The '80s Ruled

Featuring the best 80s music videos, TV shows, 80s celebrities and more!

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Archives for 2021

Stacey Q – ‘Two of Hearts’ from 1986

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In 1986, Stacey Q released her debut album called Better Than Heaven. The lead single from the album was Two of Hearts, which would become her signature song. Two of Hearts was a top five hit on both the Hot 100 and Dance charts, peaking at numbers three and four respectively. It was also her first number one single anywhere when it peaked at number one on the Canadian charts in ’86.

The following three singles from her debut album did very well on the Dance charts with the third single Insecurity becoming her first number one song on the Dance charts in 1987.

Enjoy this look back at Stacey Q’s music video for Two of Hearts as well as a look at a live performance of Insecurity in 1986!

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’80s Midnight Metal Videos from Motley Crue, AC/DC, Anthrax, Pantera, Testament, and Metal Church

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Last week, we premiered our first edition of ’80s Midnight Metal Videos, our homage to MTV’s Headbangers Ball. The response from you was overwhelmingly positive, so we’re going to make this a regular feature every Saturday night! Tonight, we’re featuring music videos from Motley Crue, AC/DC, Anthrax, Pantera, Testament, and Metal Church.

Enjoy the second edition of ’80s Midnight Metal Videos from some of our all time favorite metal bands:

  • Motley Crue – Live Wire from 1982
  • AC/DC – Shake Your Foundations from 1985
  • Anthrax – I’m The Man from 1987
  • Pantera – All Over Tonight from 1984
  • Testament – Practice What You Preach from 1989
  • Metal Church – Watch the Children Pray from 1986
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Elton John – ‘Nikita’ Music Video from 1985

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Nikita was one of Elton John’s biggest hits of the ’80s. It hit number one on numerous charts around the world and was a top ten hit on the Hot 100 charts and the AC charts in the US. Fellow pop superstar George Michael provides backing vocals on the song. The actress playing Nikita in the music video (Anya Major) was also the actress who starred in Apple Computer’s famous “1984” commercial as the heroine running with a sledgehammer and hurls the hammer at the screen at the end of the commercial.

Enjoy this look back at Elton John’s music video for Nikita as well as a look at the Apple Computer commercial featuring Anya Major aka Nikita!

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Genesis – ‘Land of Confusion’ Music Video from 1986

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Photo via Genesis’ YouTube channel

In 1986, Genesis released their album Invisible Touch, which spawned five top four songs on the Hot 100 charts. Land of Confusion was one of the five songs when it peaked at number four on the Hot 100 charts in 1986. While the song was a popular hit on the radio, it’s remembered most for its music video that featured caricature puppets of the members of the band as well as President Ronald Reagan and others.

The video won the Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video during the 30th annual Grammy Awards. It was nominated for Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1987, but lost to Peter Gabriel’s music video for Sledgehammer.

Enjoy this look back at the music video for Land of Confusion, one of the most remembered music videos of all time!

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The Romantics – ‘What I Like About You’ Music Video from 1980

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What I Like About You was the first single released from The Romantics self-titled debut album in 1980. While it didn’t chart in the top 40 on the Hot 100 charts, it was a mild success on the Mainstream Top 40 charts, peaking at number 30 back in the early ’80s. It wasn’t until the late ’80s when the song was featured in commercials for Budweiser beer that the song’s popular skyrocketed. It’s now one of the most popular rock anthems of all time.

Enjoy this look back at the music video for What I Like About You as well as a 1989 Bud Light commercial featuring the song!

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Stephen Bishop – ‘It Might Be You’ from the ‘Tootsie’ Soundtrack

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Photo via Retrospective Soundtrack on YouTube

Tootsie was released to theaters in 1982 and starred Dustin Hoffman as a talented but volatile actor whose reputation for being difficult drives him to adopt the identity of a woman named Tootsie in order to land a job. The theme song for Tootsie was It Might Be You by Stephen Bishop. It Might Be You peaked at number 25 on the Hot 100 charts, but number one on the Adult Contemporary charts.

Enjoy this look back at It Might Be You, the theme song for one of the early ’80s best films, Tootsie!

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Ozzy Osbourne – ‘Crazy Train’ from 1980’s ‘Blizzard of Ozz’

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Ozzy Osbourne’s first single from his debut solo album in 1980 was Crazy Train. It was also his first top ten rock song when it peaked at number nine on the Mainstream Rock charts. In 1987 Ozzy released a live version of the song with a music video in 1987. The song feature legendary guitarist Randy Rhoads, and it’s considered one of Ozzy’s signature songs.

Enjoy this look back at the ’87 music video for Crazy Train as well as a live version!

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Dean Martin’s Celebrity Roast of Joan Collins from 1984

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During the ’70s and early ’80s, The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast specials were one of the most popular shows on television. They were also one of the funniest! Some of the greatest actors and comedians of all time were roasted on the show like Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Sammy Davis, Jr., Redd Foxx, George Burns, and Frank Sinatra to name a few.

In 1984, Joan Collins was the star of the show and was roasted by Bea Arthur, Anne Baxter, Milton Berle, Red Buttons, Charlie Callas, Dom DeLuise, Angie Dickinson, Phyllis Diller, John Forsythe, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Rich Little, Gavin MacLeod, Don Rickles, and Aaron Spelling.

Enjoy this look back at The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of Joan Collins! And, in case you’ve never seen it, we’ve got the roast of Dean Martin himself from 1976 hosted by the one-and-only Don Rickles. This was definitely one of the funniest episodes of all time!

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Howard Stern First Appearance on Late Night with David Letterman in 1984

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Howard Stern made his first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman on May 21, 1984, and then came back a few more times during ’84. As you can see from Stern’s attire, this was before he looked and dressed like a rock star. But looks aside, Stern was the same then as he is now. He’s brutally honest and tells it like he sees it. Dave on the other hand is very private and never shared much personal information, but somehow the two of them meshed well together. In fact, Stern was a guest on Letterman many times throughout his career, and he and Dave became friends. They did have a falling out years later, but they mended their friendship before Dave’s retirement.

Enjoy this look back at all of Howard Stern’s 1984 appearances with Letterman!

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The Song That Started Van Halen’s Collapse

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Photo via Rock N’ Roll True Stories on YouTube

Van Halen and David Lee Roth didn’t part ways (the first time) until 1985, but the collapse of the original lineup actually started happening after their Fair Warning tour back in 1981. In particular, there was one song that really started the collapse of the band as we knew them.

Enjoy this look back at the song that started the collapse of Van Halen from Rock N’ Roll True Stories on YouTube!

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Watch the Very First Two Hours of MTV from Saturday, August 1, 1981

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MTV launched at 12:01 am on August 1, 1981 with the words “Ladies and gentleman, rock and roll.” For those of us who were teenagers in the ’80s, this was one of coolest moments of our lives. It’s too bad MTV no longer plays music videos regularly, but at least we have videos like this to remind us of how good we had it! Appropriately, the channel kicked it all off with The Buggles’ music video for Video Killed the Radio Star!

Enjoy the very first two hours of MTV!

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Field of Dreams – The Final Scene – Playing Catch with Dad

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“If you build it, he will come.”

Field of Dreams was a 1989 fantasy baseball movie that starred Kevin Costner as a farmer who builds a baseball field in his cornfield, which attracts the ghosts of baseball legends like Shoeless Joe Jackson, played by Ray Liotta and the Chicago Black Sox. Costner’s character, Ray Kinsella was walking through his cornfield one night when he hears a voice whispering to him, “If you build it, he will come.” Ray builds the field, and at the very end of the movie, Ray’s father comes to the field. And, in an emotional scene, Ray and his dad play catch. At face value, it seems pretty corny, but there wasn’t a dry eye in the theater when this movie ended back in the day.

Enjoy the final scene in Field of Dreams where Ray and his dad John play catch on the field that Ray built!

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The Breakfast Club – ‘Right On Track’ Music Video from 1987

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The Breakfast Club formed in New York City in 1979 and went through many different lineups. At one point, Madonna was actually the drummer before she made it big. In 1987, the band released their eponymous album on MCA Records and scored a hit single for Right On Track. Right On Track was a top ten hit on the Hot 100 charts, peaking at number seven. They were nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards in 1988, but their success was short-lived, and the band broke up in 1988. But, they left us with a good one!

Enjoy this look back at The Breakfast Club’s music video for their biggest hit, Right On Track!

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The Beach Boys – ‘Kokomo’ from the ‘Cocktail’ Movie Soundtrack

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In 1988, the Beach Boys recorded Kokomo for the soundtrack to the movie Cocktail starring Tom Cruise. The song became their first number one song on the Hot 100 charts since 1966’s Good Vibrations. Kokomo was also included on their 1989 album Still Cruisin’, which featured both recent and classic Beach Boys songs. The music video for Kokomo featured clips from the movie along with the band and frequent live guest John Stamos playing the steel drum.

Enjoy a look back at the music video for Kokomo as well as another awesome video featuring scenes from the movie Cocktail! And, just for fun, we’ve also got a vintage clip of the Beach Boys singing Good Vibrations!

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Back To The Future Part II Bloopers and Deleted Scenes from 1989

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Photo via Vudu channel on YouTube

Back to the Future Part II was released on November 22, 1989. The movie had a budget of $40 million and made over $336 million at the box office. They filmed Part II and Part III back-to-back. Filming began in February 1989 after two years were spent building the sets and writing the scripts.

Enjoy this look back at all the deleted scenes from Back to the Future II as well as bloopers from the film as well!

P.S. If you missed it, click here for the blooper real from Back to the Future!

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Brian Johnson Tells the Story About His Audition for AC/DC

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Photo via The Howard Stern Show on YouTube

In 2011, AC/DC’s Brian Johnson was on The Howard Stern Show talking about the day he auditioned with AC/DC. This was the first time I’d heard the full story of what happened on that day. Did you know that immediately before auditioning for the lead singer role with AC/DC, he recorded a commercial jingle for Hoover vacuums? That’s just one of the fascinating stories Johnson tells Stern about the day he became AC/DC’s lead singer.

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The Jeff Healey Band – ‘When the Night Comes Falling From the Sky’ from the ‘Road House’ Soundtrack

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In 1989, The Jeff Healey Band contributed two songs to the Road House Soundtrack: Raising Heaven/Hoochie Coochie Man and When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky. Retrospective Soundtrack on YouTube put together the awesome video below featuring When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky from The Jeff Healey Band along with scenes from Road House starring Patrick Swayze. If you loved the movie, you’ll love this video as it features some of our favorite scenes from the movie.

Enjoy this look back at a classic song from Road House!

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Jay Leno on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Talking About Being A Guest Host and the Airlines

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On August 7, 1987, Jay Leno was the guest on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Johnny announced that night that Leno would be a regular guest host on the Tonight Show on Monday nights and some weeks during the summer. In typical Jay Leno fashion, he made light of his looks by reading various newspaper and magazine headlines making fun of his chin/face, and in the second segment he left Johnny and the audience in stitches talking about his experiences flying on various airlines. It’s so refreshing to watch the sincere and genuine interactions Johnny and his guests.

Enjoy this look back at Jay Leno on the Tonight Show from 1987!

P.S. If you enjoyed this video, check out these other videos from the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the ’80s!

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Blooper Reel from ‘Back to the Future’

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Photo via Vudu channel on YouTube

Back to the Future is one of the all time great movies from the 1980’s! And, like so many movies in the ’80s, they saved the bloopers from the movie. Enjoy this look back at the blooper reel from Back to the Future from 1985!

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the cast of Back to the Future then and now here!

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Def Leppard – ‘Armageddon It’ Music Video from 1988

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Def Leppard’s 1987 Hysteria album produced so many great songs! Every single released from the album was a top 25 hit on the Mainstream Rock charts, and four out of seven of the singles were top ten hits on the Hot 100 charts, including Love Bites, which was their first number one song on the Hot 100 charts.

Armageddon It was the sixth single released from the album in the US, and it was a huge hit on both the rock and Hot 100 charts peaking at number three on both in 1988. The music video for Armageddon It was similar to the video for Pour Some Sugar On Me in that it was shot during one of their live arena concerts at the McNichols Arena in Denver, CO.

Enjoy this look back at Def Leppard’s music video for Armageddon It as well as a 2018 live performance of the song. As you’ll see from the crowd from 2018, they’re still as popular as ever!

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Relive The Final Scene in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is an ’80s classic! It starred Steve Martin as Neal Page, an intense marketing executive, and the late John Candy as Del Griffith, a sweet, yet annoying shower curtain ring salesman. The film follows the two of them for three days as Del tries to get back to see his family in time for Thanksgiving. There are so many great scenes in the movie, but the most heart-wrenching and revealing scene was at the end of the movie when Neal realizes that Del is homeless, alone for the holidays, and his wife has been dead for over eight years. Neal invites Del to spend the holiday with his family, and it’s one of the most emotional scenes you’ll ever see in a comedy.

Enjoy this look back at the final scene from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!

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‘Taxi’ – Reverend Jim Takes His Driving Test

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Taxi was one of my favorite sitcoms from the late ’70s and early ’80s. It aired from September 12, 1978 to May 6, 1982. In this hilarious scene, Reverend Jim takes his driving test. To me, this is one of the funniest scenes from any sitcom in history. When Jim starts asking the group “What does a yellow light mean?”, I have no idea how everyone kept a straight face!

Enjoy this look back at a classic scene from Taxi featuring Reverend Jim taking his driving test!

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Cheech and Chong – ‘That’s Soap Man’ Scene from Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie from 1980

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This scene from Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie from 1980 is one of the funniest scenes from the movie. Chong tricks Cheech into sticking his face into a bag of soap, and then he accidentally drinks urine from a glass Chong is taking to his probation officer. For more Cheech and Chong craziness, be sure to check out the Cheech and Chong visit the welfare office scene featuring Police Academy’s Michael Winslow.

Enjoy this classic scene from 1980’s Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie!

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The Plimsouls – ‘A Million Miles Away’ from 1983

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The Plimsouls formed in Paramount, CA back in 1978. Between ’78 and ’84, they recorded two albums and an EP before splitting up in 1984. They’re most remembered though for their song A Million Miles Away because it was featured in the 1983 movie Valley Girl starring Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman. Not only was the song featured in the movie, but the band appeared in the movie performing the song and parts of two other songs.

Enjoy this look back at The Plimsouls’ music video for A Million Miles Away from 1983’s Valley Girl!

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‘This Is Spinal Tap’ – “These go to eleven” Scene

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This is Spinal Tap was a 1984 mockumentary film that starred Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer as members of the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap. It was director Rob Reiner’s directorial debut. While the movie only made about $4.7 million at the box office, it amassed a cult following after it was released on VHS.

According to Wikipedia, “In 2002, it was deemed ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’ by the Library of Congress, and was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry. In 2016, film critic and author Jeremy Arnold chose it as one of the ’52 Must-See Movies’, describing it as “one of the single most influential movies of the past thirty-five years” and arguing that it “effectively launched a new genre—the mockumentary”.

Enjoy this look back at our favorite scene from the movie when Nigel, the lead guitarist explains why Spinal Tap’s amp goes all the way to eleven.

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Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – Cameron Prank Calls Mr. Rooney

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Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of our all time favorite movies from the ’80s, and in this famous scene, Cameron prank calls Mr. Rooney. He impersonates Ferris’ girlfriend’s dad, George Peterson in order to get Sloan out of school early to attend her grandmother’s funeral. Rooney thinks it’s Ferris on the phone until Ferris calls on the other line.

Enjoy this look back at one of the many classic scenes from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off!

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’80s Midnight Metal Videos from Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Dio, Motorhead, Megadeth, and W.A.S.P.

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One of our favorite shows to watch back in the late ’80s was MTV’s Headbangers Ball. Headbangers Ball debuted on April 18, 1987 and ran until 1995. The show featured music videos from both well-known and obscure heavy metal bands, and offered a stark contrast to all the top 40 pop music videos shown throughout the day on MTV.

To honor Headbangers Ball, we’re going to start featuring ’80s metal videos every Saturday. In this first edition, we’ve got music videos from Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Dio, Motorhead, Megadeth, and W.A.S.P. If you’re a fan of ’80s heavy metal, we think you’re gonna love this new feature.

Enjoy this edition of ’80s Midnight Metal Videos from some of the most iconic metal bands of the ’80s:

  • Iron Maiden – Flight of Icarus from 1983
  • Judas Priest – Heading Out to the Highway from 1981
  • Dio – Rock n’ Roll Children from 1985
  • Motorhead – Iron Fist from 1982
  • Megadeth – In My Darkest Hour from 1988
  • W.A.S.P. – Wild Child from 1986
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Burt Reynolds on Late Night with David Letterman in 1984

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On December 11, 1984, the late Burt Reynolds appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and shared stories about Hollywood, New York City, and his new movie City Heat with Clint Eastwood. In typical Burt Reynolds fashion, he was calm, cool, and hilarious all at the same time. His self-deprecating humor was so refreshing to see from someone who was on top of the world.

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Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, Jr. Singing ‘Mind Your Own Business’ and ‘The Conversation’ on ‘Nashville Now’ in 1988

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On a November 1988 episode of Nashville Now, two of the greatest country music singers of all time gave us one of the coolest spur-of-the-moment performances you’ll ever see. Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, Jr. were guests on the show, and host Ralph Emery asked them if they’d like to sing a few of their favorite songs. Hank started out singing Mind Your Own Business, and then he and Waylon sang a song they wrote together about Hank, Jr.’s dad Hank Williams called The Conversation. It’s an awesome song, and this performance is priceless.

Enjoy this look back at two country music legends performing The Conversation on Nashville Now!

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‘The Natural’ – The Home Run Scene

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The Natural was a 1984 movie starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, and Robert Duvall. The film followed the baseball career of Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford), a “natural”. Our favorite scene in the movie, and one of the greatest scenes in any sports movie, is this one where Roy hits his famous home run that shatters the lights in the park. This scene takes me back to the movie theater in 1984 when I literally was on the edge of my seat watching this scene. It still gives me chills to this day.

Enjoy this look back at one of the greatest sports scenes in movie history starring Robert Redford as The Natural!

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