80s | Pop Culture | Music
15 Bizarre Music Videos From The 80s That Will Make You Question Your Sanity
Music videos have existed for decades now, and tons of artists use them to add an emotional or intellectual punch to the songs they've created. However, sometimes music videos just end up as weird but memorable creations that we never entirely understand. The 80s were full of these kinds of videos, with these 15 being the absolute icing on the weird cake.
Queen - "I Want To Break Free"
Housewife Freddie Mercury in drag, what could be more hilariously 80s than that?
Genesis - "Land of Confusion"
An absolutely bizarre combination of puppetry and stop-motion makes this video awesome, but also extremely weird.
Bonnie Tyler - "Total Eclipse of the Heart"
What seems like a love song turns into the kind of romantic vampire fantasy that would make Anne Rice blush. Fun fact: Tyler originally meant the song to actually be about vampires.
Devo - "Whip It"
Compared to a lot of the other songs on this list, this one is still pretty tame. Still though, we have some questions, like; Why are they wearing bright red turds on their heads? Why are they in the desert? Why is this song so freaking catchy?
Oingo Boingo - "Nothing Bad Ever Happens To Me"
The singularly weirdest dinner party of all time. Why is there shaving? Why are they suddenly on a tropical island?
Kate Bush - "Sat In Your Lap"
Dunce caps, weird arm movements, dancing jesters, a psychedelic background, and Bush staring at the camera like she wants to eat our souls. This would have been weird in any decade it was released in.
Ratt - "Round and Round"
The band interrupts the most snooty dinner party imaginable by rocking out in a garage, until they smash through the ceiling, and rock out SO hard that suddenly the guests are into it. Awesomely 80s.
If you thought those were weird, wait 'til you see the rest of these videos...
David Bowie & Mick Jagger - "Dancing In The Street"
Two absolute titans of rock music come together for a duet, and the result is one of the most unashamedly cheesy videos of the 80s.
The Jacksons - "Torture"
It starts off with enough gothic horror imagery that you'd swear this was Tim Burton's wet dream, and then moves on to total psychedelic weirdness. Captivating, but don't say we didn't warn you.
Talking Heads - "Once In A Lifetime"
The entire video is a guy dressed as a newscaster doing some of the weirdest dance movies of all time in front of a green screen. Nuff said.
Men Without Hats - "Safety Dance"
A dance phenomenon being created in the heart of... a medieval village, complete with period- appropriate costumes? This makes no sense.
Peter Gabriel - "Sledgehammer"
Some of the most creative but bizarre stop-motion of all time, it starts with a sperm and ends with Gabriel turning into a constellation. Wow.
The Bangles - "Going Down To Liverpool"
Leonard Nimoy plays a cab driver who takes the band, who look incredibly stoned and unhappy to be there, to their show in an entirely red warehouse. I don't get it either.
Laura Branigan - "Self Control"
Dark city streets and Phantom of the Opera masks give way to Branigan performing in a makeshift combination of a disco club and a mental institution. Also I'm pretty sure it ends in an orgy, which is neither here nor there.
Duran Duran - "The Wild Boys"
The entire video takes place in this post-apocalyptic monster wasteland that looks about a thousand times worse than anything in the Mad Max franchise. "Wild Boys" indeed.