Apparently, they’re back.
Maine West '81 here!
Good tune. Never saw the video, thanks!
Adorable contrast of low-fi video quality and ambitious filmography attempts.
Looking at the posts, I would say that the contender has to be a one-off hit such as Gary Numan’s Cars, because there were artists and bands whose main work spanned the 70s and 80s and sometimes beyond, and to me they don’t exemplify just one decade. Nor are they as memorable if they had multiple hits.
Some, like A Flock of Seagulls and The Human League, are totally 1980s. I would add Duran Duran to that, given that they keep recording, but seem to be in a time warp. It is simply the sound that I associate with the decade. That said, I am no great fan of all three bands.
I said it before in this thread, my vote would go to ‘I Ran (so Far Away)’. It’s got it all-- the music style, the look of the video and of the band, the one-off hit status (according to wikipedia they had a couple other international hits, but I think “I Ran” was the only US hit) and even the “fear of intimacy” subject matter of the song lyrics so appropriate to a decade in which AIDS emerged.
Run DMC Talk to Much
Gap Band You Dropped a Bomb
Dazz Band Let it Whip
Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles
and the parody
My wife and I have concluded, after many conversations on the subject, that Don’t You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds is the quintessential 80s song, even though it doesn’t have a sax solo, which is one of the major features of 80s music, generally speaking. I’m actually surprised how little love this song is getting in this thread!
I’d also like to submit this obscure little nugget for being about as perfectly 80s as a song can be, right down to the lead singer’s hair and stern expression. For those who can’t place him, that lead singer is a very young Ricky Gervais.
Finally, there isn’t nearly enough Prince in this list. In 1984 there were 11 different singles that charted that were either performed, written or produced by him, including the five singles off Purple Rain, two hits by The Time, one by Apollonia Six, Sugar Walls by Sheena Easton, Glamorous Life by Sheila E, and I Feel For You by Chaka Khan. And that’s just 1984—he pumped out nine albums in 10 years during the 80s (11 if you count the two Madhouse albums in 1987).
Small world…I was on my high school swim team in the mid-‘80s; we used to have swim meets against Maine West.
This song has my vote as well.
Numan also had a hit with Are ‘Friends’ Electric? He still makes quite good music.
I think somebody upthread said that in an earlier quintessential 80s song poll on this board, that song was indeed the winner.
Thanks for the Ricky Gervais video link, that was fun!
As for not enough Prince representation, there was a bit of discussion earlier in this thread that although Prince, Michael Jackson and Madonna all had huge hits in the 80s, they weren’t defined by the 80s like some other songs and acts were.
Note also the lack of Springsteen, U2 and Tina Turner. People don’t like pigeonholing the “greats” to a single decade.
And, they don’t “sound like the Eighties”—they sound like Prince (or Michael Jackson, or U2, or whoever).
The song’s association with The Breakfast Club, a quintessential 80s teen movie, pushes it up the ranks, in my humble opinion.
Wow, that video is bad even by 80s standards - it’s like they had 30 seconds of footage that they had to stretch into 4 minutes. Yikes. But the song is surprisingly good - easily as good as some 80s one-hit wonders. Gervais is obviously doing his best Bowie impression, but he’s got some pipes. Thanks for sharing that.
It’s apparently not the full video. The poster of that YouTube clip comments on that:
Now there is not a full version of this video out on the internet yet, so I deicided to make up a video comprising of the the best clips of the original video I could find.
Ah, that would explain it, then 
You are obviously a person of taste and refinement.
Cyndi always makes me weep with this one. I only listen to it when I know I want to cry and don’t have anything else going on the rest of the day.