Greatest Movie Music Videos of the 1980's

Music videos used to be a lot more important than they are today. They were a major part of movie marketing.

In the days when MTV played music videos, some videos were shamless tie ins to the films they were promoting, made up of nothing but clips from the film.

Here are a few of the best:



BREAKIN - “There’s No Stopping Us” by Ollie and Jerry - The ultimate in movie videos, all clips from the film, no shots of the band. You get a good look at what the film was like (heck, you even see the finale)



FOOTLOOSE THEME by Kenny Loggins - This video and song were so popular that many have forgotten that the scene in the warehouse, with Kevin Bacon dancing, is set to a different song (“Never”).



DRAGNET - “City of Crime” by Tom Hanks and Dan Akroyd - Sometimes they got creative and went a whole different way with the video. Here they got the cast to make a special video to promote the film. You see the stars rapping to a big Paula Abdul choreographed number.

While I loved this song and video, saw it many times back on MTV, it didn't get me to the theatre. I didn’t see the film until video. And this clip is a lot more fun than the movie. Why isn’t it on the DVD? I would buy the DVD just to see the video again (in a better version than the above clip).



GHOSTBUSTERS THEME by Ray Parker Jr. - I’ll be honest here, I always liked this video more than the film (which I never cared for). They got in a bit of trouble with the song though. Originally the filmmakers wanted to use the Huey Lewis song “I Want A New Drug” in the film and, when they couldn’t get the rights, created this sound a like song. Huey won quite a bit from the producers, which is one of the reasons why this video isn’t on the DVD.



AT CLOSE RANGE - “Live to Tell” by Madonna - AT CLOSE RANGE is one of the best films of the 80’s. This video gives a good mix of footage from the film and Madonna singing it.



WHO’S THAT GIRL THEME by Madonna - Another Madonna song, in another film directed by James Foley. Again, good mix of Madonna and clips.



ELECTRIC DREAMS - “Together in Electric Dreams” by Phil Oakley - Great song by Phil Oakley (of Human League). I like how they have the clips as well as the cast appearing with the singer in new footage. Funny, this video is on the Human League DVD but the film is still MIA on DVD (and is one of my Forgotten Films).



SING - “Romance” by Paul Carrack and Terri Nunn - Seeing this video on VH1 Classics a few years back got me to track down a copy of the 1989 film (reviewed here). 15 years later, it still worked as a promotion. Great song with enough of the film to make you want to see more.



ROCKY IV “Burning Heart” by Survivor - What is it about Survivor being able to make such iconic movie songs as this and “Eye of the Tiger” from ROCKY III. I could have also gone with Robert Tepper’s “No Easy Way Out” from ROCKY IV.



HOWARD THE DUCK THEME by Lea Thompson and Thomas Dolby - Ok, this video didn’t get much or any play. I remember the Today Show had a piece on the making of the music video, anticipating the film was going to be a big hit. It wasn't.

Sadly, the art of music video is dead today. And even when these films make it to DVD, the music videos are usually left off. They may say that music rights issues are the reason, but in many cases the songs were only on the soundtrack album and the artist is largely forgotten. I think it is just laziness.

I mean, if the DVD of the Andrew Dice Clay film THE ADVENTURES OF FORD FAIRLANE can be released as a budget DVD and include the video for Billy Idol’s “Cradle of Love” which was a bigger hit than the movie, any of these can be on DVD.

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