Music is but one of the things that evolve as rapidly as fashion. The music of every generation manages to deliver ample shock value to the generation before.
We have seen music go from the suited “crooners” to the leather-clad “greasers” of the fifties. We saw the Beatle era come and go, moving on to the long-haired, free lovin’ years of the 70’s. The 80’s brought us big hair and Pop-Rock.
I will never forget cruising down a Florida highway, windows down, singing that Def Leppard hit, “Pour Some Sugar On Me” as loud as I could. Written over a 5 minute cup pf coffee, this hit song made it all the way up the charts to #2 on the 100 top hits list of the 1980’s. Oh, yeah, “Red light, yellow light, green light go”…
The 1980’s were great times for big haired, but terribly handsome, Bon Jovi. This 80’s heart throb took “Livin’ On a Prayer” all the way to #1. The story he tells of Tommy and Gina’s struggle to make ends meet touched a chord in a lot of people. This is another oldie but goodie that we can all still identify with.
The British band, Duran Duran came to the chart with “Hungry Like the Wolf” in the 80’s. Shooting to the 3rd spot on “Billboard’s Hot 100″ list of 80’s music, they had everyone croaking out the lyrics, “Scent and sound, I’m lost and I’m found.
No count down can ever be complete without including Madonna. Madonna flooded the 80’s with great songs and one of those was “Like a Virgin”. Almost everyone knew this song. The lyrics “…touched for the very first time…” even made appearances in television comedy routines.
How about “Love Shack”? Surely you can remember the B-52s singing about their “…love shack bay-bee…”!
I personally will never forget the first time I heard Foreigner’s great love song, “I Want to Know What Love Is”; but I will keep that one a secret! All I can say, is it should have made it higher than #65 on the top 100 chart!
How about Tone-Loc knockin’ it out with “Wild thing”; or Bruce Springsteen and “Born in the USA. The Boss’ song only made it to #48 in the 80’s, but it is still bringing it 20 years later.
Prince was there for us wit “Purple Rain” and “When Doves Cry”, and Poison hit the chart at #34 with “Every Rose Has Its Thorne.
The 80’s was a great time for music. Many of the best songs from the 1980’s are still favorites of both young and not-so-young today.
For a complete list of the Top 100 Songs of the 1980’s….click here…..
