# 80s song ID **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2014, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978 "2014-07-25T00:14:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/1 "2014-07-25T00:14:14Z")
There’s no way you guys will get this one, but I’ve never seen you _not_ get one, so here goes: My wife’s coworker hummed a song and my wife recognized it. Neither of them knew a single word, though, so they couldn’t look it up. Unfortunately, my wife cannot remember the melody, and so she can’t reproduce it for me. Here’s what we know: It’s an 80s song or close enough. It’s not very popular, but enough that millennials recognize it anyway. It’s almost entirely synth, or as she says “It sounds like there aren’t any real instruments in it at all.” The male singer sings pretty high, like Naked Eyes high. It’s a love song or ballad. “Never Dance Again” by George Michael reminds her of it. It’s probably not Phil Collins. The lyrics may or may not say something about searching and/or dreaming. Perhaps it has the words “you’ll be” or “I’ll be.” It might say “see you in my dreams.” Name that tune! Good luck, and godspeed. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/2 "2014-07-25T00:17:34Z")
Howard Jones - [Things Will Only Get Better](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OO9LloDSJo) ---
**Author:** ![pythonzzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9e8a1a/32.png) [@pythonzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pythonzzz)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/3 "2014-07-25T00:31:01Z")
A few possibilities come to mind: Erasure - Chains of Love, or Respect Escape Club - I’ll Be There Icicle Works - Whisper to a Scream ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/4 "2014-07-25T00:31:14Z")
Truly madly Deeply by Savage garden? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/5 "2014-07-25T00:34:39Z")
Howard Jones has, and I quote, “the right amount of cheese.” ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/6 "2014-07-25T00:38:03Z")
Joe Jackson- [Steppin’ Out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBJUHvQPFTI) ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/7 "2014-07-25T00:43:07Z")
Here are my guesses: Giant - [I’ll See You In My Dreams](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iug0X6cJDDM) When in Rome - [The Promise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HI_xFQWiYU) Scissor Sistors - [I Don’t Feel Like Dancing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H5I6y1Qvz0) ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/8 "2014-07-25T00:50:48Z")
> [@Bumbershoot](#): > > Joe Jackson- [Steppin’ Out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBJUHvQPFTI) Unbelievable. Un-freakin’- believable. It bears absolutely no resemblance to the OP description. How the hell did you get _that_ from the OP?! _BUT IT’S THE WINNER!!!_ I…I just don’t get you people. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/9 "2014-07-25T00:54:42Z")
I don’t know, that song just popped into my head. Oh, and YES!! YES!!! [happy dance] Edit: It wasn’t Phil Collins so I got that right! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/10 "2014-07-25T01:00:54Z")
Good job, **Bumbershoot**! ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/11 "2014-07-25T01:03:21Z")
That is some seriously amazing psychic stuff, right there. I’m a little freaked out. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/12 "2014-07-25T01:04:38Z")
Wow, **Bumbershoot** , good one! I admit to thinking that was a stupid guess, but shows what I know. _Stepping Out_ was mostly (real) piano wasn’t it? Not synthesizer. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/13 "2014-07-25T02:17:37Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > _Stepping Out_ was mostly (real) piano wasn’t it? Not synthesizer. Nor is it popular, nor known by millennials, nor a love song, nor about dreams or searching. So basically, he nailed the “80s ballad, not Phil Collins” angle. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/14 "2014-07-25T02:22:24Z")
“We’re not worthy, We’re not worthy!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/15 "2014-07-25T02:22:36Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Nor is it popular, nor known by millennials, nor a love song, nor about dreams or searching. So basically, he nailed the “80s ballad, not Phil Collins” angle. And it’s not a ballad either, depending on your definition of ballad. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/16 "2014-07-25T02:29:03Z")
I remember it getting a good bit of airplay when it came out. > [@](#): > > Released as a single in August 1982, it became Jackson’s biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit in the U.S., peaking at number six.[1] It also reached No. 4 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. The infectious tune was Jackson’s second biggest hit on the UK Singles Chart, also reaching number six. > **[Steppin' Out (Joe Jackson song)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steppin%27_Out_(Joe_Jackson_song))** > > "Steppin' Out" is a song by English musician Joe Jackson, originally included on his 1982 album Night and Day. The song, inspired by Jackson's time in New York City, was his highest-charting single in America, where it peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached the same position in Jackson's native UK. > The song is about the anticipation and excitement of a drive out around the town. Released as a single in early August 1982, it became Jackson's biggest hit in the United States, p... ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/17 "2014-07-25T02:30:04Z")
But it wasn’t Phil Collins! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/18 "2014-07-25T05:26:49Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > I remember it getting a good bit of airplay when it came out. > [Steppin' Out (Joe Jackson song) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steppin%27_Out_(Joe_Jackson_song)) Same here. I certainly recognize the song. I’m surprised that it was his best charting song in the US. I would have guessed “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” That’s the first song I think of when I think Joe Jackson, but I assume it’s one of those retrospective things where it’s just been more long-lasting than the more chart-popular “Stepping Out.” I still can’t believe how quickly this song ID was answered, given the misremembered details in the OP. Amazing. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/19 "2014-07-25T08:26:23Z")
It’s an extremely bland song. The notes the songs hit are matched exactly by the singing. No counterpoint or even a change in key. Almost perfectly written to be inoffensive muzak. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978/20 "2014-07-25T14:31:33Z")
I always liked that song. It reminds me of old school MTV since they always played the video. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-song-id/693978.md?page=2)