Best 1980s Music Video

Best 1980s Music Video

From Great Pop Culture Debate by W!ZARD Studios

May 5, 2026 · 54 min · Episode 204

About this episode

The episode discusses and debates the best music videos of the 1980s.

While films had been made to promote music dating back to at least the 1960s, the music video became a fixture of pop culture in the 1980s. Accelerated by the birth of MTV, MuchMusic, and VH1, music videos in the 80s experienced extraordinary growth in both popularity and artistic creativity. The decade would produce countless iconic music videos, giving renowned artists a second shot at relevancy, launching a whole new wave of aesthetically minded pop stars, and providing unlikely artists a shot at ubiquity with wild conceptual videos. So join the Great Pop Culture Debate as we attempt to name the Best 1980s Music Video! Videos discussed: “Take On Me” by A-HA!; “Thriller” by Michael Jackson; “Like a Prayer” by Madonna”; “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel; “Love Shack” by The B-52s; “Addicted to Love” by Robert Palmer; “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper; “You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon; “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits; “Hungry Like the Wolf” by Duran Duran; “When Doves Cry” by Prince; “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles; “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)” by Beastie Boys; “Faith” by George Michael; “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitey…

People in this episode

Host: Eric Rezsnyak

Guests: Derek Mekita, John Higgins, Kate Racculia

Topics covered

  • 1980s music videos
  • pop culture
  • MTV
  • iconic artists
  • music history

Keywords

  • 1980s
  • music videos
  • MTV
  • pop stars
  • iconic

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: MTV, MuchMusic, VH1

Books & works: Take On Me, Thriller, Like a Prayer, Sledgehammer, Love Shack, Addicted to Love, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, You Can Call Me Al, Money for Nothing, Hungry Like the Wolf

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