The 10 best songs from the 80’s

Even choosing 10 #1 billboard hits from 80-89 is hard:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_the_1980s

1. H&O - Out of Touch
2. Olivia Newton John - Physical
3. Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
4 Tears for Fears - everybody wants to rule the world
5 Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes
6 Prince - Kiss
7 Blondie - Rapture
8 INXS - need you tonight
9 Bananarama - venus
10 Human League - Don't you want me

Gardening At Night is maybe my favorite REM song, maybe because it was first

Oh, human league

out of touch is such a monster, love it

It’s one of the most perfect pop songs of all time.

Bummed I forgot Lone Justice's "Ways to Be Wicked."

no idea what a full list would look like for me, but it would definitely have:

kate bush - 'running up that hill'
the cure - 'a forest'
public enemy - 'fight the power'
eric b. + rakim - 'eric b. is president'

otherwise, no idea where to even begin. i'm equally as likely to say something like "nerve pylon" by the lines as i am to say "out of touch." really just no clue how to even begin to narrow it down.

Let’s get some Mexican songs in here:

80’s Mexico top 10

Casino Shanghai - Cuerpos Huecos
Caifanes - Viento
Flans - Las Mil y Una Noches
Menudo - Claridad
Emmanuel - La ultima luna
Rocio Durcal & Juan Gabriel - Dejame Vivir
Tropicalisimo Apache - Ojitos Mentirosos
Los Tigres del Norte - la puerta negra
Yuri - Osito Panda de Chapultepec
Daniela Romo - mentiras

Without watching other people's lists

Jali Musa Jawara - Yekeke
Talking Heads - This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
Fingers Inc. - Can You Feel It
Taana Gardner - Heartbeat
Samba Mapalanga - Malako
The Smith - There is a light that never goes out
The Sound - I Can't Escape Myself
David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes
Loose Joints - Is it all over my face (female version)
Meredith Monk - Biography

And because I find it even more impossible than the 70s, honorable mentions aka second list:

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cannons
Throwing Muses - Hate My Way
Gregory Isaacs - Report to Me
The Dicks - Hate the Police
Wipers - No Fair
Steve McQueen - Appetite
Universal Two - Dancing Heart
Japan - My new career
The Chameleons - Second Skin
Thione Seck - Bamba

(Prefab Sprout obviously)

Is this nabisco? I’m out of the loop sorry.

It’s a great list. If I was being honest about my favorites I would have included the Naive Melody too.

Yekeke sounds like it has similar vocals to Mory Kante’s Yeke Yeke, I wonder if there’s a connection?

No I'm just myself :P Yeah there's a connection, they're maternal half-brothers :D

I should have included a Rail Band song in the 70s thread... Mansa probably, or Kaira.

Mansa sounds like a dembow beat at points. But those vocals, wow!

Exactly 10 songs:

Beastie Boys "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun"
Black Sabbath "Neon Knights"
Bruce Springsteen "Tunnel of Love"
Dinosaur Jr "Raisans"
Funky 4 + 1 "That's The Joint"
Hall & Oates "Say It Isn't So"
Jungle Brothers "I'll House You"
Metallica "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"
Michael Jackson "Human Nature"
My Bloody Valentine "Drive It All Over Me"
Neneh Cherry “Buffalo Stance”
Nu Shooz "I Can't Wait"
Patrice Rushen "Forget Me Nots"
Prince "If I Was Your Girlfriend"
Psychedelic Furs "Love My Way"
T'Pau "Heart and Soul"
Tears For Fears "Everybody Wants to Rule The World"
Til Tuesday "Voices Carry"
Tracy Ullman "They Don't Know"
Van Halen "Unchained"

Mansa sounds like a dembow beat at points. But those vocals, wow!
― recovering internet addict/shitposter (viborg), Sunday, October 10, 2021 10:03 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Sorry, I just realized you probably went on Spotify and listened to the first one listed. You need to listen to the 12-minute original version (on the Belle Époque comps). It's a slow burner that builds patiently and eventually releases a pure energy flow of scorching trumpet, djembe, bass, and guitar.

Umbababrumba - Jorge Ben
New Sensations - Lou Reed
The Hawk (El Galvian) - Marianne Faithfull / Mark Isham
Your Secret's Safe With Me - Michael Franks
Kid Fears - Indigo Girls
Obsession - Animotion
A Solid Bond in Your Heart - The Style Council
Welcome to the Pleasuredome - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Cracking - Suzanne Vega
Faded Flowers - Shriekback

Umbabarauma is a 70’s song.

“Decade of impact” rule?

Les Rita Mitsouko - C'est comme ça (1986)
should be on my list

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGZRVGlGZ6A

Heard Cube - Concert Boy on a dj set and what an underrated gem of a track.

Dj also dropped Whodini - freaks come out at night and the crowd really vibed to both.

Rest of the set was more modern and I didn’t identify most of it but she did a stellar job. Been a while since I loved a live dj set as much.

I guess she was mixing with other tracks because the Whodini track sounded remixed with something else but it sounded amazing.

I'll take a crack:

Japan - Ghosts
Sonic Youth - Shadow of a Doubt
Kate Bush - Cloudbusting
Throwing Muses - Hate My Way
Scritti Politti - Absolute
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Spellbound
Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
M/A/R/R/S - Pump up the Volume
Laurie Anderson - O Superman
Janet Jackson - Control

This list is nearly impossible for me, but it occurred to me today that I'd be tempted to put "Overkill" by Men At Work on it.

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" just squeaks in as an 80s song.

Arguably it's not even the best Joy Division song, let alone one of the best songs of the decade.

I'd go for Blue Monday over LWTUA.

Realised my list didn't have room for Into the Groove. Or anything off Graceland. This is too hard!

Arguably, sure. I'd argue the opposite. No objection to "Blue Monday," I'd probably put it on the list as well.

NME has "Blue Monday" at 1 and "Love Will Tear Us Apart" at 2.

“Overkill” slays

xps

Xp I can see an argument for Joy Division being more important as a '70s band and New Order as an '80s band. Transmission (which is vastly superior to Love Will Tear us Apart imo) would have to rank among the top songs of the '70s.

IMHO, their combined influence on music, both in the 80s and after, cannot be overstated. It's difficult for me to think of Joy Division as a 70s band, since they had as big a hand as anyone at defining the sound of the 80s.

"Transmission" is a banger, to be sure.

Yeah, good point. I guess the same could be said about Wire, who released their trio of best records in the '70s but were so far ahead of the curve they now read more as an '80s band.

Lol never heard Transmission described as banger before but you're not wrong!

I saw Peter Hook play it back in August and it still fucking rocks.

One from each year that I only heard for the first time at some point over the last ten years

Paul McCartney - Waterfalls
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Into The Light
Antena - Camino Del Sol
Kissing The Pink - Desert Song
Virna Lindt - Underwater Boy
Rare Silk - Storm
Scribble - Lowdown
Geoffrey Landers - Say You'll Say So
Thomas Dolby - Budapest By Blimp
The Durutti Column - Love No More

Here’s a quick try (without thinking very hard):

George Michael - Father Figure
Madonna - Into the Groove
Prince - When You Were Mine
Rolling Stones - Start Me Up
Haircut 100 - Love Plus One
Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
Miaow - When It All Comes Down
Black Flag - TV Party
Robert Palmer - Simply Irresistible
Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days

(first wag who posts “Should’ve thought harder” gets FP’d)

I’ve never been so happy with my choices (from Sept 2021) as from any other poll

Never thought I'd see Black Flag and Robert Palmer together on a list!

The first time I heard Addicted to Love was the Ciccone Youth cover. I thought it was pretty bad until I heard the original.

They should've covered Simply Irresistible.

Which track appears here the most? “Once in a Lifetime”? (Looks like Prince gets severely vote-split…)

Perhaps. Or Cloudbusting.