THE FAVE SONGS BY YEAR CHALLENGE: 1983

Greats Songs From My Favourite Decade: The 1980's

Inspired by Buddy Gott’s mix-tape story

Image generated with OpenAI ChatGPT (DALL·E) | Prompt by Author

Back in 1983, if you were making a mixtape for the car, your bedroom, or maybe somebody you liked, the biggest hits usually ended up sitting beside lesser-known songs you loved just as much. After reading a story by Buddy Gott, I started thinking about the kind of imaginary cassette I might have put together from my favourite decade, mixing forgotten favourites with some of the huge songs that still instantly take me back to the 1980’s today. Most of these iconic tracks really don’t need much introduction from me, although I may drop in a few notes along the way. Mostly this is a chance for you to kick back, press play, and don’t forget to flip the tape for Side 2.

This story was inspired by Buddy Gott’s 1983 music challenge, Great Songs You May Not Remember from 1983: A virtual ‘mixtape’ of great music!. You’ll find a link to Buddy’s great original story at the bottom of this one.

“If I still had the gear, this is the mix-tape I would have made for you. I hope you enjoy the trip back to 1983”.

Image inspired by Buddy Gott’s retro cassettes | Generated w/ OpenAI ChatGPT (DALL·E) | Prompt by Author

SIDE A: FORGOTTEN SONGS

1. “Twilight Zone” — Golden Earring

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For many listeners outside The Netherlands, Golden Earring begin and end with “Radar Love” and “Twilight Zone,” but the Dutch band from The Hague has a much deeper history than that. Originally formed in 1961 as The Tornados, they are still active more than six decades later. Curiously, “Radar Love,” now widely considered their signature song, was not their biggest US chart success. The track hit #1 in The Netherlands but only reached #13 in America, while “Twilight Zone” climbed slightly higher to #10. Yet despite that, “Radar Love” still feels like the song most people associate with the band, myself included.

2. “Promises, Promises” — Naked Eyes

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Did You Know: “Always Something There to Remind Me” made Naked Eyes the first act to crack the US Billboard Top 10 using only synthesizers.

3. “Overkill” — Men at Work

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When you think about this band from ‘down under’, you probably think of their mega-hit “Down Under”, a song now closing in on 1.3 billion Spotify streams. But I wonder if “Overkill” still hops to mind like a “roo hopped up on a frostie”, as the Aussies might say.

4. “Breaking Us in Two” — Joe Jackson

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Joe Jackson wasn’t afraid of steppin’ out from the new wave roots of his first albums into the more jazz-infused pop sound of his third album, Night and Day. “Breaking Us In Two” may not be the first Joe Jackson song people remember from 1983, which is why I’m including it here, but it never truly disappeared. Twenty-one years later it was still resonating enough to be covered by American singer and actress Mandy Moore, and more than four decades on, it’s even still being discussed on ’80s Reddit threads… Hey Joe, what do ya know?

5. “She’s a Beauty” — The Tubes

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6. “Obsession” — Animotion

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7. “The One Thing” — INXS

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Shabooh shoobah, “The One Thing” isn’t one of INXS’ Top Ten songs…but I think it really should be!

8. “It’s a Mistake” — Men at Work

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9. “Suddenly Last Summer” — The Motels

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Did You Know: Long before “Suddenly Last Summer” appeared on The Motels’ fourth album, the band shared rehearsal space with The Go-Go’s and built a following playing Madame Wong’s Chinese restaurant in LA’s Chinatown. Capitol Records signed them soon after, releasing their debut album just four months later. I loved The Motels and got to see them in Providence, RI, but sadly they always seemed to be one of the more under-appreciated bands of the 80s.

10. “Dear Prudence” — Siouxsie and the Banshees

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Covering a Beatles song as only the Queen of the Goths could…

11. “They Don’t Know” — Tracey Ullman

From Siouxsie covering The Beatles to Sir Paul appearing in Tracey Ullman’s video below, Side A ends with another unexpected Fab Four connection.

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Long before her show The Tracey Ullman Show gave birth to a mildly popular spin-off 😉 The Simpsons, she was telling us “They Don’t Know”… was she predicting the juggernaut about to be unleashed?

SIDE B: SONGS REMEMBERED

1. “Total Eclipse of the Heart” — Bonnie Tyler

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When I was listening to music in the 1980s, I, foolishly, thought you could only be cool if you DIDN’T like Top Ten hits, (which became a problem whenever one of your favourite obscure bands suddenly soared up the charts), but decades later it’s easy to understand why so many of these Side B songs became so beloved. A great song is a great song regardless of where it sits on the charts.

Bonnie Tyler’s epic “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was a great song, and perhaps my favourite of 1983, definitely better than every breath Billie Jean took or Irene Cara’s “Flashdance… What a Feeling”.

This is a really funny “literal video” version. There’s been a long-running battle on YouTube over Literal Videos and copyright issues, so this may be blocked or unavailable where you live, but if you can watch/listen to it, it’s pretty amazing.

Total Eclipse of the Heart Literal Video Version

Uploaded by artistswithouttalent (2013)

Original concept: dascottjr | Vocals: Persephone Maewyn

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There’s no information online about what Bonnie Tyler thinks of this, but considering how warmly she’s embraced the long afterlife of her biggest song “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, I suspect she’d probably smile at it too.

2. “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” — Eurythmics

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There were two women in the 1980s whose hairstyles became almost as famous as their music. One was Sinéad O’Connor, appearing with a shaved head during the era of her debut album The Lion & The Cobra while belting out “Mandinka” and “Jerusalem”. The other was Annie Lennox, whose day-glow orange, androgynous crew cut for “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” became one of the defining looks of the MTV era.

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3. “Electric Avenue” — Eddy Grant

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Outside of the massive cultural impact of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Jimmy Cliff, reggae music still often occupied more of a niche audience in the early 1980s. Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue” changed that. Its blend of pop-reggae, new wave and funk helped turn the song into a massive crossover hit, reaching #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and #1 on the rival Cash Box chart.

4. “Africa” — Toto

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Millions of words have probably already been written about Toto’s “Africa”, a song that somehow keeps finding new life decades after 1983, so instead of pretending I have something fresh to add, I’d rather point you toward the delightfully unexpected Gaelic cover below. Oddly enough, it actually made me appreciate Toto’s original even more.

And now the cover version… my summer camp was never this cool!

“Africa” (Toto as Gaeilge) — TG Lurgan (2016)

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5. “The Safety Dance” — Men Without Hats

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What can I say…this video and song are very Marmite!

6. “Stray Cat Strut” — Stray Cats

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The song that reminded people Rockabilly had never stopped being cool. Right, **Smilin' Jay McDowell**?

7. “Come Dancing” — The Kinks

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Before Strictly Come Dancing (UK) and Dancing With The Stars (US), there was Come Dancing, the classic British ballroom dancing show immortalised by The Kinks in this joyful 1983 hit.

8. “Pass the Dutchie” — Musical Youth

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In 1983 there was another reggae crossover making waves on the charts. While Eddy Grant fused reggae with pop, new wave and funk, Musical Youth’s “Pass The Dutchie” stayed much closer to reggae and dancehall traditions. Released in late 1982, it topped the UK Singles Chart and eight other countries before landing at #91 on Billboard’s Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1983.

9. “Original Sin” — INXS

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10. “99 Luftballons” — Nena (Offizielles HD Musikvideo)

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Although I didn’t speak German, (despite being ⅛ German myself), I always preferred Nena’s original “99 Luftballons” to both her later English-language version and After The Fire’s “99 Red Balloons”. Even without understanding the lyrics at first, the German original simply sounded tighter and grittier, especially once you discovered the Cold War story behind the song.

11. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” — U2 (Live Aid)

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Though “Sunday Bloody Sunday” only reached #11 on the UK Singles Chart in 1983, the song would take on a much bigger life two years later during U2’s unforgettable Live Aid performance at Wembley in 1985. Bucking convention slightly, my own ranking of the most iconic Live Aid moments would probably place Phil Collins’ transatlantic puddle jump between Wembley and Philadelphia first, Queen’s stellar set second, and U2’s performance of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” third. Not bad for an Irish band barely a decade into their career, going toe-to-toe with California rock royalty, The Beach Boys, who followed them onto the stage.

So there it is, my virtual 1983 mixtape, one side filled with songs that deserved to be remembered a little more, the other with massive hits that even my teenage “too cool for the charts” self secretly loved anyway.

Looking back now, what strikes me most about 1983 is just how wide open popular music still felt. New wave sat beside reggae, rockabilly rubbed shoulders with synth-pop, Irish protest songs shared space with gothic Beatles covers, and somehow I loved it all.

If you grew up with these songs, or even if you didn’t, I’d love to know which one still takes you straight back to the 1980s. And if you’re tempted to build your own virtual mixtape from another year, Buddy Gott’s original challenge story below is a pretty great place to start.

Buddy’s Story

[embed]Great Songs You May Not Remember from 1983 A virtual ‘mixtape’ of great music!medium.com

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