The Decade That Taste Forgot?

Who needs The Chart Show when you've got the internet?

By David McCandless
Wed 29 August 2007, 3:05pm

1980 was the year the pop video was born. 2007 was the year all pop videos simultaneously appeared on the internet. Here, collected for you, are some of the best videos from the heady heyday of visual experimentation and crap budgets. That's 1981-1986. Guess the years of the songs for extra points.

1) Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Ah, total classic. Instant nostalgia. Luckily those surly Pet Shop Boy faces prevent any 80s cheesiness ruining the show.

2) Art of Noise - Close to the Edit
Laugh as various musical instruments are crushed underfoot. Frown as a scary punk child lashes out at the camera. Whistle as curious co-workers look over at your monitor sharply.

3) Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Annie Lennox at her most dystopian as a Batman villain, chilling us with tales of the UK dating scene.

4) The Jacksons: Can You Feel It?
Yes, this was the 80s. Though the director had clearly continued his 60s LSD habit well into the Decade That Taste Forgot. What were the Jacksons thinking? That they really were cartoon Messiahs sprinkling love over the planet?

5) Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
Well, this technically isn't the 80s. But we defy anyone not to be gripped by this video. Is it her eyes? That ten thousand-yard stare? Do those words actually make any sense? Watch it and find no answers.

6) Lionel Richie - Hello
Does anything need to be said about this? We've forgotten that this whole sound is book-ended by "narrative bits". I think Richie here is some kind of sexually frustrated drama teacher preying on his students. That's how we're reading it.

7) Musical Youth - Pass the Dutchie
This great cover of a famous song about cannabis slipped past the BBC censors of the time. Listen out for a nice intro from an oblivious Jimmy Saville.

8) Pat Benatar - Love Is a Battlefield
A classic philosophical treatise on love and desire from Pat Benatar. But c'mon, are we supposed to believe Pat is in her teens here? No offence to her. She looks great, but...

9) Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
Genius song. Great video. Sinister meaning. Barely dated. 'Nuff said.

10) The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
Here's a big helping of miserableness to round off this selection: a cheery classic from The Smiths' back catalogue.



Answers: 1) 1985 2) 1984 3) 1983 4) 1981 5) 1978 6) 1984 7) 1982 8) 1983 9) 1981 10) 1986