‘Look Ma, No Mike!’ N°10 – Vintage 80s Music Videos

1 . The Jam – Absolute Beginners

Few songs capture the bittersweet mix of reflection and optimism like ‘Absolute Beginners’ by The Jam, a track cloaked in mod revival with a hint of pop sophistication.

Released in October 1981, the single stands as an oddity in the band’s discography, unattached to any studio album yet striking chord enough to climb to number four on the UK Singles Chart.

Paul Weller’s lyrics channel the essence of Colin MacInnes’ novel of the same name while subtly grappling with themes of naivety and fresh starts.

The instrumentation builds with understated precision, mixing jangly guitars and soulful flourishes that reflect the band’s evolution into more nuanced territory.

Its B-side, ‘Tales from the Riverbank,’ arguably overshadows its counterpart, with Polydor claiming it had all the makings of an A-side smash.

The music video adds a layer of whimsy, featuring scenes in Shepherd’s Bush interspersed with silent movie-inspired text slides, displaying a band uniquely comfortable in its creative skin.

Produced by Peter Wilson alongside the band, the track finds The Jam at a crossroads, blending past grit with a polished longing for something more ambitious.

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2 . Everything But The Girl – These Early Days

Released in 1988 as part of the *Idlewild* album, “These Early Days” is a wistful reflection on childhood that manages to blend introspection with delicate pop sensibilities.

Tracey Thorn’s vocals, unmistakable in their clarity and warmth, carry a bittersweet tone, as if she’s revisiting a box of old photographs tucked away in the attic.

The arrangement takes a minimalist approach, pairing soft acoustic guitar lines with subtle percussion, creating ample space for the lyrics to resonate.

The song’s strength lies in its ability to evoke nostalgia without sinking into sentimentality, making it neither cloying nor detached.

Instead, it walks a fine line between heartfelt memory and understated melancholy, nodding to the universal longing for simpler times while recognizing the passage of time’s inexorable pull.

Ben Watt’s arrangement choices lean toward restraint, avoiding grand gestures in favor of more intimate textures that suit the song’s reflective nature.

Much like the rest of *Idlewild,* this track straddles genres, merging folk-pop with subtle jazz underpinnings that hint at the duo’s broader stylistic palette during their early career.

Although “These Early Days” may lack the immediate hook of radio-driven hits, its lasting appeal resides in its poetic, contemplative character, which rewards attentive listening over time.

Fans seeking raw emotion delivered with elegance will find it here—quietly captivating, yet never overplayed.

Featured on the 1988 album “Idlewild“.

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3 . Microdisney – Town To Town

“Town to Town” by Microdisney drips with the anxious optimism of Cold War-era normality, chronicling the precarious balance between striving for ordinariness and staring down looming catastrophe.

Released in 1987 and stitched into the fabric of their album *Crooked Mile*, the track takes armchair observations and mounts them on the backdrop of jangly indie pop—a sound both soothing and slyly subversive.

The lyrics hover over the mundane concerns of daily life while hinting at existential worry, a duality that reflects the global unease of its time.

Commercially, it flirted with the charts, landing at number 55 in the UK and breaking the Irish top 40, but true to the band’s style, it never succumbed to pure populism.

“Town to Town” found its way into cultural corners, featured in the soundtrack of *Guests Of Another Nation*, a short film documenting Irish immigrants in London—a thematic cousin to the song’s reflective alienation.

Microdisney even performed the track as a warm-up for David Bowie in 1988, moments before announcing their split, as if the band’s fragility echoed the song’s loaded atmosphere.

Decades later, in 2018, the band’s reunion performances reignited interest, their message perhaps more prescient in hindsight.

Structured around sharp lyrical imagery and an impeccable balance of melody and melancholy, this song holds its place not as a monumental anthem but as a razor-sharp slice of post-punk introspection, unrelenting in its ability to needle the mind long after it fades from the ears.

Featured on the 1987 album “Crooked Mile”.

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4 . The Soup Dragons – Head Gone Astray

“Head Gone Astray” by The Soup Dragons epitomizes their evolution from jangly indie rock upstarts to a more textured, guitar-driven outfit.

Released in 1987, the track nestles within the compilation album “Hang Ten!”—a collection of early singles showcasing their scrappy beginnings.

The song reached a modest peak at number 82 on the UK Singles Chart, though it made a stronger impression on the UK Independent Chart, climbing to number 3 during the same year.

Its punchy riffs and tight composition reflect a band in flux, moving past their initial indie-pop charm toward more layered instrumentation and ambitious arrangements.

“Head Gone Astray” is steeped in the energy of its era, encapsulating a moment when British alternative music was self-consciously pivoting away from pure DIY aesthetics toward accessibility without entirely shedding its gritty roots.

Live performances of the track, often in the company of bands like My Bloody Valentine, added further to its credibility, blending crunchy guitar hooks with an angsty, melodic energy.

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5 . Orange Juice – Bridge

Orange Juice’s “Bridge” surfaces as a lesser-documented track within the band’s catalog, yet its existence swirls within the dynamic framework of a group that thrived on genre alchemy.

Their music—a hybrid concoction of country twang, punk edge, and disco gloss—cemented a jangly guitar-led sound that was distinctly their own.

The track arrives during the waning days of their career, released in 1984, a year tethered to the band’s post-punk evolution and artistic experimentation under Polydor’s gaze.

Edwyn Collins’ deadpan delivery collides here with melodic arrangements, sharp as a paper cut but unflinchingly human in its rawness.

While specifics on “Bridge” may evade our direct grasp, its temporal company—tracks like the groove-laden “Rip It Up”—positions it within a sonic palette that marries disharmony and hook-laden pop instincts.

It’s post-punk, sure, but less a revolution than a whispered nod to an art-form already deconstructing itself in real-time.

Featured on the 1984 album “Texas Fever”.

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6 . The Jam – That’s Entertainment

Paul Weller’s knack for distilling the mundane into something poetic finds its zenith in “That’s Entertainment,” a semi-acoustic snapshot of working-class Britain in the 1980s.

The song, an outlier in The Jam’s energetic mod revival catalog, strips down to its bare bones: minimal acoustic strumming, muted percussion, and the occasional reversed guitar line that sneaks in like a memory flickering backward.

The lyrics—crafted in an astonishing ten minutes—paint vignettes of British life that are as evocative as they are unromantic: wailing babies, screeching brakes, and the perpetual churn of pneumatic drills.

Yet, there’s no wallowing in despair; the repetition of “That’s entertainment” delivers an ironic twist, flipping monotony into resigned celebration.

The track’s impact has far outlasted its humble beginnings; it wasn’t even released as a proper single initially, yet it charted through sheer resonance.

This is not just a song but a cultural artifact—a working-class hymn that Rolling Stone deems worthy of its 500 Greatest Songs list, and an enduring mirror of its era’s gritty beauty.

Featured on the 1980 album “Sound Affects“.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site

7 . Blue Mercedes – See Want Must Have

Blue Mercedes’ “See Want Must Have” encapsulates the flashy facets of late ’80s dance-pop with an unapologetic punch of funk and frivolity.

Released in 1988 as part of the duo’s debut album “Rich and Famous,” the track thrives on playful, consumerist lyrics, which mirror the materialistic undertones of the decade’s culture.

David Titlow and Duncan Millar, the creative minds behind Blue Mercedes, craft a sound that’s undeniably polished, with sharp hooks courtesy of producers Phil Harding and Ian Curnow under the PWL banner.

The production, finely tuned for the club scene, feels engineered for laser-lit dance floors, but its jubilant sheen might come off more surface than substance to some listeners.

Chart-wise, its US success outpaces its UK performance, peaking at #18 on the Billboard Dance chart yet barely cracking the top 60 back home.

Though absent from significant award accolades or iconic videographic treatment, it still finds its place as a sugary timestamp of the carefree hedonism that occasionally characterized the pop landscape of the late ’80s.

Featured on the 1988 album “Rich And Famous”.

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8 . One The Juggler – Passion Killer

“Passion Killer,” a 1983 single from One the Juggler, lands in that curious corner of pub rock where Bowie-inspired glam meets a splash of folk eccentricity and melodic undertones.

The track is featured on the band’s 1984 RCA Records debut, *Nearly a Sin,* a labor spanning two years and a collection of single A-sides, complete with a few freshly minted tracks for variety.

It’s the kind of song that leans into irony while dissecting love and relationships, offering a cynical smirk instead of a warm embrace.

Stylistically, the band marches to the beat of their own drum, borrowing just enough from acts like The Only Ones to stay part of the landscape without surrendering their quirks.

The song’s chart performance peaked modestly at position 71 on the UK charts—a number that hints at a respectable nod from listeners but never a thunderous applause.

Lyrically sharp yet melodically accessible, “Passion Killer” balances its rock cred with a theatrical edge, a mix that both invites and confounds deeper dissection.

Neither award-winning nor cultural juggernaut, the song has instead secured its somewhat peculiar niche as a hallmark of a band that preferred to play by their own esoteric rules.

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9 . The Smiths – Shoplifters Of The World Unite

Released in January 1987, “Shoplifters of the World Unite” stands as a quintessential piece of The Smiths’ sly rebellion, combining Morrissey’s winking lyrical provocations with Johnny Marr’s intricately layered guitar work.

The track’s title borrows cheekily from Karl Marx but filters its revolutionary tone through a curtain of irony and cultural critique. The phrase “spiritual shoplifting,” as coined by Morrissey, carries a subversive edge without delving into outright anarchy, leaving room for both mischief and introspection.

The guitar solo is a sophisticated nod to Nils Lofgren and Roy Buchanan, with Marr employing harmonized layering to create something melodic yet incisive. It’s more about texture than showmanship, a decision that embodies the band’s ethos.

While the song climbed to number 12 on the UK singles chart, its public reception wasn’t all celebratory. Its cheeky anti-authoritarian message sparked ire from political figures, even attracting the disapproving gaze of Tesco lawyers. Yet, controversy only sharpened its edge.

The sleeve, featuring an image of a young Elvis Presley, casts an additional layer of iconic juxtaposition, linking the music to broader questions of influence and pop culture iconography. If Elvis was rock’s original rebel, this track reimagines rebellion with Morrissey’s signature wit.

Performed live just once during the band’s farewell Brixton Academy show but revisited in Morrissey’s solo career, the track retains its unpredictable air. Whether viewed as an anti-consumerist anthem or cheeky cultural critique, its charm lies in its contradictions.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Wikipedia

10 . Ultravox – One Small Day

Released as part of Ultravox’s 1984 album *Lament*, “One Small Day” distills the band’s synth-pop sensibilities into a surge of optimism, sharply contrasting the album’s broader themes of heartache and existential dread.

While much of *Lament* leans into shadowy introspection, “One Small Day” breaks rank, delivering anthemic energy through a tightly wound fusion of luminous synths and Midge Ure’s soaring vocals.

The track’s rhythmic drive feels rooted in forward motion, mirroring its lyrical aspirations for change—though its relentless cheer risks feeling at odds with the album’s darker corners.

Written collaboratively by Warren Cann, Chris Cross, Billy Currie, and Midge Ure, the song reflects Ultravox’s collective knack for blending icy precision with human yearning, though it occasionally veers into predictability.

The music video extends the song’s uplift, embracing the layered aesthetics of mid-80s visuals, while remastered editions give the track a second life, ensuring its crisp instrumentation remains intact decades later.

“One Small Day” stands as a curious outlier in *Lament’s* landscape—less a lament than a fleeting exhale before diving back into the heavier fare that defines the album’s core.

Featured on the 1984 album “Lament “.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site

11 . The Sundays – Can’t Be Sure

“Can’t Be Sure” by The Sundays stands as an elegant entry point to the jangly, introspective universe of their debut album, “Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.”

The track is buoyed by Harriet Wheeler’s ethereal vocals, effortlessly weaving through David Gavurin’s chiming guitar lines, creating an atmosphere simultaneously wistful and quietly assertive.

A hallmark of late-’80s indie pop, its charm lies in its restraint—there’s no melodrama here, just an understated grace that resonates without shouting.

Released in 1989, it garnered significant attention, clinching the top spot in John Peel’s Festive Fifty, a feat that speaks to its impact on a discerning audience.

The production, co-helmed by the band and Ray Shulman, maintains a crisp clarity, allowing the interplay of Wheeler’s voice and the instrumentation to remain front and center.

The song’s introspective nature is mirrored in its evocative lyrics, which resist easy interpretation, opting instead for ambiguity that invites personal reflection.

It serves as both a snapshot of its era and a timeless piece, effortlessly blending dreamy melodies with an air of quiet self-assurance.

Featured on the 1990 album “Reading, Writing and Arithmetic”.

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12 . Dionne Warwick – That’s What Friends Are For

Released in 1985, “That’s What Friends Are For” assembles a near-improbable lineup of Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder for a charity single that is equal parts heartfelt and strategically engineered for maximum chart domination.

Originally penned by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager and first recorded by Rod Stewart, the song finds its definitive and far more saccharine form here, as a soft-rock anthem firmly planted in the mid-’80s pop aesthetic.

Stevie Wonder’s harmonica solo verges on show-stealing territory, providing a moment of palpable authenticity amidst the polished production sheen, while Elton John’s piano accompaniment keeps the arrangement anchored in familiar territory.

A benefit for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, the song raised millions and simultaneously served as a cultural moment, riding the wave of celebrity collaborations that dominated the decade’s airwaves.

It won two Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year, yet its success owes as much to its altruistic intentions as to its undeniable earworm chorus, whose sincerity teeters dangerously close to the maudlin.

The song also marked a reconciliation between Warwick and Bacharach, a subplot as quietly compelling as the track’s commercial ascent.

Its music video is a quaint time capsule, featuring the four megastars in an unpolished rendition that’s somehow both awkward and endearing—a visual testament to an era when cause-oriented music still carried unifying weight in the industry.

Featured on the 1985 album “Friends “.

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