A battleship at night. Hundreds of sailors in white dress uniforms. A rock band under the big guns. And then Cher steps out in an outfit so daring that MTV would only play it after 9 p.m. If you were watching television in the summer of 1989, you did not forget the “If I Could Turn Back Time” video.
In this Retro Fashion & Style feature, we look at the story behind the song, the famous Bob Mackie costume, the uproar it caused, and how the look still echoes on stage today. The official video, restored in HD, is waiting for you at the end of the article.
▶️ Want to see that famous costume? Scroll down. The official video is waiting at the end of the article.
Cher in 1989: Riding High
By 1989, Cher had already lived several careers. She had been half of Sonny & Cher, a TV star, a solo hitmaker and, more recently, a serious movie actress. Her comeback on Geffen Records was in full swing, and her new album, Heart of Stone, would arrive on July 10, 1989.
Cher was also already famous for fashion that made people talk. Three years earlier, at the 1986 Academy Awards, she had walked out in a Bob Mackie creation with a bejeweled loincloth, knee-high boots and a towering feathered Mohawk headdress. “As you can see,” she told the audience, “I did receive my Academy booklet on how to dress like a serious actress.” So when she teamed up with Mackie again in 1989, everyone should have seen a surprise coming.
The Song Cher Didn’t Want to Sing
“If I Could Turn Back Time” was written for Cher by Diane Warren, who produced it with Guy Roche. Cher heard the demo and turned it down. Warren refused to take no for an answer. “I got on my knees and pleaded,” she recalled in 1991. In later interviews, she said she even held on to Cher’s leg during a session until the singer agreed to try it. Once Cher sang it, Warren said, she gave her a look that said, “You were right.”
It’s a big, guitar-driven pop-rock song about regret and wishing you could take back hurtful words. Released as the lead single from Heart of Stone in June 1989, it climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Cher’s first No. 1 hit in Australia.
A Concert on the USS Missouri
The video was directed by the late Marty Callner, and it was filmed around June 30, 1989, in the middle of the night, aboard the battleship USS Missouri at the old Long Beach Naval Shipyard in California. The Navy agreed to it because it hoped the video would help recruitment, since it had no budget for TV ads at the time. (The Navy first offered the USS New Jersey, but that ship was out at sea when Callner needed to scout, so he toured her sister ship instead and was persuaded to use the Missouri.)
The deck was rigged with spotlights, light racks and strobes. Cher’s band played under the ship’s main guns while a few hundred crew members cheered in their white ceremonial uniforms. One of the guitarists in dark glasses and a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt was Cher’s 12-year-old son, Elijah Blue Allman.
The Look: Bob Mackie’s Famous Fishnets
What Cher Wore
Bob Mackie, the designer known as the “Sultan of Sequins,” created the outfit: a black fishnet body stocking worn under a black one-piece swimsuit that was cut away at the back, leaving most of her backside and a butterfly tattoo on view. With her mane of dark hair and a microphone in hand, it was pure rock-star theater.
A Surprise for the Navy
Nobody in uniform saw it coming. The storyboards shown to the Navy had Cher in a jumpsuit. The sailors were already in place and the band had started playing when Cher emerged. A Navy liaison officer asked Callner to stop and persuade Cher to change into something more conservative. Callner refused, and the cameras kept rolling.
The Fallout
The reaction was loud. MTV first banned the video and later aired it only after 9 p.m., and many other TV outlets would not show it at all. A second, tamer version was cut with new scenes. Some World War II veterans were especially upset, because the Missouri is where Japan formally surrendered on September 2, 1945, ending the war. The Secretary of the Navy reportedly considered firing the ship’s captain, but no officials were disciplined, and other parts of the Navy praised the event.
How the Look Lived On
Decades later, the outfit is one of the most recognizable looks in music video history. In 2021, Rolling Stone included the clip on its list of the sexiest music videos of all time, and Billboard ranked the song No. 43 on its 2025 list of the greatest LGBTQ+ anthems. Ask most fans to picture Cher in the 1980s, and the fishnets on the battleship are usually the first image that comes to mind.
Cher and Mackie kept dazzling audiences together for years, through her Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace and later tours. Mackie won a Tony Award in 2019 for the costumes of The Cher Show on Broadway. He died in September 2026 at the age of 87, which makes this video a fine moment to remember his work. He once put his whole philosophy in one sentence: “A woman who wears my clothes is not afraid to be noticed.”
For another famous video look from the same decade, see our story on Madonna’s “Material Girl” gown, or browse more 80s Hits and Pop classics.
Get the Look, and the Sound
- The costume, simplified. Black fishnet tights or a body stocking, a black one-piece swimsuit and a big, dark, tousled wig. Add attitude, and maybe a cover-up for the car ride.
- Start with the album. Heart of Stone (1989) also includes “Just Like Jesse James” and the title track.
- Hear it live. Cher has performed the song on at least seven tours, from the Heart of Stone Tour (1989-90) to the Here We Go Again Tour (2018-20).
- Spot it on screen. The song pops up in a post-credits scene of Deadpool 2 (2018).
- If you like this, try: “I Found Someone” (1987), Cher’s earlier Geffen comeback hit, and later “Believe” (1998).
“If I Could Turn Back Time” Quick Facts
| Artist | Cher |
| Album | Heart of Stone (July 10, 1989) |
| Single release | June 1989 (Geffen Records) |
| Written by | Diane Warren |
| Producers | Diane Warren and Guy Roche |
| Video director | Marty Callner |
| Filmed | Around June 30, 1989, aboard USS Missouri, Long Beach, California |
| Costume | Bob Mackie |
| Billboard Hot 100 peak | No. 3 |
Sources
- “If I Could Turn Back Time” on Wikipedia (with its cited sources, including Billboard and Rolling Stone)
- Heart of Stone on Wikipedia
- Bob Mackie on Wikipedia
- USS Missouri (BB-63) on Wikipedia
- Cher’s official website
Photo Credits
- Featured image: Cher performing at a Pediatric AIDS Foundation event, Washington, D.C., June 21, 1989 by M Abancourt, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Featured image: A sailor holds a mooring line as USS Missouri returns to Long Beach, 1991 by U.S. Department of Defense, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Featured image: Cher at the White House, October 30, 1985 by White House Photographic Office (Reagan administration), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- In-article image: Cher in concert at Ahoy, Rotterdam, 1999 by GerbenBosma, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- In-article image: Cher at the Colosseum sign, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, 2008 by Rob Young from United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- In-article image: USS Missouri decorated with holiday lights, Long Beach, 1987 by U.S. Department of Defense, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
