Top 20 Music Videos from the Animated Series "Jem"

Hey out there! I've put together a list and review of what I consider to be the top 20 music videos from the '80's animated television series "Jem". What qualifies me to judge such a thing? While aside from being a life long fan and appreciator of this series starting in my childhood, and being a professional animator, and growing up watching a lot of music videos on MTV.... well, nothing really. Just know that I put a lot of thought into this, as will become obvious....

The four things I considered while making this list are: quality of the song itself; content of video such as story, costumes, special effects; quality of animation; and emotional impact, as in, how the song ties into the story of the episode and/or how memorable the video is to the masses.

Before I start listing them off, let me just say that there were a lot of good ones throughout the series to chose from. I want to thank everyone involved in making such an awesome, top-notch series, and kudos to the vocalists who performed for this show, it wouldn't have been the same without them.

20) "Surprise, Surprise" - The Misfits - {{Culture Clash}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjwUIHqknq4

This is one of the Misfit's typical mischief making songs. The only things making it above standards in my books are the oh-so-'80's vocals, and the look on Jem's face right before she gets a pie slammed into it. One of the funnier Misfit's videos featuring an extra sassy vocal performance by Ellen Bernfeld as Pizzazz, the Misfit's lead (seriously, how does she sing like that?), I felt this was a good place to start the countdown.

19) "There's A Melody Playing" - Jem and the Holograms - {{In Search for the Stolen Album}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmomKBGjxJY

Repetitive? Yes. Catchy? You bet! This song features a groovy beat and some very low vocals performed by Britta Philips as Jem. The song is so good, The Misfits even stole it and recorded their own vocals over it, but we all know Jem sings it best. The video cuts between in studio performance shots, and fantasy shots of her slow dancing in ambient lighting and cruising towards a barren cliff- just like something straight out of a real '80's music video. And we all remember that pole dance move she uses at the end.

18) "Midsummer Night's Madness" - Jem and the Holograms - {{Midsummer Night's Madness}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HdQiOMmb7s

I hesitate to not put this video higher. The story of this episode was not particularly meaningful, but both this song and it's video are fairly impressive. The hypnotic siren singing and ever quickening tempo are enough to keep you intrigued, but the story in the video involving multiple references to ancient Greek mythology is especially entertaining. This is the one video from this series I would have loved to see as filmed as a real music video. And you have to love the clever ending!

17) "I Got My Eye on You" - Jem and the Holograms - {{Talent Search Part 1}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IkJbl1YlPA

This video was the second time this song was used in the series (about half of the songs were used twice). The first video came early in the series and was, frankly, boring. This time the animation has improved and instead of watching Jem trying to seduce her alter ego's boyfriend into cheating on her real self, as we see so many times, it features the character Aja instead, who so rarely gets featured in the show. After spending half the series watching Jem get into jealous breakdowns over her double relationship with her boyfriend, Kimber flirt with every man who happens to walk by, and Shana keep steadfast in her quiet devotion to her steady boyfriend, Aja finally gets a little action. During the third season opening two-parter episodes that introduce two new main characters, a long-distance, inter-racial relationship quickly finds it's way into the storyline. Watching Aja and Craig exchange flirty expressions with each other while playing together is cute and so much more entertaining than the first video. After all, we know Aja is really the one the guys would go for. And the subject matter of the video fits the song, as it opens with a very seductive "Hey Babe" and continues on in a very cute and flirtatious manner.

16) "A Father Should Be" - Ba Nee - {{Jem Jam Part 1}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J9kc3KBpAw

During this two part episode, several of the foster girls under Jerrica Benton's care were given their own song to sing. Of the three, the best was that of Ba Nee, a young Vietnamese girl whose mother died and who never met her father but knew only that he was an American soldier with red hair, and that could possibly still possibly be alive somewhere. In these episodes we are introduced to her storyline, a very touching one, about a girl who dreams about being reunited by her long lost, and last surviving family member. It is a very touching story that winds up continuing throughout the series and is even used to end the whole show. I must give the series and it's writers a lot of credit for choosing to end the show by wrapping up Ba Nee's storyline rather than in some cliche way, like Jerrica finally confessing her secrets to her boyfriend, or beating The Misfits in one final competition, or some other petty and expected ending for a show about a rock band. I don't know who to credit for the vocals, but they are very sweet, and the animation is beautiful. The only thing that it gets negative points for using a stereotypical "Asian music" with no real reason to, and that some may consider to be racist.

15) "Friend or Stranger" - Jem and the Holograms - {{The Music Awards Part 2}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbqXSauOjpM

The song comes at the end of another great two-part storyline about some very serious topics. The song has a good message that even overpowers Pizzazz's resolve. One great thing to note about the music in this one, though the animation doesn't match up very well, the instruments in the song are the same as the ones the characters are actually playing- and they sound good!

14) "Designing Woman" - The Misfits - {{In Stitches}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhaYIhKhztk

Even though they are supposed to be more of a punk rock type of band, you gotta love that very digital sounding music riff, however it was produced. This song is full of attitude, and more shoes and wristwatches than you can count!

13) "You'll Never Win My Love" - Jem - {{Beauty and the Rock Promoter}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bod738B13vw

This is the first song of three from an episode in which Jem and her band mates perform in a stage version of "Beauty and the Beast" (this episode aired well before the Disney movie, just for the record). All three songs in this episode are notable, but I've only included this one in the countdown because in addition to being a musical number from a modern, rocked out version of a classic fairy tale, it also doubles as a message for women about demanding respect in a relationship and not putting up with abuse. I'm not one who usually harps over these types of messages or stories, but I'm glad that a show that knows its audience is made up mostly of young girls put it in there disguised as something fun. Good job, guys! Also, the concept for the beast with the electricity and the big factory-like castle are pretty cool!

12) "Alone Again" - Laura Holloway - {{Alone Again}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbOJm5Q2xXU

This video really stands out in the series. It is the only song that is done acoustically, the only song sung by this one-episode character who has a beautiful voice, and a head of some of the shiniest animated hair you will ever see! There are other details to be appreciated in the animation of this video, such as the more accurate guitar playing and special effects. This is also one of the few sad songs in the series that comes at the beginning of an episode from the show dealing with the most serious issue - drug addiction. While other cartoon shows at the time were trying to avoid such subject matters, or crudely touching on them in a show that was meant to be comedic, "Jem" attempted to approach the topic in a slightly more realistic way and introduced us to one of the most tragic and sorrowful teen aged characters animation may ever see.

11) "Lovesick" - The Misfits - {{The Stingers Hit Town Part 2}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF22E4D731o

When I hear this song, it almost sounds like something that could have been heard on the radio. In my opinion, the video does not do the song justice, though it does have a few fairly dark and disturbing bits in it that I really wish came out better.

10) "Depends on the Mood I'm In" - Jem and the Holograms - {{In Stitches}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml2OTHbBbHI

This is a another video from an episode that featured some good songs. There is some animation reuse in this video, but it's a very fun, spunky and girly video that I think stuck in our heads as kids. There are a percentage of Jem songs that all sound very similar- similar beats, similar melodies, repetitive use of lyrics, etc. I tried to avoid putting songs that sounded too much alike on this countdown, so I chose this song out of all of them because I love the use of piano and bass line in the music, and I think fans of the show would agree that this is one of the more memorable songs from the show. This song gets reused in another episode that comes later in the series that does some interesting things with the animation, however I chose this video instead because of it's "classic jem" qualities.

9) "Destiny" - The Stingers - {{Midsummer Night's Madness}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUy_2nbInVc

Were you wondering when The Stingers were going to show up on this countdown? I remember this song being one of, if not "the", favorite song of mine from the show for a while. The truth is, nearly all of the songs in the show written for The Stingers were great! Within the world of Jem, I think there is no doubt they were the best band, and going on music alone, a lot more of their songs would have showed up on this countdown. It seems to be as though the quality of the music on the show in general improved near the end of the series, right around when The Stingers show up, and I can't help but wonder if the composers became re-inspired with the introduction of a harder rock band with a male lead... Anyway, the reason I didn't put more of their songs on this list is because while they were fun villains in the show, most of their episodes did not have much substance. Perhaps it is my interest in mythology that subconsciously made me chose this song off their library of hits, but their other songs, such as "Perfect Match" and "Take It or Leave It" are worthy choices as well. I know I will get hate mail if I did not even mention those other songs.

8) "Universal Appeal" - The Misfits - {{Starbright Part 1: Falling Star}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YboGgXemzGc

The Misfits set out to show us they can reach Jem's fans too with this genre crossing song. It has all the catchy qualities of a real pop song, only sung with a little more sass. I love the double meaning use of the word universal- the other theme of the song both lyrically and in the video being literally "the universe". Though they reuse an awkward slide-in animation of Roxy and Stormer way too much, this video probably actually has the best animation from the whole show in it.

7) "Starlight" - Jackie Benton - {{Out of the Past}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y65WFkM0HSM

The one song in the show even more sad than "Alone Again", but in a very beautiful way. This is the only recording of Jackie Benton, mother of Jerrica/Jem and Kimber, adopted mother of Shana and Aja that the characters can find many years after her death. The song comes very near the end of the episode, after a lot of anticipation of whether or not the characters, or we the audience, would ever get to hear her song, and when we finally do it's quite a tear-jerker. I don't know for a fact, but I would assume this song was meant as a dedication to anyone who has ever lost their mom.

6) "Who is He Kissing?" - Jem and the Holograms - {{Starbright Part 1: Falling Star}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc2R2AchBdo

This is one of the first good videos of the show, near the beginning of episode 6 of the series. It is the first episode animated by what would become the main studio working on the show, and the jump in animation quality is noticeable. It is one of the jazzier songs of the show, though there are a few more to come later in the series. The conversation between Jerrica and Rio immediately prior to the video sets the song up well and is also very humorous. The concept of the video is rather trippy in an interesting way, playing tricks with your eyes. Whoa-ooooh-oh!

5) "Glitter 'N Gold" - Jem and the Holograms - {{Glitter And Gold}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvwEjfW2FGw

The marketing department for the Jem dolls knew girls are attracted by glitter and gold, and this song is really just a commercial for the new dolls with new sparkly outfits and her car- the Rockin' Roadster. But, it's also the big season finale song and some of the most rocking music to come from Jem and the Holograms (love that singing!) The whole song is about how she's wearing an outfit made of gold, but she makes it sound so cool! The only reason this video isn't higher is because I always think it's cheesy when Rio gets involved with the dancing in the videos, and because it always baffled me why the other girl's outfits were not also made of gold if that's what the whole song is about.

4) "When It's Only Me and the Music" - Jem and the Holograms - {{The Music Awards Part 1}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohsTi_26_Tg

Another cool space-themed video from the show. This one features a new character who is a ballerina named Danse, as she does her graceful dance moves while "soaring through space", tip-toeing over ringed planets and twirling out of black holes. Of course she won over the hearts of the young female audience. If you could have a doll with one hair color, or a doll with multiple hair colors... well, the choice is obvious! This song features some of the prettiest piano playing from the show.

3) "I Am A Giant" - The Misfits - {{The Music Awards Part 1}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHgBgMlar8c

The top three songs are what I consider to be the best songs from each of the three main bands of the show. Which order they go in is mostly personal taste. I put this song in third because I don't feel it is the best music from a Misfits song, but by far the coolest music video. It starts off with some great animation of the band playing live (is that rotoscoping I detect?), and continues on to become a parody of the old "King Kong" movie (in black and white and everything), only instead of a big ape, it's a boyfriend-stealing, high-heel wearing punk rocker! Totally cool concept.

2) "It's A Hard, Hard Life" - The Stingers - {{Riot's Hope}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyP5iNeFTGg

I was very tempted to put this one in first. I think personally it's my favorite song from the show today. I really appreciate the music- it actually has a guitar solo! Short, but then the song is only just over a minute long. It's one of two awesome new Stingers songs written for an episode that finally digs a little deeper into the Stinger lead Riot's personality. It's an episode wrought with domestic abuse, rebellion, and coming to terms with your past, some fairly heavy issues, and this song accents Riot's situation nicely in the middle of his story. The animation isn't particularly great, but the video is a nice montage covering the early years of the band.

1) "Dear Diary" - Jem and the Holograms - {{Scandal}}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDK8YepOQzo

Because if it wasn't number one, I would get the most amount of hate mail. No, I'm just kidding! This one deserves to be number one. It is the song and the video that the most people think of when they think of Jem. The image of Jem standing on that glittering, spinning platform, with her curled hair and ruffled skirt billowing in the stage breeze is one that sticks (and is animated well) The rest of the video is lovely as well. The song is a little cheesy and rhymes a word with itself near the beginning, but we'll forgive that this time. This episode was probably cherished the most by it's young female audience because the subject matter was more ratable to them. While all the adult and coming-of-age problems the various characters faced in other episodes made for very respectful and insightful messages, most of them probably went over their target audience's head. But the tale of Kimber and the cruel way her deepest secrets were revealed to everyone is something that we've almost all been through ourselves at some point. And it showed us that even a very self-assured and rebellious young woman like Kimber Benton has a vulnerability, but when confronted by her gossip-starting rivals, she finds a way to deal with them in a positive way.It's not the most serious issue tackled by this show by any means, but it's the one we remember the most because it's the one that meant the most to us when we were kids.

What can I say, they just don't make cartoons like they used to ;D

-Rachel Young