This next one leads me to tell a story. Although I read the comment section of YouTube for the videos I watch, most of them don't really stick with me. But for this video, I read a comment that I just broke out in laughter on. Someone wrote that half the budget for this video was for Glad trash bags in the background. Watch it and see if you can see what that was all about. Here's the Romantics with "Talking in Your Sleep":

https://tinyurl.com/y55pczhj

Next up is Eurythmics with "Would I Lie To You?" Interesting story for this one: the video shows Annie Lennox's character in a fight with her boyfriend. The boyfriend in the video is played by Steven Bauer, best known for playing Manny Ribera in "Scarface" and Don Eladio in "Breaking Bad". He wears dark sunglasses in the video, so I didn't notice it was him at first, but it definitely is. Nice cameo.

https://tinyurl.com/y2khqrub

And now for Olivia Newton-John's "Physical". I don't know why anyone ever thought her character in "Grease" was squeaky clean. Did they watch the end of that movie?

https://tinyurl.com/y5tvbq6p

Next up is Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl". I'm sorry, but it's just my nature - I can't help it: I have to quibble about the title of this song. In the video, the girl in the title is clearly seen, as is her boyfriend "Jessie". But "Jessie" is usually a female name, and the corresponding male homophone is spelled "Jesse". So why was this not titled "Jesse's Girl?" But this is still both a great song and a great video.

https://tinyurl.com/y39b5upz

So after the Go-Gos, their lead singer Belinda Carlisle went solo. This is her video to her song "Mad about You". (Not to be confused with the sitcom that started Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt.)

https://tinyurl.com/y6xdk32p

Time for "Centrefold" by the J Geils Band. Classic 80s

https://tinyurl.com/y3jhe6wa

Back yet again (one. more. time.) for the Bangles with "Eternal Flame":

https://tinyurl.com/y38u46pp

And now for "The Warrior" by Scandal, featuring Patty Smyth.

https://tinyurl.com/y2b6ulq5

The recent death of Ric Ocasek reminded me of how much I loved The Cars. Much of their stuff belongs to to the 70s and so I won't include it here, but, as it happens, the song that is my favorite Cars song and which I consider to be their best (though a bit melancholy) happens to be an 80s song. So, in memory of the great Ric Ocasek, I present "Drive":

https://tinyurl.com/y5bas5es

RIP Ric Ocasek

I had said way back on August 12 that I had considered going with "Love is a Battlefield" for my opening Pat Benatar selection, but ultimately decided to go with "We Belong" instead. Well, the time has come to bring out Pat's signature song. Time to rock out to "Love is a Battlefield".

https://tinyurl.com/y47bgvck

I had considered sticking my video clip from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" here where Stacy and Linda talk about the three girls at Ridgemont who have cultivated the Pat Benatar look. It's a great clip, available on YouTube but it contains some material I thought might be a bit too much (the "carrot" scene), so I did not include it. I wish there was a way to edit clips from YouTube to include only the parts you want to show.

I try to stick to pop, but I'm going to deviate from that with this next song. While there are cases where the line between rock and pop is blurred, this next song is clearly rock and no honest case for it being pop can be made, but it's so catchy I had to include it anyway. Here's Joan Jett and the Blackhearts with "I Love Rock n' Roll":

https://tinyurl.com/yyfczyou

Now for something a little different. Here comes ZZ Top's "Legs":

https://tinyurl.com/y6ot6xbp

I now return to the Queen of Pop, Madonna, this time for "Open Your Heart". I am *so* frustrated that I was unable to find the bonus clip on YouTube I wanted to add to the video I am including. Most likely it's because SNL has not released the rights to YouTube. They're so backwards that way sometimes. Anyway, instead I'm going to bore anyone who views this with a description of what they are missing. At the time "Open Your Heart" was released, Madonna was married to Sean Penn. It happens that Sean Penn was hosting Saturday Night Live around that time and he appeared on an absolutely hilarious "Church Lady" (you remember Dana Carvey's character, don't you?) skit where the Church Lady played a clip from "Open Your Heart" to impugn the character of Penn's then-wife ("Could it be ... Satan?"). Jon Lovitz appeared dressed like an Arab sheikh in the skit and, after seeing the clip of Madonna in "Open Your Heart", exclaimed something like "I will pay 2000 drachmas! Bring me the dancing woman!" Anyway, Penn, who was well-known at the time for punching paparazzi, ends the skit by slugging the Church Lady in the face. Sometimes SNL releases old skits like this as "Vintage SNL". They really need to do so with this one. It was one of the funniest SNL skits of all time, in my opinion. But alas.

Of course, by watching "Open Your Heart" you can clearly see why the Church Lady used it to impugn Madonna's character.

https://tinyurl.com/y5ohfwtb

Now for a little Billy Joel video featuring his then-wife Christie Brinkley. No, not "Uptown Girl", although her part in that one is larger. I'm going with "Keeping the Faith" where Brinkley plays the small part of the red haired girl (a wig, obviously).

https://tinyurl.com/y5mlnxge

And a bonus: Christie Brinkley scenes in the iconic, the one, the only original 1983 "National Lampoon's Vacation", one of my favorite movies. Ah, the girl in the red Ferrari.

https://tinyurl.com/yy8k9r6u

Now for a bit of a silly one: Toni Basil's "Mickey". Basil had been a cheerleader in Las Vegas when she was in high school (graduated 1962), and, in the video, she wears an outfit with the letters "LVH" on it. Reportedly, it was her actual high school cheerleader uniform.

https://tinyurl.com/yxkjuxd3

Next, I will go with "Alone", by Heart.

https://tinyurl.com/y6xckq3z

I have always liked The Police, and I will go now with their signature song, "Every Breath You Take". This is a spectacular song, but if you actually sit down and focus on the lyrics, it's downright creepy. Sounds like an obsessed stalker. Great song anyway.

https://tinyurl.com/y4toa2jt

Back to the Go Go's (yet again), this time for "Our Lips Are Sealed".

https://tinyurl.com/y65j4dy5

Co-written by Jane Wiedlin and Terry Hall(Fun Boy Three)


https://tinyurl.com/yyqfe5ny

Very interesting, Tryst. I honestly had never heard of the Fun Boy Three version. Jane Wiedlin was the guitarist for the Go Go's. My familiarity with the videos I post originally comes from my having viewed them on MTV back in the day (when MTV actually showed music videos - those were the days). Anyway, the Go Go's were big on MTV then. I don't recall ever seeing a Fun Boy Three video on MTV. I don't think it was because MTV was biased against British groups. Plenty of them did have extensive play on MTV. And I intend to post a few of them myself soon. But as embarrassing as it is, this is the first time I've heard of Fun Boy Three.

I don't think they set out to crack the American market plus they were only around for a couple of years while MTV was in its infancy. They helped kick start the career of Bananarama who sang on It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It)

Another Fun Boy Three/Bananarama collaboration....


https://tinyurl.com/y5e85q8j

Let's do a comparison here. First, "It's My Life" by Talk Talk:

https://tinyurl.com/y2lgv96w

Now, although not an '80s video, for comparison's sake, as a bonus video, I will include the No Doubt (with Gwen Stefani) version of "It's My Life" from 2003:

https://tinyurl.com/y2m7cgh9

I prefer the original version.

RIP Mark Hollis

Back to Cyndi Lauper for "True Colors" (something that can't possibly be referring to her multitudinous hair colors):

https://tinyurl.com/y5klc9ms

I've always liked this one from Cyndi Lauper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y1TZXc5DiY



And count me in for the original Talk Talk version of "It's My Life". Great video too.

You can't really do a series on 80s music without including some Fleetwood Mac. So today I'll put my first Fleetwood Mac video in (this one really features Stevie Nicks strongly), "Gypsy":

https://tinyurl.com/y3jhuzuw