Cyndi Lauper — Girls Just Want To Have Fun

JUL 01 1983 · 12:00

Cyndi Lauper — Girls Just Want To Have Fun (1983) Director: Edd Griles Era: Early MTV Era (1983) - Debut synth-pop new wave video from the inaugural years of music video as a commercial art form, premiered on MTV December 1983 and emblematic of the channel's cultural dominance in shaping pop identity. Tier-1 preservation priority. One of the most-viewed music videos in YouTube history and a first-ballot canonical artifact of the MTV era. Irreplaceable as a document of early-80s New Wave feminist visual culture, downtown Manhattan street life, low-budget guerrilla video production, and the inaugural MTV VMA Best Female Video category. Essential reference for any archive covering 1980s pop, gender politics in media, or the history of music video as an art form. Context: Released in late 1983 as the debut single from Cyndi Lauper's 'She's So Unusual,' the video arrived at a pivotal intersection of second-wave feminist pop culture and the nascent MTV economy. Lauper transformed Robert Hazard's male-centric 1979 demo into a feminist anthem by rewriting its lyrical perspective. The video's low-budget, downtown-Manhattan aesthetic — thrift-store costuming, volunteer cast, guerrilla location shooting — positioned Lauper as an authentic working-class alternative to the glossier pop videos of the era, while simultaneously codifying a new visual grammar of female solidarity and joyful self-determination that would influence artists for decades. Director notes: Griles had a pre-existing creative relationship with Lauper dating to her Blue Angel band era, having directed a video for that group in 1979. The treatment for 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun' was co-written by Griles, producer Ken Walz, and Lauper. Cinematography by Francis Kenny; edited by Pam Weis. Shot on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in summer 1983 on a budget reported at under $35,000, made possible by a volunteer cast and donated state-of-the-art video equipment. Premiered on MTV December 1983. Won the first-ever Best Female Video award at the 1984 MTV VMAs. Griles was nominated for Director of the Year at the VMAs for his subsequent Lauper video 'Time After Time.' He also directed Lauper's 'She Bop' and 'Hole in My Heart.' The video crossed one billion YouTube views in January 2022.