Which song best defines the 80's?

[Mr. Snakey]

Great choice, as would be Rent.

When I'm feeling wistful about the scores (I stopped counting at 60) of friends lost to HIV/AIDS, Electric Dreams can still push out an involuntary tear.

The 80s were really divided into the earlier part (up until about '84) which was a difficult, recessionary time fraught with fear of Ronny Ray-Gun's finger on the button of Armageddon. This was followed by a nihilistic impulse to consume as conspicuously as possible, but always with a touch of regret and mourning and an overlay of irony. As such, there really can be no one definitive song for all of it.

Other good choices for the earlier phase might include:

VooDoo Economics

99 Red Balloons

Echo Beach

Send Me An Angel

Electricity

Never Say Never

...and, of course, the ultimate excessive gay sex song:

So Many Men, So Little Time :wink:

Later 80s were much more like these:

One Night In Bangkok

Been Around The Word

Only A Memory

Missing

Teardrops

Boy Blue

ETA: This post took so long that Ethyl and I had the same idea regarding Nena. Great minds post alike

Thank you once again for the Brent music.:smile:

 

[D_Harvey Schmeckel]

Kiss on My List-- Hall and Oates

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u9FrXBWu_I

 

[maxcok]

"Sweet Dreams" and "The End of the World"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9FGrFKkPnM

 

[superbot]

Most of these choices seem to be pretty mainstream and by and large don't DEFINE the 80's in specific terms.I think there is also a big difference between the US and UK in what was going on the music scene at this time.

 

[Mickactual]

I think there is also a big difference between the US and UK in what was going on the music scene at this time.

Actually I think the 80's (and the 60's) were probably the two decades where popular musical tastes were the most similar in both countries.
As opposed to now, where the U.S. mainstream musical tastes and out have sunk to an abysmal nadir.

 

[concupisys]

musically, the 1980's was all over the map.... the mainstream use of synthesizers and the rebirth of androgyny trying to blend in with macho-rock, then on to the newer boy bands, hip-hop going mainstream, and the movement of disco-funk in to the un-syncopated minimalism of 1980's dance music.... it's very hard to capture the essence of all that in just one song.... if i were to choose a 1980's playlist that captures the 1980's through a catharsis, it would be something like this:

kool and the gang - celebration
the buggles - video killed the radio star
phil collins - in the air tonight
journey - seperate ways
prince - let's go crazy
the cure - close to me
madonna - holiday
tears for fears - everybody wants to rule the world
depeche mode - just can't get enough
the bangles - manic monday
a-ha - take on me
janet jackson - nasty
peter gabriel - sledgehammer
rick astley - never gonna give you up
michael jackson - man in the mirror
edie brickell and the new bohemians - what i am
tracy chapman - fast car
bobby brown - don't be cruel
cyndi lauper - true colors
paula abdul - straight up
d-mob featuring cathy dennis - c'mon and get my love

.... as you can see, it really is all over the place and therefore very hard to define.... it's also very strange now that newer artists are basically trying to re-create these sounds to the point that it's hard to know what's new and what's old.... but i digress: it definitely is a reflection on the state of human consciousness at the time....

 

[submit452]

Thinking of my emerging sexuality and AIDS in the 80's It's a Sin by the Pet shop Boys.

 

[Knockernail]

Stool pidgeon - Kid Creole and The Coconuts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-NGlOB4hJA

 

[wilder]

Simple Minds, "Don't You Forget About Me"

 

[Zeuhl34]

concupisys, I'd just like to point out "Video Killed the Radio Star" was actually released in 1979.:tongue:

 

[Bbucko]

Though the entire thread is worth revisiting, I posted this as and ode to the loss we all felt in the 80s:

Late late in the fall of 1998 I moved back to Boston after having spent my year in NYC. I remember being bored one afternoon about 3:00 and decided to go out for a coupla beers at a local happy hour place in the South End called Fritz (it's still there, I think).

As it was early, there were very few people there, so I got a beer and settled into one of the banquettes watching the videos they were playing. Shortly after I sat down, a video came on of Jimmy Ruffin's Hold on to Your Love, which was a slide show from former Pride celebrations from years past. I watched it to see if maybe I'd catch a glimpse of anyone I knew.

Instead of "a glimpse", it was like a scrapbook of loss. I recognized dozens of faces of guys whom I knew had passed (I'd gone to several of their funerals): they were all in their 20s and 30s. The numbness and callouses I'd grown disappeared to be quickly replaced by an aching sadness, and I barely got out of the bar before waves of emotion hit me like nausea, doubling me over.

 

[D_Harvey Schmeckel]

Politically and personally, this one is the most 80s song for me, Shattered Dreams:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRHLkLFJxaw

culturally, Karma Chameleon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw

 

[Mickactual]

I was in a club the other night, and they had one of those satellite radio 80's stations playing. Made me think of this thread. A few of the songs I recall hearing:
UNION OF THE SNAKE - Duran Duran
WALKING ON A THIN LINE - Huey Lewis & The News
TURNING JAPANESE - The Vapors
LET'S GO CRAZY - Prince
CHURCH OF THE POISON MIND - Culture Club

 

[Catchoftheday]

:arms::arms:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XosP9C5iPIg

 

[B_subgirrl]

Other people said my ones before I could:

Karma Chameleon

Come on Eileen

 

[harrn63]

For me it has to be Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley. Loved this song the first time I heard it and it spent over six months on the Aussie charts reaching the top spot of course.

 

[Autofellatio]

Maybe not define the eighties as per se, but this song does highlight some things from the era:

Back To The 80's - Aqua

 

[b.c.]

My little ones were born in the (mid) 80's and I remember them watching and singing stuff that appeared on MTV. So naturally THE song that for me epitomizes the era was the first one that aired, "Video Killed the Radio Star". Brings back lotz-o-memories.

 

[motoramic]

This was soo much of a classic 80's song.... "Axel F" by Harold Faltermeyer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxcgnNNAOy0&feature=related