Featuring the best 80s music videos, TV shows, 80s celebrities and more!
In 1981, NBC aired a special called The Stars Salute the President. It was a musical/variety tribute show to President Ronald Reagan at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Rodney Dangerfield was one of the performers, and he had President Reagan laughing up a storm.
Enjoy this look back at the late Rodney Dangerfield doing what he did best!
In 1980, I was 10 years old, and I can still vividly remember watching the U.S. hockey team beat the Soviet Union during the medal round at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. While the crowd was going wild on the screen, I was jumping up and down in my bedroom and going crazy as well. I’ll never forget my dad running into my bedroom asking what the he** is going on? I started yelling, “We beat the Soviets! We beat the Soviets!” I remember him smiling and saying, yes we did son, yes we did. The U.S. would go on to defeat Finland to win the gold medal!
In 2004, the movie Miracle came out that portrayed the 1980 United States hockey team. It starred Kurt Russell as head coach Herb Brooks, and in this scene from the movie, Russell as Brooks gives one of the greatest pre-game speeches of all time. Our guys were ready to run through a wall, and that’s exactly what they did!
Enjoy this look back at the Miracle on Ice pre-game speech by Coach Herb Brooks as well as footage of the last moments of the game with Al Michaels’ iconic statement, “Do you believe in miracles? YES!”
In 1983, Laura Branigan released her second studio album titled Branigan 2. The first single released from the album was Solitaire, which peaked at number seven on the Hot 100 charts and number 16 on the AC charts. The previous year, she had scored a number two hit on the Hot 100 charts with Gloria. The follow up single to Solitaire was How Am I Supposed to Live Without You, which was her first number one single in America when it topped the AC charts.
Enjoy this look back at the music video for Solitaire as well as a look at her video for Gloria and a live performance of How Am I Supposed to Live Without You.
Glenn Frey’s The Heat is On was released as a single in 1984. It was written by Harold Faltermeyer and Keith Dorsey, and Glenn Frey recorded it for the soundtrack to Eddie Murphy’s movie Beverly Hills Cop. At the time, it was Glenn Frey’s highest charting single to date when it peaked at number two on the Hot 100 charts and number four on the Mainstream Rock charts. The next year, he scored another number two hit on the Hot 100 charts, but his first number one rock hit for You Belong to the City from the Miami Vice soundtrack.
Soundtracks were good to Frey. In addition to the above two songs, he also scored a top 20 hit on both the Hot 100 and Rock charts in 1985 with Smuggler’s Blues, also from the Miami Vice soundtrack.
Enjoy this look back at Glenn Frey’s music video for The Heat Is On as well as a look at his other two soundtrack hits Smuggler’s Blues and You Belong to the City!
During the 59th Academy Awards in 1987, Rodney Dangerfield came out to announce the winner of the Oscar for Best Makeup, but not before he delivered more than a few classic one-liners. Rodney Dangerfield was the best in the business, and in just three minutes, he stole the show!
Enjoy this look back at Rodney Dangerfield stealing the show at the 59th Academy Awards!
Big Time was track number one on Rick James’ 1980 album Garden of Love. It was a top 20 hit on the R&B charts, and a top 40 dance hit. He followed up Big Time with two of his most recognizable hits of his career, Give It To Me Baby, a number one hit on the R&B charts, and Super Freak, a top 20 hit on the Hot 100 charts. Big Time has always been one of our favorite songs from James.
Enjoy this look back at Rick James performing Big Time live back in 1980!
Christine was a 1983 supernatural horror film directed by John Carpenter and based on Stephen King’s novel Christine. It starred Keith Gordon as Arnie, Christine’s owner, as well as John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, and Harry Dean Stanton. We had forgotten Keith Gordan was in this movie. We remember him as Jason Melon, Rodney Dangerfield’s character’s son in 1986’s Back to School.
The real star of the movie was Christine, a red-and-white 1958 Plymouth Fury! The movie grossed over $21 million at the box office on a $10 million budget.
In this video, Minty Comedic Arts explore the movie and ten things you may not know about Christine. Enjoy this look back at Christine and ten things you might not know about this iconic horror movie from the early ’80s!
During Taxi’s season four two-part finale, the gang are all reminiscing about how and why they all ended up working at the Sunshine Cab Company. Everyone tells their story, but the episode centers around Reverend Jim Ignatowski’s story. It’s the first time we get to see what Reverend Jim was like before he became the Sunshine Cab Company’s resident pot head. The episode also featured a young Tom Hanks as one of Rev. Jim’s girlfriend’s stoner friends.
Enjoy this look back at Reverend Jim before the drugs!
In 1985, Don Rickles roasted President Ronald Reagan during his second inaugural in January 1985, and it was so refreshing to see a public figure with a sense of humor. In typical Don Rickles fashion, he didn’t hold back when roasting President Reagan, and Reagan laughed the entire time.
To us, this is one of the reasons why we loved the ’80s. Jokes were jokes, and like Reagan, nobody took things too personally. And, as you can see from Rickles comments at the very end, he meant no harm and was happy for Reagan. He was a friend poking fun at another friend, and it was funny. As simple as that. It was funny!
Enjoy this look back at Don Rickles roasting President Ronald Reagan during his 2nd inaugural in 1985!
Spaceballs was released in theaters in June of 1987. It was co-written produced, and directed by Mel Brooks and starred Mel Brooks, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, George Wyner, and Daphne Zuniga. Like a lot of ’80s parody comedies, Spaceballs was mildly successful at the box office at the time, but has become immensely more popular over the years and has garnered a significant cult following.
MGM put together the awesome video below featuring the funniest moments from Spaceballs. Enjoy this look back at the funniest moments from one of the ’80s quirkiest and funniest movies!
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!
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:
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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.
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!
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!
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!
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!
