Here are some songs which I absolutely loved when I was a kid in the 80s:
Here is the list of tracks:
- 1981 Depeche Mode – Photographic
- 1981 Queen – Under Pressure
- 1981 Soft Cell – Tainted Love
- 1981 Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime
- 1981 The Human League – Don’t You Want Me
- 1982 Duran Duran – Rio
- 1982 Madness – Our House
- 1983 Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax
- 1983 Heaven 17 – Temptation
- 1983 Kraftwerk – Tour De France
- 1983 Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
- 1983 New Order – Blue Monday
- 1983 Van Halen – Jump
- 1984 Dead Or Alive – You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
- 1985 OMD – Secret
- 1985 Simple Minds – Don’t You (Forget About Me)
- 1986 RUN-DMC – Walk This Way
- 1987 Eric B. & Rakim – Paid In Full
- 1987 INXS – Need You Tonight
- 1987 M.A.R.R.S. – Pump Up The Volume
- 1987 Pet Shop Boys – What Have I Done to Deserve This?
- 1987 The Cure – Just Like Heaven
- 1987 U2 – With Or Without You
- 1988 Bomb The Bass – Beat Dis
- 1988 Erasure – A Little Respect
- 1988 Neneh Cherry – Buffalo Stance
- 1988 S-Express – Theme from S-Express
- 1989 Madonna – Like A Prayer
- 1989 Soul II Soul – Back To Life
- 1989 Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus
As you can see, I was (and I still am) a fan of electronic music.
At the beginning of the 80s, Italians created a new genre of music, Italo Disco, and unleashed to the world hits such as Tarzan Boy and Comanchero:
A few years later, people from England invented Acid and the rest is history:
Enjoy :-)
That’s a fantastic list Avinash. I don’t see any item by the greatest of all artists, David Bowie even though you could have included his name beside Queen for Under Pressure. How about Ashes to Ashes, Putting out the fire with Gasoline (Cat People)? For FGTH I prefer Two Tribes instead of Relax, one of best bass + drum combination. I don’t see “Enjoy the Silence” by DM but I guess it came out in the 90’s. Leave In Silence? By the way have you watched Dave Gahan and the Soul Savers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2JvMZAFzi4)? This is what I call an artist getting better and better with age. For New Order I have a preference for True Faith even though I had Blue Monday on a IKS cassette back when it came out. And how about something from Gary Numan (Cars) or Ultravox? Ah Softcell !!!. I liked Torch (the trumpet is great) and Hello Goodbye as well.
When I go through your list I cannot help being sad for the current generation, their musical taste has been damaged by “ignorant” radio DJ’s who don’t bother to look further than the latest manufactured thing. On the other hand I also remember my frustration of trying to fiddle with the old radio during the 80’s trying to get UK Top 20 and John Peel on BBC world service. This is why I think YouTube is one of the best thing to happen as far as music is concerned. You can discover new bands, watch as many concerts as you like and the recommendations are quite good, this is how I bumped into the Dave Gahan concert. And of course the loads of tutorials you have access to.
You’re right. I could have included a lot more songs and artists in the lists.
It was tough living in the pre-Internet era. I fondly remember going to Yamaha music shop in Rose-Hill to order a mixtape (on cassette of course) with a painstakingly made list of songs.
And I had a quite decent stereo system at home. Until I heard my friend’s pair of Jamo speakers and realised that hifi would become my ultimate target for years to come. Now I’m using Yamaha equipment (amp + speakers) and playing music (downloaded of course) using Subsonic or Plex and I am quite happy with what I have.