# Song that epitomizes the 80s **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 8, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465 "2013-11-08T22:14:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/41 "2013-11-09T02:57:50Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I just listened to the OP’s choice, as i couldn’t place the name of the song or the band name in my head. > > There was a reason. I never heard it before. > > Hiw could that be? Was this song popular in the US? I was into music in the 80’s in a big way, and this song name, the band, or the tune itself is all foreign to me. I liked the song, but it was a new one. Was it at the very beginning or the very end of the 80’s? > > Does everyone else recognize it? I graduated HS in '86 in the US, and I have a ton of 80s music on my iPhone, and I’ve never heard it either. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2013, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/42 "2013-11-09T02:57:53Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I just listened to the OP’s choice, as i couldn’t place the name of the song or the band name in my head. > > There was a reason. I never heard it before. > > Hiw could that be? Was this song popular in the US? I was into music in the 80’s in a big way, and this song name, the band, or the tune itself is all foreign to me. I liked the song, but it was a new one. Was it at the very beginning or the very end of the 80’s? > > Does everyone else recognize it? No. I’ve heard of The Stranglers but I’ve never heard that song or any other song by them that I can recall. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2013, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/43 "2013-11-09T03:00:36Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Yet another of Those Songs That’s Not What Everyone Thinks It’s About. :o OK. What’s it about? ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/44 "2013-11-09T03:23:43Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > Dire Straits - **Money for Nothing** This was the decade of conspicuous consumption and overnight celebrities. The song speaks to that quite well. +1 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/45 "2013-11-09T03:41:39Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > [The Spirit of Radio](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tq-UsaRchI) deserves mention as the unofficial first song of the 80s, being Track 1 of an [album](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_Waves) released on January 1, 1980. Bear in mind that Rick Springfield was at #1 the day MTV launched, with _Jessie’s Girl_. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/46 "2013-11-09T04:32:50Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > OK. What’s it about? His current flame is out of town and he’s talking to an old flame. Fantastic song. 😃 ---
**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:** [November 9, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/47 "2013-11-09T05:12:17Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > His current flame is out of town and he’s talking to an old flame. > > Fantastic song. 😃 That’s what I thought it was about but according to **nearwildheaven** it’s: > [@](#): > > Yet another of Those Songs That’s Not What Everyone Thinks It’s About. I thought maybe I was missing something. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/48 "2013-11-09T05:15:08Z")
> [@](#): > > (Sidetrack: I don’t watch It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, so I don’t know if the reference is idiocy on the part of the writers or intended to make the characters look stupid, but there ain’t any part of that song that sounds like “Day Bow Bow”.) [Day bow bow.](http://youtu.be/xLb9jPuDS9Y?t=41s) ---
**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:** [November 9, 2013, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/49 "2013-11-09T05:34:49Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > To epitomize the 80’s you need a song that lets you know how full of itself America was.\ The rest of the world had the '80s too, you know. 🙂 > [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I just listened to the OP’s choice, as i couldn’t place the name of the song or the band name in my head. > > There was a reason. I never heard it before. > > Hiw could that be? Was this song popular in the US? I was into music in the 80’s in a big way, and this song name, the band, or the tune itself is all foreign to me. I liked the song, but it was a new one. Was it at the very beginning or the very end of the 80’s? > > Does everyone else recognize it? Never heard it before (I graduated high school in 1984 and listened to a lot of everything then and now). There are a number of different ways you can parse the question of, “What song epitomizes the '80s,” but I don’t think the OP has the right answer. If he was asking the question, “What _sound_ epitomizes the '80s,” then he might be onto something, but the particular song has to be something that everyone who was alive in the '80s recognizes. It should be ubiquitous, universal, and as soon as someone who was a child of the '80s hears it, it puts them right back into their acid-wash jeans and neon hair scrunchies. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/50 "2013-11-09T06:23:14Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > His current flame is out of town and he’s talking to an old flame. > > Fantastic song. 😃 Actually, his SO, Josie, is on a vacation far away, and he’s having a fling with an underage girl. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/51 "2013-11-09T07:12:23Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > [“Don’t You Forget About Me”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdqoNKCCt7A). > > Thread over. Yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/52 "2013-11-09T07:15:26Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > No one remembers [Thriller](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA)? Even with 155 million views. Epitomizes the 80’s, was the defining mood of the 80’s monster dancing? Now that I think of it though, ‘video killed the radio star’ may be up there. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/53 "2013-11-09T07:17:43Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Girls Girls Girls by Motley Crue or just about anything by Van Halen (with David Lee Roth). “Hot For Teacher”😃 ---
**Author:** ![Longshanks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Longshanks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Longshanks)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/54 "2013-11-09T10:51:56Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I just listened to the OP’s choice, as i couldn’t place the name of the song or the band name in my head. > > There was a reason. I never heard it before. > > Hiw could that be? Was this song popular in the US? I was into music in the 80’s in a big way, and this song name, the band, or the tune itself is all foreign to me. I liked the song, but it was a new one. Was it at the very beginning or the very end of the 80’s? > > Does everyone else recognize it? Near the beginning of the 80s and was by a British band. I guess its not exactly ubiquitous for most people, but I can’t get enough of it. One of the posters worded it quite right, the song I chose isn’t very well known but that type of song is what epitomizes the 80s for me. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/55 "2013-11-09T11:49:56Z")
Before even opening the thread, the title made me think of “Don’t You Forget About Me” and “Take on Me”. It’s ironic because it was the seventies that was the Me Decade. But I guess there were no hit singles about Al Franken. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/56 "2013-11-09T12:31:14Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I just listened to the OP’s choice, as i couldn’t place the name of the song or the band name in my head. > > There was a reason. I never heard it before. > > Hiw could that be? Was this song popular in the US? I was into music in the 80’s in a big way, and this song name, the band, or the tune itself is all foreign to me. I liked the song, but it was a new one. Was it at the very beginning or the very end of the 80’s? > > Does everyone else recognize it? The only reason I recognized it was that it was on a “various artists” sampler that I bought back in the late 80s, but other than that I’d never heard of the band or the song. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/57 "2013-11-09T13:13:22Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > The only reason I recognized it was that it was on a “various artists” sampler that I bought back in the late 80s, but other than that I’d never heard of the band or the song. Y’know, in December of '89, the #1 song was a retrospective recap: Menachem Begin, Ronald Reagan, the Ayatollah’s in Iran, Russia’s in Afghanistan; on the one hand you’ve got Wheel of Fortune and Sally Ride; on the other hand you’ve got AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz; there’s punk rock and heavy metal, there are homeless vets, [QUOTE=We Didn’t Start The Fire] Hypodermics on the shore, China’s under martial law, rock’n’roller Cola Wars . . . I can’t take it any more. [/Quote] ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/58 "2013-11-09T13:16:15Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I don’t think the OP has the right answer. …the particular song has to be something that everyone who was alive in the '80s recognizes. It should be ubiquitous, universal, and as soon as someone who was a child of the '80s hears it, it puts them right back into their acid-wash jeans and neon hair scrunchies. 🙂 In this spirit, in addition to “Safety Dance”, “Don’t You Forget About Me”, “Rock Me Amadeus” and “Take On Me” I would add: “Billie Jean”, Michael Jackson (more than any other) “Tainted Love”, Soft Cell “Here Comes The Rain Again”, the Eurythmics (aka “Here Comes That Song Again”) “She Blinded Me With Science”, Thomas Dolby “Sunglasses At Night”, Corey Hart “Mr. Roboto”, Styx “Livin’ On A Prayer”, Bon Jovi “Walk Like An Egyptian”, The Bangles “Popmusik”, M “Electric Avenue”, Eddie Grant And (cough) “Hot For Teacher”, Van Halen, esp. if you were in HS in 1984-85 and were also, in fact, hot for a teacher, perhaps a braless English teacher in her 20s. Just saying that as a hypothetical thing, of course. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/59 "2013-11-09T14:48:09Z")
When I hear a song like “We Are the World”, I get a massive flood of 80s images and feelings that I don’t get with “Don’t You Forget About Me”. I admit it’s cheesy, but when Cyndi Lauper goes “WAH WAH WAH WAAAH!!” I’m transported back in time, dressed as Punky Brewster and chewing on a big wad of Hubba Bubba, with the Iran-Contra Scandal and the Cold War weighing heavily on my brain. There is no single song that represents the 80s for me. I have my favorite songs, but a single one? Uh-uh. But if I had to recommend a criterion for the makings of a “type specimen” song, it would be that it is has to have a great video. Preferably with a lot of dancing, like Stevie Nicks “Stand Back” or MJ’s “Beat It”, since ensemble dancing is what makes the 80s music video an 80s video. I think it should also have at least a little hint of inclusiveness/racial or genre cross-over appeal to it. The 80s were when black folk really began be included into mainstream pop culture. The duets by MJ and Paul McCartney, The Culture Club, The Thompson Twins, and Prince and The Revolution made it okay to have an interracial acts. Run DMC and Aerosmith’s collaboration was also historic. They epitomize the 80s “gestalt” of black and white folk getting along (see “Silver Streak”, “Trading Places”, “48 Hrs”, and who can forget “Diff’rent Strokes”). I suppose that’s why “We Are The World” is my choice over more obvious picks. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/60 "2013-11-09T15:24:53Z")
It isn’t the best song of the decade or my favorite but the to me the song that screams “80s!” and probably only could have been made in the 80s is “[I Ran](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIpfWORQWhU)” by Flock of Seagulls. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465.md?page=4)