My Top British Rock Videos of the Eighties

Yes, the social upheaval and unrest of England in the 70's gave birth to the Punk and New Wave music of the 80's. The bands who created this catchy, edgy music were mostly made up of working-class kids from the English streets, hoping their music would give them a better future. Here, in no particular order, I humbly present my chosen videos of the greatest songs of the era:

"Just Got Lucky" - The JoBoxers (RCA Records). This band was killer live; tight and well-rehearsed. Signed to RCA in 1983, the members came from Bristol, except for American vocalist Dig Wayne. This song is easily one of my all-time favorites, and I have had the pleasure of seeing it reincarnated in two movies: "Just My Luck" and "40 Year-Old Virgin".

"Rock the Casbah" - The Clash (Epic Records). The Clash (along with the Sex Pistols) are considered by many to be the Founding Fathers of British Punk. "Rock the Casbah" was released in 1982, right before the breakup of the band. I love this video, and I don't care how corny it sounds to say it, I still get emotional when the Arab and the Jew make friends and go see the Clash concert at the end, because I know what could happen in a world where governments don't turn nations against each other.

"A View to a Kill" - Duran Duran (Capitol Records). Duran Duran WAS the Eighties! That fact made it extremely difficult to pick just one of their many great songs to showcase in this compilation. This 1985 video is awesome; a play on the James bond movie for which this song is the theme. Unfortunately, due to internal troubles in the band, this would be their last nuber one hit for about another eight years.

"Steppin' Out" - Joe Jackson (A&M Records). This A&M artist did a great job with this song, which is my favorite of all his work. The inspired words and brilliant piano line make this song a timeless classic.

"Poison Arrow" - ABC (Mercury Records). This tune, from the 1983 Mercury album The Lexicon of Love, has enough emotion and drama on its own merit, even without the brilliant video. ABC, like many of these British New Wave bands, were very talented, yet sorely underrated.

"Der Kommisar" - After the Fire (Epic Records). This song is a very loose translation of the original song, recorded by German artist Falco (of "Rock Me, Ammadeus" fame). This pseudo-rap is so catchy and infectious; 24 years later, it still sounds great to me!

"Red Skies" - The Fixx (MCA Records). From the LP Shuttered Room, nuclear war is the theme of this soul-stirring classic. Cy Curnin's vocal versatility is well-demonstrated in this video.

"Talk Talk" - Talk Talk (Capitol Records). These Capitol recording artists scored big with this self-titled song from their self-titled 1982 album. Featuring only a bass player, keyboardist, and drummer, they still managed to pull off a HUGE sound. This one still blasts across dance floors till this day.

"Working Girl" - The Members (Arista Records). These one-hit-wonders scored huge with this track from the album Uprhythm Downbeat. With it's infectious chorus, entire barrooms and pubs full of drunken revelers on both sides of the pond would happily scream "HEEEEYYYY, I'M IN LOVE, I'M IN LOOOOOVE WITH A WORKIN' GIRL!!!!" Freakin' Timeless!

"One Step Beyond" - Madness (Stiff Records). "HEY, YOU, DON'T TOUCH THAT! WATCH THIS!" Before there was "Our house", there was "One Step Beyond", a mad mix of Ska and Punk before anybody ever even heard of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. This song kicks more ass in under two minutes than most band's entire albums!

"I Ran" - A Flock of Seagulls (Arista Records). This bunch of kids broke through big in 1982 with their debut album Listen, and the video was an instant MTV hit, followed by their "Space Age Love Song". The Flock was one of the first bands to feature electronic drums as a main instrument rather than just an effect.

"Don't You Want Me?" - Human League (A&M Records). I wasn't really a huge fan of HL, but this particular song KICKS ASS (even though its now the song in the commercial where the chocalate chip cookies are driving in their convertilbe, only to get eaten one by one)! I did NOT care how much hell my metal-head friends gave me for diggin' this synth-pop New Wave classic; I couldn't get enough of it! Besides, back in 1982, the chicks really dug it; 'NUFF SED!

"Dog Eat Dog" - Adam and the Ants (Epic Records). Adam Ant was one of the many English New Wave artists to be financially sodomized by the infamous, unscrupulous promoter Malcolm MacLaren, who stole most of his concepts and ideas for his own cheesy pop-punk studio "band" Bow Wow Wow. Fortunately, Adam was smarter and tougher than Malcolm, and pressed on with his own band, eventually breaking through huge with 1982's Kings of the Wild Frontier, whose drum-heavy punk grooves were truly some of the most original music ever recorded.

And there ya have it! I love all kinds of music, but there were very few times in music history when there was something so different and special that it commanded the attention of the entire world. This stuff made MTV a household word, and MTV made these great songs immortal!

CHECK 'EM ALL OUT ON YOUTUBE!!!!!