‘Vous Avez Dit Bizarre’ N°99 – Vintage 80s Music Videos

The Monochrome Set, New Order, Adam and The Ants, Tight Fit, Thomas Dolby, Echo and the Bunnymen, Grace Jones, The Police, The Dogs D’Amour, Fad Gadget, Ultravox, David Bowie

They are the performers of twelve vintage amusing, puzzling and sometimes shocking videos of songs that were ranked in various charts, this week (05/52) BUT … in the Eighties 80s.

Here, they are reunited in one glorious playlist. Enjoy!

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For TWENTY FOUR more ‘Vous Avez Dit Bizarre’ – Vintage 80s Music Videos – week 05/52 – click here and here

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Tracklist

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1 . The Monochrome Set – Jacob’s Ladder

“Jacob’s Ladder” by The Monochrome Set surfaces as a curious entry from the indie rock landscape of the mid-1980s, steeped in the jangly guitar lines and dry wit that punctuate the band’s catalog.

Delivered in a crisp 12″ single format, the track exudes a pop-rock sensibility with indie edges but carries a distinctively off-kilter charm, characteristic of The Monochrome Set’s sly irreverence toward mainstream convention.

The vocals by Bid are unwaveringly self-assured, floating above an instrumental arrangement that weaves guitars, occasional horns, and a polished rhythm section into a sound both playful and knowingly dramatic.

The song’s title invokes a Biblical image of ascent and connection but contrasts sharply against its lighthearted tone, suggesting thematic mischief rather than divine seriousness.

Despite their lack of chart victories, the band’s cult appeal always lay in their ability to pair sardonic lyricism with deceptively accessible melodies, and this track is no exception.

“Jacob’s Ladder” enjoys a niche presence instead of being a public blockbuster, underscoring its role as an indie artifact rather than a mainstream triumph.

While it finds no home in grand retrospectives or sweeping compilations, the single version endures as a charmingly peculiar slice of pop history, tucked quietly into music lore for those who care to stumble upon it.


Featured on the 1983 album “The Lost Weekend”.

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

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2 . New Order – Blue Monday ’88

“Blue Monday ’88” revisits New Order’s iconic 1983 hit with a fresh remix crafted under Quincy Jones’ guidance. The track recasts the original’s synth-heavy blueprint into a sleeker, more polished form, cementing its place in the pantheon of enduring electronic anthems.

The 1988 version saunters confidently through layered beats and chilly, pulsating rhythms, retaining the detached melancholy of the original while nodding toward new production trends of the late ’80s. It’s less abrasive but no less hypnotic, rivaling its predecessor’s influence on the burgeoning global dance scene.

What makes “Blue Monday,” in all its incarnations, persist is its paradoxical blend of gloom and groove. Emotional vacancy underscored by a relentless four-on-the-floor kick drum? It shouldn’t work, but it does, and gloriously so. It’s almost as if the song dares you to feel while claiming it doesn’t care if you do.

The re-release’s success is both a testament to and a challenge of the pop machine’s cyclical nature. By ‘88, synthesizers had gone from cutting edge to common currency, yet here was New Order proving the enduring power of minimalism wrapped in maximal vision. The track dominated charts while cheekily sidestepping the predictable hooks of mainstream pop.

And then there’s the packaging. Original release or remix, Peter Saville’s floppy disk-inspired sleeve design remains iconic—even if Factory Records’ supposed financial losses on each copy sold might be more folklore than fact. It’s a fitting image for a song that marries sharp aesthetic choices with a hint of self-deprecating wryness.

With nods to dystopia and disco, “Blue Monday” endures not only as the best-selling 12-inch single of all time but as an immortal soundtrack for shadowy warehouse floors and neon-infused nostalgia. As streaming numbers climb and covers pile up, the song resists time’s erosion, reminding us that its minimalist heartbreak is, oddly, universal.


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

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3 . Adam and The Ants – Ant Rap

“Ant Rap” by Adam and the Ants is a colorful artifact of early ’80s musical experimentation, mixing quirky bravado with a pioneering approach to rap within the UK pop scene.

Released as a single in late 1981, it manages to bridge the sonic ethos of New Wave with the rhythmic cadence of emerging hip-hop, creating a concoction that feels both bold and bizarre.

The track serves as a verbal chest-thumping exercise, with Adam Ant lionizing his achievements, charisma, and showmanship through playful yet slightly absurd lyrics.

Sonically, the production leans into an eclectic fusion: drum-heavy beats reminiscent of Latin parade music overlaid with chant-like refrains of the band members’ names, creating an almost comically self-referential vibe.

Its accompanying video, laden with theatricality and featuring pop icon Lulu in a tongue-in-cheek damsel role, only heightens the over-the-top spectacle.

While critics were quick to dismiss it as gimmicky, the track’s genre-defying weirdness has granted it a peculiar charm, ensuring its place as an offbeat entry in musical history.


Featured on the 1981 album “Prince Charming”.

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

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4 . Tight Fit – The Lion Sleeps Tonight

“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by Tight Fit steps into 80s pop with all the flair of a group built for chart success.

This track, a glossy reimagining of the original “Mbube” by Solomon Linda, is less about respecting heritage and more about squeezing its rhythms and melodies into a shiny, radio-ready package.

Its lush harmonies, anchored by session singer Roy Ward, feel carefully engineered to be memorable without demanding emotional engagement or depth.

Drawing immediate attention with its falsetto-driven refrain, the song struts confidently in the league of feel-good smash hits, even when it begs comparison to more sincere renditions like that of The Tokens.

The production, courtesy of Tim Friese-Greene, is polished to a fault, ensuring its hooks stick but ultimately leaving little beyond a surface-level sheen.

While the assembled lineup—Steve Grant, Denise Gyngell, and Julie Harris—serve as a photogenic front for the single’s success, their contributions are more visual than vocal.

Its rise to No.1 on the UK Singles Chart makes sense within the context of an era hungry for uncomplicated joy, though its global chart performances pale next to its UK triumph.

What it lacks in narrative or sonic authenticity, it compensates for with unforgettable ease, making its connection to the original “Mbube” both distant and ironic.

Even now, the song feels both undeniably catchy and slightly cynical, a well-oiled product rather than a piece of pop with heart.

Still, for fans of nostalgia-drenched 80s kitsch, this covering spectacle delivers what it promises—entertainment minus the baggage.


Featured on the 1982 album “Tight Fit”.

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

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5 . Thomas Dolby – Hyperactive!

Released in January 1984, Thomas Dolby’s “Hyperactive!” emerges as a curious concoction of eccentric energy and ’80s synth-pop quirkiness.

The track initially existed as a speculative offering for none other than Michael Jackson, though Dolby ultimately kept it for himself after being met with silence from the King of Pop’s team.

The song stands as a restless exploration of erratic beats and melodramatic flourishes, punctuated by frenetic lyrics and chaotic soundscapes.

Dolby’s own production touch adds layers of vibrancy, while Adele Bertei’s backing vocals and spoken contributions from Louise Ulfstedt and Kevin Armstrong infuse an odd theatricality to the mix.

Chart performance reflects its divisive appeal, peaking modestly at 17 in the UK and managing to graze the lower rungs in the US.

The track is crowded, jittery, and almost overwhelming—qualities mirrored by its brightly surreal music video, which feels like a visual sugar rush.

Despite its scattered nature, “Hyperactive!” captures Dolby’s unapologetic embrace of experimentation and leaves listeners teetering between fascination and bewilderment.


Featured on the 1984 album “The Flat Earth”.

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

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6 . Echo and the Bunnymen – The Killing Moon

“The Killing Moon” stands as one of Echo & the Bunnymen’s most iconic and enigmatic tracks, blending sweeping melodies with a lyrical mystique that borders on divine intervention.

Ian McCulloch, who claims the song came to him in a dream, channels themes of fate and surrender into lines that feel celestial in origin—cryptic yet universally resonant.

The instrumentation is understated but lush. Will Sergeant’s haunting guitar riff, incidentally born from tuning, intertwines with Les Pattinson’s bassline, inspired by Russian folk textures, giving the song an ethereal character.

Pete de Freitas complements this with brush-laden drumming that is both restrained and evocative, underscoring the track’s brooding cadence.

Its cultural footprint was further cemented when it featured in *Donnie Darko*, though inexplicably swapped out in the director’s cut, a decision that remains baffling to fans.

The accompanying video, with its moody visuals of McCulloch framed against a harvest moon, amplifies the song’s shadowy allure.

Each verse feels like a delicate dance between predestined love, mortality, and the inexorable pull of the unknown—its lyrical ambiguity inviting endless interpretation.

Underneath its ornate layers and theatrical angst lies a restrained power, making “The Killing Moon” timeless without veering into melodrama.


Featured on the 1984 album “Ocean Rain”.

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

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7 . Grace Jones – Slave To The Rhythm

“Slave to the Rhythm” channels Grace Jones’s unrelenting charisma into a dazzling production, shaped by Trevor Horn’s genre-blurring touch, making the track pulse with an almost hypnotic intensity.

It’s not just a song—it’s the nucleus of an entire concept album, with the track revisited and reframed in multiple iterations, each leaning into its theme of cyclical power and precision.

The lyrics surrender to rhythm as both a metaphor for life’s persistent demands and an anthem of human resilience.

Grace’s vocal delivery is a masterclass in cool detachment and fervent command, seamlessly shifting between spoken-word sophistication and melodic enticement.

The instrumentation leans heavily on layered percussion, shimmery synths, and an orchestral sweep that feels both expansive and intimate.

Supported by Jean-Paul Goude’s avant-garde visuals, the music video splices together archival and abstract elements, making it as much a celebration of Jones’s iconography as the song itself.

Culturally, the track lingers in a peculiar space—neither fully commercial nor entirely experimental, straddling the boundaries of pop, funk, and art rock.

Its broader influence is undeniable—whether it’s Jones’s hula-hooping spectacle performed at Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee or the single’s seamless glide to the top of the dance charts.

In an era when many artists burned through eras rather than evolving within them, “Slave to the Rhythm” stands as an embodiment of Jones’s capacity to make repetition revolutionary.


Featured on the 1985 album “Slave to the Rhythm”.

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

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8 . The Police – King Of Pain

“King of Pain” creeps into the air with a haunting sense of inevitability, carrying the weight of introspection and melancholy.

Sting’s fascination with Carl Jung and Arthur Koestler threads its way through the poetic lyrics, spilling abstract imagery of heartbreak against a backdrop of self-inflicted emotional exile.

The production itself balances a sparse and sophisticated blend, layering shimmering guitars, somber piano chords, and rigid percussion that leans into The Police’s signature tension.

It’s a song that captures the paradox of its time: cool detachment veined with raw vulnerability, neatly packaged into a pop format palatable enough for U.S. radio domination in 1983.

The brooding ambiance of “King of Pain” contrasts sharply with the mega-hit “Every Breath You Take” that preceded it, proving the band’s knack for wrapping existential crises in commercially viable hooks.

Andy Summers’ chiming guitar melody flickers like dying embers, while Stewart Copeland’s marimba textures push the song into more experimental territory.

The emotional core throbs louder with Sting’s vocal delivery, wavering between resignation and a faint glimmer of catharsis.

Its music video, strangely reserved for Australian eyes, feels like an almost forgotten appendix to an otherwise polished piece of cultural output.

The song marked The Police’s bittersweet arc toward its endpoint, securing their UK Top 20 swan song even as their internal fractures grew wider.

Whether reading it as Sting’s personal confessional or as a broader allegory for tortured creativity, it resonates precisely because it refuses easy answers or saccharine resolutions.

Decades later, covers and reinterpretations, like Alanis Morissette’s, only underline the elasticity of its emotional core, proving that pain—existential or otherwise—remains a universal currency.


Featured on the 1983 album “Synchronicity“.

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

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9 . The Dogs D’Amour – How Come It Never Rains

Few songs manage to bottle the understated grit of late ’80s glam rock quite like The Dogs D’Amour’s “How Come It Never Rains?”

It’s a track that seems to sway drunkenly through a rain-soaked alleyway, its bluesy riffs carrying the bruised romantics of a band that never polished their rough edges—thankfully so.

The vocals, equal parts gravelly charm and melodic ache, embrace the lyrical themes of love, heartache, and life’s injustices, encapsulated in lines like “How come it never rains? It only pours,” a mantra for the perpetually unlucky.

The composition blends melancholy with barroom bravado, driven by a rhythmic swagger that owes as much to punk attitude as it does to ’70s hard rock.

Its 1989 music video, a low-budget affair brimming with unvarnished charisma, channels the careworn intimacy of a band that wasn’t trying to conquer the world but carve out a raw, emotive niche instead.

Chart success might have eluded the track compared to others, but this isn’t a song built for glittering trophies or stadium crowds.

Its charm lies in its flaws: repetitive in its lyricism but steadfast in its heavy-hearted convictions.

It stretches across a musical landscape that balances soaring chorus hooks with a smoky undercurrent of vulnerability.

And perhaps, that’s the deal with The Dogs D’Amour—they always existed on the fringes, appealing to the kind of listener who prefers their rock with a chipped veneer, a scuffed boot.

The track has endured not because of a grandiose legacy but because its unvarnished truth resonates, even when you’re not entirely sure why.


Featured on the 1988 album “In The Dynamite Jet Saloon”.

Lyrics >> More by the same : Official Site

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10 . Fad Gadget – Collapsing New People

“Collapsing New People” by Fad Gadget channels the restless energy of early 1980s electronic music, a period defined by experimentation and stark aesthetics.

Shaped by Frank Tovey’s often monotone vocal delivery, the track takes on an almost mechanical quality, punctuated by its dense, unorthodox instrumentation: think industrial sounds of drills and razors, integrated as percussive beats.

This isn’t background music; it’s a deliberate meditation on transformation, filled with biting chorus lines dipped in caustic humor.

The “London Mix” adds a slightly polished veneer but retains the dissonance embedded in the track’s core DNA. It plays loosely with its structure, layering rhythms to heighten the sense of unease.

While it may not storm the contemporary playlists en masse, its ability to blend witty critique with precise, unsettling audio design remains distinct. Few songs of its era so vividly capture both the sociopolitical undercurrents of the time and the technological quirks of its soundscape.

Noisy yet calculated, “Collapsing New People” holds its place as a brash critique of modernity wrapped in synthetic tension.


Featured on the 1984 album “Gag”.

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

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11 . Ultravox – Vienna

“Vienna” by Ultravox envelopes listeners in a brooding synth-pop atmosphere, pairing melancholic melodies with introspective lyrics that linger like a half-remembered dream.

Emerging in the early ’80s, it resists easy categorization, juggling romantic despair and stoic grandeur with a theatrical flair that feels almost cinematic.

The instrumentation distills vintage influences into icy precision: muted drum machines, mournful strings, and Midge Ure’s wavering vocals, which strike a balance between fragility and control.

As for the accompanying video, it’s less a music video and more an arthouse fever dream, setting its fragmented noir imagery against backdrops spanning Vienna’s Zentralfriedhof and London’s Covent Garden.

Shot on a shoestring budget the band had to scrape together themselves, it somehow achieves a sense of sweeping elegance that far surpasses its financial constraints.

The track’s cultural footprint exceeded its immediate chart numbers—forever etched as a hymn to longing and restraint, even if it was destined never to quite claim the UK’s number-one spot.

Decades later, its taut, dramatic simplicity retains an almost mythic status, serving as a reminder of how mystery often speaks louder than clarity.


Featured on the 1980 album “Vienna“.

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

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12 . David Bowie – Absolute Beginners

David Bowie’s “Absolute Beginners” presents a cinematic pop-rock ballad crafted as the theme for Julien Temple’s 1986 film of the same name.

The track strikes a fine balance between heartfelt emotion and grand ambition, with its lush instrumentation and a standout saxophone solo by Don Weller.

Recorded during the summer of 1985, the song sits comfortably in the key of D, driven by a 120 BPM tempo, making it both reflective and accessible.

Rick Wakeman’s piano work adds a delicate touch, underscoring Bowie’s tender vocal delivery without overshadowing the composition’s grandeur.

Commercially, the song hit a sweet spot, climbing to number two in the UK and claiming chart-topping positions across Finland, Ireland, and Poland, with respectable placements in several other countries.

It fared more modestly in the US, peaking at number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100, a reflection perhaps of the differing transatlantic tastes at the time.

The accompanying music video, an homage to mid-century British culture and featuring nods to an old Strand cigarettes ad, feels both nostalgic and stylishly poignant.

A critical success in its own right, the video earned admiration for its intricate direction and retro aesthetic, complementing the film’s 1950s vibe.

Though not one of his prime-era classics, the song saw Bowie in strong form during both his Glass Spider and Heathen tours, proving its enduring live appeal.

Layering themes of hope and love over its glossy production, the song threads its way into Bowie’s catalog less as a revolutionary statement and more as a polished gem.


Featured on the 1986 album “Absolute Beginners: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack “.

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

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