I made myself an 80s hits compilation
Inspired by the last New Years get-together where at one point the background music became a flurry of classic 1980s bangers, I wanted to put together my own set of vintage greats from the decade of technicolour synths and over-the-top flair. Spent some time pulling together songs and what I now have is a 30-song crash course on some of the most fun, evergreen and most incredibly 80s anthems of the decade.
Tracklist:
| Disc One | Disc Two |
|---|---|
| 1. Starship - We Built This City | 1. Toto - Africa |
| 2. Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) | 2. Genesis - Land of Confusion |
| 3. Mel & Kim - Respectable | 3. Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) |
| 4. Baltimora - Tarzan Boy | 4. Modern Talking - You're My Heart, You're My Soul |
| 5. Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) | 5. Kajagoogoo - Too Shy |
| 6. Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder - Together in Electric Dreams | 6. Laura Branigan - Self Control |
| 7. Limahl - Never Ending Story | 7. Men at Work - Down Under |
| 8. Irene Cara - Flashdance... What a Feeling | 8. Nik Kershaw - The Riddle |
| 9. Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax | 9. Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies |
| 10. Sandra - Maria Magdalena | 10. F.R. David - Words |
| 11. The Human League - Don't You Want Me | 11. Fiction Factory - (Feels Like) Heaven |
| 12. Lionel Richie - All Night Long (All Night) | 12. Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes |
| 13. Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes - (I've Had) The Time of My Life | 13. Kim Wilde - Kids in America |
| 14. Simple Minds - Don't You (Forget About Me) | 14. Nena - 99 Red Balloons |
| 15. Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up | 15. Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart |
Additional notes:
- The two "discs" are vaguely grouped, though with considerable overlap - the first one focuses on the most out-and-out pop (including a whole bunch of SAW), while the second set features many artists and bands who simply happened to make music in the 80s and ended up leaning on the decade's production trends in the process, or otherwise "moodier" tracks. It's not a perfect division but I think what's happening here makes sense and the overlaps lead in/out of their respective discs nicely, in my head anyway.
- I specifically avoided any artists whose music I already own and listen to otherwise i.e. I've got their albums - this is why there's a glaring absence of e.g. Madonna, Kylie, Pet Shop Boys, Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" etc.
- I couldn't think of any good cover art and I didn't really have any commissions that would have suited the occasion, so I lazily just repurposed the promo poster for the 80s episode of Bluey as a placeholder for now - mainly because the "it was called... the eighties" line kept repeating in my head as I pulled together the compilation.
About 60% of the reason behind making this blog post is to make the point to myself that I can also make "shorter" posts as well and not every blog entry needs to be a spillage of syllables (but look how that turned out). The other 40% is just to get an excuse to expose more people to Sandra's magnificent "Maria Magdalena" which only ever became a hit in seemingly random spots in Europe but not in the Anglosphere areas which dominate our culture, and therefore it's always missing from all those "best hits of the 80s" lists even though it is one.