Customer Reviews

Pure '80s: The Ultimate DVD Box [Region 1]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, to start things off the sound and transfer quality are very good. All the videos look and sound just as good or better than when they were released. The discs are very bare bones though on special features but I wasn't expecting much so no big loss there for me. What really hurts the quality of this set is their video selection. Instead of telling you who has videos on here it would be much easier to tell you who isn't on here. Cyndi Lauper, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Van Halen, Huey Lewis and the News, The Eurythmics, Herbie Hancock, INXS, U2, Thomas Dolby, Billy Idol, Culture Club, George Michaels, Elton John, Hall and Oates, ZZ Top, Robert Palmer, Billy Joel, The Cars, Motley Crue, Posion, Skid Row, Warrant, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Megadeath, Metallica, etc. Pretty much every superstar from the 80's isn't on this collection. Yes, I know they couldn't put a video from every superstar on there and I understand that. But when the crappy songs and their video's outnumber the good ones then there is a problem with quality control. For example, of the 15 songs on the 3rd dvd I would get rid of all but 3 because I've never heard the song or heard of the group and I'm a big 80's buff. On the 2nd dvd, I would get rid of 8 of the songs. And finally the first dvd, arguablly the best of the set, I would get rid of 6 of the songs. So 19 of the 45 songs really deserve to be here. When I bought this I was really eager to see all the great 80's video's that I used to watch when I was a kid. But when I saw the list of video's on here, I was really let down and disappointed. There is nothing "ultimate" about this collection and if Hip-O and Universal Music make another "ultimate" collection I would think twice before I bought it. And yes, I did consider the fact that maybe they couldn't get a license from many of the artists I listed but I have seen videos from some of the above artists on crappy single dvd's from some no name company and if they could get it then Hip-O should have been able to as well. Since Amazon hasn't listed the songs on here I will list them for you.

Disc 1 New Wave:
The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star
Devo - Whip It
Blondie - Rapture
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Joe Jackson - Steppin Out
Soft Cell - Tainted Love ( Not the original, some crappy modern remake)
The Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away
The Fixx - One thing leads to another
Madness - Our House
Men Without Hats - Safety Dance
Big Country - In a big country
Bananarama - Cruel Summer
Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax(Banned Version)
A-Ha - Take on me
ABC - When Smokey Sings

Disc 2 Video Idols
J.Geils Band - Centerfold
Quarterflash - Harden my heart
Olivia Newton-John - Physical
Asia - Heat of the Moment
Night Ranger - Sister Christian
Styx - Mr. Roboto
Pat Benetar - Love is a Battlefield
Lionel Ritchie - Hello
Donna Summer - She works hard for the money
Tina Turner - What's love got to do with it
Tears for Fears - Everybody wants to rule the world
Wang Chung - Everybody have fun tonight
Tiffany - I think we're alone now
Suzanne Vega - Luka
Fine Young Cannibals - She drives me crazy

Disc 3 Headbangers Rule
Rainbow - Street of Dreams
Dio - Holy Diver
Scorpions - Rock you like a hurricane
Y&T - Summertime Girls
Cinderella - Shake Me
TNT - 10,000 Lovers (in one)
Queensryche - I don't believe in love
Kingdom Come - Get it on
Yngwie J. Malmesteen's Rising Force(?!)- Heaven Tonight
Extreme - Mutha(Don't wanna go to school today)
Tora Tora - Walkin' Shoes
Great White - Once bitten, twice shy
Bang Tango - Someone like you
L.A. Guns - Never Enough
Faith no more - Epic

This was the perfect gift for someone who had heard all of these great songs but had not seen most of the videos. I have a friend who lived in the boonies but LOVES 80s music. He did not receive MTV until many of these songs were long gone from the air and tv waves. He was extremely happy and excited to see this collection. There were a few videos that I really have no clue as to why they were on there, but for the most part, this is a really good collection!

When I decide on whether or not to buy a "Now" cd or any cd, I count the number of songs that I like on it. 1 song = No Purchase, 2 songs = Maybe, 3 or more = Buy; I hate buying cd's with only one good song on it. If you estimate the cost at $35.00, the cost per music video is only $.78 then compare that to other Music Video DVD's and you may end of agreeing with me.

My wife and I both loved these DVD's took us back 20 years when we had our entire lives ahead of us. These were the songs and then NEW Music Videos that helped to define what our generation would be known as; it helped us remember our youth good and bad times.

This boxed set many not have every Music Video that you like on it but treat it like buying a Now cd, count the number of Music Videos that you like on it then decide if it would be worth it. When I got done, if this was a regular music cd, I would have expected to pay around $15.00 per disc but with it being Music Videos, I would have expected to pay $20.00 per disc.

Remember, your money, your decision.

Can't believe nobody's mentioned yet that the songs on here are REAL 5.1 multi-channel remixes- none of that fake stuff where they just ran the 2-channel mix through a pro-logic decoder and turned the LFE track up all the way- this is the real deal! That's reason enough to get this, the videos are just a bonus on top of that! (There's also an uncompressed 2-channel PCM track for the purists.)

My only complaint is there should've been a LOT more videos on this 3-disc set- each one is single-sided and single-layer so there's barely 1 disc's worth of content here. And as has been mentioned, the "Headbangers" disc is mostly forgettable and obscure stuff (though the Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurriane" and Dio's "Holy Diver" sound great in multi-channel!) Whoever did the sound mixing didn't get credited anywhere on the package, but whoever you are nice job!

With a title like this, you would suspect it was a fairly solid collecion. Unfortunately, to my surprise a decent multi-disc collection of classic 80s videos really doesn't exist (as hard as that is to believe). This set makes a minor attempt with two discs worth of classic MTV era videos (when they played videos) and one disc of largely semi-obscure heavy metal videos (with a couple of exceptions) that really don't belong here. I totally get that licensing may be an issue with some tracks, but if this is the best we can get right now, I will wait and hope that something better comes along.

I like the video quality and the content is great! Fast shipping. I had no Problem at all with this purchase.

This is a good compilation of a fair amount of music videos that used to be played on MTV, before MTV sold out the entire concept of music videos. If you miss those days, this is a good start to go back.

I recently saw these three discs on sale individually at WalMart for less than $10 each. I don't see much advantage to the box set, especially as weak as the "headbangers" disc is.

great collection of 80's videos--includes personal favorites ( Centerfold and Take On Me )--all representative of the golden age of music videos.

it is a very nice collection, give bck some memories of a funnier era, and the explanation about the videos and their importance in the dvd was a very interesting unespectect bonus.