Ever since the dawn of MTV and Friday Night Videos, the music video has significantly impacted musical tastes and pop culture. It might not be as extreme as when the Buggles declared that "Video Killed the Radio Star", but there is no arguing that the music video certainly could make or break a song's popularity. So this regular Flashback Video feature will serve to remember some of the music videos from the great '80s decade that made an impact on me in one way or another.
This issue we will cover "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" by Cyndi Lauper. This song was released in June 1985 to coincide with the released of The Goonies in theaters and is included on the film's soundtrack. It was originally titled simply "Good Enough", but it was changed by Warner Bros. who wanted the title of the film to be part of the song title for marketing reasons (similar to "Ghostbusters" from the summer before). But unlike "Ghostbusters", the "Goonies" are not actually mentioned in any of the song's lyrics, just the title. The film was a huge success that summer and so was the song. "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" became Lauper's fifth Top 10 single when it peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would also reach the Top 10 in Canada, Australia and Japan. Lauper even has a quick cameo in the movie, performing this song on a TV that happens to be on, although the song was not fully completed until after filming.
The music video for "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" was directed by Richard Donner (the film's director) and was made in two parts. Part 1 of the video debuted on MTV before The Goonies opened in theaters and Part 2 premiered on MTV after the movie opened. Cyndi Lauper was a big part of what was known as the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection" at that time, so the decision was made to feature several WWF wrestlers in the music video. Captain Lou Albano had previously appeared in Lauper's videos for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "She Bop" and "Time After Time". He returned and, for this one, they also featured Wendi Richter as well as Rowdy Roddy Piper, The Fabulous Moolah, The Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, Classy Freddie Blassie and even André the Giant from the WWF. All of the young actors from The Goonies (except for Kerri Green for some reason) and even Executive Producer Steven Spielberg also have roles in the video along with a few others. Having the characters from the movie was cool and kind of expected, but since I was a big wrestling fan, seeing those wrestlers having fun in the video was pretty awesome. The video actually has a silly plot which loosely follows that of the movie except focuses mostly on Lauper, but also mixes in some actual footage from the movie (which probably wasn't really even necessary with everything else going on). Here is Part 1 of the music video of "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" by Cyndi Lauper...
Part 1 ends like an episode of the old Batman series from the late-60s. So it only makes sense that Part 2 starts with the narrator giving a little recap setting up where it left off. Here is Part 2 of the music video of "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" by Cyndi Lauper...
Here are a few extra tidbits of trivia now that you have watched the videos: - Cyndi Lauper's actual mother plays both "Cyndi's Mother" as well as the green-faced "Sea Hag/Witch" in the video. "Dave" is played by David Wolff who was both Lauper's boyfriend and manager at the time. - The Bangles appear in Part 2 of the video as pirates. This was over a year before "Manic Monday" made them well known, but you should recognize the girls if you look closely. The Bangles had been opening for Cyndi Lauper on tour and Lauper was also able to get their song "I Got Nothing" on the soundtrack for The Goonies. - Several scenes are shot on actual sets used in the film. The octopus that is shown popping its head out of the water and later wrapped around Cyndi was also from the film, but if you don't remember an octopus being in The Goonies it is because that scene was cut from the final film. Either they shot the video before the sea creature was edited out or they decided they wanted to at least get some use out of the prop. - At the end of the video, André the Giant chases and starts clobbering the bad guys. It is reported that Roddy Piper broke character when André came after him and yelled out to director Richard Donner, Steven Spielberg and Cyndi Lauper that "the video wasn't supposed to end like this". As he ran away from André, Piper also tries to get into a moving car which doesn't stop for him. None of this was planned, but they left it in the music video anyways.
The Goonies remains one of my favorite films from my childhood and hearing this song immediately transports me back to the summer of 1985. It had Cyndi Lauper, The Goonies, WWF wrestlers... what more could you ask for?
Hope you enjoyed another trip back to the '80s thanks to Flashback Video!