The hidden gems of the 80s

[K.C. Leblanc]

I love 80s music, although I wasn't really old enough to enjoy it at the time. I think it's in very many ways music production was in the right place. In the 60s and 70s electric music was still developing and recording was still very difficult. From the late 90s onwards it had reached the point where production to make up for a lack of talent.

I got into the Pet Shop Boys in the 90s, but since they started in the 80s I'm putting this here. I really love how different this sounds to a typical version of this song.

Pulp were also very much a 90s band. But they'd actually been going for a long time. So this is a nice curio.

This is from 1981, so just gets in there. Two of the greatest talents in music at the time.

This is another cover, which just like the Pet Shops Boys song, did a superb job of taking an older song and making it sound very 80s.

I'm hoping this is 80s!

This is another song I discovered in the 90s. Weirdly through a piece on Radio 1 called the cheesily cheerful chart challenge. Every day they'd read out a humourous news story and people could call, email or even fax in songs that fitted the theme. They'd then do a top 10 at the end of the show.

This is a record I know very little about. But it's amazing and not that well know.

 

[PCDAVE2]

I love 80s music, although I wasn't really old enough to enjoy it at the time. I think it's in very many ways music production was in the right place. In the 60s and 70s electric music was still developing and recording was still very difficult. From the late 90s onwards it had reached the point where production to make up for a lack of talent.

I got into the Pet Shop Boys in the 90s, but since they started in the 80s I'm putting this here. I really love how different this sounds to a typical version of this song.

Indeed! I've been a huge PSB fan for over 30 years and bought my first releases in the early nineties. They have a great back catalogue including their B sides.

'Always On My Mind' has been voted the best cover version of all time in some polls. The video is basically a promo for their surreal 1988 feature film 'It Couldn't Happen Here' which is finally getting released on Blu-Ray / DVD this year.

Also regarding Pulp - I listened to 'It' only two years ago and loved it. Was surprised that they had recorded that far back. Was well aware of them during my college years (Brit-Pop). I have an original vinyl pressing of 'Different Class' - the packaging is just pure art.

 

[Bigpig]

This is one of my all time favourites.

 

[Ninco!]

Change the thread title to what eighties track you are playing now.

One of the best outro's, for me its up there with Dire Straits On Every Street:

Pat Benatar - Too Long a Soldier

 

[Flaevius]

Given that @Vexr has gone underground, let's throw out some 80s cheese-pop:

John Parr - St Elmo's Fire

Aztec Camera - Somewhere In My Heart

The Bluebells - Young At Heart

--

But after that you can wash out your ears with the finest (and yet underappreciated) straight-up hard rock band towards the tail end of their career:

Thin Lizzy - Cold Sweat

Thin Lizzy - Hollywood (Down On Your Luck)

Thin Lizzy - Angel Of Death

 

[Flaevius]

One of grunge's hidden gems before Nirvana crapped all over the place:

Soundgarden - Gun

A little classic rock? ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man

Big ol' power ballad? Giant - I'll See You In My Dreams

Old-school rap? Run-DMC - Peter Piper

Or? Beastie Boys - Rhymin' & Stealin'

Electro? M.A.R.R.S. - Pump Up The Volume

Something more esoteric? Cocteau Twins - Persephone

A little of everything going on in the 80s really. Could throw out a couple of thousand songs across a range of genres and still not touch the sides!

 

[Yadda]

A couple of my favourite 80's songs. Marillion's "dancing in stilettos in the snow" line has stuck with me since the song was first released. It's possibly the most romantic lyric I've ever heard.

Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes.

Marillion - Kayleigh.

 

[~>Dg<~]

80s were very big feels tracks. music and film. gradulary thats been lost or maybe thats how you feel as you get older it does feel like as much craft isnt applied as back then.

 

[neviditelny]

A couple of my favourite 80's songs. Marillion's "dancing in stilettos in the snow" line has stuck with me since the song was first released. It's possibly the most romantic lyric I've ever heard.

Marillion is a great band, very underrated nowadays but got a massive loyal following. Personally I prefer "Sugar Mice" from the 1987 "Clutching at Straws" album.

I read somewhere that (if I remember right), about 95% of the people named Kayleigh are borned after 1985

 

[tracertong]