For me, it’s a tossup between ZZ Top’s “Legs” or Rainbow’s “All Night Long” (link might be NSFW since it features a dancer in a tubetop and skin tight shorts) which gave us classic lines like:
“You’re kind of young but you’re overage.”
“Don’t know about your brain but you look alright.”
“Your mind is dirty but your hands are clean. You’re short of class but your legs are long.”
I think my favorite video of all time is Ah Ha’s ‘Take On Me’. Amazing concept and animation.
Dire Straits, Money For Nothing.
Duran Duran’s Hungry Like The Wolf
Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer. Still the greatest video ever.
MTV used to play music videos? Huh.
I kid, I kid. I remember the excitement back in college when the local cable company added MTV to the lineup. Before that, the only way to see music videos was Radio 1990 on USA Network … and didn’t NBC have videos on late at night on the weekends?
Good times, good times. I was a fan of videos by ABC (the group, not the network … Poison Arrow, The Look of Love). Also Men at Work (Who Can It Be Now, Down Under) and the Fixx (One Thing Leads To Another).
And speaking of Peter Gabriel … loved Shock the Monkey.
Talking Heads: “And She Was”
You Might Think this question is subjective, but there is actually one correct answer.
This is the one I was going to mention. I had only a vague idea of who Peter Gabriel was when I first saw this video, and I’m like:
“Cool music, neat beats. Funny it should be coming from this normal looking guy in a business suit. Not your usual look for that kind of music…”
“…and now he’s… in a white suit wearing monkey makeup! AHHHHHHH!!!”
I was caught utterly off-guard.
I swear I remember seeing The Residents cover of James Brown’s Its A Man’s Man’s Man’s World get played a few times. I know I first saw it during a movie break on Showtime, HBO or Cinemax, but I swear I saw it a few times on EmptyVision too.
I used to love seeing Mike Nesmith’s Cruisin’. Even then the Zappa-esque nature of the song and video made me laugh; the two were apparently good friends.
Before they hit it really big, Dire Straits pretty much blew my mind with Skateaway.
Of course that first year I hoped every day to see DEVO’s Whip It.
And who didn’t absolutely love Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It and I Wanna Rock?
I didn’t get MTV. I had to wait for “Friday Night Videos” on NBC. It was cool not just for the videos, but because I was allowed to stay up late enough to watch.
Hell, I remember Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert, you kids.
Thanks for the nostalgia. I was part of a generation that just could not turn off MTV. As Beavis or Butthead said: “This video’s lame. I bet the next one’ll be better…”
Early promos with Pete Townshend shameslessly telling you to call your cable company and yelling “I want my MTV!”
And the first ten minutes of MTV, 30 years and “Video Killed The Radio Star” still holds up!
Can’t say I have a favorite, but in addition to some already mentioned, The Motels’ “Only The Lonely”.
I came in mentioning Aha’s Take on me, and I kind of expected someone to already have mentioned it. Great taste, PapSett!
According to this site, the first 25 videos played on MTV were
“Video Killed the Radio Star” – The Buggles
“You Better Run” – Pat Benatar
“She Won’t Dance” – Rod Stewart
“You Better You Bet” – The Who
“Little Suzi’s on the Up” – Phd
“We Don’t Talk Anymore” – Cliff Richard
“Brass in Pocket” – The Pretenders
“Time Heals” – Todd Rundgren
“Take It on the Run” – REO Speedwagon
“Rockin’ the Paradise” – Styx
“When Things Go Wrong” – Robin Lane And The Chartbusters
“History Never Repeats” – Split Enz
“Hold on Loosely” --.38 Special
“Just Between You and Me” – April Wine
“Sailing” – Rod Stewart
“Iron Maiden” – Iron Maiden
“Keep on Loving You” – REO Speedwagon
“Message of Love” – The Pretenders
“Mr. Briefcase” – Lee Ritenour
“Double Life” – The Cars
“In the Air Tonight” – Phil Collins
“Clues” – Robert Palmer
“Too Late” – The Shoes
“Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” – Stevie Nicks w/Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
“Surface Tension” – Rupert Hines
A Friday night favorite: Loverboy’s Working For The Weekend
And the • o b l i g a t o r y • l i n k • to the literal version. I use it during a creativity class at an art school.
“Gonna kick some ass with my own pipe wrench…”
Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” The premiere of the video was a huge deal. There was even an hour-long special on the making of “Thriller.”