OT: your top 80s songs
Hoping this will add some levity to some of the more contentious posts from yesterday. So what are your favorite songs from the 80s? My are, in no particular order:
- Head over Heels - Tears for Fears
- Life's what you Make It - Talk Talk
- Terminal Frost - Pink Floyd
- Say it aint So, Joe - Murray Head
- Fight the Power - Public Enemy
- Rosanna - Toto (yep, I like it better than Africa)
- Method of Modern Love - Hall & Oates
- Here Comes your Man - Pixies
- Going Down to Liverpool - Bangles
- Something About You - Level 42 (yea, super poppy song, but I like it)
- Straight Outta Compton - NWA
- Space Age Love Song - Flock of Seagulls
I could go on, but I'll stop here.
Money for Nothing and Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits
Welcome to the Jungle - Guns n' Roses(Although it took me awhile to appreciate it again after it woke me up during Basic EVERY DAMN DAY!)
Huge Leppard fan so would say Photograph and Pour Some Sugar on me!!
Loved Van Halen as well along with Quiet Riot, Journey, and well anything Hard Rock for the most part. Music was my teen years.
I love VH! I've seen every variation of VH there is:
- Van Hagar
- Van Halen (with DLR)
- David Lee Roth solo
- The Red Rocker himself, Sammy Hagar, at Cabo Wabo
- Chicken Foot in Munchen.
If I was to pick a Van Halen song it would be 5150.
Can I assume that, like most Van Halen fans, you are deliberately fiating Gary Cherone's stint out of existence?
you sir are my hero
Shit man, there's way, WAY too many, but a sampling:
- Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
- The entire Back in Black album - AC/DC
- Pretty much all Metallica, but especially One
- Livin' on a Prayer - Bon Jovi
- Your Love - The Outfield
- Paradise City - Guns n Roses
- With or Without You - U2
- In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins
- Money for Nothin' - Dire Straits
- The entire Licensed to Ill album - Beastie Boys
- When the Doves Cry - Prince
- Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye
I could probably list 500+ songs from the 80's if I wanted to.
Nice - your love by Outfield - still love that one.
I prefer to answer this as distinctly 80s songs, not songs “from the 80s” For instance Pixies, as mentioned by the OP is, a (many would say the) predecessor for 90s music.
For a true 80s song, nothing beats Your Love. It is the pinnacle of overlap between 80s rock and pop. It has zero ties to the 70s (as anything by The Cars does) nor the 90s (as any 80s britpop does). And still a damn fine tune.
Ever since I heard a DJ say something along the lines of "The Outfield" is just the band that tried to sound exactly like "The Police" that song has never been the same for me.
I mean, kind of. Tons of good bands have been imitations of sorts of other bands. Not necessarily a bad thing. Idk if I'd consider The Outfield a good band per se, but that one song is one of the best 80's songs IMO, regardless of who they were trying to have a similar sound to.
the reason many of us could list 500 80s songs is because the quality of new music has been in a steady decline for decades. there are a sad few real musicians in top 40 music anymore...there are a lot of entertainers...just not musicians
I agree, and I would argue it's because of the music industry, not because there are less or less quality musicians. Everything is quantized and set to a grid, over produced and stripped of all soul, with every song just a variation of the same chords in the same 4 keys over and over.
BUT, that's what makes money. The greed of music industry is the way it is because they know what sells and appeals to the most people of their target audience, so part of the blame goes to the listeners as well.
Some good ones mentioned here-
I know the OP is asking for specific songs but these bands have many for me from the 80’s:
Metallica (Huge fan), Bon Jovi, Poison, Motley Crüe, Journey, Skid Row, Ozzy
Great White - Once Bitten
Early-mid 90s is more my alley but not relevant to this topic!
The original recording of "Once Bitten Twice Shy" by its writer Ian Hunter w/guitar god Mick Ronson is even better than Great White's version.
Studio version:
And live version from the Hunter Album "Welcome To The Club":
Sister Christian
Agree with Daleppard, love everything from def def leppard in the 80s
All NWA
GnR was great but I like Use Your Illusions albums that came out in 1991.
80s Metallica when they were a bit under the radar.
Rock the Casbah—The Clash
Mexican Radio—Wall of Voodoo
Never Say Never—Romeo Void
No Spill Blood—Oingo Boingo
Freedom of Choice—Devo
All She Wants to Do is Dance—Don Henley
Sledgehammer—Peter Gabriel
I Can't Go for That— Hall & Oates
Pull Up to the Bumper—Grace Jones
Sunset Grill is my Don Henley song of choice.
Don Henley was and still is awesome to listen to, End of the Innocence, Dirty Laundry, Boys of summer
Phill Collins In the Air Tonight was great before a track meet, I don't care any more was another
George Thorogood, who do you love and bad to the bone still love those tunes
pretty much all of the Van Halen/Hagar, Metallica, most of the music of the 80s is far better than the crap today.
+100000 for Never Say Never. I never (!) thought I'd see that on someone else's list.
Too many to list them all for me. But some of the more out-there ones like Romeo Void's hit:
* Kim Wilde's "Kids in America" which is also on the same Reckless soundtrack as Never Say Never
* "Wheels" from Lone Justice, anything that Maria Mckee sang tbh
* "Making Love out of Nothing at All" from Air Supply, anything written by Jim Steinman tbh again
* "This Woman's Work" from Kate Bush
* "Always Something There to Remind Me" from Naked Eyes, but a Burt Bacharach song from the 60s
* "I Think We're Alone Now" written by Ritchie Cordell and recorded originally by Niles' favorite son Tommy James and his Shondells, but taken to new heights by Tiffany. Also her follow-up "Could've Been" is a great recording people often forget about.
* "Go See the Doctor" from Kool Moe Dee
* "Nightmare on My Street" from DJJJ & FP
* The Degrassi High theme song from...?
* Indiana Jones theme Raiders' March from John Williams
Making Love out of Nothing at All by Air Supply - Yup
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AHHH!! Rick Rolled!!
Calling bullshit on that chart -- "give you up" >>> "run around and desert you"
Further analysis required
Prince: 1999
Motley Crue: Shout at the Devil
Beastie Boys: Licensed to Ill
A lot of others: Journey, Def Leppard, Simple Minds, Bon Jovi, Van Halen.
All the one hit wonder: Come on Eileen, I Ran, I Melt with You
Come on Eileen got all the airplay but their better song was Geno.
Can't ever hear "Come On Eileen" without remembering that fantastic "Simpsons" episode when Homer recounts his days in the barbershop quartet "The B Sharps."
Homer: "Lisa, did you see the Grammys?"
Lisa: "You beat Dexys Midnight Runners"
Homer: "Well, you haven't heard the last of them."
Michael Jackson's Thriller, of course!
I found a really great modern rendition of it by Pentatonix. Here's a link to it
Definitely not clicking on it.
Hmm, not sure if this is intentional or not
Love Thriller. Love Smooth Criminal even more.
Land of Confusion - Genesis
In the Air Tonight is the greatest song ever written.
amen to this.
American Pie - Don Mclean gets my vote for greatest song ever written.
My Philosophy: BDP
Seconded. FRESH for '88 -- you SUCKAS!!!
Jackson Browne, Lawyers in Love
God sends his spaceships to America, the beautiful
They land at six o'clock and there we are, the dutiful
Eating from TV trays, tuned into Happy Days
Waiting for world war three while Jesus slaves
To the mating calls
Of lawyers in love
Great album. Still have it somewhere.
Life in a Northern Town - Dream Academy
Heart and Soul - T'Pau
Electric Avenue - Eddy Grant
The Final Countdown - Europe
Arthur's Theme and Sailing - Christopher Cross
Jump - Pointer Sisters
User name checks out for 'Life in a Northern Town'
Heart and Soul is such a good song (pop song, whatever...it's just good)
T'Pau has a few hits on their "best of" album I have in my 80s playlist. Them and Berlin are probably my favorite 80s female led bands that no one has ever heard of.
Blondie of course, is the best. But everyone has heard of them.
Even though disco was dead-ish in the early 80s, you had a lot of dance music that was great if you regularly watched the two dance shows after cartoons. American Bandstand and Soul Train. ELO, ABBA, and Earth Wind and Fire still stick out for me from those shows. (If none of them were ever played, whatever, 50 year old memories are what they are).
Everybody wants to Rule the World.... Tears4Fears I think but IDK
TAKE ON ME --- any song where an air KEYBOARD solo is in play is a winner.
Who can it be now?-- Men at Work
Safety Dance--Men Without Hats
Back in Black-- AC/DC
Dance Hall Days-- (everybody) Wang Chung (tonight)
Queen at Live Aid
So So much great music in the 80s--this only scratches the surface.
Rise Above-Black Flag
Don't Wanna Know If You Are Lonely -Hüsker Dü
Roxanne-The Police
Don't Go Back to Rockville-R.E.M.
Start Me Up-The Rolling Stones
Kayleigh-Marillion
Love's Gonna Getcha (Material Love)-BDP
Fight the Power-Public Enemy
Sign O' The Times-Prince
Straight to Hell-The Clash
Cat People (Putting Out Fire)-David Bowie
Ana Ng-They Might Giants
Pride (In the Name of Love)-U2
Psychokiller-Talking Heads (I know it's from 77--thinking of the SMS version)
Color Me Impressed-The Replacements
Anything by Queen. Never gets old. I still listen to them daily.
A few that come to mind...
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
Against All Odds - Phil Collins
Master of Puppets - Metallica
could go on and on and on...
Every breath you Take - The Police
Oh, Sheila - Ready for The World
Tarzan Boy - Baltimora
Raspberry Beret - Prince
Walking in the rain - Oran “Juice” Jones
Jack and Diane - John Mellencamp
Sara Smile - Hall and Oates
Easy Lover - Phil Collins and Philip Bailey
Hooverphonic "2 Wicky"
The Church "Under the Milky Way"
Pet Shop Boys "West End Girls"
The Police "Wrapped Around Your Finger"
R.E.M. "Fall On Me"
Sade "The Sweetest Taboo"
The Smiths "Cemetry Gates"
Toad The Wet Sprocket "Unquiet"
U2 "Running To Stand Still"
Dinosaur Jr. "Little Fury Things"
Good call on REM Fall On Me.
There is no way hooverphonic is the 80s, is there? I remember listening to them in college in late 90s. That album, portishead, and massive attack were big parts of my “mood music” line up for evenings with lady friends.