The song about female masturbation that helped usher in the now-ubiquitous "Parental Advisory" sticker, "She Bop" and its accompanying video were a classic example of coding. The vibrating motorcycle, the "self-service" gas station, Sigmund Freud, and Cyndi dancing with sunglasses and a cane (geddit?) were genius. The only misfire — surely demanded by MTV execs — was subbing in the tamer Beefcake magazine for Blueboy, the gay-porn mag that’s actually mentioned in the lyrics.
19. Shakira , "La Tortura" (2005)
The most successful Spanish-language single ever recorded is accompanied here by a pretty hot (and surprisingly non-creepy) peeping-tom storyline. Don’t try it at home.
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18. Iggy Pop, "Candy" (1990)
Was this the best duet of the '90s? It's hard to imagine anything so sexy, romantic and catchy earning a rung on the Top 40 anymore, particularly since you'd never be able to see the video anywhere. And the video is, in part, what made it such a heavily-requested tune: a shirtless Iggy and the mere presence of Kate Pierson. Since they only appear on screen together through trick photography, the sexual charge between them is even better than it would've been if they'd gotten all '80s duet-y and sung into each other's eyes.
17. TLC, "Red Light Special" (1995)
This song is actually about oral sex and menstruation, but don't let that distract you from how smokin’ TLC were in their heyday. Directed by Matthew Rolston, this video is set in a brothel, and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, always the hot tomboy of the group, plays the pimp with aplomb. Left Eye, who died in a car accident in 2002, was one of the first musicians to make safe-sex sexy — her condom eyeglasses were her trademark and, natch, a source of controversy.
16. Chris Isaak, "Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing" (1995)
In 1999, VH1, still marketing itself to the Boomer crowd, aired two versions of this video: a tamer one before nine p.m., and the one seen here after that. French supermodel Laetitia Casta donned a black wig to play the TV seductress, and Isaak’s '50s-greaser look blended perfectly with the roadside-motel milieu.
15. Aerosmith, "Sweet Emotion" (1975)
This may be the most verbally explicit video we ever saw on the old MTV. A phone sex hotline, in all its glory, with an unforgettable ending.
14. Marvin Gaye, "Sexual Healing" (1982)
This pre-MTV gem comes complete with opening credits and a storyline that holds up better than many from the high-budget videos of the '80s. Each time we see this, we think how tragic it was that we never got to see a video from Gaye's "distinguished gray" period.
13. a-ha, "Take On Me" (1985)
When we were kids, every girl in the neighborhood thought this video was incredibly hot. Reached via phone, each one of these girls pretended not to remember us. Regardless, millions of girls and boys bought this record in 1985, and almost every one of them did so because of this video, which remains one of the best-known in the MTV archives.
12. The Police, "Don't Stand So Close To Me" (1980)
Sting once said that this song is based on a true story from his earlier career as a teacher, alleging (quite plausibly) that his students sometimes developed crushes on him. It’s a great play on the dicey nature of student-teacher attraction; Sting’s wholesomeness keeps it from going too squirmy.
11. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock 'n Roll" (1981)
Originally shot in color, Joan somehow knew it would be all the nastier in grainy black-and-white. It’s still one of the thirty biggest songs ever, according to Billboard, the chart on which this spent seven weeks.
