Updated January 21, 2026 at 12:27 PM PST
Reports from late last year about the demise of MTV were overstated, but they got us thinking about the network's legacy and most memorable moments. So on this episode of All Songs Considered, we remember the best of MTV with a list of our favorite videos from its golden era.
You'll find a list of the videos we included below. (They include five that we all agreed were mandatory; the rest are unranked, and if you ask us tomorrow we might come up with a completely different list.) The date next to each one is the year it first aired on MTV, which doesn't always line up with when the song was released. "Brass in Pocket," by the Pretenders, for example, came out in 1979, but was one of the first videos ever broadcast by MTV in 1981.
The exact dates for the "golden era" of MTV are debatable. We chose 1981 to 2001, because by the turn of the century, the shift to online viewing was under way, tipping over with the launch of YouTube in 2005, and the number of videos the network was broadcasting on any given day had dramatically faded. For much of its early run, you could turn MTV on like the radio, leave it on and likely discover something. That's the era we miss the most, and the one this list of two dozen videos celebrates.
The indisputable, goes-without-saying greats:
Michael Jackson, "Thriller" (from Thriller) — aired 1983
A-ha, "Take On Me" (from Hunting High and Low) — aired 1985
Peter Gabriel, "Sledgehammer" (from So) — aired 1986
Dire Straits, "Money for Nothing" (from Brothers in Arms) — aired 1985
The Buggles, "Video Killed the Radio Star" (from Rock'n Roller Disco) — aired 1981
Our picks:
Sinéad O'Connor, "Nothing Compares 2 U" (from I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got) — aired 1990
"It's as simple as it gets, but it shows you how simplicity can be so radical, and so effective... Those eyes, they suck you in." — Ann Powers
Janet Jackson, "Rhythm Nation" (from Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814) — aired 1989
"To this date, greatest dance video of all time... You want to see great dancing, watch this Janet Jackson video from 35 years ago." — Robin Hilton
Eurythmics, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (from Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)) — aired 1983
"First video I ever saw. I was 11 years old, and I basically immediately became obsessed with pop music." — Stephen Thompson
Toni Basil, "Mickey" (from Word of Mouth) — aired 1982
"I don't think people really think that much about isolated towns and communities where you only got what was on the radio... Everything about [MTV] was mind-blowing. Because not only did I start hearing all of these songs for the first time, I started seeing what the artists look like." — Robin Hilton
The Pretenders, "Brass In Pocket" (from Pretenders) — aired 1981
"The thing that's really cool about that video... is it was one of the early examples of storytelling in these videos, where you're getting an entire little movie in about three minutes." — Robin Hilton
Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love" (from Riptide) — aired 1986
"This was a picture of suave-ity. There were many pictures of suave-ity — there was Robert Palmer, Bryan Ferry, Duran Duran. There were many, many versions of it, none of which I could possibly attain at any point in my entire life, but that is absolutely a part of growing up on these videos and having this channel beam those images into your life." — Stephen Thompson
George Michael, "Freedom '90" (from Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1) — aired 1990
"It's worth noting that this was coming right out of the 1980s, a decade that I had not really liked that much. I especially hadn't liked Wham!, and here's George Michael, basically saving pop music for me and signaling this whole new era, because the song is so incredible." — Robin Hilton
Björk, "Human Behaviour" (from Debut) — aired 1993
"It's so Björk in that it's magical and you want to enter that realm, but in her Icelandic way, she's always like, Look, bears are cool, but they will eat you. And I think that's an important message." — Ann Powers
Twisted Sister, "I Wanna Rock" (from Stay Hungry) — aired 1984
"The visuals from these videos are seared into my brain in a way that, like, I will forget members of my family before I forget the videos for "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock"." — Stephen Thompson
Herbie Hancock, "Rockit" (from Future Shock) — aired 1983
""Rockit" is such an important song. That was the song that introduced scratching and hip-hop beats to so many people in the mainstream." — Ann Powers
Dr. Dre, "Nuthin' but a "G" Thang (feat. Snoop Dogg)" (from The Chronic) — aired 1993
"I just absolutely love the way that video introduces those of us who had not been to South Central L.A. [to] what life is like. It just completely puts you into that milieu." — Ann Powers
Beastie Boys, "Sabotage" (from III Communication) — aired 1994
"When you're talking about the Mount Rushmore of the greatest music videos of all time, this is absolutely up there. It's a perfect marriage of amazing song [and] hilarious, amazing visuals." — Stephen Thompson
Fatboy Slim, "Weapon of Choice" (from Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars) — aired 2001
"It was an incredible video and it did debut on MTV, but by 2001 or so, I think we were getting to the point where everyone's starting to shift to watching everything online... So it's a turning point for me with MTV, but also one of, indisputably, the greatest videos of all time." — Robin Hilton
Missy Elliott, "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" (from Supa Dupa Fly) — aired 1997
"Apparently, when they were making the video, the suit deflated and they had to blow it up at a gas station in Brooklyn. And then she couldn't fit in the car, so then she had to walk back to the set through the streets of Brooklyn in the suit. You gotta love that." — Ann Powers
Cyndi Lauper, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (from She's So Unusual) — aired 1983
"In those early days of MTV, [Cyndi Lauper] was one of the major faces of the network, and of music videos and of pop music. "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" has now become one of these songs that just kind of gets played as eighties wallpaper, but... in the eighties she was such a fascinating pop cultural figure." — Stephen Thompson
Jamiroquai, "Virtual Insanity" (from Travelling Without Moving) — aired 1996
"If you've seen this video, you remember this video... Jay Kay is wearing this hat, and he's dancing, and it looks like the whole floor is moving. It's an incredible optical illusion." — Robin Hilton
U2, "Where the Streets Have No Name" (from The Joshua Tree) — aired 1987
"It was an homage to the Beatles playing their final show on a rooftop, and it's presented kind of like a little documentary where they're shooting behind the scenes... It was just so cool and incredible, and I've never loved the band more." — Robin Hilton
R.E.M., "Losing My Religion" (from Out of Time) — aired 1991
"I wanted to highlight this video not only for Michael Stipe's insane dancing in it, which is so great, but [also] for what a video can do for a band... R.E.M. — the embodiment of college rock — they leap to a new level with this video." — Ann Powers
Prince, "Kiss" (from Parade) — aired 1986
"Not only is this video iconic... but also, that song is so, no pun intended, revolutionary. The message of that song is revolutionary counterprogramming to so much of the messaging that I received from videos on MTV in the eighties." — Stephen Thompson
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