5 Music Videos From The '80s Every Classic Rock Fan Should Watch

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If you think about iconic moments that changed rock history forever, the birth of MTV is up there. Thanks to the launch of the channel, music videos received the perfect platform to shine — and classic rock fans experienced euphoria of all the senses in the '80s. As much as the music served up soup to the soul, the visuals imprinted cherished memories in a generation's mind.

While some of the music videos, such as Genesis' "Land of Confusion," may look outdated by today's standards, the artists dared to push the boundaries and turned out to be influential as a result. Others, like Van Halen's "Jump," didn't reinvent the wheel but managed to capture the raw energy of the raucous rock band — especially the manic intensity of the jack-in-a-box frontman David Lee Roth.

In terms of selection, the criteria were simple here: One, the video needed to be from a classic rock act in the '80s (so sorry, Michael Jackson; we still love "Thriller," though). Two, it must have made a splash back in the day in some way. And finally, this is the type of video you would show somebody getting into classic rock to demonstrate how awesome the genre is and what it was like in the '80s. Easy-peasy, right? So, let's rock!

Have you ever eaten a cheese sandwich after midnight? Don't. The surreal dreams feel like something out of a David Lynch movie — or Genesis' music video for "Land of Confusion." In 1986, the song, fresh off the album "Invisible Touch," raced up the Billboard Hot 100 to the No. 4 position and received its own video.

Directed by John Lloyd and Jim Yukich and featuring puppets designed by the makers of the British satire series "The Spitting Image," "Land of Confusion" turns out to be a brilliant piece of satire and art that lives up to its title. Genesis take the audience on an eye-opening journey through the ages to showcase the failures of world leaders (as well as the lack of learning from events) and the ever-constant threat to civilization that's looming on the horizon due to inadequate leadership and the insatiable hunger for power. Decades later, it's amazing to see how this song's message hasn't aged a day.

"I've always shied away from doing what I call a preachy song, a protest song, but it seemed to work," Genesis' Mike Rutherford told Songfacts. "Maybe because the music was quite angry it made it work." The "Land of Confusion" music video received a Grammy Award for the best concept music video in 1987.

Guns N' Roses were all the rage when they arrived on the scene, as their brand of rock brought back a swagger and edge to the genre. However, "Sweet Child o' Mine" — from 1987's seminal "Appetite for Destruction" album — showed off their softer, sentimental side, establishing itself as the band's biggest track as well as an '80s rock song we'll be blasting on repeat until we die.

"Sweet Child o' Mine" rocketed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, aided by MTV's unabashed love affair with the music video. The visual companion to the hit isn't the most complex of concepts, interspersing behind-the-scenes clips with performance footage of GN'R in full flight. Of course, since this is a ballad, the band's partners at the time are also shown here to remind everybody that these tough guys believe in a crazy little thing called love.

The music video for "Sweet Child o' Mine" could have turned out much more different had lead singer Axl Rose had his way, though. During a 2006 radio interview, he revealed that he pitched a darker concept that shared more in common with an Eli Roth horror movie than a love story, but the record label balked. File this under the rare times in which a record company was right, because it's likely that Rose's intended version of the music video would have been remembered for all the wrong reasons.

Most '80s fantasy fans remember "Highlander," starring Christopher Lambert as undying Scottish warrior Connor MacLeod. While the swashbuckling action and battle-of-the-immortals premise hit the sweet spot, the songs from Queen are what turned this film into a bona fide classic. "Who Wants to Live Forever," which would also appear on Queen's 1986 album "A Kind of Magic," remains a heartfelt exploration of one's mortality and why living forever isn't all it's cracked up to be.

While there's a version of the music video that features clips from "Highlander," the best edition is still the one that captures the majesty of Queen in action, sans the movie. Directed by David Mallet, this slow-burn experience explodes into an all-out spectacle with the rock band playing alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Watch this and try to not get goosebumps — it's a welcome reminder of the power of music to stir the spirit, and why there will never be another band like Queen.

Even though most fans tend to crow over the music videos for "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "I Want to Break Free" more than "Who Wants to Live Forever," this is the kind of footage that needs to be put in a time capsule for future generations to see the greatness of art created. Just don't add any Kid Rock along with it, though; it might dilute the message.

Some artists need gimmicks and elaborate stage shows to attract attention. Not Van Halen. Sure, their clothes may have been as loud as their music in the '80s, but watching the classic rock band do what they did best was all that was needed for a good time. Case in point: the bouncy music video for "Jump."

Hot off Van Halen's "1984" record, "Jump" is the group's biggest hit, and the video captures why it resonated with the world: the energy. Whether you want to see Eddie Van Halen shredding his guitar like the virtuoso genius he was, or watch singer David Lee Roth putting in his best audition for the circus, this video emphasizes every reason why Van Halen, and "Jump," reserved their spot in music history.

Interestingly enough, the music video for "Jump" amplified the simmering tensions in the band, since Roth wanted a wilder music video. Director Pete Angelus stepped in before it went off the rails. "Rather than doing something bigger than life, which is how Van Halen was perceived, we wanted something very personal," Angelus revealed in "I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution." "Let's see if we can get Edward to smile. Of course, we also had to appease Dave, who wanted to throw his karate tricks into the equation." The music video went on to win an MTV Video Music Award for best stage performance in a video.

While glam and grunge wrestled for supremacy in the late '80s (spoiler alert: grunge won), shock rocker Alice Cooper proved he still had some tricks up his sleeve to crawl his way into the conversation. "Poison" — the dangerous ballad off Cooper's 1989 album "Trash" — tied with "School's Out" as Cooper's highest-charting Billboard Hot 100 song, peaking at No. 7, but it was aided by the indelible music video that embodies the theatrics of the Alice Cooper experience.

Equal parts seductive and scary, the "Poison" music video teases the senses with a highly stylized and broody visual tour of what it means to fall in love with the wrong person. Complete with chains, models, and rock 'n' roll, the video turns out to be just as memorable as the song itself.

There are two versions of the "Poison" music video — one that features distinctively less clothing, and a more restrained version that didn't give the censors as much of a heart attack. This all played a major part in Alice Cooper's comeback and helped to establish the song as one of his most famous tunes ever. Despite what the lyrics say, there's no pain, only thrills here.