Bad

I’m about to emerge from my period of deep Jackson mourning, but before I put the copy of “HIStory, Volume 1’’ away, I was struck by another thought. With all this talk of Michael and his groundbreaking video work and unique style, there is an entire family of Jacksons whose contributions to music and video have been completely overshadowed. These Jacksons are still alive, but with the exception of Janet, their careers died years ago. Nobody made a fuss, issued a statement to Larry King, or sang a tribute at the BET Awards. Their videos are cheesier than a bag of Doritos, and just as tasty. It’s time they get the recognition they deserve. Friends of La Toya, point your trusty browsers to YouTube and follow along: Here are the five most important, jaw-dropping, and mystifyingly bad Jackson family videos. If this doesn’t cheer you up, you’d better start grating St. John’s wort on your fettuccine alfredo, because nothing else will.

1. Rebbie Jackson, “Centipede’’: The plot goes something like this: A lady in a painting (Rebbie, Michael’s oldest sister) comes to life, walks around through fog, and shoots bolts of lightning out of her fingers and elbows at a lot of men dressed in tuxedos. A poorly taxidermied cobra also shoots lightning bolts from its fangs, and no one seems concerned, least of all Rebbie, who looks incredible in a form-fitting scarlet red dress. The requisite 1980s video tiger strolls around, perhaps just trying to avoid all those bolts of lightning.

2. Jermaine Jackson, “Dynamite’’: In this realistic depiction of prison life from 1984, female guards at a men’s prison wear miniskirts and dance along with a group of surprisingly limber inmates, while another group of female guards tries to shut the party down. A climactic cafeteria dance routine and several not-so-close calls later, Jermaine and his choreography-loving convicts are captured in the exercise yard. It remains unclear where this prison dance/riot took place because inmate uniforms were seemingly purchased at Chess King, while guard uniforms were from Frederick’s of Hollywood.

3. La Toya Jackson, “Heart Don’t Lie’’: A nearly 30-year-old La Toya goes back to high school to find romance. In most states this would be illegal, but La Toya, in her Olivia Newton-John headband (it was 1984), somehow stays out of trouble and finds both love and heartache. A school nurse, dressed like a cougar-ish Cyndi Lauper, attempts to fix her broken heart, while the skeleton in her science class lip-syncs the song more convincingly than La Toya.

4. The Jacksons, “Torture’’: Nearly all the videos off of the Jacksons’ album “Victory’’ were incredibly entertaining for all the wrong reasons (see “Body’’). “Torture’’ is a special breed of bad as the brothers (minus Michael), appear to battle zombies that have escaped from the Lee Press-On Nails factory. The only thing more frightening is the sight of a husky Tito squeezed into his snug leather biker gear. There are giant lady spiders, break dancing skeletons, spinning toilet paper monsters, and a dominatrix to oversee it all. Michael was wise to sit this mess out.

5. Randy Jackson, “Love You Honey’’: I’m not entirely sure if this is a music video or Randy’s audition tape to become a beret model. He sports all kinds of fetching headgear while, inexplicably, one set of models takes a bath and another group sunbathes. Meanwhile, graduates of the Bell Biv DeVoe school of dance demonstrate some of their latest moves, such as the Running Man and the Cabbage Patch. On the plus side, there are no unexplained bolts of lightning or break dancing skeletons. Still, no matter how hard Randy tries, the bevy of bored models seems to have no interest in Randy and his beret.

Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com.