I’ve been listening to a lot of music from the 80’s and 90’s, which in my opinion was the Golden Age of sappy romantic ballads and fantastic music videos. So, I went looking for my favorites. And lo and behold, the magic of YouTube!
First up: I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) by Meat Loaf – the perfect Beauty and the Beast / Phantom of the Opera homage, which by the way, always pains me—because really, shouldn’t Christine have stayed with the Phantom? Actually, Suzy Charnas wrote a short story just like that, which is one of the best Phantom tales I’ve ever read. It’s in her book, Stagestruck Vampires and Other Phantasms.
Next, Peter Cetera’s Glory Of Love, for obvious reasons. Or maybe not so obvious, but if I had a top ten list of romantic pop ballads, this would be on it.
Ditto with this song (Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now by Jefferson Starship):
And I Knew You Were Waiting For Me, though to a lesser extent (the song rates higher than the video):
Same here (great song, Against All Odds, versus so-so video):
But this…this is the gem, my favorite music video (and song) of all time. A-Ha’s Take On Me:
There are more, but I’m sure this is already sucking up way too much bandwidth. I’m curious, though—what are your favorite songs/videos?
PS: I had to throw in Oh, Sherrie by Steve Perry:
And, um, Journey’s Separate Ways: