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Great Songs of the 1980s

Opoponax

Opoponax

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Whatever song you dig from the era. I was a real heavy metal kid back then (and still am) and was into Metallica due to an album called Metal Massacre. However, I nominate...

Crowded House: Don't Dream It's Over.

Such a great song.
 
For me, it was a song that came at the end of the 80s, and one I didn't get until the beginning of the 2000s.

Don Henley - The Heart of the Matter.

It was a good song back when it came out (1989) but then I caught it again when I was going through my divorce in 2000-2001. I finally got it.


"I'm learning to live without you now,

But I miss you sometimes"


This is quite possibly the perfect breakup song.


"And I thought of all the bad luck

And the struggles we went through

And how I lost me and you lost you"


Wow. There it is. I lost myself in that marriage. So did she.


"So, I'm thinkin' about forgiveness

Forgiveness

Even if , even if you don't love me"


It took me years to finally forgive her. Sure, I said it at first, but the words were hollow. Real forgiveness...that took some time. This song was so on point. Painfully accurate. But also healing. I listen to it now and it seems like an old friend that talked me through a difficult time. And isn't that was music is about, after all?
 
a-Ha's Take on Me could be one of the top, though that was driven in part by the video. But Hackett hits a note that I'm pretty certain isn't actually on the music scale. That note is the musical equivalent of infinity.

I think Michael Jackson's Thriller or Billie Jean needs to be given considerable consideration.

And about half of The Police's Synchronicity album, Synchronicity II, Every Breath You Take, On My God, Wrapped Around Your Finger, Tea in the Sahara. While the last one wasn't a radio hit, I think it is the best song on the album that was so good, it broke up the band.

Don't You, by Simple Minds. I'd consider that a time capsule staple for the 80s.

*insert song by Madonna*

End of the Innocence with Hornsby alongside could be the better option.

Born in the US by Bruce Springsteen. The American anthem... that isn't actually an American anthem.
 
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I don't know music all that well from the 80s outside of the usual chart toppers gracing Spotify playlists.

Of the artists that I have given a lot of attention to and thoroughly enjoyed from the period, Prince comes to mind. Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm by Joni Mitchell is also a nice album and was released in the late 80s, but otherwise she didn't put out a lot of great material during the decade.
 
I'm partial to Bryan Adams' Summer of '69. Pretty much my anthem when I was in High School.

Hold Me Now, by the Thompson Twins, is another song that is embedded deep inside my brain's pleasure center. Most probably because of the PG-13 situation I was in when I heard it on the radio. (Man, that linked video is dorky.)

Phil Collins' Groovy Kind of Love is my love ballad of choice.
 
For this I think that there could be about 25 songs in say 10 genres I could put in. But I think that songs that have an "80's" sound and structure to them is essential. Take Bruce Hornsby, his music is great but it does not scream 80's like songs by an equally great but very different "The Fixx" did.
 
Dire Straits' Making Movies album. Several tunes there make it, but 'Romeo and Juliet' does it for me.

This is also the era of major work by the Talking Heads, Michael Jackson and Billy Joel. It was pretty high on parrothead stuff, too....

and this.
 
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Jimmy Higgins said:
a-Ha's Take on Me could be one of the top, though that was driven in part by the video. But Hackett hits a note that I'm pretty certain isn't actually on the music scale. That note is the musical equivalent of infinity.

I think Michael Jackson's Thriller or Billie Jean needs to be given considerable consideration.

And about half of The Police's Synchronicity album, Synchronicity II, Every Breath You Take, On My God, Wrapped Around Your Finger, Tea in the Sahara. While the last one wasn't a radio hit, I think it is the best song on the album that was so good, it broke up the band.

Don't You, by Simple Minds. I'd consider that a time capsule staple for the 80s.
Click to expand...

These are all good. I was a huge Police fan, and am now rediscovering some of the songs which got little to no airplay. This is why I'm not a fan of the more recent trend of buying single songs. I mean, if you know you only want/like the one song by a band, then fine. But otherwise, I've found often my favorite songs on many albums are ones which never got any airplay (outside of perhaps some small college stations). Also, pretty much anything from U2 in this era was good, too.
 
Shake said:
Jimmy Higgins said:
a-Ha's Take on Me could be one of the top, though that was driven in part by the video. But Hackett hits a note that I'm pretty certain isn't actually on the music scale. That note is the musical equivalent of infinity.

I think Michael Jackson's Thriller or Billie Jean needs to be given considerable consideration.

And about half of The Police's Synchronicity album, Synchronicity II, Every Breath You Take, On My God, Wrapped Around Your Finger, Tea in the Sahara. While the last one wasn't a radio hit, I think it is the best song on the album that was so good, it broke up the band.

Don't You, by Simple Minds. I'd consider that a time capsule staple for the 80s.
Click to expand...

These are all good. I was a huge Police fan, and am now rediscovering some of the songs which got little to no airplay. This is why I'm not a fan of the more recent trend of buying single songs. I mean, if you know you only want/like the one song by a band, then fine. But otherwise, I've found often my favorite songs on many albums are ones which never got any airplay (outside of perhaps some small college stations). Also, pretty much anything from U2 in this era was good, too.
Click to expand...
How in the heck did I forget U2?! Street That Has No Name ​easily on the list.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
Shake said:
Jimmy Higgins said:
a-Ha's Take on Me could be one of the top, though that was driven in part by the video. But Hackett hits a note that I'm pretty certain isn't actually on the music scale. That note is the musical equivalent of infinity.

I think Michael Jackson's Thriller or Billie Jean needs to be given considerable consideration.

And about half of The Police's Synchronicity album, Synchronicity II, Every Breath You Take, On My God, Wrapped Around Your Finger, Tea in the Sahara. While the last one wasn't a radio hit, I think it is the best song on the album that was so good, it broke up the band.

Don't You, by Simple Minds. I'd consider that a time capsule staple for the 80s.
Click to expand...

These are all good. I was a huge Police fan, and am now rediscovering some of the songs which got little to no airplay. This is why I'm not a fan of the more recent trend of buying single songs. I mean, if you know you only want/like the one song by a band, then fine. But otherwise, I've found often my favorite songs on many albums are ones which never got any airplay (outside of perhaps some small college stations). Also, pretty much anything from U2 in this era was good, too.
Click to expand...
How in the heck did I forget U2?! Street That Has No Name ​easily on the list.
Click to expand...

See that and raise you one Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
rousseau said:
Jimmy Higgins said:
How in the heck did I forget U2?! Street That Has No Name ​easily on the list.
Click to expand...

See that and raise you one Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Click to expand...
That is a good song, but I don't think a song about looking for a lost sock is something I'd put high on a list of top 80s songs.
Click to expand...

I have climbed, highest mountain
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you..

Gotta give that one another listen
 
The 80s are not my decade at all, but, at the very start of the 80s, there was Marie Marie by the Blasters, on their self-titled album. And that thing cooks as hard as Wilson Pickett singing A Man and a Half. No nonsense, no synth, no drum machine, just pure passion and a love of roots music.
 
There are times I think 'til tuesday's Coming up Close is the greatest song ever written. The way Aimee Mann's voice drops at :340 gives me chills every time.

[YOUTUBE]wtOgwFzhlyw[/YOUTUBE]

Rob
 
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