# Most Eighties-ish Eighties Song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210 "2006-03-13T18:52:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Headrush042](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Headrush042](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Headrush042)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210/121 "2006-03-16T09:04:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Escape was an 80s song? I always thought it was a 70s staple. Now that I think about it, it may have been '79. My memory blurs a bit when I think back that far. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210/122 "2006-03-16T15:27:37Z")
> [@Least Original User Name Ever](#): > > the simple minds song gets thrown out because itā€™s almost TOO easy. i think a big part of its eightiesish-ness (yes, itā€™s MY word now, dammit) is because it was in the breakfast club. remove the breakfast club, and i think you also remove that song as wellā€¦at the very least, you dethrone it. Itā€™s so easy because the song is the eighties in a nutshell. In my opinion, of course. šŸ˜‰ I donā€™t think it is germane to discuss removing songs from their context, because their context is so important. We had just discovered that you could make little films to go along with songs, and play them on tv, and people (read: teenagers) would eat them up with a spoon. The song/movie/band/actors connection was just being discovered, and I think ā€œ(Donā€™t You) Forget About Meā€ was instrumental in opening this whole idea up. > [@](#): > > madonna was so strong into the 90s, though. that song may have been pretty 80s, but she certainly wasnā€™t. also, if you point at madonna as being 80s, you must also turn the finger at cindi lauper. iā€™m not prepared to make that leap, so i choose to exclude it.\ Madonna was huge and hugely influential in the eighties. I didnā€™t care about her music then, and I donā€™t care much about it (or her) now, but when youā€™re discussing eighties music, you would be amiss to leave out mention of Madonna. > [@](#): > > as far as michael jackson is concerned, itā€™s GOT to be thriller. that song is impossible to separate from the video, more than ANY other song ever. any list without michael in it just doesnā€™t feel complete. (by the way, was ā€œdonā€™t stop til you get enoughā€ in '79?) Yes - I went with ā€œThrillerā€ rather than ā€œBeat Itā€ or ā€œBillie Jeanā€ on the strength of the ā€œThrillerā€ video, which was groundbreaking and earthshaking in its time. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210/123 "2006-03-16T16:35:32Z")
> [@Hippy Hollow](#): > > Isnā€™t it Alphaville? The ā€œBig In Japanā€ guys? Back in the late '80s, NYCā€™s ā€œalternativeā€ station WLIR (later WDRE) surveyed its listeners and came up with their ā€œTop 200 Of All Timeā€ list (ā€œall timeā€ beginning sometime in the late '70s). On this list, IIRC, U2 had something like 15 songs, The Smiths 10, The Cure 8, etc. The #1 song on the survey was the aforementioned ā€œForever Youngā€ by Alphaville. I love that song, but only the dance mix version. My list (a little offbeat, but not obnoxiously elitist (I hope)): **I Will Follow** --U2 (may be '79, but has that definite '80s vibe) **Itā€™s a Sin** --Pet Shop Boys **I Beg Your Pardon** --Kon Kan **Lay Your Hands On Me** --Thompson Twins **How Soon is Now?** --The Smiths ---
**Author:** ![Ragiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6de8d8/32.png) [@Ragiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ragiel)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210/124 "2006-03-19T00:25:06Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > I just had to pop into this thread to say that I would pay a whole lotta money for 6 hours of unedited MTV from 1984 - 1986. Am I the only one? I just have this picture of throwing in a DVD and watching Martha Quinn just as she used to beā€¦ not this ā€œI love the 80sā€ crap, just plain olā€™ MTV unedited and uncompromised, from the mid-80s. I would, I would! ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210/125 "2006-03-19T01:01:13Z")
Yeah, it makes your hair hurt. Itā€™s supposed to. If weā€™re talking the stuff theyā€™ll be playing to define the 80ā€™s, in this house itā€™s: Def Leppard - **Pour Some Sugar On Me** , from their album, _Hysteria._ Madonna - **Like a Virgin** , album of the same name. Prince - **1999** , album of the same name. Guns 'n Roses - **Sweet Child Oā€™ Mine** , from their album, _Appetite for Destruction_ Michael Jackson -\*\* Thriller\*\*, album of the same name. As a bonus, Culture Clubā€™s **Do You Really Want to Hurt Me** , from _Kissing to be Clever_. Ah, the good old days. Whereā€™s my blow-dryer, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210/126 "2006-03-19T11:17:01Z")
Oh manā€¦I love 95% of all the songs mentioned so far, so Iā€™ll try and list ones I donā€™t think Iā€™ve seen mentioned yet: John Cougar Mellencamp- Jack and Diane Ministry- Every Day is Halloween Sisters of Mercy- Temple of Love Night Ranger- Sister Christian Metallica- Fade to Black or alternatively- Master of Puppets Prince- Purple Rain Chicago Bears- Super Bowl Shuffle (not because it was good, but it was a pretty defining 80ā€™s song to alot of Chicagoans in 1985) ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210/127 "2006-03-19T12:33:42Z")
To me (born in 1981), there are several songs that seem very '80s when I listen to them: - Queenā€™s _A Kind Of Magic_ - Billy Joelā€™s _We Didnā€™t Start The Fire_ - A-Haā€™s _Take On Me_ (So brilliantly referenced in the Family Guy episode "North By Northwest Quahog) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210/128 "2006-03-19T16:52:25Z")
> [@bmoak](#): > > \*Yaz: Donā€™t Go you and **Hippy Hollow** have made the same mistake. The name of the band featuring Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet is **Yazoo** , not Yaz. I know that may be what they are know as in the US, but thatā€™s not their name. ---
**Author:** ![Tabula\_Rasa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@Tabula\_Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabula_Rasa)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210/129 "2006-03-19T17:06:32Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Something by Wang Chung Hijack: I saw them in concert at a cadet concert at the Air Force Academy. Strangest concert ever. We guests dressed semi-formal, the cadets were in dress uniforms, and everyone was required to remain seated throughout the performance. Must have been even stranger for the performers than it was for us. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210/130 "2006-03-19T18:33:54Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Because my husband will have an aneurism if I donā€™t make this point, the original was by Falco, and the cover was After The Fire. (Hint: The song is called ā€œDer Kommissar,ā€ and Falco was German. šŸ˜ƒ ) Thanks. I was going to have an aneurism if someone didnā€™t point that out as well. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210/131 "2006-03-19T18:50:16Z")
> [@Least Original User Name Ever](#): > > one of those songs MUST be something michael (thriller?). > > madonna is out for the reasons listed above. sheā€™s 80s, but she also kept churning after the decade. Iā€™m having a hard time understanding why you not only allow but mandate Michael, who kept churning out stuff forever, but invalidate Madonna for it? This whole thread is making me miss the 80s so much ā˜¹ ---
**Author:** ![BlackNGold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BlackNGold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackNGold)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210/132 "2006-03-19T18:54:48Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Iā€™m amazed ā€¦ {snippity} by how many Brits there are in this listā€¦ {snipppity} Men Without Hatsā€¦ I believe MWoH to be Canadian. I could be wrong, but thatā€™s what I recall. Iā€™m going to go with ā€œMelt with Youā€ as well. I spent the eighties listening to almost nothing but metal, but this song SCREAMS 80ā€™s to me. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210/133 "2006-03-19T19:11:52Z")
Well I never. The singer sounds like heā€™s singing in an English accent - a long A on ā€œDah-nceā€. I apologise for misrepresenting them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-eighties-ish-eighties-song/348210.md?page=6)