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With the launch of MTV on Aug. 1, 1981, video took on a new role in the music world -- and as the first song played on the cable network ("The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star") declared, video did, indeed, kill the radio star.
These days, music videos are standard practice for artists both big and small, and needless to say, the scale of and technology behind these clips has escalated over the years. But even back in the 1980s -- what some may consider the infant age of the music video -- clips like Michael Jackson's 14-minute, John Landis-directed "Thriller," Madonna's controversy-filled "Like a Prayer," and Peter Gabriel's laborious stop-motion narrative "Sledgehammer" set the bar very high for future decades.
Now, as we celebrate 30 years of music video television, let's revisit -- and vote on -- each decade's best. Billboard.com editors filled out our poll with a handful of our favorites from the 1980s, but use the write-in option below to vote from other clips released from Jan. 1, 1980 to Dec. 31, 1989. The poll will remain open all week, and be sure to come back next week to vote in our '90s music video poll. We'll reveal readers' top picks for each decade after three weeks of polls.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VOTE
Source: Billboard
