This is the story of a nice, small-town girl who gets sucked up and spat out by the Hollywood star system. Bret Michaels seems to rail against this in the song, but the video glorifies and exploits her anyway. Meta! In the end, she kicks the pervy producer in the balls, changes back into her original outfit and rides off into the sunset with Bret, destined to be dumped in time for the first season of Rock of Love.
39. Kylie Minogue, "Spinning Around" (2000)
More like writhing around (on the floor, the couch, the bar...) If you've ever wondered why the" Loco-Motion" chanteuse is a huge sex symbol everywhere but in the U.S., watch this.
promotion
38. Def Leppard, "Photograph" (1983)
Girls in cages, Marilyn Monroe impersonators, sexy black-and-white alleyway encounters... and maybe a bit too much Def Leppard, but whatever. Produced by Mutt Lange, former producer for AC/DC (street cred!) and future husband of Shania Twain (we take that back.)
37. David Bowie, "Boys Keep Swinging" (1979)
"When you're a boy, other boys check you out." That troublesome little line convinced RCA not to release Bowie’s '79 single in the U.S., and was censored by NBC when he performed the song on Saturday Night Live. But the video is well remembered for other, more important reasons. As one YouTube commenter put it, "[Bowie’s] the only guy I know that can look good in a dress."
36. Rick James, "Give It to Me Baby" (1991)
Let’s be honest: Rick James is terrifying. But once this video gets going, you'll see why we had to include it. This sort of shamelessness deserves recognition.
35. Heart, "All I Want to Do is Make Love to You " (1990)
She picks up a stranger, he shows her what a woman is capable of, she ditches him the next morning, thanking him for impregnating her. Rawr! The Wilson Sisters were sexier in their '70s hard-rock heyday, but this video went a long way toward offsetting the distinctly unsexy yuppie rock of their later years.
34. Duran Duran, "Hungry Like the Wolf" (1982)
The song responsible for launching Duran Duran in America comes complete with a pretty sweet video. This one does take a while to get going, however. If you're not a fan, you might want to skip to about 2:50 and the sex scene that gives a whole new meaning to the term "animalistic."
33. Madonna, "Like a Prayer" (1990)
One of the most controversial — and, according to MTV viewers, "most groundbreaking" — videos ever made, "Like a Prayer" depicts Madonna, patron saint of the inappropriate, getting it on with Saint Martin de Porres, the "black Jesus." The video sparked mass protests by Christian organizations, and prompted Pepsi to drop Madonna as a spokeswoman; she later publicly thanked the soda-pop company for giving the video so much publicity.
32. Rihanna, "Umbrella" (2007)
Even if you're as sick of hearing this song as we are, the video remains undeniably hot. Dancing en pointe is not something you see much of in music videos, and the mix of jazz-era stage work with MTV-era gyration is unexpectedly sexy.
31. Janet Jackson, "That's the Way Love Goes" (1993)
Janet's lead-off video for her sex-centered '93 album (a major smash) was a romantic, sweeping change in direction for the woman who brought the world the abstinence-promoting "Let’s Wait Awhile." No wonder Jackson comes off as so angelic and lovely here — the video was directed by her ex-husband, who clearly still has feelings for her.
