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Here, we’re celebrating the 200 hits from the 1980s that we’re still listening to most—and “Africa” comes out on top, a song as beloved by those who made it a worldwide smash back then as by the younger generations discovering it for the first time now. The songs that follow it are just as indelible, including Whitney Houston’s ...
- 5 min
- Rob Sheffield
- Biz Markie, ‘Just a Friend’ Lighters up for the late, great Biz Markie, one of the most beloved music heroes of the Eighties or any other decade. The Diabolical One.
- Nena, ’99 Luftballons’ A German girl sings about nuclear apocalypse in a perky New Wave bop about the end of the world. Yet it’s also a doomy teen romance, at a time when half the hits on the radio were about the end of the world.
- My Bloody Valentine, ‘Feed Me With Your Kiss’ The dawn of the shoegaze era. My Bloody Valentine give an early taste of their power on their debut album, Isn’t Anything: Irish guitar madman Kevin Shields’ tremolo overdrive and feedback-loop noise, Belinda Butcher’s breathy vocals, awesome power-klutz drumming.
- Bobby Brown, ‘My Prerogative’ The sound of New Jack Swing. Bobby Brown dishes the dirt on celebrity gossip, as the young Harlem prodigy Teddy Riley soups up a beat that would rule the radio for the next few years.
People also ask
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- Tom Eames
- UB40 - 'Red Red Wine' UB40 - Red Red Wine (Official Video) You might not have realised it, but Neil Diamond first recorded this song back in 1967. UB40 feud: Reggae band's complicated history and why the Campbell brothers fell out.
- Phil Collins - 'Another Day in Paradise' Phil Collins - Another Day In Paradise (Official Music Video) This ballad saw Phil Collins sing the tune from a third-person perspective, looking at a man crossing the street to ignore a homeless woman, imploring listeners not to turn a blind eye to those in need.
- Culture Club - 'Karma Chameleon' Culture Club - Karma Chameleon (Official Music Video) This was the song that made Boy George an even bigger star around the world.
- Rick Astley - 'Never Gonna Give You Up' Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Music Video) If there's one song from the Stock, Aitken and Waterman era that has stood the test of time, it's Rick Astley's international number one smash.
- Steve Peake
- "Every Breath You Take" by The Police. Regardless of how many times this song is played, it retains a magic that exists only for the most solidly constructed, universally themed, and uniquely presented musical compositions.
- "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor. This Chicago-area mainstream power rock band is known mostly for its power ballads that always had a knack for delivering some of the most bombastic lyrics of the decade.
- "I Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner. Foreigner enjoyed a number of hits in the '80s, but none reached as high a level of over-the-top romantic longing as this keyboard-heavy love ballad does.
- "Jump" by Van Halen. Some '70s and '80s hard rock bands turned to pop out of desperation or just pure greed as the hair metal phenomenon kicked off. In the case of Van Halen, the stylistic turn seemed as organic and wonderful as the splendid synthesizer riff that fuels this tune, or David Lee Roth's exuberant leap, or Eddie Van Halen's infectious grin.
Add this playlist to your library! The biggest 80s hits and some overlooked gems featuring Madonna, a-ha - Take On Me, Prince, Queen, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson, Depeche Mode, Blondie, Def Leppard, Talking Heads, Dire Straits, Toto - Africa, Laura Branigan, The Clash, The Cars, Simple Minds, Phil Collins, and more RHINO is the #1 80s music and culture channel on YouTube.
Mar 20, 2024 · 43. ‘You Can Call Me Al’ by Paul Simon. Paul Simon’s Graceland, in hindsight, seems like an ultra-square reaction to everything the ’80s stood for: Here was a ’60s folk rocker teaming up ...
Listen to 80s HITS – 100 Greatest Songs of the 1980s on Spotify. Various Artists · Compilation · 2023 · 100 songs.
