What are your picks? Mine that always comes into mind is the late, great Laura Branigan’s Gloria. Great song but the music video was horrendously cheap looking, uninspiring, and was taped instead of filmed.
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All of 'em. All of 'em are the worst. 
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I know it’s not the “worst” exactly, but I’ve always hated Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love. Song and video both.
No I’m not going to include the video. It sucks!
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I am only aware this song/video exists from the 25 Lame countdown MTV did in the late '90s with a few comedians hosting. I can admit Party All The Time was catchy, but Rick James did the heavy lifting with that production. This is what happens when you can’t get Rick James. Not even Michael Jackson can save this one.
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All right, I guess I’ll try. [harumph]
In Golden Earring’s, “When The Lady Smiles,” the “hero” is such a horndog that he tries to molest a nun on a streetcar or something like that.
In Asia’s “The Smile Has Left Your Eyes”, we learn that if you want to divorce, your small child will leap to her death out of grief. So obviously, stay in a miserable marriage forever, or else.
Blecchhh!! (They’re both lousy songs, too.)
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Looks like they’re trapped in a 90s screensaver.
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The music video for Weird Al’s “Close, but No Cigar”, for how unnecessarily creepy and meanspirited it comes across, when the actual song is just about a guy with impossible standards.
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I remember that special like it was yesterday! It had Jon Stewart, Denis Leary, Janeane Garofalo, and Chris Kattan basically doing MST3K but for bad music videos. Don Johnson’s Heartbeat was numero uno on this countdown special.
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I think that the meanness is good insight into just what a [redacted] the song’s narrator is. In retrospect, it’s also unfortunately good insight into the animator being a total [redacted], too.
[clears throat nervously]
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From our old friend Jon Mikl Thor, his masterpiece 'Anger"
It’s like if you and your friends had access to film equipment then someone said ‘Let’s make a He-Man episode!’
Honorable runner-up from Jon Mikl Thor Keep The Dogs Away!
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You think Separate Ways is bad? You haven’t seen this. Only difference is that they know it’s bad and go with it.
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I’ll see myself out.
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I don’t know … there is something about a person who jumps into something with both feet and does it with unabashed, unashamed, unrestricted enthusiasm that wins me over. There’s no question that this isn’t a “good” video … but the sheer gusto on display (IMO) doesn’t make it a “bad” video either. He leaned into it and embraced it, and I have to say that I respect that (to some degree).
Now THIS video…
This is just bad bad bad all around.
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Yeah I guess it’s…well it isn’t…it’s not so…it’s really not, like, un-awful. It’s terrible.
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Nah, sorry. He didn’t assault a nun or drive a little kid to suicide because muh ‘family values’ but with French subtitles.
I win.
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OK? We’re just talking about bad videos, right?
Here. Safety Dance. Utterly nonsensical to the point where it arguably shows contempt for the viewer.
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I like the Safety Dance video. The Lannister siblings in happier times.
That was the Pixies being passive-aggressive. They were told to do a video and didn’t want to, so they just took about 20 seconds of footage of them running over the rocks and slowed it down to fill up the whole song.
And fans are still trying to figure out what the symbolism was.
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Prancing around like Flashdance was a bad choice.
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I’m sorry but this video is awesome because in a fit of … let’s call it dancing passion … he rips his shirt in two and then CALMLY PUTS ON A NEW SHIRT before continuing the video.
It’s frikkin’ genius
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This post Cetera video is comedy gold. Change my mind.
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