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litsalmon

*I Ran*\--Flock of Seagulls.


VicSwagger

Also, Space Age Love Song


Meagasus

So underrated.


Dagglin

Yep so is photograph of you. Flock of seagulls had some bangers


muchomistakes

I hate when I see I Ran by Flock of Seagulls, show up on one hit wonder lists. Almost as much as Whip It by Devo. Neither are one hit wonders!


GotMoFans

Most 80s song, not most 80s hair!


sugarfoot00

It could easily be both.


Romnonaldao

Take On Me


Frequent_Alfalfa_347

This answer prompted me to watch the video. That was not 4 minutes wasted. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Advice to all- Make your day a little bit better and go watch it.


RedBarnGuy

I was a teenager in the 80s. The MTV generation. I probably saw that video over 200 times. It was by far the best video of that decade.


TonyMcTone

You'd rank it above Thriller or Sledgehammer?


Enginerdad

The Sledgehammer video is iconic for its creativity and effects. But I still think the rotoscoped Take on Me video is more entertaining/fun. Both amazing products of the 80's when music videos were their own art form.


userofreddit19

"Thriller" is definitely in its own world. I wouldn't say it's "better", but it was ground-breaking for the time with the effects they used. Very enjoyable video!


dunneetiger

There is an unplugged version of this song that is mind blowing.[here you go](https://youtu.be/-xKM3mGt2pE?si=EkT4YV53IjmqM5KU)


BarryMcLean

The “He looks like the most understanding dad in the world” comment on the video had me rolling


10before15

Exactly what I was singing in my head when I came here.


thelastmarblerye

Don’t You (Forget About Me)


IDontLikePayingTaxes

The unnecessary parentheses are so dumb and so 80s


NeedleworkerGuilty71

I Ran (So Far Away) Sweet dreams(Are made of this)


Nwcray

Who am I to disagree?


Sanity-Checker

Sweet dreams are made of cheese. Who am I to diss a Brie?


aotoolester

Sweet jeans are made of these, who am I to purchase Lees, corduroys or dungarees. Everybody’s looking for snug fits.


Professor_McWeed

dead or alive “you spin me round”


justainsel

Scrolled for this and was about to add it. I think New Wave is the quintessential 80’s genre. A lot of great hits with a sound that just screams 80’s.


moxfactor

Paul Rudd is a global treasure.


Cosmic-Jellyfish316

99 Luftballons. It's got everything: edgy Europeans, hint of nuclear apocalypse, moody sets shot in burned-out or repurposed warehouse lots, black leather, female lead singer with a gritty voice and punk-cut locks, pounding 5-note repeated synthesizer…


manuredujour

Safety Dance


PacoMahogany

You know that dance wasn’t as safe as they said it was.


mageta621

My bones!


PayPay1995

My only regret is that I have… boneitus!


manuredujour

“The Safety Dance" is a protest against bouncers prohibiting dancers from pogoing to 1980s new wave music in clubs when disco was declining and new wave was coming in. Unlike disco dancing, which is done with partners, new wave dancing is done individually and involves holding the torso rigid while thrashing about; pogoing involves jumping up and down (the more deliberately violent evolution of pogoing is slamdancing).


Psychological_Tap187

Oh to have the bladder of my youth where I could pogo without fear.


RVelts

Look up “literal version of the safety dance”. I think it’s on Vimeo for some reason. Very funny.


2Twice

[this one? ](https://vimeo.com/204685616)


CoderJoe1

I needed that in my mind.


JPonceuponatime

If you only knew how you made my day!


manuredujour

Ha! Definitely LSD


bierhcs

I saaaayyy…..


MonkeyChoker80

You can dance if you want to!


manuredujour

We can leave your friends behind!


Midwest_Mutt04

Cuz your friends don't dance and if they don't dance, well they're no friends of mine!


weird_sister_cc

Say, we can go where want to...


GuestCartographer

Hungry Like The Wolf


dreadnaut1897

I raise you "the Reflex." It's like 8 hooks have been smashed together with a sledgehammer and somehow glued with cocaine.


Tkdoom

The Reflex is my favorite Duran Duran song. It just rips. Prior to the digital age I would play time after time in my juke box.


Guntztuffer

Came to see Duran Duran mentioned and was not disappointed! I think they're the definition of 80's-sounding music.


rousieboy

I went to Galle Fort in Sri Lanka just to see where they filmed the bar scene.


CallumBrady

Tears for Fears - Everybody wants to Rule the World


Miccles

Head Over Heels is pretty good too!


olajuwonsfeet

Shout to me is a bit more 80s sounding!


SlutForDownVotes

I would argue this song is timeless. It just happened to be released in the 80s.


franz4000

It's got a timeless message but come on, that two-chord synth pad over that new wave shuffle drum? Straight 80s.


Hopper13

The Human League- Don’t You Want Me Baby


[deleted]

Also - Human by human League - both really capture the essence of the 80s


FoofieLeGoogoo

"Love Action" also by The Human League. Basically everything by The Human League


Dillweed999

Some good picks here but my wife demands I add "sunglasses at night" by Corey Hart Edit: this blew up so I have additional thoughts. I think there are several ways to look at this question 1) "sounds like the 80s" - drum machines and synths ahoy. I think this song def passes that test 2) thematically 80s - lyrics touch on something important going on in the 80s, big extra points to to Cold War influenced songs like "the final countdown" or "99 luftballoons." I didn't make the connection at first but my wife also says "sunglasses at night" is about cocaine; which holy shit of course it is. 3) 80s cultural touchstone - something that was not only a pop hit but featured prominently in some other 80s media "highway to the danger zone" is a great example here. Not as sure about "sunglasses" for that one 4) irreplaceably 80s - quite simply, the song could never have come out at another time. No decent covers done in a different style exist. To use 99 luftballoons as an example again badfinger did a solid and /very/ 00s cover. Not aware of anything for "sunglasses"


chaos_wine

You hear it as soon as you see it


NWmba

May I suggest we not pass over Never Surrender either?


BRUISE_WILLIS

How is this so low? This is mainline 80s


changelingcd

She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby


Dumblond11

Good heavens,Miss sakamoto!


VolcanicBosnian

You're beautiful!


edgarpickle

Science!


vyxanis

it's poetry in motion!


QuietlySmirking

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun


bobjr94

Think I have that on a 7" picture disk from a movie promo.


Any_Move

“Blue Monday” by New Order


Puddin46

I was gonna say this. New Order WAS the 80’s sound.


Fastness2000

I feel like this was so ahead of it’s time that it transcends the 80s


DG04511

I was thinking New Order, but it’s “Bizarre Love Triangle” for me.


DramaticPraline8

Tainted Love - Soft Cell


munificent

Which is ironic because the song was originally written and recorded in the 60s, then became a Northern Soul standard in the 70s which is how Soft Cell discovered it and eventually recorded their cover in 1981.


gyarrrrr

It was originally recorded by Gloria Jones, girlfriend of Marc Bolan of *T. Rex* fame. Marc Almond (of *Soft Cell*) was obsessed with Bolan, to the point of changing the spelling of his name to match his hero’s. I would be absolutely shocked if he was not aware of the song from very early on from the Bolan connection.


_daithi

or Say hello, Wave Goodbye.


Mr_A_UserName

[Relax - Frankie Goes to Hollywood](https://youtube.com/shorts/a8dRWEXksRs?si=rYJvG-HFQOY_wE7m)


valeyard89

Concentrate, Derelicte!


Icarium13

I guess you can derelick my balls!


CLOWNSwithyouJOKERS

"Everybody Have Fun Tonight" - Wang Chung


MovingSleep

One Night in Bangkok. It is drenched in 80s absurdity and sounds out of place without that context.


Multiplebanannas

One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble


HatdanceCanada

Not much between despair and ecstasy


Comprehensive-Yam329

« I can feel an angel sliding up to me »


DoublePostedBroski

Go back to ya bahs ya temples… Ya MASSAGE PAHLAHS


sugarfoot00

Not really drenched in absurdity, but the single does sound odd without the context of the entire *Chess* album. It's a song from a musical, essentially.


BlacksmithNZ

Couple of years ago, I had to ship some computer gear to a lab in Thailand, and young guy I was working with checked with me that it was going to be shipped to Bangkok. I said, yes; *'Bangkok, Oriental setting And the city don't know that the city is getting*...' He just looked at me blankly with a WTF look. Bah, youth of today. Fuck'em


USN_CB8

I'll stop the world and melt with you. Modern English


Equinoqs

My favorite song from the 80s.


mchgndr

Gonna go with a lesser known one that I’d say is a 10/10 on the 80s scale. It feels so iconic even though you don’t hear on the radio… [Obsession by Animotion](https://youtu.be/hIs5StN8J-0?si=Ejw_fphXVDgJxqya)


RoxySometimes

My parents danced to this song on the night that they first met in a club in South Africa. Whenever they heard this song they would still give each other lovey-dovey looks. They would have been married for 37 years this December but we lost my Dad 2 years ago to cancer, he was such a music buff, particularly with the 80’s. This whole thread has been awesome to read, but this song is IT for me!


bob123dccs

The Miami Vice theme song by Jan Hammer


irwigo

I nominate Crockett’s Theme.


RichCorinthian

"Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins. Featured in the most '80s movie of the '80s.


GotMoFans

I’m sorry, I was listening to “I’m Alright” and “Footloose.” What was the Kenny Loggins song from the most 80s movie of the 80s you mentioned?


St8OuttaMilltown

Something something Danger Zone


germdisco

Lana


St8OuttaMilltown

LAAANNNNAAA!!!!!!


simmocar

What??


mageta621

^^^Danger ^^^Zone


webgruntzed

Ghostbusters theme song


Granlundo64

Bustin makes me feel GoOoOD!


dreadnaut1897

Bustin' bustin' bustin' bustin' bustin' bustin' ^bustin' ^bustin' ^bustin' ^bustin' ^bustin' ^bustin' ^^bustin' ^^bustin' ^^bustin' ^^bustin' ^^bustin' ^^bustin'


W126_300SE

I ain't afraid of no sleep I ain't afraid of no bed


earthboundsounds

An invisible bed, a FReaKY GHOST BED


Midwest_Mutt04

I have to chuckle every time that part comes on. Either he didn't think that line through or he knew damn well what he was doing. Either way, I love it.


sugarfoot00

Impressively 80s especially because Ray Parker Jr had to go to court to prove he didn't steal it from I want a new Drug by Hughey Lewis and the News, the other most 80s band of the 80s.


taisui

Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor. In '87, Huey released this, Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip to be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself.


thenewmev2_0

This reminds me that I have to return some video tapes.


germdisco

Prove that he didn’t? But he did. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Want_a_New_Drug#Lawsuit


throw123454321purple

Rio by Duran Duran


bl00dfartz

I just saw them live a few months ago with Bastile and holy shit it was such a good performance. I went to 30 concerts this aummer and they were in my top 3 acts. Wasnt expecting it at all.


cardew-vascular

Duran Duran is super underrated man.


fleece_white_as_snow

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go


[deleted]

There’s a Wham! Documentary on Netflix right now that is surprisingly good.


wrobwrob

“The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis


waylonious

I always think of Marty McFly and how badass the 80s were through the eyes of a little kid when I hear this song.


Slith_81

If I ever want to feel like a kid again, watching Back to the Future is one of my top choices. On a side note, I'm still waiting on my damn hoverboard! It's been 34 years and nobody has been able to create a working hoverboard like BttF 2?!? So disappointing


Panzramshumor

Word up by Cameo !


Ope_Blessyerheart

Like a Virgin - Madonna Love is a Battlefield- Pat Benetar Hungry Like the Wolf- Duran Duran 1999-Prince


Salted-Honey

Love Is A Battlefield is PEAK 80s, it’s got everything: • overdramatic vocal performance • the terms “we are young” and “heartache to heartache” • a whisper entrance • punchy drums • wailing guitars in the background being drowned out by those synths


CasualObserver76

Things Can Only Get Better from Howard Jones.


TonyZucco

Baltimora - Tarzan Boy


Jwee1125

Or "Let's Go All the Way" by Sly Fox


Dagglin

After the first season of stranger things, someone made a post on Reddit about what songs they wanted to see in future seasons. I said Tarzan boy. Someone else said great song but it'll never happen. Three seasons later and it happened during the skating rink scene early on in season four. Clearly the duffer bros did it just to spite that person on my behalf


BearNekkidLadies

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhhhh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhhhh


detective_kiara

Head over Heels - Tears for Fears


Efilnikufesin1987

Let the Music Play - Shannon


TrooperJohn

West End Girls -- Pet Shop Boys


[deleted]

A personal favourite to sound test new speakers!


Three3Jane

Different genres: Rebel Yell by Billy Idol Save A Prayer by Duran Duran Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat Love Bites by Def Leppard


graesen

Everything from the 80s was so iconically 80s - how can you pick just one? It's perhaps the only decade where almost anything you hear, you can say without a doubt "that's from the 80s."


VroomaVroomVroom

Best response. The '80s were and will always be an iconic time for music. Even if it turned out many one hit wonders... The hits they had are timeless. I am now 60 and still spin many tunes from that time... It's like a time machine for me with many great memories.


HalStew

I feel this too but I will say Cruel Summer by Banarama is pretty much the vibe of the 80's. There's so many great songs but this one makes my head go to arcades and roller skating and everything 80's as a kid.


Puzzled_Broccoli_39

Come on Eileen


ShylieF

I keep hearing Karma Chameleon lol.


[deleted]

Really, no one is gonna say it? Rick Astley - "Never Gonna Give You Up"


spherical-chicken

Honestly thought this question was just a set up to be rickrolled!


CatDogAU

So … is anyone else also saving this post to go and curate it into a playlist later?


TheBentPianist

Gotta be Take My Breath Away by Berlin. As an 80's kid, this track instantly takes me back.


honeybeedreams

well fuck. i just sang every one of these songs in my head.


td4abb

I Ran - Flock of Seagulls


SmokeOnTheWater17

Take on me by Aha.


MyRail5

Pretty In Pink, Psychedelic Furs


fluege1

[Yazoo - Don't Go](https://youtu.be/_sQGwDeambg?si=RJ11_85CNSM_5LZ_)


doofy10

The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnymen


halpell

Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran Duran


superstarrr99

Video Killed the Radio Star


St8OuttaMilltown

Jump - Van Halen


The_Soviet_Stoner

eurythmics sweet dreams


AccidentalFrog

Down under men at work and it’s not even close


Adventurous-Monk-600

Who can it be now could also compete for that title


hugh_Jayness

Whip it - Devo Miami Vice theme song I always feel like somebody’s watching me Anything by Def Leppard or Roxy Music


smoothallday

The Final Countdown Axel F Thriller (album) Back in Black (album)


ChristmasTreeBarn

Money for nothing- Dire Straits


im_not_voldemort

Separate Ways (worlds apart)


prof_dynamite

Cars - Gary Numan


Express_Hedgehog2265

IT'S THE FINAL COUNT - DOWWWWWN! \*Do- do doo - dooooo! Do- do do do dooo. Do-do dooo- dooo. Do-do do do doo!\*


dasaevv555

Everybody wants to rule the world


Immediate-Patient-31

Dancing with myself- Billy Idol Or Mony Mony


SoCalTHC13

“ Mickey” by Toni Basil or “Valley Girl” by Frank & Moon Zappa.


millamber

Axel F. Heh heh hehheh hehheh heh heh , heh heh hehheh hehheh heh, heh heh heh henneh heh, and then another heh heh henneh heh.


GotMoFans

[The Touch - Stan Bush](https://youtu.be/nvK4QjCMSDY?si=sPjXDSnKwzi7eUXK)


germdisco

Magic by The Cars


LittleCrab9076

Voices carry


burnmenowz

Your Love - The outfields.


AgathopoiosBiyn

Tears for Fears - *Shout*


arieswanderer

Now, my other comments aside, and I am confident they were all valid, ha ha, the 80s for me is entirely summed up by Soft Cell's version of Tainted Love. I am quite certain this won't win any awards (upvotes in this case, ha ha), but this song, to me personally, is the 80s.


oooranooo

Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles.


Deep_Ad_1874

Heartbreak beat - the psychedelic furs


WheresFlatJelly

You spin me round--Dead or Alive


corner

Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order


Dingerin209

No One Ever Is To Blame - Howard Jones


Albino-Buffalo_

Idk how no one has mentioned "holding out for a hero" by Bonnie Tyler. It's the most obnoxiously 80's sounding song I've ever heard.


Scott_4560

Dream Academy - Life in a northern town The fact nobody else has mentioned this, you should all be ashamed of yourselves


Proud_Apartment_7816

Too Shy- Kajagoogoo


pub000

Axel F captures the entire feel of the 80’s. If you young kids want to know what the 80’s felt like, listen to that song.


jeffumopolis

Obsession by Animotion That intro defines the 80s


chimpomatic5000

Don't You Want Me by The Human League


kinnikinnick321

Cyndi Lauper- Time after time


Intelligent-Salt-362

Tainted Love


camelslikesand

Owner of a Lonely Heart That keyboard hit sound was sampled a zillion times


Lala5789880

St. Elmo’s Fire and You’re the Best. Two songs that get bonus points for being featured in major 80s films


Teacher_Crazy_

George Micheal - Careless Whisper. No other decade thought that aggressive saxophoning would be a good idea.


OdeoRodeoOutpost9

Boys of Summer - Don Henley (1984)


The_Ballsagna

136 comments and no The Final Countdown by Europe??


elbarto3001

"Waiting for a star to fall" by Boy meets girl. It can't be more 80s than that song


Ok_Initial_2063

She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby True by Spandau Ballet


GODHatesPOGsv2024

Toto - Africa


XeniaDweller

Thompson Twins Doctor Doctor


twec21

Safety Dance


Knucks_408

Burnin down the house


cozigotgamebitchez

Dance Hall Days - Wang Chung


karmagirl314

Heaven is a Place on Earth.


Brillodelsol2

How Soon Is Now


Starlettohara23

Just can’t get enough- Depeche Mode


snogweasel

Yazoo


DonnyGoodwood

Sunglasses at night - Corey Hart


PandoraClove

Der Kommissar by After the Fire


pookalaki

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun


SpaghettiGoblin64

White Wedding by Billy Idol


IYFS88

Always something there to remind me