Here we are, the top 10 videos of 1985.

A lot of them aren’t very good.

It’s weird. This countdown is full of classic tunes that are still played to death on the radio, but while many of the songs that make up the top 10 have stayed in the public consciousness in the years that followed, it hasn’t always been for the right reasons. The low points here are some of the most maligned, poorly-aged songs of the decade. Not only bad, but textbook examples of all the worst aspects of 80s music, both in terms of music and lyrics. When people were throwing out their 80s records and embracing grunge and indie music in the 90s, these were the records they shoveled off to CD Warehouse first.

But while many of these tracks aren’t the best 80s songs, they’re all the most 80s songs. These are the tracks that exemplified where music was in 1985, and where pop would go in the next few years. You might not like all of these songs, but if you were there in 1985, you’d have to agree that this top 10 is pretty indicative of what that year was like, for better or worse. Continue reading →