Believe it or not, I get many requests to do Top 10 lists on certain subjects. The two I get the most are 'Best 80s Movies' and 'Best 80s Songs' and I do intend on publishing those down the line, but both are fairly serious undertakings. One of the next most often requests is for Best 80s Music Videos, so that is the one I intend on putting out here.

Though there were music videos before, the music industry was changed forever on August 1, 1981 when MTV (Music Television) was launched on cable television. Here is a short video of that historic moment when MTV went on the air including the words, "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll."

I, like many boys my age, loved Martha Quinn (still love her!) who was one of the original VJs. The channel does not resemble much today what it once was and that is definitely NOT a good thing. I barely watch MTV anymore and it rarely plays actual music videos anymore.

Back in the 80s though, I watched MTV more than regularly and have fond memories of so many of the videos that were played at that time. Here is a link to a video celebrating the first 10 years of MTV, so there are lots of quick clips from music videos aired between 1981 and 1991.

Some of those same videos will appear in my Top 10 list below and I will also include video links for every song on my list. Hopefully, watching these videos will bring back the memories for all of you as well.

I had such a tough time narrowing down my list that I am actually going to include 20 videos on my list plus a couple honorable mentions. I decided not to duplicate any artist on my list, so artists like Michael Jackson and Duran Duran who had several outstanding videos will only appear once on this list. My rankings take into account innovation, uniqueness and entertainment value (and simply the ones I remember loving the most). With all that being said, here is OLD SCHOOL'S TOP 10 MUSIC VIDEOS FROM THE 80s (plus bonus 10):
Honorable Mentions. "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Buggles [link to video] & "Wanted Dead of Alive" by Bon Jovi [link to video] - The Buggles video receives honorable mention simply because it was the very first music video aired on MTV. The title of the song was appropriate and turned out to be prophetic. The Bon Jovi video receives honorable mention because it is made up of footage taken during their Slippery When Wet concert tour including the 1986 stop in Milwaukee which had a young Old School in attendance.

20. "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister (1984) [link to video] - This video stars Mark Metcalf, who played Neidermayer in the movie Animal House, for the opening portion of the video.

19. "Yankee Rose" by David Lee Roth (1986) [link to video] - I especially enjoy the opening sequence of the video which ends when Roth dressed in tribal garb says, "Gimme a bottle of anything and a glazed donut, to go!"

18. "You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon (1986) [link to video] - Video features Chevy Chase which always struck me as odd, yet entertaining

17. "Don't Come Around Here No More" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1985) [link to video] - Video features an Alice In Wonderland theme

16. "Dreams" by Van Halen (1986) [link to video] - Video features footage of the Blue Angels performing aerial stunts. Could have also included "Hot For Teacher" as the Van Halen video to make the list.

15. "Addicted To Love" by Robert Palmer (1986) [link to video] - Video featured what would become a trademark of other Palmer videos in the 80s, the "iconic" female models with pale skin, dark hair and heavy make-up dancing and/or playing instruments.

14. "Synchronicity II" by The Police (1983) [link to video] - Could have easily selected "Every Breath You Take" instead, but there was always something about this video and song that I was drawn to.

13. "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" by Wang Chung (1986) [link to video] - I always liked the stop-action technique which resembled that of a flip book

12. "You Might Think" by The Cars (1984) [link to video] - This video won the first ever MTV Video Music Award for "Video of the Year"

11. "Where The Streets Have No Name" by U2 (1987) [link to video] - The video was filmed on the rooftop of a liquor store in Los Angeles and includes footage of the police shutting the production down due to safety and traffic concerns.

10. "Walk This Way" by Run-DMC with Aerosmith (1986) [link to video] - This video served to officially crossover rap music into the mainstream and onto MTV

9. "Need You Tonight/Mediate" by INXS (1987) [link to video] - The video ranks this highly mainly because of the end portion which features the band members flipping through signs with the song lyrics on them.

8. "Once In A Lifetime" by Talking Heads (1981) [link to video] - This is the earliest video to make my Top 20 list. Could have also included "And She Was" video on this list as well.

7. "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits (1986) [link to video] - The song actually features Sting singing the lyric "I want my MTV" at the beginning of the song. The video is one of the very first to feature computer animation.

6. "Rockit" by Herbie Hancock (1983) [link to video] - The song was one of the first popular singles to feature "scratching" and other turntable techniques and the very unique video is just cool in a freak sort of way.

5. "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran (1982) [link to video] - Duran Duran were music video innovators who often created mini-movies and this is one of the very best.

4. "Land of Confusion" by Genesis (1986) [link to video] - Video features many caricatured puppets of famous celebrities as well as the band members themselves.

3. "Take On Me" by a-ha (1985) [link to video] - This video has a black and white comic book comes alive through a technique called rotoscoping and then later flashes back and forth between live action and animation.

2. "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel (1986) [link to video] - This video used both claymation and stop-action to create a groundbreaking result. Gabriel also had a similar styled video for his song "Big Time" which could have also been included on this list.

1. "Thriller" by Michael Jackson (1983) [link to video] - Was there any doubt? This video was really a 13-minute mini-movie that was groundbreaking in every sense of the word. It was directed by John Landis and became a pop culture phenomenon. Jackson would go on to make many other outstanding and extravagant music videos with my other favorite being "Smooth Criminal."

There's my list. Many are obvious choices when you think about it, but it is nice to pull them all together like this. Noticeably missing is Madonna, who achieved much success through her MTV exposure, but I just don't feel any of her individual videos were strong enough on their own to make my list. I also tried to avoid music videos which simply used hot women, like Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" which featured Tawny Kitaen dancing on the hood of a car in white lingerie, though I can't deny appreciating those videos back in the day.

What do you think? Which of your favorites are missing from my list??? Please leave your comments. Hope you enjoyed this special issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks for reading. If you are interested in more of my 80s related issues, please click here for a summary. If you are interested in more of my Top 10 lists, please click here for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use that Google Search Box to find any past issues or topics you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "LIKE". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Even though the blog only updates a couple times a week, I try to send out daily 80s tweets. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: In a past issue of Kickin' it Old School, I had discussed how much I enjoyed the movie SuperBad and this issue also included my Top 10 80's Teen Comedies. I recently saw a homemade trailer for the movie SuperBad made to appear as a horror movie and here is a link to watch it yourself. I thought this was very funny, but you might not enjoy it unless you have seen the movie.

Quote of the day: "In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock." -Thomas Jefferson