Literal Music Videos, What Will They Think of Next?

Its nostalgia week here in the JSA offices.  It started with a visit to the man who made the 1980s possible, President Ronald Reagan.  And now it continues with a look at the art form that was perfected in the 1980s, the music video.  A long time ago, there was a channel called MTV that played nothing but music videos.  They don’t do that anymore.  The “M” stands for Marketing not Music– but I digress.

For those of us who were not in strollers or diapers during the 1980s, we honestly thought that we might be destroyed in a hail of Soviet ICBMs, somehow survive The Day After, and then have to take up arms and live out Red Dawn.  But in the meantime, we in Generation X had music videos to keep our spirits up.

And what has happened to our fond ’80s musical memories in the 21st century?  They’ve been turned into a joke. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the… Literal Music Video.  Its just like it sounds, take a video and describe what you see on the screen.  It works best with random imagery and an absurd narrative– like a lot of 1980s videos.

Is it groundbreaking? No. Its the kind of the thing Beavis and Butt-head did or any episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

In my opinion, Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart is the funniest. Second place for me is Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears.  And then Take on Me by Ah-Ha!