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.

Oh, man- thanks, you're giving me a headache here, trying to remember them all. ;)

all Eurythmics
all Depeche Mode
The Cure- especially Pictures of You
The Police
Run DMC (oh, yeah!)
Nirvana
New Order
Michael Jackson (I used to be in love with him.....)
Men At Work
Oh, and who could forget Vanilla Ice- Ice, Ice, Baby! (Hey, that was a good song back in the day........)

Ummm... no, not really. Under Pressure was a good song back in the day. :D

Agreed.

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

Here's a song which is so 80's that even when I was in the 80's it would remind me of the neon shirt that I was wearing.

http://www.arbabha.com/Simple%20Mind...About%20Me.mp3

my favorite source for 80s muci is this internet radio station www.club977.com I love 80s music, always have always will (I was a teenager in the 80s so i think that has somethin to do with it.)

Flock of Seagulls - I Ran :)

Well, it may be an age difference. I was in 7th or 8th grade the time that song hit it big. Everyone I knew loved it.
I am stating it on a "then" point of view- not like I enjoy it now. Also on a general popularity view, as well. That song sold really well.

Wow, this song completely owns, I cant believe I forgot about it! Totally reminds me of the breakfast club.

Thanks cj2112 for the cool link. Bookmarked. They're actually playing the theme song to the "Neverending Story" now!

All great responses. I would like to add anything from the Police, Corey Hart (He was the 'I wear my sunglasses at night' guy), Til Tuesday- Voices Carry. Remember Samantha Fox? :)

Oye! Kids today and the <b>Noise</b> they listen to!

Pardon my curmugeonry. It's just that Ice Ice Baby was the song that focussed attention on sampling for me (Grandmaster Flash slid completely under my radar for a long time.) and sampling is a pet peeve of mine. No one has yet been able to convince me that facility with a tape deck is a musical talent, so I give my props to the song sampled, not the sampler. And Under Pressure is a really, really good song.

Nevertheless, you have one thing right, for people of a certain age, that song is freighted with positive association.

Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac
Where The Streets Have No Name - U2
Our Lips Are Sealed - Go-Go's
Kickstart My Heart - Motley Crue
One - Metallica

A-Ha
Madness
The Go- Gos
Hall & Oats

gotta go with any of the "hair band"---I really HATE that term many bands had members with hair over the years, but I digress-- especially Motley, Poison, Faster Pussycat, Tesla, Metallica...all ruled then and still do now!!

My list of favorites would take several pages so I'll just jot down a few::

Bette Midler - The Rose
B-52's - Rock Lobster
Christopher Cross - Sailing
Clash - Rock The Casbah
Devo - Whip It
Gary Numan - Cars
Kool & The Gang - Celebration
Queen - Another One Bites The Dust
Steve Miller Band - Abracadabra
The Motels - Only The Lonely

other artists with several good songs were Journey, The Police, Phil Collins/Genesis, Eddie Money, Culture Club.. and on and on...

I'm such a sucker for 80's music. I think it was one of the best era's of hit music that we ever knew and may ever know.

Man, I was reading through this and wondering when someone was going to mention The Fixx. Leave it to Tophat!
Great band! ( not to mention Tophat's favorite BOC)

Eric Clapton - Cocaine
Annie Lennox - Walking On Broken Glass
Bananarama - I'm Your Venus
Bangles - Walk like an egyptian
David Bowie - China Girl
David Bowie - Let's Dance
Earth, Wind, and Fire - September
Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
Extreme - More Than Words
Pointer Sisters - I'm So Excited
Wax - Building A Bridge To Your Heart
Steve Miller Band - Abra abra cadabra
Hewey Lewis and the News - Hip To Be Square
Mike Oldfield - Five Miles Out
Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al
Peter Gabriel - Sledge Hammer
and ANYTHING and EVERYTHING by Phil Collins

Sugar Hill Gang -Rappers Delight

http://www.neeleshgokhale.com/sncwik...ersDelight.mp3

well i just made a mixed genre mix cd from the 80's
Slayer - Raining Blood(Metal)
X - Los Angeles(Punk)
Duran Duran - Hungry Like The Wolf(New Wave)
Sexual Harrassment - I Need a Freak(Rap)
Metallica - Battery (Metal)
Journey - Open Arms(Cock Rock)
Social Distortion - Moral Threat(Punk)
The Cure - Letter Elise(New Wave)
Morrisey - Thrashed(new Wave)
Drama Rama - Anything Anything(New Wave)

If I had to name just one 80s song that is my favorite, I'd have to go with the one that - 20 years after first hearing it - I still enjoy as if it's brand new.

Peter Shelley - Homosapien

ALTERNATIVE 80'S

The Cure
Depeche Mode
The Smiths
New Order
Joy Division
Bauhaus
Pet Shop Boys
Duran Duran
Erasure
Love and Rockets
OMD(Orchestral Manuevers in the Dark)
Social Distortion
Oingo Boingo
The Clash
The Ramones
REM
Bad Religion
Violent Femmes
B-52's
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Billy Idol
The Police
The Go-Go's
Dramarama
The Cult
Echo & the Bunnymen
Tears For Fears
Devo
INXS
Soft Cell
Sparks
Human League

I absolutely love the eighties and it's almost all that I listen to. I especially love songs that were once famous but everyone has now forgotten. I guess it doesn't bode well that I remember all the "forgettable" songs but they're wonderful. I don't know why we keep forgetting them...

• Payolas - Dirty Water
• Reflex - Politics of Dancing
• Kim Wilde - Kids in America
• The Box - Ordinary People
• General Public - Tenderness
• Split Enz - Six Months in a Leaky Boat
• Alphaville - Forever Young
• Payolas - Eyes of a Stranger

You probably don't remember any of these songs by name but I'm certain you'll recognize them if you hear them! So, go check them out on your favourite P2P network. You won't regret it!

Here are a few (slightly) more famous ones...

• Gino Vanelli - Wild Horses
• Level 42 - Human After All
• Romantics - Talking in Your Sleep
• Art of Noise - Paranomia
• Bruce Hornsby - The Way It Is
• Mike and the Mechanics - The Living Years
• Glass Tiger - Diamond Sun
• Gino Vanelli - Black Cars
• Level 42 - Lessons in Love

Enjoy!

I was just watching "Gigantic" and I smacked my self in the forehead when I realized that They Might Be Giants began in the 80s. At the very least, their first two albums, perhaps the first three. Took my first acid trip to their first album (and was that every whack). Songs? Ana Ng, Lie Still Little Bottle, Don't Let's Start, Puppethead, She's An Angel, Youth Culture Killed my Dog....

F*ckit! There are maybe 3 bad songs (maybe as few as one) on their first three albums, all the rest are incredible.

Anything that appears in a John Hughes movie ;)

great list! i made a nice 80's CD with all these ideas... i still got plenty more songs to choose from... great memories from my childhood

Great choice!!

hmmmmmm
nobody likes old ballad rock

Def Leppard
Van Halen?
come one, great 80 classics with the 80s hair
the dude that could drum with one hand

Reminds me of a joke:
What has seven arms and sucks?

(Kidding! I actually enjoy Def Leppard)

oh gosh, i just love 80's music, i have to practically anything by the cure and new order. I'm also a big fan of depche mode.

Ever hear the Simon and Garfunkel cut of this song? It's very good.



Take On Me ruled - especially the video. First time I'd ever seen rotoscoping in action.

OK, this station ROCKS. Man, i feel like a kid again. This is great. Thanks!

Who's Johnnie? by El Debarge

mmmm, power ballads..."Love Bites" is one of my favorite songs ever.

Its just not the 80's without 'Eye of the Tiger"

Favourite song is Ghost Town by the Specials.

Some other random 80's popstars that come to mind:

Human League
Herbie Hancock
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
Tom Browne
Kurtis Blow
Blondie
ABC
Aztec Camera
Salt N Pepper
The Primitives
Cameo
Earth, Wind & Fire
The Beastie Boys
Eric B & Rakim
Haircut 100
The Pointer Sisters
Eddy Grant
Smoky Robinson
The Police
Heaven 17
The Pretenders

other personal favorites from the 80's...

Mexican Radio -- Wall of Voodoo
So Alive -- Love & Rockets
You Might Think -- The Cars
Goody Two Shoes -- Adam Ant
I Want Candy -- Bow Wow Wow
I Wanna Be Sedated -- The Ramones

Don't forget Level 42

AHA - Take On Me (or is it Take Me On? Are they even called "Aha"? I CAN"T REMEMBER DAMMIT)

so many come to mind I wholeheartedly agree with this: and would add off the top of my head:
- 'One Night in Bangkok'
- Men at Work
- Wham! (at least the one well known song). I saw the whole album on iTunes and had no desire to even go near the rest of it.
- quite a few of the songs listed already
- J. Geils Band: Centerfold

Tears for Fears - The Working Hour
The Police - Every Little Thing She Does is Magic - Still my favorite song.
Missing Persons - Spring Session M
Depeche Mode - Black Celebration
David Bowie - Let's Dance

and - even though they don't really count as 80's - Sex Pistols - the Never Mind the Bollocks album.

Wow, I'm coming late to this thread, but here's my list (I confess I stopped listening to pop music around '86 when I went into a serious classic rock phase)

Bands:

The Police - Just about everything they did, but the "Zenyatta Mondatta" album was my favorite
Thompson Twins - their first album was great
Dire Straits - especially pre-"Brothers in Arms"
Depeche Mode - everything
Duran Duran - Their early days ("Rio" "Please Please Tell Me Now" etc), and their mid-80s days ("Reflex")
Phil Collins - "No Jacket Required" and "Face Value" albums. (To a lesser extent, also "Hello, I Must Be Going"_
Genesis - the Phil Collins years, especially the "Invisible Touch" and "Genesis" albums
Talking Heads - the "Stop Making Sense" album
Tears for Fears - "Shout,"
Prince!!!! - the "Purple Rain" and "1999" albums
Men At Work - the "Business as Usual" album
The Clash
Yaz - Upstairs at Eric's
REM - everything they did in the 80s
Def Leppard - the "Pyromania" and "Hysteria" albums

Songs:

Men Without Hats - Safety Dance, Pop Goes the World
Nik Kershaw - Wouldn't it Be Good
George Harrison - Got My Mind Set on You
The Traveling Wilburys - Margarita
Go-Gos - We Got the Beat
Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round
Dream Academy -Life in a Northern Town
Fixx - One Thing Leads to Another
Frankie Goes to Hollywood -Relax
J Geils Band - Freeze Frame
Kajagoogoo - Too Shy
Til Tuesday - Voices Cary
New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen
Gary Neuman - Cars
Howard Jones - Assault and Battery, No One Is to Blame, New Song
Katrina and the Waves - Walking on Sunshine
Lipps, INc - Funkytown
Madness - Our House, One Step Beyond, House of Fun, Michael Caine, The SUn and the Rain
Mr. Mister - Kyrie
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
Toto - Africa
John Cougar - Jack and Diane



.... this could just keep going and going..... and I keep thinking of new stuff to add

Chris DeBurgh - Lady in Red
Lady in reeeeeeed is dancing with meeeeeeee (cheek to cheek)

and

Wham - Careless Whisper
... I'm never gonna dance again Guily feet have got no rhythm

I'm probably too old for the 80's, but I remember one song in particular that I thought kicked major ass, and I haven't seen it anywhere since (it never makes it into the "80's representative compilations").

Martin Briley (WHO???) and "You Ain't Worth the Salt in My Tears."

Didn't Dolly Parton cover that? When I worked at a movie theatre, it was on one of our CDs, so I'm assuming it was in a movie of some sort...hmmm... *goes off to Google*

I enjoy the GTA: Vice City soundtrack quite a bit.

B-52's - Rock Lobster
GNR - Welcome to the Jungle
Faith No More (although I don't really think of them as 80's)
Talking Heads - Burning Down the House

So many to list :P

Yeah, the GTA VC sound track was awesome.

I like:
the pretenders- i would walk 500 miles
flock of seagulls- i ran
aneka - japanese boy

Tears for Fears - Everybody wants to rule the world.


Best song ever

Anything By U2

Melt With You... Modern English

I loved Vice City's soundtrack.

Eumir Deodato - Latin Flute
Eumir Deodato - Super Strut
A Flock of Seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away)
Kool & the Gang - Summer Madness

and this one i'm kinda embarassed to admit but:

Paul Engemann - Push it to the Limit
(that's right that song from Scarface, it's so bad it's good!)

Billy Squier - Don't Say No, the stroke, My Kinda lover
BLondie - Call Me, The Tide is High, Rapture
MAdonna - Like a Virgin, La Isla Bonita, Crazy for you,
Little River band - Help is On the Way
Mister Mister - Broken WIngs
Pat Benetar - -Hit me with your best shot, promises in the dark,
The POlice - Wrapped around your finger, King of Pain, Every Breath you take,
Queen - radio Gaga, Under Pressure
The Pretenders - The Learning to Crawl Album

Anything by XTC. I also love the Cure, the Clash, the Police. I wasn't in high school then. I think I would have turned out differently if I had been.

Naked Eyes: Promises, Promises

Flock of Seagulls - I ran, such a cheesy song for cheesy times.

the 80's sucked so hard that it actually made bands like Ratt and Poison and Cinderella Pop Icons of that Era.... thank God for the Police, The Cure...

My favorite song was one the was re-made by Marylin Manson

That would be Tainted Love... by Soft Cell