The 1980s saw a music video boom and with it came the further exploitation of women in music. For decades prior, women had been used as tools – plastered across album covers and heralded as mere sexual conquests in song – in order to sell music.
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However, these video vanguards, too often splashed across MTV as mere objects of desire, were the reason these classic ’80s music videos were so iconic. Below, we meet a few of them.
1. Christie Brinkley in Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” (1983)
Model Christie Brinkley portrays the titular character and Billy Joel’s well-to-do love interest in his classic “Uptown Girl” music video. She can be seen parading around the video set in fancy dress, sashaying past the ogling “downtown” guys.
Brinkley was then Joel’s soon-to-be wife and throughout their relationship, she would make appearances in several of his other music videos. She can also be seen in “Keeping the Faith,” “All About Soul,” and “River of Dreams,” to name just a few.
Today, Brinkley – while no longer with Joel – is still in the public eye, making television appearances and promoting her various entrepreneurial pursuits.
2. Ola Ray in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (1983)
The main draw of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video is its campy horror, but it would not be complete without its scream queen Ola Ray. The then 23-year-old former Playboy Playmate was cast for the part of Jackson’s girlfriend, who has to evade the video’s well-choreographed zombies.
She may have cowered on the sofa at the end of the music video, but Ray would later stand up for herself, suing Jackson for nonpayment of royalties before his death in 2009. “I got the fame [from ‘Thriller’],” she once told Vanity Fair, “but I didn’t get the fortune.”
3. Bunty Bailey in a-ha’s “Take On Me” (1985)
English model-actress-dancer Bunty Bailey plays the unsuspecting diner-goer who famously gets pulled into the comic strip in a-ha’s “Take On Me.” She then becomes the animated love interest of the band’s doodled frontman Morten Harket and later his real-life girlfriend. Bailey would also go on to star in the band’s video for their song “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.”
4. Bobbie Brown in Warrant’s “Cherry Pie” (1990)
Warrant’s “Cherry Pie” may have been released in 1990, but the song and music video still resound with the raunchy hair metal that was a trademark of the late 1980s, so it’s a fitting addition to this list. Actress, model, and former Miss Louisiana Teen USA Bobbie Brown is best known for her role in the music video, portraying the woman the band is lusting after throughout.
She was no stranger to music videos and had previously made appearances in Great White’s “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” Hurricane’s “I’m On to You,” and others.
5. Tawny Kitaen in Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again” (1987)
Actress Tawny Kitaen is probably one the most famous video queens of the 1980s due to her part in several of Whitesnake’s music videos. Filmed cartwheeling and lounging across car hoods, she is best known as the permed vision in the video for the band’s signature “Here I Go Again.”
Briefly married to Whitesnake’s lead vocalist David Coverdale, she would make other appearances in the band’s “Still of the Night,” “Is This Love,” and “The Deeper the Love” videos. She went on to act in several television shows but passed away suddenly in 2021.
(Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
