# Great song but terrible music video **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703 "2020-04-13T16:20:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703/61 "2020-04-15T02:23:31Z")
> [@vonespy](#): > > Regarding Journey - Separate Ways. It’s not just eye contact. That seemed to be the norm with a lot of half-baked music videos (pretty much all of them in the 80s besides Michael Jackson and Weird Al). What really bothers me about Separate Ways is how none of them seem to know what to do with their hands if there isn’t an instrument (air or real) in their hands. > > The Journey videos from that era as all pretty terrible. It’s like someone in the back office decided that $1K was as much as they could spend on a video, and that was it. I mean, c’mon. [A Flock of Seagulls](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIpfWORQWhU) put together a much more engaging video with a few mirrors and lights, some mylar and a whole lot of heavy duty mousse. Considering they probably couldn’t return the mousse or the mylar, that video probably cost $1K to make. And it’s a lot better and less creepy than Separate Ways. It’s very telling that Journey’s next album, released in 1986, didn’t have any videos at all. Their manager claimed he was worried about overexposure but you wonder if the real reason was they didn’t want to do videos and knew they weren’t very good at it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703/62 "2020-04-15T03:10:52Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > It’s very telling that Journey’s next album, released in 1986, didn’t have any videos at all. Their manager claimed he was worried about overexposure but you wonder if the real reason was they didn’t want to do videos and knew they weren’t very good at it. Van Halen also put out at least one album without doing videos. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703/63 "2020-04-20T02:38:21Z")
Heard this song on NPR one day at work, honestly loved it. Looked up the video on YT. [The Band Perry, If I Die Young](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NJqUN9TClM) Hate, hate , hate the video. ---
**Author:** ![davey77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@davey77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davey77)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703/64 "2020-04-20T05:20:23Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > [True Faith](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfI1S0PKJR8) by New Order Oh yeah! The one where the Fruit of the Loom guys slap each other around! ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703/65 "2020-04-20T06:59:50Z")
Holy schneikies! Prince really does have a horsey face. Who knew? Kiss is one of the greatest videos ever made. I watch it more frequently than I should admit. Most of Prince’s videos were excellent (although I do have to wonder how **madsircool** feels about the bit where he rises naked out of the bathtub…) [Raspberry Beret stands out as being a major clunker.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7vRSu_wsNc) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703/66 "2020-04-20T10:17:58Z")
Worst video for a cool song: Irron Maiden “Run To The Hills” This is a song about the treatment Native Americans received from the white settlers of America. A song that someone not into metal might say: “Oh, I didn’t know metal bands wrote thoughtful songs.” But the music video is a mix of live footage (not a live performance of the song) and dumb slapstick. There is too much Dumb in this video for any of the Thoughtful to show. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/86URGgqONvA/maxresdefault.jpg "Iron Maiden - Run To The Hills (Official Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86URGgqONvA) ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703/67 "2020-04-20T10:25:14Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Holy schneikies! Prince really does have a horsey face. Who knew? > > Kiss is one of the greatest videos ever made. I watch it more frequently than I should admit. > > Most of Prince’s videos were excellent (although I do have to wonder how **madsircool** feels about the bit where he rises naked out of the bathtub…) [Raspberry Beret stands out as being a major clunker.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7vRSu_wsNc) Im cool with all his vids and love this one but that belly shirt…And I appreciate that many women love it. Who knew? And yes I now appreciate the irony of the countless vids where its a female performer making women shake their heads. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703/68 "2020-04-20T10:49:58Z")
[Dancing in the Street](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRBsJmLveKQ) by Bowie and Jagger. Song is good, and has been done by multiple artists. But that video was actually uncomfortable to watch. [Huey Lewis And The News - Hip To Be Square](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB5YkmjalDg). Great song. I’m just not hip to looking up Hueys schnozola for 4 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703/69 "2020-04-20T18:14:48Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > ZZ Top is one of my favorite bands of all time, but their videos don’t serve them well. ["Gimme All Your Loving"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae829mFAGGE)could make for a great video, but didn’t. I don’t know that it rises to being great or any kind of milestone but I think the video is solidly watchable even today. I watched it back in 1983 when it first aired and found it stood out back then - in a good way - from many other videos. The 1980s was a time of young bands and bright colours and ZZ Top in their dowdy greys and old man beards were a real contrast. It was a fun video in an era when many were pompous. in the context of the 2020s you could criticise the sexism of the portrayal of the ladies. Or you could (still in a 2020s context) stop slut shaming them and note within the narrative of the video they have all the empowerment. But it has high production values, a (slight) story and is (to me anyway) entertaining. I declare it a winner. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703/70 "2020-04-21T15:27:49Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > [True Faith](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfI1S0PKJR8) by New Order You’re wrong, That is one of the greatest videos of the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703/71 "2020-04-21T15:49:08Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > [Dancing in the Street](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRBsJmLveKQ) by Bowie and Jagger. Song is good, and has been done by multiple artists. But that video was actually uncomfortable to watch Didn’t matter. Nothing could save that awful version of a great song. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703/72 "2020-04-21T15:52:35Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > You’re wrong, That is one of the greatest videos of the 80s. I couldnt agree more. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703/73 "2020-04-21T17:52:55Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > You’re wrong, That is one of the greatest videos of the 80s. > [@madsircool](#): > > I couldnt agree more. Thirded. The video for “True Faith” is one of the most iconic and original videos of the eighties, and I have no clue why it’s been mentioned in this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-song-but-terrible-music-video/851703.md?page=3)