Which 80's songs are your favorite?
 

Recently I went to an 80's party and all of the music was reminding me of when I was a little kid. I have since been on an 80s kick lately and have realized that there was some great music that came from that time. I've been trying to think of songs to download but I keep drawing blanks. Guess I know the songs when I see or hear them but not offhand :(. What are some of your favorite 80's songs?

The only thing I really liked from the 80's are The Police, I still rock out to their classics every now and then.

Joe Jackson! Great pop songwriting out of the 80's. His best songs are Sunday Papers, I'm The Man, and Look Sharp. Love the Reggae tinge to his music, it all sounds real cool. The Police are great too, as are the Cure, the Smiths, and plenty of others. The 80's are a big genre.

Nirvana's Bleach was easily my favorite of any 80's that comes to mind at the moment.

Tears for Fears - Sowing the Seeds of Love, Everybody wants to rule the World, Head over Heels

Bon Jovi - Livin' on a Prayer

Anything from Michael Jackson's :o first solo album "Off the Wall"

Geez, what else.....?

White Lines by Grand Master Flash

There are so many it's hard to point out a few that stand out

Oh yeah and for rap... Grandmaster Flash - The Message

My favorite 80's bands are probably Pixies, and The Replacements, though neither really qualifies at typical 80's music, they were both in the college rock underground. So my favorite songs from each group are Debaser and Left Of The Dial, respectively.

Good call on the Nirvana kurtisj, as well as The Cure. After thinking about it for a while I remember liking The Talking Heads too.

I love the cure man. Lovesong, just like heaven, a forest they're all great.

Most of my favorite music is from the 80s - the smiths, the cure, joy division, sonic youth, the pixies, nick cave was doing great stuff. It was an amazing decade for music.

Without shame I will say I like 80's synthpop. Some songs that immediately come to mind are:

Human League - Don't You Want Me
Men Without Hats - Safety Dance
A-Ha - Take on Me
Gary Numan - Cars
Heaven 17 - Temptation
New Order - Blue Monday
Eddie Grant - Electric Avenue
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Tears for Fears - Shout

There are a lot more lesser known ones that are just as good but I can't think of them either.

Anything the Cure ever wrote

Oooh, i'm getting lots of ideas for downloads. Thanks all :).

Ahh yes, Joy Division too, RIP Ian Curtis! and Elliot Smith

Hmmm 80's

Hard Core:

Husker Du; Minor Threat; Minute men; Agent Orange; Social Distortion; Misfits


Punkish:

Joy Division; Cure; Smiths; BauHaus; Tones on Tale et al; Siouxsie and the Banshees; Psychedelic Furs

New Wave:

The Waitresses; Talking Heads; DEVO; Berlin; Concrete Blonde; the Motels; Missing Persons; New Order

Metal:
Judas Priest; Ratt; Scorpians; Metallica; Celtic Frost;

Everything Else:

Frank Zappa; U2;

Probably alot I'm missing... I can't remember everything I own.

This song was in a number of movies; least of which was Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Please, Please, Please

It reminds me of the eighties

Word to your mother.

I gotta go with Grandmaster Flash - The Message, any Michael Jackson, and any song that was on Miami Vice.

Smiths! The song is called "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" and it is off of Louder then Bombs. This whole album owns... not one bad song on it. Thanks for the link, you just brought me back some memories with this one :)

I Truly loved almost all 80's rock and metal.

Wether it be hardcore, ballads, or everyday rock.

I love it all, and it is what my winamp radio station is almost always playing.

Aerosmith, Dire Straights, B- 52s, Midnight Oil, Poison, GnR, Motley Crue, Scorpions, Twisted Sister, Van Halen/Hagar, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Michael Jackson's Thriller album, it was all good (whether you want to believe that or not.)

Anything from Depeche Mode. I didn't get into them until about 5 years ago though.

Also on my list, anything Pre '88 Judas Priest, Motley Crue, Metallica, Ratt, Scropians, Dire Straights, Bad Brains, The Ramones.

On the lighter note, U2, The Smiths, The Smitherens, Love and Rockets, Duran Duran(only the last 5 years though), The Call, The Alarm.

The list of groups could go on and on... Sorry to not be so specific, but I like more of the non radio played songs from these groups, plus I was a metal head, not really liking the others until much later after the 80's.

Who Can It Be Now - Men At Work
Talking In Your Sleep - The Romantics
Electric Avenue - Eddy Grant
Always Something There To Remind Me - Naked Eyes
No One Is To Blame - Howard Jones
Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone - Glass Tiger
Hazy Shade of Winter - The Bangles
Electric Blue - Icehouse
Down Under - Men At Work

I could go on and on and on and...

...wish you would, I just downloaded all those :)
Land down under, such a cool song. I actually sang that karaoke during that 80s party hehe.

I don't think that counts. While it might be chronolocically part of the 80s, Nirvana is what created the 90s music. (On the flip side of the decade, New Wave started in the 70s, but should be considered 80s).

I just purchased "Upstairs at Eric's" by Yaz, and I can't believe I missed this album back then. Simply amazing.

Bon Jovi is my favorite band to come out of the 80's

Most anything of Dylan's in the 80s is pretty cool, especially the song "Jokerman". And Springsteen's Born in the USA album was very cool. Also anything by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers back then.

Woo, 80s music! A few of my favorites...

Jackson Browne- Somebody's Baby
Fleetwood Mac - Sara
Pretenders - Back on the Chain Gang
Kinks- Come Dancing
Peter Schilling - Major Tom (Coming Home)
Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away
Real Life - Send Me An Angel
Murray Head - One Night in Bangkok
Talking Heads - And She Was
Berlin - The Metro
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
the Outfield - Your Love
T'pau - Heart and Soul
Vapors - Turning Japanese
Greg Kihn Band - Breakup Song
Human League - Don't You Want Me
Nena - 99 Luftballoons
Shannon - Let the Music Play

...okay, that was more than a few... :)

Anything from Tears for Fears, New Order, The Clash, Eddie Money, The Kinks, Pet Shop Boys, Nirvana, Men At Work, Belinda Carlisle, U2, the Cure, Jane's Addiction, Duran Duran, the Police, Def Leppard, Poison, Concrete Blonde, Blondie, Sir Mix A Lot, Judas Priest, Ted Nugent, Scorps, Pink Floyd, Tone Loc, and so on... ad infinitum.

I made a mix CD a few years ago with about 20 of my favorite 80s songs...this was back when everybody was on dial-up and there was no Napster or any other file-sharing system in place. Some of the songs weren't even currently in-print on CD. To find some of the mp3s, I remember going into AOL chat rooms to try and find files...what a nightmare!

I don't remember the tracklisting, unfortunately. But if you're looking for more 80s songs, you should check the Billboard Top 100 Charts for each year. You'll get TONS of ideas!

Start here and work your way up. You'll be busy for WEEKS! :)

I cannot believe no one has mentioned Iron Maiden yet. Maiden Rulez!

Also, Blue Öyster Cult put out some very respectable music in the '80s, which, as I have noted, is practically indispensible to be familiar with if you have any pretensions of coolness.

As for he music most folks think of as '80s, try Flock of Seagulls- I Ran and New Age Love Song, Icicleworks - Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream), Alan Parsons Project - Prime Time and Don't Answer Me (and anything else off Ammonia Avenue), Musical Youth - Pass the Dutchie, Eddie Grant - Electric Avenue, The Fixx - Are We Ourselves, Red Skies at Night, Saved By Zero, One Thing Leads to Another, Secret Separation, and How Much is Enough; Morris Day & the Time - Jungle Love, Cameo - Word Up, anything at all by Duran Duran. and the list goes on and on and on.

But definitely Maiden! (Because, well, they rule!)

anything Michael Jackson; in particular, Bad, Thriller, and Smooth Criminal.

New Order - True Faith is a must 80's song.

Awesome idea quadro200! Thanks bud :)

A couple more sites with lists of 80s songs (and lyrics)

http://www.afn.org/~afn30091/80songs.html

http://members.tripod.com/john_larocque/80.html (also has 70s & 90s stuff)

http://www.inthe80s.com/music.shtml

Good Call

http://www.bishounenbondage.com/TrueFaith.mp3

i've got a few... U2, Dire Striaghts, Blondie, Bon Jovi, Pet Shop Boys... list goes on...

80's music is my guilty pleasure....

The Bangles - Manic Monday
Fleetwood Mac - Sara, but really, anything else they did was good too...
Nena - 99 Luftballoons
Kinks - Lola
Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
Anything by Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, REM, GnR, Genesis...

And my all-time favourite song: Only You, by The Flying Pickets.. from 1983... I have yet to meet someone else who's heard of it...

A couple of people had mentioned 99 Balloons by Nena

Here is the German Version

http://www.deathsprite.net/mp3/luftballoons.mp3

and here is the English Version
(99 Red Balloons)

http://www.deathsprite.net/mp3/redballoons.mp3

anything by Tears for Fears...ANYTHING

These Dreams - Heart
Broken Wings - Mr. Mister
Drive - The Cars
Africa - Toto
Tempted - Squeeze

I would literally stop whatever I was doing when I heard one of these songs.