The 10 best songs from the 80’s

I did expect more people to have mentioned him at this point, though.

There’s actually several artists important to the decade which I’m surprised noone has mentioned and which I thought were bigger on ILM: Duran Duran, Pixies, Bruce Springsteen, Stone Roses, U2, Blondie…

Also The Smiths but I had a suspicion ILM has pretty much cancelled them by now…

Hall and Oates, "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)"
Laurie Anderson, "O Superman (For Massenet)"
Joe Jackson, "Steppin' Out"
Michael Jackson, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
Chaka Khan, "I Feel For You"
Prince and the Revolution, "Pop Life"
Mr. Fingers, "Can You Feel It"
Peter Gabriel, "Sledgehammer"
Janet Jackson, "Escapade"
Soul II Soul, "Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)"

Talking Heads – The Great Curve
Young Marble Giants – N.I.T.A.
Prince – Baby I’m a Star
Vangelis – Rachel’s Song (technically 90s release, but I’ll put it here)
The Cure – A Forest
Sonic Youth – Star Power
Eric B and Rakim – I Know You Got Soul
Womack & Womack – Baby I’m Scared of You
The Cocteau Twins – Lorelei
Ultramagnetic MC’s – Ego Trippin'

Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out is a great choice - for me, it has never stopped sounding magical.

I didn't know that Womack & Womack by name but now that I listen to it, okay it's THAT song. Nice pick.

Fugazi - Waiting Room
Soft Cell - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
The Cure - Close To Me (Paul Oakenfold mix)
Billy Squier - In The Dark
Wham! - Last Christmas
Altered Images - I Could Be Happy (Martin Rushent Remix)
Caribou - Pixies
Go-Go's - Our Lips Are Sealed
Gaffa - Attitude Dancing
Crowded House - Fall At Your Feet

But "Fall At Your Feet" is 1991?

I can't narrow it to ten without choosing some specific criteria, so I'm picking songs that commonly zap me back to the time and place I first knew them.

Cyndi Lauper - Girl Just Wanna Have Fun
Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald - On My Own
Van Halen - Jump
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Prince - Pop Life
Madonna - Into The Groove
U2 - With Or Without You
Beastie Boys - Paul Revere
Newcleus - Jam On It
Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot

JJ Fad Supersonic (USA 1988)

OMG, this is so good.

I always thought that was produced by Dr Dre but Wikipedia says Arabian Prince??

You can't imagine how big "Supersonic" was in South Florida.

Rufus & Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody
Dollar - Videotheque
The Go-Betweens - Bachelor Kisses
Prince - Controversy
Clio - Faces
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Culture Club - Time (Clock of the Heart)
The S.O.S. Band - Just Be Good to Me
The Chills - Pink Frost
Scritti Politti - Absolute

Grrr "Just Be Good to Me" isn't streaming. Almost no SOS Band songs are.

a few off the top of my head, mostly ilmcore stuff so nothing too exciting

kate bush - cloudbusting
psychedelic furs - the ghost in you
aztec camera - oblivious
talk talk - living in another world
the church - under the milky way
tom waits - downtown train
thomas dolby - one of our submarines
roxy music - avalon
dinosaur jr - raisans
iron maiden - the prisoner

Newcleus - Jam On It

nice. my neighbor was blasting that the other day.

You can't imagine how big "Supersonic" was in South Florida

And L'Trimm was the local Miami version of JJ Fad, although they were actually hitting at the same time iirc

art of noise beat box, paul hardcastle 19, herbie hancock rockit, konk your life, george kranz din daa daa, kraftwerk tour de france, laid back white horse, marrs pump up the volume, sigue sigue sputnik love missile f1 11, yello oh yeah!

I've narrowed it down to a top 75.

xpost

Downtown Train is my personal favorite Tom Waits song too.

xpost

re: Streaming SOS songs — their best song is up tho:

(Take Your Time)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d27679i-X4

I promise I will not post any more YT or other steaming links but it seems pertinent.

Keni Burke - Risin’ To The Top

The Cure - Happy the Man
Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out
Tears for Fears - Listen
Midnight Oil - Dreamworld
Pailhead - I Will Refuse
Prince - Pop Life
Slayer - Raining Blood
Misfits - Hybrid Moments
Jane's Addiction - Ted, Just Admit It...
Metallica - Orion

i have no idea how you folks can even make such a list.
every day my list would change.
every hour my list would change.
i mean today my list would be all about cabaret voltaire/shriekback/chakk etc
and yet tomorrow it could be all about madness/sigue sigue sputnik/run dmc/beastie boys

well, yeah?

That's the point

You can do one and come later and do a different top 10, that’s what some of us did in the 90’s thread. ;)

just post a new one every day

Definitely a good call on the Cab Vol! I would pick some obscure clubby club like Haiti.

yeah mark i just posted ten for the day or whatever, although “into the groove” would def make it anyday

10,000 Maniacs - "Trouble Me"
R.E.M. - "So. Central Rain"
Tracy Chapman - "Fast Car"
Shannon - "Let the Music Play"
New Order - "True Faith"
Prince - "I Would Die 4 U"
Psychic TV - "Orchids"
Kate Bush - "Hounds of Love"
Conway Twitty - "Slow Hand"
Firefly - "Love Is Gonna Be On Your Side"

i have no idea how you folks can even make such a list.
every day my list would change.
every hour my list would change.

Same. So right now it's:

Cocteau Twins - "Aikea Guinea"
ABBA - "The Winner Takes It All"
Eurythmics - "Here Comes The Rain Again"
Chaka Khan - "I Feel 4 U"
Visage - "Fade To Grey"
Pixies - "Debaser"
The Cure - "A Strange Day"
The Chameleons - "Second Skin"
Pet Shop Boys - "Rent"
George Michael - "One More Try"

the problem i have is that every single list posted has an entry that i am 'ooh yeah, that's totally top 10'

Gun Club - Texas Serenade
Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait
Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun
Galaxie 500 - Tugboat
Fugazi - Waiting Room
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Sad Waters
Richard & Linda Thompson - Wall of Death
New Order - Age of Consent
Mekons - Last Dance
Feelies - Slipping (Into Something)

yeah ok, not every list.

(joke)

have an ongoing obsession with Pop Year 1989 so tried to do one for that year - was the year I really started caring about music

new order - round and round (has to be the 12" extended mix tho)
the blue nile - let's go out tonight
ac marias - one of our girls has gone missing
public enemy - fight the power
julee cruise - falling
Kate bush - the sensual world
808 state - pacific state
janet jackson - miss you much
public image - disappointed
the cure - 2 late

and that's regretfully leaving out madonna, beastie boys and godflesh. it was a good year!

I did a 1989 mix recently, it was a commission for a birthday, and a lot more mainstream / upbeat than I usually do, may be of interest to you emsworth as it has a few from your list. TBH the process taught me that the late 80s is a bit of a blind spot for me.

would be keen to see that mix!

OK, I got it:

Save It for Later - English Beat
Dance Hall Days - Wang Chung
Modern Love - David Bowie
Don't Change - INXS
Tuff Gnarl - Sonic Youth
Everybody Wants to Rule The World - Tears for Fears
Dolce Vita - Ryan Paris
White Lines (Don't Do It) - Grandmaster Melle Mel
Caribbean Queen - Billy Ocean
Road to Nowhere - Talking Heads

i have no idea how you folks can even make such a list.

My top 10 was made up from these lists I spent years slowly adding to until they were 100 tracks full (but then I kept replacing a few things in them after that...) but I tried to base the ordering on track by track flow (not just by sound, style or rhythm but also thematic or just titular connections) to incentivise others listening more and 'Favourites' can mean just 'first heard it only this decade but had enough instant impact' in some cases...

100 Favourite Instrumentals 1980-1989 (allowing some tracks with only sampled speech ('Dead Eyes Opened') minimal vocal contributions only ('Your Love') or barely discernible background chatter (as on the Balearic monster 'Pili Pili')

100 Favourite Hits 1980-1989 (singles that peaked within the UK Top 75 but only six of these didn't make the Top 40 and five are also instrumentals)

100 Favourite Non-Hit Singles 1980-1989 (singles that peaked no higher than 41 in the UK chart)

100 Favourite Non-Singles 1980-1989 (album tracks mostly but really anything that wasn't an 'A-side' and a few that were singles in the US (or elsewhere) but didn't get an official release in the UK from what I can tell on Discogs)

Disclaimer: not all genres represented equally and indeed some not at all

"2 late" is so good. (x-post)

A list which is based on 50% contrarianism, 40% tokenism, and 20% I don’t fucking know. In no particular order:

- Bauhaus - Third Uncle
- Gil Scott-Heron - Willing
- Jungle Brothers - The Promo
- Kraftwerk - Numbers
- Raze - Break 4 Love
- The Police - Voices Inside My Head
- Aretha Franklin - Get It Right
- Wayne Smith - Under Me Sleng Teng
- Peech Boys - Don’t Make Me Wait
- Thrill Kill Kult - The Devil Does Drugs
Or
- Ministry - Golden Dawn

I was really never a satanist but apparently teenage me had a little fixation with pseudo-satanic industrial music. Could be the water down south idk.

Oh shit no Kate Bush. Let’s just agree she was implied as my inspiration.

retracting my list because i forgot prefab sprout - cars and girls

2nd of 3 lists, 1983-1986

New Order - Your Silent Face (1983)
Hüsker Dü - Diane (1983)
Minor Threat - Out of Step (1983)
Prince - When Doves Cry (1984)
Van Halen - Jump (1984)
Bruce Springsteen - Dancing In the Dark (1984)
Replacements - I Will Dare (1984)
Hüsker Dü - Eight Miles High (1984)
Pretenders - Back On the Chain Gang (1985)
Public Image Ltd. - Rise (1986)
Run DMC - Walk This Way (1986)

1. Slick Rick - Children's Story (1989)
2. Lyndsey Buckingham - Holiday Road (1983)

Respectfully, that Pretenders song is from 1982

yes, sorry. billie jean it turns out is from 1983 so I can switch them in my lists.

another 1982 song I really liked was (I Saw You) Shine by Flipper, who gave a powerful live performance of it

Flipper were great, they had the ‘90s aesthetic about 10 years ahead of time

my experience was that they had complete control over their audience

the lights have all gone out