That 80s Thing

Music

From Longtime Reader John L. comes this question:

“I remember you saying that you like 80s music.  I’m trying to get my daughter — a Millennial — to give it a try.  What dozen or so songs would you recommend as a primer?”

Difficult choice, but here we go.  Most of the songs are more about the sound than the music, because the 80s was when recording- and instrument technology started to expand (sometimes not for the better, but there you go).  First, two older guys (from the 70s, but who got it):

Phil Collins:  Sussudio

Peter Gabriel:  Sledgehammer

And then the newer generation of musicians who took it from there:

Gary Numan:  Cars (okay, technically, Numan probably started the whole thing off, but whatever)

Tears For Fears:  Everybody Wants To Rule The World

Howard Jones:  Things Can Only Get Better

Joe Jackson:  Stepping Out

Soft Cell:  Tainted Love

Wang Chung:  Dance Hall Days

Simple Minds:  Don’t You Forget About Me

Talking Heads:  Burning Down The House

Eurythmics:  Sweet Dreams (although I actually prefer  Would I Lie To You?)

Pet Shop Boys:  West End Girls

Some notes:

I’ve excluded from the above those musicians who just kept on playing their 70s-style music for the next ten (twenty?) years, e.g. Richie Blackmore, Journey, Huey Lewis, punk bands, and so on.

I’ve also excluded those who just played their own music during the 1980s, which has proven to be pretty much timeless regardless of decade, e.g.  Level 42 and Prince.

If you think I’ve missed any (and I probably have), have at it in Comments.

14 comments

  2. Modern English: I’ll Stop The World (And Melt With You)

    Dire Straits: Money For Nothing

  3. Simple Minds: Don’t You (Forget about me)
    Cyndi Lauper: Girls just want to have fun
    REM: End of the world as we know it
    Billy Idol: Rebel yell, Eyes without a face, etc
    Madonna: Like a Virgin
    Phil Colins: In the air tonight
    Eddy Grant: Electric Avenue

    1. Cars: You might think, and some others.
      Hooters: Day by Day & All you Zombies
      Golden Earring: Twilight Zone & Radar Love

      The inexplicably popular:

      Bon Jovi: (never a huge fan but pretty much any of their music was considered 80’s gold)
      Madonna: (Ibid)
      U2: (Ibid)
      Bruce Hornsby and the Range: (Ibid)
      Cyndi Lauper: (Ibid)

      1. Then some Oddities & one hit wonders:

        Madness: Our House
        Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Relax
        Men without hats: Pop Goes the World
        Murray Head: One night in Bankok
        Flock of Seagulls: I ran so far away.
        Go Go’s: Head over heels
        Georgia Satellites: Keep your hands to yourself
        Mike and the Mechanics: Silent Running
        Talking Heads: Wild Wild Life
        Nena: 99 Luft Balloons

  5. My daughter (19) is a lover of nearly all things 1980s. Partially because of how her mom and I have talked about those times, partly because she loves movies and shows from that era as well as modern shows set in the 80s, and partially because she loathes her generation and is probably as much Gen X as she is Gen Z. I think the other part that she likes is the fact that, as she puts it, “these are the last of the real musicians” citing the over use of computers to make pretty people seem like they’re able to sing and lamenting how few pop acts today can play an instrument. That isn’t to say she doesn’t listen to modern music at all, she’s just really picky.

    The big songs off Michael Jackson’s Thriller album (which I dubbed peak Michael) are also among her favorites. From what I notice she skips is stuff by Madonna (“Weird Al did her stuff better”), and most of the one hit wonder hair bands (but that might be more her preference for pop). She likes early 80s (as correctly pointed out more akin to late 70s) rock.

    As much as she loathes his politics, she does like Springsteen’s 80s stuff as well as Bon Jovi’s stuff from the same time (’84 +/- 2 years). It actually saddened her a bit that Journey, Boston, and Kansas were more 70s bands even though they remained popular into the 80s.

    She does enjoy some 80s rap before the genre was taken over by gangsta rap and non-stop f-bombs. Mostly Fresh Prince and Run DMC. Some day I’m going to get her doing “Jump Around” by House of Pain on video and see how fast that one goes viral (6’4″ blonde white girl from Colorado acting like some thugs from Boston is hysterical).

    Any iconic song from an iconic 80s movie is a favorite of hers and might be a good place to start if you can get them to watch movies from the 80s. This can also be a simple ask since many moments of these movies are now internet memes or animated gifs they post online.

    She’s probably more well listened in 80s music thanks to online streaming than I am and has artists nailed far better than I ever did or do to this day. She may never drop a needle onto vinyl or rewind a cassette to listen to a song again. She may never work a rotary phone or drive stick. She didn’t live in those times being born more than a decade separated from the 80s, but she is very much an 80s kid at heart.

    1. My wife’s parents were survivors of the Hiroshima bombing, so that one’s going to get a pass in this household. It might be great. It can never be worth it.

  8. Split Enz – I Got You

    Crowded House – You Better Be Home Soon
    – Don’t Dream It’s Over

  9. I just had Alex listen to a few of those, and he took my phone & sent himself a link. You might have a new regular reader 🙂
    Can’t find the pic of you both sitting together right now, but back then he’d have to reach UP to your belt… now he’s 6’3” and I have to look up to see his eyes.

  10. Toto: Africa
    Dire Straits: Money for Nothing
    DEVO: Girl You Want (or Whip It if you want to be elementary)
    Yello: Oh Yeah

    Also, you should probably do the videos as much as possible, because MTV was a big part of the music in the 80s.

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