The 200 best songs of the 1980s according to Rolling Stone USA

The 1980s were a decade that proved that the combination of big hair, synthesizers and a transgressive attitude can result in music that defines generations. Thinking about that, Rob Sheffieldfrom the Rolling Stone USAprepared a super list with the 200 most memorable songs from that period.

Here, we highlight a small section of the list, separating the top 10 from this very fine selection. He has Madonna, Michael Jackson It is Prince. There are also a lot of songs that rocked — and continue to rock — the youth of many people.

See the top 10 on the list below:

The Smiths, “There’s a Light That Never Goes Out” (1986)

This is a fan favorite. The Smithsthe band’s bassist, Andy Rourkesaid it was the indie version of “Candle in the Wind“, classic by Elton John. It’s a song that explores the dark underpass of the heart, where a nighttime car ride with a friend is an epic quest. (In case you were wondering, Morrissey He didn’t know how to drive, so he spent a lot of time time in the car). Moz sings about not having a home, but countless fans have found a home in this song.

Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill” (1985)

kate bush was definitely not the conventional pop star of the 1970s – after all, her first hit was about Wuthering Heights . But she reached even more intense heights in the 1980s, when she got her hands on the Fairlight CMI synthesizer, like a mad scientist in her own laboratory. She turned her art-rock fantasies into vibrant sonic dreams like “Running Up That Hill.” It reached the US Top 40 in 1985 – but became an even bigger hit in 2022, spending the summer in the Top 10. It sounded bizarre on the radio between Lizzo It is Harry Stylesjust as it already sounded bizarre among Phil Collins It is Falco. But it’s a song that can be listened to countless times without ever fading into the background.

Duran Duran, “Hungry Like the Wolf” (1982)

Duran Duran exploded as a global pop idol with “Hungry Like the Wolf,” the hit song that summed up the 1980s so perfectly it’s a little scary. The music has a sexy glam-disco artistic style, the archetypal New Romantic banger: rock guitar, funk bass, synthesizers, the exaggerated moans of Simon LeBon. This song made DD the most controversial band of the time, with its innovative mix of chic It is Sex Pistols. Every detail is calculated to provoke, from the opening sound (a woman’s laugh) to the climax (a woman expressing slightly different emotions). But “Hungry Like the Wolf” still brightens up any room.

The Go-Gos, “Our Lips Are Sealed” (1981)

Discover the Go-Gos: the five coolest punk-rock girls around, cruising in their convertible under the Southern California sun. “Our Lips Are Sealed” was their debut hit, making every other band seem terribly boring. Especially since no other band had Gina Schock playing drums. But Jane Wiedlin was based on real-life love letters. “I was having a dramatic, traumatic, long-distance romance with Terry Hall of the Specials,” he told me in 2000. “He had a fiancée at the time — these days I wouldn’t touch that with a ten-foot pole, but I was 19 and I was like, engaged, man. Still, most fans hear it as an ode to female bonding. “I prefer to think of it that way,” he said. Wiedlin. “More interesting. But it’s a song in which people find their own meaning.”

Whitney Houston, “How Will I Know?” (1986)

The creative discovery of Whitney – O success that all they liked it. Although she dominated the radio with ballads like “Saving All My Love For You,” she saved her most soulful vocals for this wave of bubbly, hormone-crazed ’80s pop brilliance, kicking back with teen-angst lyrics worthy of the Smiths. (Very close to “This Charming Man“, honestly). Her debut album sells her mostly as a sober adult, but here she actually looks 22, feeling the eternal philosophical dilemma of love-is-strong vs. Whitney releases its screams and growls and mmm-hmmms for a blow that refines virtuosity as euphoria.

Public Enemy, “Bring the Noise” (1987)

Public Enemy broke in the doors in “Bring The Noise” — his most adventurous, radical and furious plan, with the explosive production of Bomb Squad. “Most people said rap was noise,” he said. Hank Shocklee, one of the producers. “And we decided, ‘If they think it’s noise, then let’s show the noise! But let’s also give them something to think about.” “Bring The Noise” goes straight for the jugular from the opening words: a sample of Malcolm X saying: “Very black, very strong.” Chuck D explodes louder than a bomb, over the chatter of Flavor Flav. “Bring The Noise” was released in the fall of 1987 on the soundtrack of the not-very-revolutionary Under zero(1987), but makes a bold statement in the story, with praise for Run-DMC, Anthrax, Sonny Bono It is Yoko Ono.

Michael Jackson, “Billie Jean” (1982)

“Billie Jean” was the hit that transformed Thriller (1982) in Thriller — the song that turned a hit into a phenomenon. No one could have imagined a song like this before — especially since their previous single was “The Girl Is Mine”. The voice of MJ it sounded so fragile and haunted, even before you realized how disturbing the lyrics were, over nearly five minutes of haunting strings, heavy drums, and paranoid bass. He never made another record that sounded like “Billie Jean”, and no one else did.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, ‘The Message’ (1982)

Grandmaster Flash feared what “The Message” failed. “It was a shock,” he told RecordMirror in 1982. “At first we were a little scared to release ‘The Message‘. It was a little too true. But it became hip-hop’s most famous classic, a tale of war straight from the streets of inner-city America. “The Message“It was a total blast,” he said. Chuck D of Public Enemy. “It was the first dominant rap group with the most dominant MC saying something that meant something.” “The Message” part of the poem by Duke Bootee about life in the ghetto, with the future shock keyboards of Reggie Griffin It is MC Melle Mel singing: “Sometimes it’s like a jungle/It makes me wonder how I keep from sinking.” As the Flash: “There was no call and response, nothing happy about it.” But it changed hip-hop forever.

Madonna, “Like A Prayer” (1989)

Madonna I was in the center of the pop universe of the 1980s, but saved his prominence for the end of the decade. “Like a Prayer” is her most passionate hit of all time, as she gets down on her knees at midnight to experience the most divine disco-tempo rapture. She wears many of her favorite disguises in “Like a Prayer”: sexual priestess, hippie mystic, bad Italian party girl, repentant Catholic penitent, Eurotrash poseur, bride having sex on the floor, gospel-disco soul seeker. However, they all look like the same woman. Take us there, Madonna.

Prince, “Kiss” (1986)

Prince spent the 1980s as the game’s most incredibly brilliant and unpredictable genius. He kept the world guessing his next move while everyone was still catching up on what he was doing a few moves ago. If 1999 (1982) isn’t the best album of the decade, that’s just because it’s Sign o’ the Times (1987) — still a difficult decision. Prince There are a few dozen songs that could be at the top of this list, but “Kiss” is the sound of Prince showing off, his most playful and wicked hit, proving that he is one of the 6 or 7 best singers on the planet. “Kiss” is deceptively minimalist funk, a total surprise when it hit the radio in the spring of 1986, following the triumph of “1999” It is “Purple Rain“, then the sweet sweet of Around The World In A Day(1985). There’s no bass, giving room to strut all the avant-garde purple electro-slither. He murmurs “You can’t be too seductive” in the most seductive falsetto imaginable, saving his sex-crazed screams for last. When “Kiss” reached number one, another Prince song came second: “Manic Monday“, of the Bangles. But throughout “Kiss”, he spins with the future.

Click here to see the complete Top 200 Songs of the 1980s list.