Straight Dope Message Board

[Cat Whisperer]

Originally Posted by GuanoLad

The most 80s song must have:
<snip>
Saxophone<snip>

I would nominate "Don't You (Forget About Me)" except for its one single failing - no sax solo. I would argue that THE defining sound of the 80s was the sax solo. Once you start listening for it, it's in everything from that time.

[Knowed Out]

Originally Posted by snowthx

What, no Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen?

Also a nominee for one-hit-wonder.

That's because it doesn't exist, no matter what you say.

[Llama Llogophile]

Originally Posted by Cat Whisperer

I would nominate "Don't You (Forget About Me)" except for its one single failing - no sax solo. I would argue that THE defining sound of the 80s was the sax solo. Once you start listening for it, it's in everything from that time.

Hmm, sax solos eh? In that case I nominate David Bowie's "Modern Love".

[Nema98]

Originally Posted by Cat Whisperer

I would nominate "Don't You (Forget About Me)" except for its one single failing - no sax solo. I would argue that THE defining sound of the 80s was the sax solo. Once you start listening for it, it's in everything from that time.

And very little synth.

Here are some:

"Politics of Dancing" by Re-Flex
"Whip It" Devo

It's funny because 1980s music was diverse, but I guarantee this thread could turn into 500 pages and no one will mention artists like Anita Baker or songs such as "Lady in Red" by Chris DeBurgh or "Time of My Life" by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, "Just the Two of Us" by Bill Withers.


And it took some two pages to mention big hair bands. But yes people associate synth, new wave, pop songs as "80's".

[Nema98]

Originally Posted by Knowed Out

That's because it doesn't exist, no matter what you say.

Huh, is this a whoosh or something?

[Katriona]

Originally Posted by pulykamell

First one that came to mind was "Take On Me" by a-ha.

That's the first one that I thought of, too.

Wasn't "I Think We're Alone Now" a cover of a 60's song? I only ever got "retro" out of it, rather than it screaming 1980's.

[Nema98]

"Heat is On" Glen Frey
"Love Shack" or better yet from 1980 "Private Idaho" B-52s
"Bette David Eyes" Kim Carnes
"Whisper to A Scream" Icicle Works
So many to be honest.

[snowthx]

Originally Posted by Cat Whisperer

I would nominate "Don't You (Forget About Me)" except for its one single failing - no sax solo. I would argue that THE defining sound of the 80s was the sax solo. Once you start listening for it, it's in everything from that time.

While made famous, and I daresay, overused in the 80s, the sax solo in pop music was rooted in the 1978 Gerry Rafferty hit "Baker Street". Remember that one?

From Wikipedia:
[Raphael] Ravenscroft, a session musician, was in the studio to record a brief soprano saxophone part and suggested that he record the now-famous break using the alto saxophone he had in his car. The part led to what became known as "the 'Baker Street' phenomenon", a resurgence in the sales of saxophones and their use in mainstream pop music and television advertising.

We can once again blame the 70s for something.

[Nema98]

Originally Posted by Katriona

That's the first one that I thought of, too.

Wasn't "I Think We're Alone Now" a cover of a 60's song? I only ever got "retro" out of it, rather than it screaming 1980's.

OP is right that it is 80's which it is, but not the most 80s one. However it is a good example of a circa 1987 song, though not for the entire decade. Yes it was originally done by Tommy James and the Shondells.

Speaking of covers, how about "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell and "Always Something There to Remind Me" by Naked Eyes?

[Ponch8]

Originally Posted by snowthx

What, no Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen?

Also a nominee for one-hit-wonder.

I mentioned it in post 46, but it was embedded within a spoiler box as the answer to a joke.

[AncientHumanoid]

Originally Posted by pulykamell

And I wouldn't forget old school rap, either. Maybe something like Run D.M.C. "It's Tricky," or Beastie Boys' "Hey Ladies" (or whatever you want to pick here.) It's a completely different side of the 80s coin, though.

80s Country too, then

Keeny Rogers and Dolly: Islands In the Stream (1983?)

Randy Travis: Forever and Ever, Amen (1986?)



I'm guessing on the exact dates, but I know these were 80s. I think Barbara Mandrell's I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool might just slip in at the beginning of the decade.

[kaylasdad99]

Originally Posted by kaylasdad99

You went up town ridin' in your limousine with your fine Park Avenue clothes,
You had the Dom Perignon in your hand and the spoon up your nose. . .

-- Big Shot, Billy Joel

Originally Posted by Leaffan

I always wondered if that was autobiographical.

Please don't make me visualize Billy Joel impressing his friends by wearing a Halston dress.

[Personal]

Don't You Forget About Me and Beat It are good selections. I would throw Van Halen's Jump in there as well.

[etv78]

"We Built This City (On Rock n' Roll)"

[etv78]

Originally Posted by GuanoLad

The most 80s song must have:
Synthesisers
Saxophone
Lyrics that sound deep and poetic but upon analysis actually mean nothing

The band must have:
Ambiguously gendered members
Big hair and shoulder pads
Too much make-up

The video must have:
Fans blowing said big hair
Lots of draped cloth
On a stage with a crowd
Soft focus

So something halfway between Europe's Superstitious and Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For A Hero.

"We're Not Gonna Take it".

Confession: most songs mentioned are on my iPod.

[salinqmind]

Originally Posted by clnilsen

The song that seems to be on the cusp of all is a different New Order track - Blue Monday. Synth, guitars, pretentious lyrics, and if you don't dance to this, you're dead (or undead mike-pole-beating Freddy Mercury).

Yes, I mentioned this in post #44.

I did kind of cheat and look up popular 80's songs, and this one (which I have never heard of before) popped up as #1. I gave it a listen and nominated it.

[Les Espaces Du Sommeil]

Originally Posted by snowthx

While made famous, and I daresay, overused in the 80s, the sax solo in pop music was rooted in the 1978 Gerry Rafferty hit "Baker Street". Remember that one?

From Wikipedia:
[Raphael] Ravenscroft, a session musician, was in the studio to record a brief soprano saxophone part and suggested that he record the now-famous break using the alto saxophone he had in his car. The part led to what became known as "the 'Baker Street' phenomenon", a resurgence in the sales of saxophones and their use in mainstream pop music and television advertising.

We can once again blame the 70s for something.

Except that in Baker Street's case, adding a sax solo was the perfect finishing touch to an already great song.

Something similar happened with Jacques Dutronc's Il Est Cinq Heures Paris S'Eveille (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyNng8st5kU). The song was finished and recorded but he was unsatisfied with it. In another studio, flutist Roger Bourdin had just finished a recording session. He dropped by and added complex but totally improvised solos between each verses. They made the song: all of a sudden, you could see Paris slowly waking up in the early morning.

(Sorry for the hijack as it's a 60s song but these are the two best examples I know of chance meetings that turned excellent songs into classics).

[Leaffan]

Originally Posted by kaylasdad99

Please don't make me visualize Billy Joel impressing his friends by wearing a Halston dress.

I guess I should have read all the lyrics.......

[RTFirefly]

Like U2, Michael Jackson had his own distinct sound. While he was bigger than practically anyone in the 1980s, he doesn't really define an '80s sound, just his own. So I'd exclude MJ.

And J. Geils' "Centerfold" would have fit in perfectly well if it had come out in, say, 1975.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned "Man in Motion" yet. Another '80s song from an '80s movie (St. Elmo's Fire).

Originally Posted by Ponch8

"Don't You Want Me," as mentioned upthread

And the other one is the answer to a joke: what's worse than sweat on Olivia Newton John?

SPOILER:

Come On Eileen

Never heard that one before. I'm gonna grin like a banshee the next time I hear that song on the radio.

[DrCube]

Originally Posted by Quimby

To be honest I first heard that song in the the early 2000s so I associate it with that era. It was in a Saturn commercial...

And don't forget it was in Napoleon Dynamite, too. It took me a while to realize that movie was not set in the 80s.

If you avoid synth pop, there's always How Soon Is Now? by the Smiths, Can't Hardly Wait by the Replacements, and Steppin' Out by Joe Jackson. Something by Springsteen has to be on the list. Glory Days probably.

[Hippy Hollow]

So many good noms here.

There are songs that just fit this decade. I'd nominate:

Eurythmics, "Sweet Dreams"
Frankie Goes To Hollywood, "Relax"
Devo, "Whip It"
Patti LaBelle, "New Attitude"
Prince, "1999"
Mr. Mister, "Broken Wings"
Missing Persons, "Words"
a-ha, "Take On Me"
Survivor, "Eye Of The Tiger"

...but I think the closest we have to an all-decade song would be Flock of Seagulls' "I Ran."

The songs that sound of the 80s would be synth-driven, with a drum machine, and a cheesy sax solo. I realize that some of the songs I listed don't have those features, but now I'm thinking "Careless Whisper" by Wham! and "Freeway Of Love" by Aretha Franklin should be on the list. And "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by FlikTheBlue

My vote is for Huey Lewis and the News, The Power of Love.

Yeah, I was just searching this thread to see if anyone voted for Huey, out of curiosity. That's a band, to me, that could only have existed in the 80s. I could actually see some of the top vote getters here and songs that I have mentioned myself like "Melt With You" and "Don't You Forget About Me" being made today as a nostalgic musical nod to the 80s, but Huey Lewis, to me, only exists in that timeframe. Robert Palmer is another one that feels in the same mold. I don't really see them outside the 80s, while Modern English and Simple Minds I can hear echoes of in modern indie rock.

[Mister Rik]

Oh, come on.

She Blinded Me with Science.

[GIGObuster]

Speaking of 80's songs that include a lot of references to the day, I was forgetting the ones that did some good, besides sounding nice:

One should not forget one of the biggest ark songs (most star singers in a single song) of then:

USA for Africa - We Are The World - 1985

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_the_World

Did not know that Dan Aykroyd was in the chorus.

That was to feed Africa, in the same year there was also another ark song that did a small contribution to increase the pressure to the then existing Apartheid regime in South Africa:

Sun City.

So controversial (and the reference against Reagan still negotiating with the regime did not help) that it was not played in a few markets and IIRC it not chart in the popular ratings, but it raised a lot of awareness and many artists then refused to take their shows to South Africa and Sun City.

One of the few star singers that was present on both songs was Bruce Springsteen, he is really The Boss.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by Mister Rik

Oh, come on.

She Blinded Me with Science.

That's not a bad one, either. I really can't image that existing in any other era.

[Little_Pig]

The Manchester sound which included The Smiths, New Order and Joy Division.

[Mister Rik]

Originally Posted by pulykamell

That's not a bad one, either. I really can't image that existing in any other era.

Strangely, I found the original music video for that song a few years ago, but now all I can find are contemporary vids of Mr. Dolby performing the song live.

[Shagnasty]

There are lots of good nominations so far but most of you are missing the obvious. You can't analyze these types of things to death by looking at individual components like synthesizer cords or makeup. Instead, you have to look at the whole package that resonates at a more fundamental level.

For that, I nominate The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News as the most 80's song. There is no one that can listen to more than the first few beats and not feel like they just stepped out of a time machine. I have other nominations as well but they are also by Huey Lewis and the News because that is the most 80's sounding band of all.

[epbrown01]

Originally Posted by kaylasdad99

You went up town ridin' in your limousine with your fine Park Avenue clothes,
You had the Dom Perignon in your hand and the spoon up your nose. . .

-- Big Shot, Billy Joel

Originally Posted by Leaffan

I always wondered if that was autobiographical.

It is. IIRC, it was about a first (and only) date with Mick Jagger's ex.

Though I loathe the song, the theme from Simple Minds would place most anyone in the 80s. Personally, something from the Talking Heads would work better, like "Once in a Lifetime" or "Life During Wartime."

[the_diego]

Don't you Forget About Me
Old Man on the Road
We've got the Beat