3 favorite songs from the 1980s

[Van Basten II]

That Mary Jane Girls tune IS wicked catchy...ya know I'm sure but Rick James I think produced (and I think wrote) that one, it has that classic 80's dance club "Rick James beat" going for sure...

Yep, i think he did more than just produced it, the same way Be my baby belongs more to Spector that to the Ronnettes.

[(BB)]

I graduated high school in 86' and bought a lot of music, I could limit to 3 favorites for a couple of types of music.

Ska:

The Selector - Too Much Pressure

Bad Manners - Night Boat to Cairo

English Beat - Ranking Full Stop

Dance:

New Order - True Faith

Big Audio Dynamite - E=MC2

Grandmaster Flash - White Lines

Book of Love - Modigliani

General:

Elvis Costello - Almost Blue

The Three O'Clock - Jet Fighter

Young Fresh Fellows - YFF Theme (greatest band to come out of Seattle. F**k Nirvana)

In retrospect - Joan Jett's I Love Rock and Roll kicks ass. I never would have admitted it at the time.

Bands I did not mention: Kate Bush, Sade, Nick Lowe, Joe Jackson, Madness, Bodysnatchers, Bowie, B-52's, Laurie Anderson, Prefab Sprout, Per Ubu, Soul II Soul, Sonic Youth, B-52's, Devo, The Housemartins, Squezze, X, XTC, Talking Heads, Prince, Bronski Beat...

Was that more than three?

[JohnJ]

Three from the UK that spring to mind.

Bryan Ferry - Slave To Love

Style Council - My Ever Changing Moods

Sade - Your Love Is King

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Gil Scott-Heron - B movie

Public Enemy - Fight the power

Etoile 2000 - Boubou n'gary

MG

[Neal Pomea]

Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes

Devo - Whip It

Springsteen - I'm on Fire

(jess being silly)

[Matthew]

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham!

Chalkhills and Children -- XTC

White Lines (Don't Do It) - Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel

I love 80s music.

[catesta]

heh heh

I was mainly a metal/hard rock fan in the 80s but there was some pop music I was digging as well.

Three I remember really liking and have fond memories associated with...

Chaka Khan - I Feel For You

Kids in America - Kim Wilde

Something About You - Level 42

In retrospect I find myself enjoying the pop and new wave stuff of the 80s more today than I did at the time. Way back I would have never been caught dead listening to groups like Split Enz and ABC.

It's great to have satellite radio and be reminded of them.

[AndrewHill]

Fight for Your Right to Party-Beastie Boys

She Drives Me Crazy-FYC

Message in a Bottle-The Police

Edit: She Drive Me Crazy came out in 1990, so replace it with Stand-REM

Edited August 9, 2007 by Holy Ghost

[felser]

Off the top of my head:

"I Will Follow" - U2

"Driver 8" - R.E.M.

"Runner" - Manfred Mann's Earth Band

but I suspect I should really have something by Big Country on that list, just can't decide which one.

[Noj]

Fat Larry's Band - Act Like You Know

They lifted that whole bass line from The Whatnauts "Help Is On The Way."

White Lines (Don't Do It) - Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel

The original bass line for this one is Liquid Liquid "Cavern."

[B. Clugston]

Not my favourite decade.

"This Corrosion" by The Sisters of Mercy, or maybe "Dominion/Mother Russia."

"Siege of Power" by Napalm Death

"Comp. 105 A" by Anthony Braxton

[Sundog]

I'm pretty sure these were all hits...

1. Rock The Casbah (The Clash)
   
2. Cars (Gary Numan)
   
3. Overkill (Men At Work)
   
4. Cult Of Personality (Living Colour)
   

Sorry- Had to go with four.

[AndrewHill]

I'm pretty sure these were all hits...

[*]Rock The Casbah (The Clash)

[*]Cars (Gary Numan)

[clifford_thornton]

"This Corrosion" by The Sisters of Mercy, or maybe "Dominion/Mother Russia."

Somebody's on the right track...

Maybe add "Death Valley '69" by SY and we're more than "halfway to a threeway."

[clifford_thornton]

I'm too lazy to look up when "Disorder" by Joy Division was recorded, but that's another one I've always enjoyed.

You know, I work in the art library at UT, and some of my coworkers - students - were born in the late 1980s. Not their fault, but some of them totally get wrapped up in nostalgia for something they never experienced. "I love the 80s!!!!" is kinda hard to do when you didn't live through it. Hell, I lived through all of it then, as a kid, and didn't give much of a shit about any of it. I was too busy with budding peach fuzz and playing in the woods by the time Bush Sr. was elected. It's like me being "nostalgic" for early Aerosmith or, better yet, punk, which would've "broke" when I was barely walking...

Rant over.

[Kalo]

Three that come to mind:

George Clinton: "Atomic Dog"

Marvin Gaye: "Sexual Healing"

Kid Creole and the Coconuts: "Underachiever"

And how about:

They Might Be Giants: "Don't Let's Start"

Marshall Crenshaw: "You're My Favorite Waste of Time"

Aztec Camera: "Oblivious"

And three more:

Chic: "Rebels Are We"

Warren Zevon: "Let Nothing Come Between Us"

XTC: "No Language in Our Lungs"

Last three (for now):

Talking Heads: "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)"

Grandmaster Flash: "The Message"

Prince: "Starfish and Coffee"

[Kalo]

OK, not all of the above were actually 'popular" in the most obvious sense (though some were, to varying degrees, and all of them aimed to be).

[Guest donald petersen]

peech boys-don't make me wait

madonna-like a prayer

soundgarden-hands all over or maybe iron maiden-rhyme of the ancient mariner

right now at least....

[Guest donald petersen]

well no i guess...jeez...

ednah holt-serious, sirius space party

bad brains-with the quickness

madonna-like a prayer

g_d it is difficult.

[Niko]

and how about:

Aztec Camera: "Oblivious"

i like it a lot, nice video, too

[felser]

Not my favourite decade.

"This Corrosion" by The Sisters of Mercy, or maybe "Dominion/Mother Russia."

"Siege of Power" by Napalm Death

"Comp. 105 A" by Anthony Braxton

Don't remember the Braxton being in heavy rotation on MTV.

[Noj]

You don't, felser? C'mon, Braxton wore this crazy little hat:

...and a radiation suit and he was whipping the clothes off this lil' vixen.

[BruceH]

Three that come to mind:

George Clinton: "Atomic Dog"

Marvin Gaye: "Sexual Healing"

Kid Creole and the Coconuts: "Underachiever"

And how about:

They Might Be Giants: "Don't Let's Start"

Marshall Crenshaw: "You're My Favorite Waste of Time"

Aztec Camera: "Oblivious"

And three more:

Chic: "Rebels Are We"

Warren Zevon: "Let Nothing Come Between Us"

XTC: "No Language in Our Lungs"

Last three (for now):

Talking Heads: "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)"

Grandmaster Flash: "The Message"

Prince: "Starfish and Coffee"

Nice list, Kalo!

For some reason, "No Language in Our Lungs" now makes me think of gym class...

I would add "When You Were Mine," from the Prince album Dirty Mind. I believe that came out in 1980.

[AndrewHill]

Aw man, I was just talking to my wife about this and she came up with another good one that I overlooked: The Metro-Berlin

[GA Russell]

Donald Fagen - The New Frontier

Joe Jackson - Stepping Out

Michael Franks - Your Secret's Safe With Me

In 1983 or '84 MTV often showed a video by a proto-neo-swing band called Roman Holliday. It spurred me to buy the album Cooking on the Roof. The album was great, but I don't remember which track was the one shown on MTV.

Speaking of the 80s, remember I'm on a Mexican Radio by Wall of Voodoo? Two weeks ago their singer Stan Ridgeway was in town performing.