumental or record scratch solo
  8. A storyline
  9. A cool car (although any kind of transportation is acceptable, like a plane or a car or a motorcycle)
  10. Sunglasses
Songs beginning with: [Index] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] [misc]
A-ha's, "Take On Me"
  1. Babes? Yep, that girl getting pulled into the comic book.
  2. Poofy Hair? Is there anyone WITHOUT poofy hair?
  3. Torn Clothing? Two of the band members
  4. Cheesy Keyboards? Check the keyboard solo.
  5. At Least One Change of Clothing? I think so...The singer ditches the leather jacket in the end.
  6. Stage Effects? Almost throughout the entire video, and it cannot be missed unless you are blind!!
  7. Wild Instrumental solo? Check the keyboard solo
  8. Storyline? Definately. A somewhat strange one, though.
  9. Cool Automobile? Sorry.
  10. Sunglasses? Don't seem to recall sunglasses either.
Submitted by: Axel
A-ha's, "The Living Daylights"
  1. Babes? As it's a Bond video, it's full of 'em.
  2. Poofy Hair? Check the babes
  3. Torn Clothing? Again, check the babes
  4. Cheesy Keyboards? The beginning is classic '80s cheeseboard
  5. At Least One Change of Clothing? The babe is wearing a champagne glass by the end!
  6. Stage Effects? Essentially one big stage effect - lots of water, fire, guns and neon lights
  7. Wild Instrumental solo? That bit at the end (actually in the middle of the 'full' song) where the girl is in the champagne glass
  8. Storyline? Plays almost word-for-word with the song, basically following the love plot of the film
  9. Cool Automobile? An Aston Martin V8 - Best Bond car, best car of the '80s, and looking damn good on a rainy night.
  10. Sunglasses? The size of shop windows! With people dancing in the reflections!
Submitted by: Sam
A-ha's, "Take On Me"
  1. Babes? Yep, the one reading the comic...and is the only one in the video
  2. Poofy Hair? Everyone has poofy hair in this video..
  3. Torn Clothing? After going from real life to comic strip there is bound to be some torn clothes
  4. Cheesy Keyboards? There is a lot of keyboard in the song
  5. At Least One Change of Clothing? I think the lead singer changes his clothes at least once
  6. Stage Effects? Hmm, I wouldn't say cheezy but it's kinda neat how they go color to black and white
  7. Wild Instrumental solo? The keyboard does some funky things while the bad guys are chasing Morten and the girl
  8. Storyline? There is definatly some sort of story going on here...
  9. Cool Automobile? Other than magic, the bad guys are on motorcycles
  10. Sunglasses? The main character in the video (the guy) is wearing sunglasses
Submitted by: MaryAnne
ABC's, "King Without A Crown"
  1. Babes? There are some chicks in crowns who appear pretty confident in purple eyeshadow
  2. Poofy Hair? One guy with a big poof, others who use their hair as an accessory to the poofy clothing
  3. Torn Clothing? No, but plenty of polka-dots clothing.
  4. Cheesy Keyboards? Cheesy guitar work yes, and at one point, the guitarist appears to shoot the guitar at the camera as if it were a gun.
  5. At Least One Change of Clothing? Yes, jackets on...jackets off...jackets on...
  6. Stage Effects? Who can ever forget the amazing spinning throne that flies over Los Angeles?! Clearly a threat to National Security. The landing pad for the spinning throne is a swimming pool with a backdrop of moon and stars that allows the band to jump off the throne and dance around in space.
  7. Wild Instrumental solo? Yes, supplemented with a wicked harmonica part.
  8. Storyline? The lead singers fly over Los Angeles. The chicks in the crown take over the throne and land it in the pool. Then the lead singers regain custody of the flying, spinning throne and watch the LA sunset. All of this takes one day since it was dark, then light, then dark again. All the while, an odd man who doesn't sing (poof hair) lingers with a crown thing cupped in his hands as if it were a bird of some sort. Then at the end, it flies away.
  9. Cool Automobile? The spinning throne is used for all transportation.
  10. Sunglasses? No, but would have clashed with the crown.
Submitted by: Kitsa
AC/DC's, "You Shook Me All Night Long"
  1. Babes? check out the babes on bikes
  2. Poofy Hair? Check out the babes on bikes
  3. Torn Clothing? check out the babes on bikes and on the babe on the ridding bull
  4. Cheesy Keyboards? hell no! this is AC/DC were talking about.
  5. At Least One Change of Clothing? I think the girls change once
  6. Stage Effects? does angus count as a visual effect? he should
  7. Wild Instrumental solo? This is Angus young and AC/DC were talking about! enough said
  8. Storyline? Brian Johnson goes to the pharmacy to pick up some protection if you know what I mean, comes home and his wife has a big surprise for him. she is now a tramp. which is a good thing
  9. Cool Automobile? do the bikes count?
  10. Sunglasses? I think one of the girls has some on.
Submitted by: Brian
Aerosmith's, "Rag Doll"
  1. Babes? the chicks in the windows,coming out of the houses
  2. Poofy Hair? joe perry, and steve tylar i think
  3. Torn Clothing? don't think so
  4. Cheesy Keyboards? no
  5. At Least One Change of Clothing? joe perry the clothes he was wearing on stage to the street, steve tylar does the same thing too
  6. Stage Effects? i think there was some lights
  7. Wild Instrumental solo? the guitar solo, and the beginning was awesome
  8. Storyline? its about a chick who sleeps with the band
  9. Cool Automobile? steve was driving a corba
  10. Sunglasses? steve was wearing some
Submitted by: amber
Alice Cooper's, "Poison"
  1. Babes? Two babes, one blonde one dark haired.
  2. Poofy Hair? Alices' 'Mullet' is poofy.
  3. Torn Clothing? Alice always wears torn/ripped clothing.
  4. Cheesy Keyboards? Yup! In the bridge section.
  5. At Least One Change of Clothing? Alice removes leather jacket.
  6. Stage Effects? Sand bouncing off drums, pennants flapping in wind, surreal blue background.
  7. Wild Instrumental solo? Wild guitars and drums.
  8. Storyline? Kinda sorta poisoning story, that backfires.
  9. Cool Automobile? Shucks!, no cars, just a kind of frame that victims are tied to.
  10. Sunglasses? Drummer wears shades I think.
Submitted by: Simon Kean
Arcadia's, "The Flame"
  1. Babes? Yeah, Simon walks in with one at the beginning, and there's one at the end of the video too.
  2. Poofy Hair? Um, I don't know what John Taylor had on his head when he filmed his cameo in this video, but it was Huge!
  3. Torn Clothing? Simon gets his pants chewed up by a salivating dog.
  4. Cheesy Keyboards? Nick Rhodes ain't cheesy at all, but there are definitely synths!
  5. At Least One Change of Clothing? Nick wears a suit for most of the video, but he dons a Sherlock Holmes coat and hat on the train.
  6. Stage Effects? A bookshelf turns around, Simon drops through the floor more than once, and Nick, Simon, and some girl fall to the ground, only to rise quickly up.
  7. Wild Instrumental solo? Howling dogs accompany the keyboards in the song's intro.
  8. Storyline? There is a weird party that Simon goes to, and Nick tortures him the entire time.
  9. Cool Automobile? Simon flies through a window while swinging on a rope.
  10. Sunglasses? There could be sunglasses, but Simon wears glasses, and the chick at the end of the video has a blindfold on. There's so much going on in this video, it's hard to tell really.
Submitted by: Katie
Areosmith's, "Love In An Elvator"
  1. Babes? the chick in the elevator, the 2 chicks change from them things in the store window
  2. Poofy Hair? i'm sure there was
  3. Torn Clothing? i'm sure they did
  4. Cheesy Keyboards? no
  5. At Least One Change of Clothing? were they are in the store to on stage
  6. Stage Effects? they go from store to stage,and the solo from on top of the elvator
  7. Wild Instrumental solo? joe perry
  8. Storyline? doing it in an elvator
  9. Cool Automobile? no cars
  10. Sunglasses? i can't rember
Submitted by: amber
Asia's, "Don't Cry"
  1. Babes? Yes sir. The evil Goddess/siren that abuses each band member throughout the video
  2. Poofy Hair? Yes......not so much the band, but our evil siren again
  3. Torn Clothing? Geoff Downes has some tattered stuff on while searching the desert for the Alpha Pyramid.
  4. Cheesy Keyboards? No. Very majestic in sound. Magical.
  5. At Least One Change of Clothing? Yes..our siren once again. A disguise to trick our fellow Asians.
  6. Stage Effects? The whole video is a B movie tribute to "Raiders of the Lost Ark" Lot's a goodies in the video.
  7. Wild Instrumental solo? Yes. The song has some great riffs by both guitar and keyboards.
  8. Storyline? The 4 members of Asia (John Wetton, Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, and Carl Palmer are in Egypt in the 1940's. They are looking for a Pyramid that must contain some kind of treasure. Each one meets his demise (except Wetton...who seems to fall for the siren) at the end of the video. The very end sees Wetton walking away from the disguised siren while his fellow bands mates watch. It's almost like a foreshadowing of things to come for the other 3. The end of the video is really the beginning. Quinten Tarrintino eat your heart out!
  9. Cool Automobile? No....but some very cool sets of a bar set in Egypt during the 1940's complete with Natzi's, a jungle, a desert, and a very cool pyramid taken right from Asia's second album cover ALPHA.
  10. Sunglasses? No...but they probably could have used them during the desert and jungle scenes.
Submitted by: Art
Songs beginning with: [Index] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] [misc]
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