Videos I Remember from the 1980s

Musique - "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds

Here are some of the music videos I actually remember seeing in the 80s. I say that because I've watched a lot of videos in my day and it's hard to know which ones I saw when I was a little girl in the 80s and which ones I saw later on via 80s blocks on MTV and VH1 and on YouTube. But these ones I have very clear memories of watching on MTV when I was little and lived in Oklahoma.

Rick Springfield, "Jessie's Girl". Ahhh, Rick Springfield, my first celebrity crush. I once wrote him a fan letter and left it in the window at People's Restaurant because I figured if he ever came to Oklahoma, he'd for sure go there to eat.


The Romantics, "Talking in Your Sleep". I remember thinking the drummer was really cute.


Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Come on Eileen". This was the first record single I ever owned. I still have it! And who can forget these getups and the lead singer's dancing?!


Cyndi Lauper, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". This was the first 12" I ever owned and I still have it too! I was in love with Cyndi Lauper when I was little. I wanted to be her. If they had made the Cyndi Lauper Barbie when I was six, I would have thought I died and went to Heaven. When I first started getting into the 1920s and I heard Helen Kane's song "He's So Unusual", I was like "Oh! That's where Cyndi Lauper got the name for her album!" And now that I watch the beginning of this video again, I can totally hear "He's So Unusual" at the beginning—awesome!!


a-ha, "Take on Me". Who could possibly forget seeing this video as a kid?


J. Geils Band, "Centerfold". I thought the part with the milk in the drum kit was the coolest thing ever. Actually, I still think that.

ZZ Top, "Legs". I always wanted to be this girl too. Her frilly ankle socks with the heels were too cool for six year old amz. And my dad had that ZZ Top keychain! My parents loved ZZ Top so much, so we heard this song a lot growing up. They have a video of me and my sister and my friend Lisa dancing around to this song and it's quite obvious by my dance moves in the video that I watched a lot of MTV at the time.


Michael Jackson, "Thriller". And of course, the mother of all 80s videos, "Thriller". I thought the girl in the video was the prettiest girl I'd ever seen. But I was TERRIFIED of the werewolf part of the video. I used to hide my eyes right around the part where Michael turns to the girl with those big, yellow eyes and sharp teeth and growls, "Get away!" and ask my babysitters to tell me when I could look again. They used to think it was funny to tell me I could look when it was still the scary part. I was so scared of werewolf Michael that if my sister even said "WW" to me, I would get scared. Man, this video is awesome.