Pat Benatar - You Better Run

What this video is

Produced in 1980 and broadcast on August 1, 1981, 'You Better Run' holds an irreplaceable position in the history of visual media: it was the second music video ever aired on MTV, immediately following 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles. It was simultaneously the first video by a woman, the first by an American artist, and the first by a rock act to air on the network — a trifecta of representational…

Why it matters

As a foundational artifact of American hard rock's entry into the music video format, this clip established the stripped-down warehouse performance aesthetic that would become a genre signifier for arena and hard rock videos throughout the early 1980s. It demonstrated that rock credibility and…

The director

Nick Saxton was one of a small cadre of American directors with music video experience at the dawn of MTV. He directed Michael Jackson's 1979 promo for 'Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough' and later helmed Rick James's 'Super Freak' in 1982, placing him at the…