Devo, "Whip It"
Culture Club, "Karma Chameleon"
Lotsa Prince

Gotta disagree about the Bangles. "Walk Like an Egyptian" is most def an 80s anthem. (And speaking of anthems, what about the Boss? Yes, I know, his best work was done in the 70s, but most of the 60s really happened in the early 70s too, so hey.)

M.C. Hammer?!? Lord help us all.

I suppose retrospective appreciation of Talking Heads and Squeeze is too much to hope for?

I'd say Bruuuuce is very likely to be an 80s nostalgia icon. Which would definitely bring up the average. The irony is that most of the association stems from "Born in the USA" as a Reagan era anthem. Moral of the story: NOBODY really listens to lyrics.

Queen MUST be included. There was and ever will be only one Freddy Mercury, and the 80s were their big resurgence - followed by Freddie's death from AIDS in 1991. The 80s revived them like the Phoenix, and consumed them. There they will be kept.

Canada's own Rush may make it in, even though they stretch back to the 70s (Rush, Fly by night, 2112, A Farewell to Kings). The 80s had Moving Pictures and Signals, then fell off (the compilation A Show of Hands has the worthwhile stuff from the rest). But those 2 big 80s albums, coming just as the band emerged onto the radar from the clutter of the 1970s' huge acts, may get them claimed by the 1980s. Irony abounds.

Prince weas huge, but in the end he was kind of the "teflon superstar" - as soon as he left he just slipped out of everyone's consiousness without a ripple.

Devo may slip in and on the basis of that one song, though I prefer "Workin' in a Coal Mine".

Culture Club is (shudder) going to be hard to purge and forget. Despite one's best efforts. I retain a probably-vain hope that Cyndi Lauper may fill that eco-nostalgic niche; she was a far better artist, and her songs still get covered by modern performers (see esp. "True Colors" by Eva Cassidy) - unlike, for instance, "Karma Chameleon".

The one ray of hope I have is that the hip-hop crowd will have a say in which pioneers come back as the annointed grandfathers of hip-hop. That will push Hammer's chances down. It may raise Run DMC's, however.

"Tears for Fears" had better not be in there, or I'm going to have to hurt somebody.

I'd really like to see Dire Straits in there... Making Movies, Love over Gold, Alchemy, Brothers in Arms were just consistent excellence. But even though there's a bunch of their songs that I like better, it's their "Money for Nothing/ I want my MTV" song that will lodge their sound in history.

Van Halen is the metal act of the 1980s - well, actually Kiss and AC/DC were, but their acts are either associated with the 70s (Kiss) or damn near timeless (AC/DC). David Lee Roth & Van Halen are the time-specific headliners that stick. Aerosmith also belong here, but their very longevity since then may work against them.

Twisted Sister was Big Hair metal's immensely entertaining public spoof/suicide (Spinal Tap came too early, and is too universal, to take that role), and they may get a nostalgia cameo for segueing us all back into real metal in the 90s with Metallica. Preferably via the hilarious send-up video "We're Not Gonna Take It." How unintentionally (?) right they were....

Speaking of public suicides, 80s band Styx may make it in for "Mr. Roboto," passing over the good work they did in "Paradise Theater" and to some extent "Cornerstone". In a sort of related set, Journey and to a lesser extent Foreigner had no suicide tracks and may make it in with some of their songs. Journey's Steve Perry was a virtually unique talent with that combo of voice and songs, and how do you leave out Foreigner's "Jukebox Hero"? I'd take Bad Company over any of them, though.

My wife gets Victoria's Secret catalogues. I usually flip through them to see what she'll likely be wearing.

I can't believe you wrote that with a straight face. :)

The Wedding Singer or Gross Pointe Blank soundtracks have already sent up their nominees for the 80's anthems, and those also tend to be the songs and genres that I hear at, for instance, TGIFridays.

Expect to hear Safety Dance a lot. And there is the classic Yello tune Oh Yeah from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Also, a Flock of Seagulls tune would be obligatory, and some Duran Duran (Rio, Hungry Like the Wolf). David Bowie had a few songs that could be on the B-Sides.

I also wouldn't rule out a Beastie Boys tune from Ill Communication (Paul Revere, Fight for your Right), and It's Tricky by Run-DMC would trump MC Hammer.

Queen? Can't argue with the soundtrack for Highlander.

I doubt Rush would get too far, as they were a bit too egg-headed for mass culture--except for maybe Tom Sawyer which is more familiar to a mass audience. Same for The Cure, The Pixies, or other off-mainstream acts which had a significant following- they were definitely 80's bands, but too niche to really break through onto mass soundtrack.

Journey, Foreigner, and Styx are too associated with 70's-style arena rock in my mind to get to be the 80's icons, and they lack the synth-overload that was so distinctively 80's.

I think your take on metal may be a bit off, Joe. Most of the really atrocious hair bands (Poison, Cinderella, Warrant, Winger...) didn't come along until after Twisted Sister, which was mostly a party-good-times-without-being-raunchy band (in other words, I didn't have to hide my Twisted Sister cd's the way I did my entendre-laden Poison or devil-skirting Iron Maiden tapes). And Metallica's best work was over before 1990 started. After And Justice For All they went downhill fast, although the Black album wasn't bad. St. Anger, though, would make Beavis burn his Metallica t-shirt in shame.

(Nice to have a topic where I can comment knowledgeably every once in a while...)

What people were actually listening to in the 80s has nothing to do with what Kids These Days will take as canonical 80s songs - see the comments about Hendrix, above. Neither will whether the songs are any good - the cuts will be selected by the musical directors of whatever movies or TV shows launch the 80s trend, and those choices may depend on which subculture is the setting for the movie.

If it's about Boston college kids, maybe it will be the Pixies, or even Scruffy the Cat and the Bosstones. If it's about my high school, Genesis (post-Gabriel) and Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel and Yes. If they need rap tracks, it won't be Hammer - it'll be Run-DMC, Eric B and Rakim, old LL Cool J, or Big Daddy Kane.

Could be the 80s revival won't come from movies and TV set in the 80s, though; could come from kids rediscovering 80s movies directly. Best case, this gives us the soundtracks to REPO MAN and HEAVY METAL; more likely it's THE BREAKFAST CLUB and SIXTEEN CANDLES. On LOST last night, Hurley brought up SAY ANYTHING.

Finally, Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" is on the soundtrack of the snowboarding game SSX ON TOUR.

Talk Talk -- It's My Life or Such a Shame.
Ultra Vox -- White China, One Small Day, Dancing with Tears in My Eyes
Spandau Ballet -- True
Buggles -- Video Killed the Radio Star
til Tuesday -- Voices Carry
Re-Flex -- Politics of Dancing
Wang Chung -- Everybody Have Fun Tonight or To Live in Die in LA
Smiths -- Panic or Bigmouth Strikes Again
Soft Cell -- Sex Dwarf and Tainted Love
Siouxsie & the Banshees -- Dazzle
Wall of Voodoo -- Mexican Radio or Back in Flesh
Big Audio Dynamite -- Just Play Music
Billy Idol -- White Wedding
Kim Wilde -- Kids in America
Legal Weapon -- Interior Hearts
Motels -- Careful, Danger, and Days ar O.K.
New Order -- Vanishing Point
Police -- Roxanne, Don't Stand so Close to Me, (and in My Nightmares, "Demolition Man")
X -- Los Angeles
Replacements -- Alex Chilton
Ramones -- I Wanna be Sedated
Talking Heads -- Once in a Lifetime
Don Henley -- Boys of Summer
Psychedelic Furs -- Pretty in Pink
Pretenders -- Mystery Achievement

I can't believe you wrote that with a straight face. :)

Kevin, you're the closest to getting it right.

The question isn't, what will represent the '80s to people who lived through the '80s.

Or what was most important in the '80s.

Or what deserves to be preserved.

The question is, what will be chosen to be the soundtrack of the cartoon version of the '80s that no doubt will be crafted soon to make an '80s reference in film or TV instantly recognizable.

Genuine '80s big-sellers like Phil Collins or Bob Seeger won't make it because their sound could have been recorded any time in the past 40 years.

I can't believe that you are talking about this. Over Easter, my parents came to my house with a box of my old stuff (Perils of moving into your own house, they want you to get the old stuff out of thiers). I came across 3 albums, Asia, Ratt (bad hair band) and then a compilation album called The Hit List, a two album set of the best of 82.

Volume 1
867-5309/Jenny - Tommy Tutone
Do you believe in love - Huey Lewis and the News
The Stroke - Billy Squier
(Oh) Pretty Woman - Van Halen
Keep on Loving you - REO Speedwagon
Someday, Same how - Marshall Crenshaw
Caught up in you - 38 Special
Urgent - Foreigner
You better you bet - The Who
Promises in the dark - Pat Benatar
Valley Girl - Frank and Moon Zappa

Volume 2
Jump to it - Aretha Franklin
Big Fun - Kool and the Gang
You Dropped a bomb on me - The Gap Band
Lady (You bring me up) - Commodores
My Guy - Sister Sledge
Your Imagination - Hall and Oats
What kind of fool am I - Rick Springfield
Man on your mind - Little River Band
The one that you love - Air Supply
Slow Hand - Pointer Sisters
Every little thing she does - The police

Oh my G-d. I think I need a stiff drink and a lie down. Please don't make me go through that decade again!!

P.S. 3 Albums for sale cheap! :)

Blondie
The Waitresses
The Clash
Gang of Four
Midnight Oil

The Phil Collins drum sound from In the Air Tonight (and Peter Gabriel's Security album) is instantly recognizable 80's.

But truly popular 80's songs won't be in the soundtrack. Outfield, Hall and Oates, Bob Seeger, Lionel Ritchie, Foreigner?

The soundtrack to the 80's will be full of the underground music that influenced the music of the 90's and later, the ferment that culminated in Nine Inch Nails and gave birth to Nirvana, Guns and Roses, and Metallica. And let's not get into Hayzee Fantaysie, Thompson Twins, Men at Work, or Baltimora. Please.

Any Ramones

Any Clash from London Calling onward...

Lots of Punk Bands:
FEAR, Meat Puppets, Suicidal Tendencies, Minor Threat, X, Dead Kennedies, Black Flag, Iggy Pop, Agent Orange, Butthole Surfers, Minute Men, Husker Du, Cirle Jerks... Most of these were called Hardcore back in the day.

And Post Punk (Goth or Industrial or something else) Bands:
Talking Heads, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, Yello, Tones on Tail, the Police, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Ministry, Art of Noise, the Pogues, the Cult.

And Unrepentant Never-Punk Artists:
Joan Jett, Bruce Springsteen, Grateful Dead (no important official releases in the 80's but lots of taped shows), Van Halen (Jump, Panama, Hot for Teacher), Queen, Peter Gabriel (!).

Punk/Post-Punk/Never-Punk (who the hell knows?):
Motorhead, Metallica

Ska/Two-Tone:
The Specials, English Beat, Madness, Bad Brains

Though it was released in the 60's the Velvet Underground was the source of much of the punk and post-punk music of the 80's.

How has everyone forgotten Killing Joke, "80's"? That was the ultimate 80's song when the 80's were actually happening.

Or Dead or Alive, "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record Baby)"

Madonna?

And you can't forget Guns N' Roses.

As GNR welcomed us all to the Jungle, Nine Inch Nails closed out the 80's in style with "Head Like a Hole" and the rest of that incredible Pretty Hate Machine album.

and then came Nirvana and the 90's.

Some time ago, I had a conversation with some women (all of whom were 10+ years older than me) who were trying to remember the titles and/or artists [sic] of songs they had heard during the 80s. They turned to me, a creature of that era, for expertise.

What were they songs they remembered?

Take Me With U - Prince
We're Not Going to Take It - Twisted Sister
Cum On Feel the Noize - Quiet Riot

I'm not kidding. This is what a bunch of nice middle-aged housewives retained from the 80s. I had a hell of a time convincing them that "Cum On Feel the Noize" was not by Twisted Sister, of all the stupidest things I ever had to argue with somebody about.

Of course, for clever people like me who talk loudly in restaurants, the icons of the 80s were The Talking Heads, Dire Straits, The Violent Femmes, and The Clash. The bad news was the death of Joy Division, and the good news was the renaissance of Lou Reed.

For good old trashy Friday Night Aesthetics, I'll take The Buggles, The Ramones, and Annie Lennox - don't even get me started on Annie "Adolescent Meltdown" Lennox.

Operating at some weird semi-religious level, even when they sucked, was Pink Floyd.

I am hanging out for a 1980s revival. This was an era of greatness in many fields.

Blondie rung in the new with Rapture in 1980, and Edie Brickell & New Bohemians made the final and in my opinion perfect statement of 1980s pop with What I Am. The latter is too good to be confined to any era though. It will not be on an "80s!" soundtrack. And Blondie will already be in the "70s!" collection.

What else says "80s!"?
* Queen with synthesizers. Freddie Mercury was automatically the major star of any era he blessed with his voice. He is legend. But he was the star, and it was only the synths that were hooked to the 1980s.
* The Cure. I was enthralled the first time I heard A Forest. That music holds up. Unfortunately, it might be worthy but ignored.
* Eurythmics. From Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (1983) on, they were great. If I had to pick one song to represent the whole of the 1980s, that would be it.
* Boy George and Culture Club. Nothing says "80s!" like the Boy. In a good way. :)
* Marc Almond's 1981 cover of Tainted Love. That's not just great pop, it's got a real emotional punch.
* The Bangles' Walk Like an Egyptian (1986). Not that there's anything wrong with just great pop. :)
* Duran Duran, on and on. How did men get by before there were pastel suits? And blonde highlights, and designer stubble. Everyone was doing it. They were just better.
* Hunters and Collectors (Australia only, alas - sort of Talking Heads-ish, but very Aussie) - Human Frailty was a great album and Throw Your Arms Around Me is the best Aussie 1980s anthem.
* Two drum kits, as used by Adam and the Ants. Antmusic (1980). And the "Indian" look. But mainly if I hear a band with two drum kits used Antmusic style, that's the 80s right there. You could do all new stuff and make it pure 80s just with the drums.

I think The Knack's My Sharona (1979), deserves to be remembered as a great 80s song in principle, but there's a little problem with the date.

There's a similar problem with The Police. They were great in the 1980s but in the United Kingdom and Aussie they were stars even in 1979.

Talking Heads were even more out of era: More Songs about Buildings and Food was 1978 - though Talking Heads kept going and going and going, which was a Good Thing.

I can't refrain from mentioning a couple of high points in other fields.

Comic fans relished Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen (1986–1987), Alan Moore's interpretation of Miracleman (starting in 1982), and Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns (1985-1986).

The 1980s was a chess Garden of Eden to which we are apparently unable to return. There was one (1) world champion at a time, always truly great, and undisputed - except by the insane Bobby Fischer, who refused to play, making his claim moot. We were living in paradise and we didn't know it.

However, what I'm really holding out for is the return of 1980s visual style, especially things that seemed like a good idea at the time, and were, but people inexplicably chickened out on them. Glass, chrome and cowhide furniture, with plenty of black leather to go!

All 80s, all the time - let it be soon!

#1 from Mark Poling: ""Walk Like an Egyptian" is most def an 80s anthem."

I think the same, and all your selections were solid.

#2 from Joe Katzman: "I suppose retrospective appreciation of Talking Heads and Squeeze is too much to hope for?"

Yes. I think UK Squeeze's best song was Take Me, I'm Yours, which misses out by era. (1978)

#3 from Joe Katzman: "I retain a probably-vain hope that Cyndi Lauper may fill that eco-nostalgic niche; she was a far better artist, and her songs still get covered..."

Cindy Lauper slipped my mind even after you mentioned her and I thought "Yeah!" So: worthy but ignored. Except for her clothes, which did influence an era.

Which is a shame because she was really, really good, way above most people who are thought of as being pretty good. I stopped buying pop at all a long time ago, and I never bought much, but She's So Unusual (1983) was a treasure. But I never thought of it as being "80s" I thought of it as being "Cindy".

#11 from Pangloss: "Any Clash from London Calling onward..."

But it's got to be without London Calling because that was 1979, and I think that was the only thing they did that was strong enough to signify a whole era in, say, a movie.

Stray Cats have been forgotten. That's a pity, they were fun. But nobody is going to use them to signify an era - they had their own, anachronistic preferences, which is exactly what I liked and still like about them.

Grace Jones' Nightclubbing (1981) is a much better period piece, even to the album cover. Her visual contribution was large.

There's one 80s legend I forgot. That is, I didn't forget him, his albums are in my sight and reach as I type, but I forgot he was 80s. Stevie Ray Vaughan!

It's funny: I think he had the most distinctive guitar sound of the decade, he hit big in Texas Flood in 1983 and died in 1990, so his era match is perfect, his quality is beyond praise - but I think he was never in any sense an 80s act. Stand this man next to a lot of 80s Nancy boys, and you can see he doesn't belong with them. His art was totally about being great with his instrument, which (Dire Straits notwithstanding) was not what the most distinctive pop of the 80s was about. He was always a man out of his time - and all the better for it, like the Stray Cats.

A cover of Throw Your Arms Around Me (link). Imagine that being done by Talking Heads in funky percussion mode, and you've got your 1980s Aussie anthem.

Another tune that absolutely shouts: 1980s! For the style even more than the politics: Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Two Tribes (1984).

Cocteau Twins - Pearly Dewdrops
Orchestral Manoevres in the Dark - Joan of Arc
Police - Walking on the Moon
The Sound - Sense of Purpose
Transvision Vamp - Baby I Don't Care
Comsat Angels - Independence Day
Simple Minds - Love Song
Echo and the Bunnymen - Bring on the Dancing Horses
Dead Can Dance - Frontier
New Order - Blue Monday
Sisters of Mercy - Walk Away
Tears For Fears - Shout
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Human League - Empire State Human
Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
Smiths - How Soon Is Now
Teardrop Explodes - Reward
Talk Talk - Talk Talk
Killing Joke - War Dance
This Mortal Coil - Song to the Siren
Fashion - Move On
ABC - Poison Arrow
Ultravox - New Europeans
Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead
John Foxx - Systems of Roamce
Gary Numan - Berserker
Dalek I - Dalek I Love You
Jesus and Mary Chain - Never Understand
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Dear Prudence
Katrina and the Waves - Red Wine and Whisky
Spacemen 3 - Take Me to the Other Side
Husker Du - Hate Paper Doll

I really hate to say this in public, but...

Oingo Boingo.

Surprisingly influential, and if they pick up on Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Weird Science, it's sure to wind up getting looked at. They went longer, but they satisfy all the general requirements... cult sound, instantly recognizable, very era-oriented.

Don Henley -- Boys of Summer?

A song about 60s nostalgia -- becomes an 80s nostalgia song? Jim gets extra bonus points.

BTW, I believe the Atari's cover goes:

Out on the road today, I saw a Black Flag sticker on a Cadillac. A little voice inside my head said, "Don't look back. You can never look back."

My vote for a 2000s nostalgia song about an 80s nostalgia song about 60s nostalgia.

A month or two ago I was getting my hair cut, short, as always -- because men decide at the age of 20 how they're going to wear their hair, and then wear it that way for the rest of their lives.

Anyway, the hairdresser says, "If you cut it too short its going to all stand up".

I said, "No problem. Back when I was 18 I used to wear my hair like Corey Hart." (remember those cool spikey do's?)

Blank look. "C'mon, I said. "Never Surrender? Sunglasses at Night? Eurasian Eyes? Boy in the Box?" Nothing, no recognition whatsoever. On my way out I tried getting some sympathy from the girl who runs the credit cards through the machine. Same thing, she never heard of him.

Maybe the 80's won't make a comeback, because nobody but us folks who were "of that age" during them actually care...

Its strange, one of my hobbies is doing sound for a cover band, and college kids actually dig 80s 'retro' more than late 20 and 30 somethings do (assumedly because its not retro, just old). I have to admit my heart did something distressing in my chest the first time some kid ran up and requested we play "90's music".

If it's about my high school, Genesis (post-Gabriel) and Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel and Yes.

Actually if you're talking '80s, that should be "post-Steve Hackett", not Gabriel. They were still very much a '70s band in the Jethro Tull/ELP vein for the first couple of albums after Gabriel left in 1975, while lead guitarist Hackett was still there. Only after Hackett left in 1978 did Genesis begin to embrace '80s-style "prog-pop" in earnest.

That said, I have noticed that the on-again, off-again rumblings about a Genesis reunion tour have started to pick up again, so if it happens they could very well be riding the '80s nostalgia wave (and maybe a '70s one too, if Gabriel and Hackett join in on the tour, as has also been rumored).

John, I had forgotten Simple Minds. Of course, "don't you forget about me" was already annointed in "Breakfast Club" and goes well with a nostalgia theme, but "alive and kicking" could also find an appearance.

When you reminded me, for some reason I also recalled Roxy Music - mostly a 70s band, but their big splash Avalon was 80s through-and-through.

PD Shaw's point exemplifies why Don Henley's song is a good-odds candidate for a cartoon 80s project.

If I had to pick a way-out choice for a cartoon 80s, I pick Yaz. Short run, but there's a cool to it that may appeal beyond the 80s, particularly to film types.

I went to clubs sporadically during the 80's. Not on a weekly basis but probably once or twice a month. During the whole decade there was only one song that I remember people stopping what they were doing and running to get out to the dance floor.

"Relax"- Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Just noticed; my list, excepting Husker Du (who arguably aren't that 80's specific really) is all British.
Now, that could be just me (being youngish and in London in the early 80's) but it looks like a other suggestions have a high proportion of Brit in them.
I don't think this is anything to do with the actual preponderance of memorable music being made. So: maybe the closer links of British pop (& some rock) to fashion/media trends, have tended to make it more "time specific" than American music?
The UK: tomorrows nostalgia today!

Anyway, here's a couple more:
Pop Will Eat Itself - DefCon 1
Big Country - Fields of Fire

John,

If I remember right, the second British invasion was mainly due to MTV's need for music videos. The British bands happened to be in the habit of making promotional videos, so they were the ones MTV showed and the rest is history.

I think future 80s movie soundtracks will include Duran Duran, the Smiths, Depeche Mode, one or two songs by the Cure, not because these are particularly good or memorable (though some of them might be) but because they have an unmistakable "80s sound." Just like Frank Norris wasn't all that good a writer, but he's often taught in late 19th century American Lit classes because he is the incarnation of "Naturalism" a school of writing that had a lot of influence on Norris' contemporaries and successors.

David Blue: "I think The Knack's My Sharona (1979), deserves to be remembered as a great 80s song in principle, but there's a little problem with the date."

Most of the typical 80s songs are from the very early 80s - say pre-1984 - in Pop music's miniature Golden Age between Disco and Hip Hop. They played side by side with late 70s bands like The Clash who hit the crest of their popularity at the same time. Dates are of minor importance: London Calling belongs to the 80s, not the 70s.

The whole decade thing is totally arbitrary, anyway. When hippies talk about "The Sixties", they're actually talking about 1967-1972.

The 80's were, by far, the best decade for popular music in history. The 90's and 2000's are far, far behind. The 60's and especially the 70's are close, but no question 80's music is the richest and most diverse ever made.

There will never be another era that compares with Madonna, Michael Jackson, George Michael, and Bruce Springsteen all "in their prime". Add to that the incredible talents of Tom Petty, John Mellencamp, Prince, the Police, Heart, INXS, the Pretenders, Van Halen, U2, B-52's, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, REM and on and on. Of course Bowie, the Eagles, the Stones, Fleetwood Mac and endless mainstays of the 60's and 70's continued to do great stuff in the 80's. Not to mention the vast array of individual groups and songs mentioned by all the contributors above.

Check out:

http://80music.about.com/od/80smusic12/

Ok, now I'm seriously frightened...

"The 80's were, by far, the best decade for popular music in history. The 90's and 2000's are far, far behind. The 60's and especially the 70's are close, but no question 80's music is the richest and most diverse ever made."

#26 from Glen Wishard: "The whole decade thing is totally arbitrary, anyway. When hippies talk about "The Sixties", they're actually talking about 1967-1972."

So Credence Clearwater Revival - in terms of dates - more or less defines the 60s? (shrug) OK by me: they were a good, non-self-indulgent singles band.

#26 from Glen Wishard: "Most of the typical 80s songs are from the very early 80s - say pre-1984 - in Pop music's miniature Golden Age between Disco and Hip Hop."

(wandering off topic without lawful excuse) Hip Hop totally ended my interest in pop, and even turning on the radio. (Instead, I buy and listen only to movie sound track albums. And I am so happy I discovered that alternative. :)

So - what was with that? Irredeemable garbage (from my point of view) seemed to overrun the world of pop ... and then?

And at what point, ignoring the arbitrary decade line, can we say in retrospect that the fight was lost? Sometime in the 80s? Would this be mid-to-late 80s stuff that is in retrospect really 90s (and on?) or what?

By the way, thanks for the (link) vertex11.

#28 from Joe Katzman: "Ok, now I'm seriously frightened..."

(Re: "The 80's were, by far, the best decade for popular music in history.")

That's more zeal than I have. But from my point of view Edie Brickell sang the last pop song. So if we're comparing the 80s to something, it has to be to an era even before that. And that's a long way into the dark past. Where to do you stop? With Robert Johnson?

On the other hand, Star Wars Original Trilogy (1977, 1980 and 1983) meant John Williams. That's an 80s sound too. More was gained than was lost. :)

Now we have Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings). I'd be really, really surprised if there was any pop now that was value for money compared to CDs like those. If there's something that conveys noble emotions better than Lord of the Rings in modern pop, or whatever it is we're up to now, fine. But if it's Arwen or some gansta, I pick Arwen.

So I see the 80s as a time of transition. The old was dying but not dead, the future was gathering strength. That's good.

In my opinion the 80's were by far the best decade I've ever lived. Not only because of music, which I think has been unmatched later, but also because some developments such as Satellite TV, the VCR and computers. I cannot figure out any other time of feeling such a widening in my perception and in my freedom to get information compared to this, except, maybe, when in the mid-90's I finally got configured my dial-up connection and downloaded my first webpage at home.

I especially remember the summer of 1986 when "Top Gun" came into the cinemas (in my country). It was simply fantastic to see that at least someone in Hollywood (Jerry Bruckheimer) had overcome the Vietnam syndrome.

1986 was a great year, the Empire of Evil knelt and demanded a truce. The worst: probably the Challenger explosion.

My Sharona was 1979 New Wave pre-80's IIRC.

...and MC Hammer was 1990 (Which was technically the last year of the 80's)

Only Thomas Dolby was surely an 80's hallmark.

Lets not forget Eurotrash synth work like Kraftwerk or Falco.

Der Kommisar (perferred the after the fire cover) or Amadeus!

He made Mozart (and Dr Zaius many years later) cool again!

#7 from Jim Rockford on May 12, 2006 01:39 AM
Good choices, the rest suck.

Spandau Ballet -- True
Buggles -- Video Killed the Radio Star
Wall of Voodoo -- Mexican Radio or Back in Flesh
Billy Idol -- White Wedding
Kim Wilde -- Kids in America

Ramones -- I Wanna be Sedated
was that 80's?
The Ramones are a 70's creation, in fact, they are often called the first punk rock band.
So it's hard to keep it all in order. if you praise "I Wanna Be Sedated" you MUST praise "rock and roll highschool" and "pet cemetary"

#16 from John Farren on May 12, 2006 01:02 PM
Simple Minds - Love Song (Do you mean The CURE?)
New Order - Blue Monday(good choice
Tears For Fears - Shout(horrible choice, but it's a popular one)
ABC - Poison Arrow (you're kidding right? are you quoting your favorite 80's comp? or do you love the 80's music?)
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Dear Prudence(doesn't count, redo of the FLOGGING BEATLES!!)

I don't organize or whatever, but these are my 80's songs absent artists.

"Walking on sunshine"
"We Got the Beat"
"Kids in America"
"Don't You"
"Don't You Want Me Baby?"
"I Ran"
"In Cars"
"Pop Music"
"Safety Dance"
"Major Tom"
"Oh Sheila"
"Glamourous Life"
"Feel For You"
"In Your Eyes"
"Shock the Monkey"
"Danger Zone"
"Maneater"
(a remake) "I Want Candy" (bow wow wow)
"Metro"
"Take My Breath Away"

I have many many more.
The 80's had GREAT music.

#35 from Wickedpinto: "I have many many more.
The 80's had GREAT music."

It did, but for just that reason a lot of it does not have the short life we want for nostalgia or to define the 80s.

Sade's Diamond Life (1984) isn't particularly an 80s sound. It's Sade.

k.d. land is another of the type I like best: all about being great with her instrument (in her case her voice), with interests of her own deliberately outside her time and place. Shadowland (1988) isn't 80s - she just happened to record it then. She always thought ten years or so would show the difference between her and any aleged rivals, and that's not the attitude of an act for one era only. Also, her lucky star was The Big O: Roy Orbison! (yes I think that highly of him) and he's not an eighties act either. (If you think "the sixties" starts sometime in 1967 and goes to 1972, he's probably not even a sixties act.)

The Ramones influence extended along all the 80's, though the band was born in 1974, AFAIK. I considered them as part of the prologue of the eighties.

I miss all those peep joints on Times Square.

~35 Wickedpinto
Love Song is the Simple Minds one. Released as a single summer 1981, charted in UK (but not high), also on "Sons And Fascination" album.
Why pick ABC? Well, I don't have an 80's comp; it's just what I recall offhand from the time, and ABC definitely comes to mind.

I get your point about Dear Prudence being a remake; other choices (Dazzle, Overground, Arabian Knights, Swimming Horses) might be better but Dear Prudence just comes to mind first, for some reason.

Oh, man. All this talk about the 80s is bringing back memories (good and bad). Lots of good suggestions so far, thought I'd add a few of my own.

The Motels and Quarterflash were distinctly 80s, though they were never huge.

Anyone remember New Shuz? American Soviets?

On the heavy metal front, Dokken was distinctly 80s metal. I loved them in the day. Now when I hear them it makes me chuckle.

One thing I do miss about the 80s is the women. I always thought they were prettier then.

What, no mention of Chicago (Peter Cetera), Def Leppard, or Christoper Cross? What about A-Ha, "Take on Me?"

sigh the 80's...