Not talking about popularity, but the way their videos, hair and clothes looked. I mean their music videos until and including Cruel Summer (so 1982-1983) were less stylish. After Cruel Summer got big in the US, they became more polished, starting with the video for Robert De Niro's Waiting and dropped the previous messier look. However the "Venus" music video really stands out as their most polished, at least 80's music video/styling era. It really is on par with many American music videos by big artists of the time, so this might be one of the reasons why they made it to No 1 in the US. ;) I just don't understand why after that they didn't deliver the same image, but got styled-down? Sara looks much worse in videos from the Wow! era for example than she did circa Venus.

Venus as a video was very polished for a video for a song produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. Even Kylie Minogue that was their biggest in-house star had less polished/elaborate music videos that seem more corny and cheaper. Compare "Venus" with Sonia's Listen To Your Heart for example or Kylie's I should be so lucky. I guess Bananarama being on another label but not on SAW's own PWL made all the difference? But it's strange how after they gained so much popularity and creative control they didn't keep up and the music videos for I Heard A Rumour and Love in the first degree look less elaborate and expensive, more like PWL's videos really. Most SAW videos can be enjoyable but just scream cheap. ;D

Does anyone know why they never repeated the feat of Venus stylistically? I have a theory they started exaggerating camp but I don't understand why they wore those mostly frumpy clothes in most videos that followed? I think Sara especially looked her best in 1986. I almost never have found all three of them so hot in the same video, it's usually I like 1 or 2 in most others. Also, do you know other artists that peaked in popularity AND image in one short era, never to repeat the feat?

The change came with the change of management, the production duties were taken up by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman known as Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), with  dance-oriented beat for the song.

So they got the PWL makeover, that explains everything. It's like SAW couldn't bother to hire someone better or at least invest in better cameras. DIY-look is fine when it's real because you're a young, struggling artist. When it's imposed by a production team/record label that wants to save money it often looks ridiculous and OTT. Cheap cameras, mostly frumpy or too weird clothes - those were evident in most SAW videos and photo shoots. I bet they would've been regarded as a more serious production trio if in fact they invested on style and media representation. Well the public still bought their records regardless so maybe that's why many of their later videos look cheaper than the earlier ones (Kylie is an exception).

Too bad that what started with Robert De Niro's Waiting ended with A Trick of the Night (from the same album as Venus). With WOW! they went for the cheaper videos. What is ironic to me is that even the black and white video made for a reality TV show for the UK Version of A Trick of the Night has better moments than many a SAW video, despite the terrible lighting. The part where the street light goes off is pure genius. Another nice touch is the cat. ;) Not bad for the very first video by Paul Heiney, a journalist who has never recorded a music video. :D So I get it that SAW/PWL used second-rate stylists and video directors that were not big names. Of course the US version of A Trick of the Night got the more polished video. The vids from Robert DeNiro up to and including those from the True Confessions era really stand out in my opinion as more polished than most of their 1987-1990 ones. For that I think their first 3 albums are more creatively satisfying. Too bad that other singles from TC didn't do well.

Video by someone who has never ever directed, yet it still matches some SAW vids haha:
EmCEBHwt-Y8

The US version, which is very polished:
Y8HdDDXRZjo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4-1ASpdT1Y

Their attire was more vampy sort of like what Madonna used to wear back in the mid 1980's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4-1ASpdT1Y

Their attire was more vampy sort of like what Madonna used to wear back in the mid 1980's.
Who copied who?

Who copied who?


I really don't know but I'm guessing it was Madonna.

That look, with the short hair, bow in the hair, etc, etc, was popular during Madonna's time. She didn't invent it.  :-X  :-X  :-X

Madonna is very original, but not everything she did was.

Venus as a video was very polished for a video for a song produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. Even Kylie Minogue that was their biggest in-house star had less polished/elaborate music videos that seem more corny and cheaper. Compare "Venus" with Sonia's Listen To Your Heart for example or Kylie's I should be so lucky.


Yup, by today's standards, you could easily make a home video remake of I Should Be So Lucky's music video. Hell, I think it already looked low-budget in the '80s, what more now?

I think the cheesy videos might be one of the big reasons why people disregarded them. Objectively, some songs of theirs were quite fantastic for dance songs like You Spin Me Round, Venus and Respectable.
I think only Got To Be Certain by Kylie stands as her most polished video in the 80's, but only one of the alternative versions (the one which is mostly her at the roof top in that black dress). The version with the scene with Kylie's friends in the restaurant is typically SAW corny. :D The artistic one is less polished than the mostly rooftop one but at least it had nice effects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9ml3nyww80
Cruel Summer is when they got to dress down.

Yup, by today's standards, you could easily make a home video remake of I Should Be So Lucky's music video. Hell, I think it already looked low-budget in the '80s, what more now?

Actually I'm surprised how Venus the video has stood the test of time. Yes, the hair and clothes are 80's but in general the ideas could work in any decade. Especially with the recent vampire/zombie/witches mania. There are 90's and even 2000's videos that look worse now. I just didn't dig the nude guys too much, but I loved every scene with the gals. Their record label sure invested a lot despite their previous singles being flops which is not a typical move. Maybe Venus was a big hit long before the release of the video?

Even the song itself stands the test of time, while I Should Be So Lucky, everything by Sonia and most other PWL songs sound more dated and cheesy now. You Spin Me Round, Venus and Respectable while definitely 80's have more substance and are less formulaic than SAW's later output. IMO those 3 and Better The Devil You Know are their top 4 best hits. ISBSL et al. are just fun in a cheesy/nostalgic way, but they get old very fast when overplayed unlike those 4 imo.