Ah, the ‘Cradle of Love’ video.
This was one of the formative experiences of my youth (at least I remember it that way… it turns out the video got most of its airplay in 1990, when I was 18). I must have watched this video a hundred times when it was popular, eating up every piece of eye candy.
The story is essentially a PG-rated porn plot. Jailbait vixen knocks on her uptight neighbor’s door and asks to use his stereo. Caught up in the music, she lets loose, performing an elaborate striptease, kicking her shoe into the fish tank (how rude!) and treating herself to a glass of wine (which conveniently spills on her blouse).
Of course, in this TV-safe version, the hapless man resists her advances, becoming increasingly flustered. There’s a bit of a paranormal twist as he attempts to turn off the music only to find out that the power of Billy Idol can not be extinguished by simply pressing ‘stop’ or pulling the plug.
I read that Idol was recovering from an accident when this video was shot, so his participation was limited to waist-up shots of him singing in the Andy Warhol portraits… meaning more screen time for our heroine. His loss was our gain. “That’s right!”
Note: Alex has commented that my choices this week gave gotten increasingly salacious, to which I reply: “I was a teenage boy in the 80s, what do you expect?!”
Meet Me In Montauk 
I always like Idol’s songs, though I’m not even sure why as it is not my normal style of music. It’s just something about that voice and the great production quality that appealed to me years ago. Anyway, keep the salacious videos coming!:)
All I can say is, there were three videos that came immediately to mind for me when I saw the theme of the week and none of them has yet tao make an appearance. I do notice a sub-theme happening here, though… Salacious indeed!
It made me think of the summer you went to the Bahamas with us and you and Scott went to some shop to look at a poster of Paulina Porizkova. I remember vividly Scott reporting that he had “just taken your hormones for a jog around the block.” Of course, we were about 13 on that trip… 🙂
I look forward to hearing what your three videos are!
I have no memory of this video. I guess I was busy hitting the books in college while you were spending all of your time watching MTV. Meanwhile, I’m very curious what videos Kerrie is remembering. When I reflect on MTV, which may as well be a reflection on the 80’s, I think of Michael Jackson, of course, Madonna, Aha (which has made its appearance), Tom Petty’s “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl”… mostly cheesy, fun videos by artists I admired then (and admire still). Oh, and, of course, George Michael’s “Faith” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark.” Talk about salacious 🙂
The one I remember is “Call me Al” with Chevy Chase and Paul Simon. Made me laugh every time–was that from the 80’s?