20 Songs You Pick To Introduce Someone To 80s Music

Let's say someone was just born right now and you want to introduce him/her to what 80s music was really like. Which 20 songs would you choose?

For me, the decade was much more than bubblegum pop, Thriller, bad hair and Madonna. There's a lot of great music during that decade that people have missed because either radio stations didn't play it enough or was not as respected as they should. Lots of cool songs from that era. Here are my 20, in no particular order:

Artist - Song

1. Stone Roses - Fool's Gold
2. INXS - What You Need
3. Prince - When Doves Cry
4. Tears For Fears - Pale Shelter
5. Duran Duran - New Moon On Monday
6. The Pretenders - My City Was Gone
7. The Police - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
8. Billy Idol - Rebel Yell
9. Simple Minds - All The Things She Said
10. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - I Love Rock and Roll
11. U2 - In God's Country
12. Tina Turner - We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)
13. The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
14. Tears For Fears - Head Over Heels
15. Psychedelic Furs - Heartbreak Beat
16. Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time
17. Talking Heads - Burning Down The House
18. Run-DMC - King Of Rock
19. Depeche Mode - A Question Of Time
20. Depeche Mode - Behind The Wheel

gosh, i don't have 20 songs in my mind (at the moment), but here are some:

Laura Branigan - Self Control
A-HA - Take On Me
The Cars - Drive
Alphaville - Big in Japan
Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy
... more to come! :D

Hmmm...I think I'll duplicate some things on your list. So I've got to get a sample of everything eh?

1. Beat It - Michael Jackson
2. I Ran - Flock of Seagulls
3. Monkeys Gone to Heaven - Pixies
4. Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
5. Kings of Rock - Run DMC
6. Fight for Your Right (To Party) - Beastie Boys
7. Master of Puppets - Metallica
8. Something There to Remind Me - Naked Eyes
9. Head to Toe - Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam
10. It Takes Two - Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock
11. Welcome to the Jungle - Guns N Roses
12. Talk Dirty to Me - Poison
13. Like a Prayer - Madonna
14. Radio Free Europe - REM
15. Rock of Ages - Def Leppard
16. The Boy with the Thorn in His Side - The Smiths
17. Boys Don't Cry - The Cure
18. Teen Age Riot - Sonic Youth
19. Whip It - Devo
20. Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen

Wow....that was tough. Though, I'm not even sure what the assignment was. I dunno how confident I am in my list...but I think it covers a lot of bases. [img]smile.gif[/img]

man it's tough to limit to just 20 songs, you gotta give them a taste of the bad with the good.

U2 - where the streets have no name
U2 - new years day
the Cult - she sells sanctuary
metallica - one
guns & roses - sweet child o mine
the misfits - last caress
the clash - should i stay or should i go
poison - nothing but a good time
gary newman - cars
dead or alive - you spin me round
run-dmc - it's like that
talking heads - road to nowhere
greg khin band - the breakup song
nina - 99 red balloons
simple minds - don't you forget about me
heuy lewis - walking on a thin line
the police - every breath you take
michael jackson - beat it
milli vanilli - blame it on the rain
wham - wake me up before you go

harder than i thought, in about 5 minutes i'll probably think of an entirely different list

[ March 31, 2004, 04:46 AM: Message edited by: RTB ]