Electric Guitars

[Dr. Scottie C]

Some say 80's music sucked..... others argue it's by a country mile the best decade for music ever thanks to hair metal and a large helping of Brit & American pop...... either way, if you had to choose your favorite 10 songs from this decade, any genre, what would they be?

[Floyd Rosenbomb]

Here be a fabulous song from the 80's,

[kayd_mon]

Here's a few

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police
Goldilox - King's X
Frame by Frame - King Crimson
Take on Me - A Ha
Kayleigh - Marillion
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
Jump - Van Halen
Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
Money for Nothing - Dire Straits

Really, my favorite 80s music is King's X, King Crimson, The Police, and occasionally Van Halen. Soundgarden has some stuff in the 80s, and I'm a big fan of them. I don't like that much hair band stuff, I prefer 80s pop over rock most of the time. I could just pick 10 King's X songs from their first two albums, and you'll pretty much have my most listened to 80s list.

[BydoEmpire]

Tough to pick 10 songs from an entire decade - top 10 albums would be easier.  Not my favorite decade for music, but there was a ton of great stuff. In no particular order:

Ain't Gone N Give Up On Love - SRV (my favorite SRV slow blues)

Rude Mood - SRV (classic SRV instrumental)

Call It Sleep - Steve Vai (one my favorite early Vai tunes)

Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits (gotta have some Mark Knopfler on here, going with the obvious classic)

Black Star - Yngwie Malmsteen (had to pick one song off Rising Force)

Master of Puppets - Metallica (gotta have at least one Metallica song here, too)

Hot for Teacher - Van Halen (hard to pick one VH tune, but this is so recognizable.  1984 is such a great album).

On The Turning Away - Pink Floyd (great song from a great album)

Always With Me, Always With You - Joe Satriani (a instrumetnal rock classic)

Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2 (not a huge U2 fan in general, but Joshua Tree is an amazing album).

[Special J]

This is tough. Struggling over retrospect vs. what were my favorites back then. It was such a rich time for so many genres of music. Off the top of my head and in no particular order:

Van Halen - Everybody Wants Some

Peter Gabriel - Big Time

Metallica - Battery

Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast

Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon

Faith No More - The Real Thing 

U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday

The Police - Walking on the Moon

Fugazi - Waiting Room

Jane's Addiction - Ocean Size

[genesis3]

One of the greatest questions ever posed .....hmmm.....

Def Leppard - Another Hit And Run
Rush - Red Barchetta, Between the Wheels
Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien, Crushing Day
Iron Maiden - The Trooper
AC/DC - Shake a Leg
Judas Priest - Electric Eye
Yes - It Can Happen
Accept - Balls to the Wall
Alice Cooper - Clones
Van Halen - House of Pain
Winger - Seventeen
Ratt - Lay it Down
Ozzy - Crazy Train
Honeymoon Suite - Feel it Again
Cheap Trick - She's Tight, Reach Out
Whitesnake - Crying in the Rain
ZZ Top - Pearl Necklace

Dio - Holy Diver

Blue Murder - Blue Murder

....at least six dozen others

Pop



Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out
Saga - On the Loose
The Fixx - Red Skies at Night
Genesis - Keep It Dark, Abacab
Peter Gabriel - Your Eyes
Cindi Lauper - Time after time
Level 42 - Something About You
The Outfield - Your Love
Saga - Conversations
Peter Gabriel - I Have the Touch
Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants to Change the World
The Police - Every Breath You Take
Lindsey Buckingham - Trouble
Thomas Dolby - Hyperactive
Prince -Little Red Corvette

Steve Miller - I Wanna Make the World Turn Around

Heart - How Can I Refuse

Journey - City of the Angels (whata great forgotten gem this was!)

Ten only was obviously not gonna cut it

[DaveAronow]

For Those About To Rock ACDC
Number of the Beast Iron Maiden
Wasted Years Iron Maiden
I Want You To Want Me Cheap Trick
My Sharona The Knack
Ice Cream Man Van Halen
Land Down Under Men At Work
Tom Sawyer Rush
The Sentinel Judas Priest
Crazy Train Ozzy Osbourne
Heaven And Hell Black Sabbath

[slvrsrpnt]

I had a slightly different version of the 80's than most.  I liked the heavier of the heavy metal and not the hair stuff seen by the masses.

1.  Slayer - Captor of Sin

2.  Metallica - Trapped Under Ice

3.  SOD - March of the SOD/Seargant D

4.  Mentors - 4 F Club

5.  Mercyful Fate - Come to the Sabbath

6.  Destruction - Release From Agony

7.  Wargasm - Undead

8.  Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell

9.  Ozzy Osbourne - SATO

10.Motorhead - Rock and Roll

There are quite a lot more, but these just rolled off the old head.

[gardo]

STARFISH 

THE CHURCH

all 10 songs

[orourke]

I don't think of myself as someone who dwells much in the 80's, but I realize that certain songs from that era are really important to me.  Some of these tunes where probably recorded in the late seventies, but they're associated with the 80's. I think they've held up quite well, if you've never heard of some of them, you should check 'em out:

Golden Brown - The Stranglers

Sister Europe - The Psychedelic Furs

If I Should Fall From Grace With God - The Pogues

Fisherman's Blues - The Waterboys

That's Entertainment - The Jam

Let's Dance - David Bowie (where else ya gonna hear Nile Rogers and SRV playing together?)

Dark Brown - The Nails (that's me on guitar)

King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown - Augustus Pablo

Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen (the whole Various Positions album is great)

Messages - OMD

Ghost Rider - Suicide

[axegrinder]

It's obvious some of y'all are so old that you can't remember your decades too well.  I see several mentions above that were released in the 70's.  I forgive you as I am old too.

Having come of age in the 80's most of my best memories are associated with music from that decade (along with some stuff that hung around from the 70's).

Glad to see Marillion getting mentioned.  I suppose I'll list some albums (no particular order) from that time that pop into my head:

• Marillion- Misplaced Childhood
• Rush- Moving Pictures
• Smithereens- Especially for You
• HooDoo Gurus- Mars Needs Guitars
• Scorpions- Love Drive
• Van Halen- 1984
• Y&T- Black Tiger
• Triumph- Thunder Seven
• Dire Straits- Brothers in Arms
• Def Leppard- High N Dry

[JRicoC]

It's more than ten, because some are from the same album and I can't choose a favorite, and even at that I have an extra ...

• Police - Driven to Tears
• Bod Dylan - Jokerman
• Goanna - Solid Rock
• Big Country - In a Big Country
• Prince - Kiss
• Pink Floyd - The Final Cut
• Rush - Red Barchetta, The Camera Eye
• U2 - Bullet the Blue Sky, Exit
• R.E.M. - 7 Chinese Brothers
• Squeeze - Another Nail in My Heart
• The Clash - London Calling (US release Jan '80)
• The Cars - Touch and Go

[Alecto]

Some of my favourites from the 80's (with clips!):

Believe it or not, I first heard this song in English class.

Anybody else thinking of John Cusack with a boom box?

A one hit wonder, but what a hit!

I knew I had to have some Rush, but couldn't decide which one.  So I went with this one.  Maybe because of the old computer graphics and Geddy's bitchin' mullet.

Gotta have some Hüsker Dü in there.

As well as some Iron Maiden.

I think Bruce Dickinson would appreciate this juxtaposition.

"Only girls and weirdos like The Cure!" I was often told. "And your point is?" I usually replied.

I recently heard this tune on the soundtrack to an animated movie.  Damn, it still sounds good!

The first song I ever heard from these guys.  And they're the best live act I've ever seen, and I'll say that standing on Mick Jagger's coffee table in my combat boots.

[Ratae Coritano…]

Actually quite a difficult one, because I used to think thta musically, the 80s sucked, but thats only when compared to the 70s, so I'm going to do a complete guitar band/rock band free favourite 10

Duran Duran  - Ordinary World

Duran Duran - Wild Boys

Franke Goes to Holllywood - Power of Love

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

Visage - Fade To Grey

David Bowie - China Girl

Eurythmics - Who's that Girl

Simply Red - Holding Back The Years

A-Ha - Take On Me

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

On the whole the 80s belonged to Duran Duran, Level 42, Annie Lennox and Madonna

[Dr. Scottie C]

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Ratae Coritanorum wrote:

On the whole the 80s belonged to Duran Duran, Level 42, Annie Lennox and Madonna

---

Biily Joel, Culture Club, and Michael Jackson each had a pretty good market share of the 80's..... in the U.S., Level 42 was a one hit wonder.

[mnhhngbfs]

This entire album, minus "Patterns"

[gdsmithtx]

Great question.

In no particular order:  

Scorpions - Still Loving You

SRV - Tin Pan Alley

Zebra - Tell Me What You Want

Dio - Holy Diver

Saga - Wind Him up

Whitesnake - Love Ain't no Stranger

Queensryche - I Don't Believe in Love

Blue Oyster Cult - Burnin' for You

Robert Cray - Dont be Afraid of the Dark

George Benson - Give me the Night

Metallica - Master of Puppets

There're a thousand otheres, but those are the first ones that leapt to mind.

[docjeffrey]

Prince--Delerious/Cream/Little Red Corvette/Purple Rain--I can't decide. He was rockin' like a mofo back then!
Richard Thompson--Wall of Death
Dylan--Slow Train Comin'
U2--Bullet the Blue Sky
John Lennon--Watching the Wheels
Jackson Browne--Lives in the Balance
Little Steven and the Desciples of Soul-- I am a Patriot
Bruce Springsteen--No Surrender (live from the 75-84 collection)
Pink Floyd--Comfortably Numb (live from Is There Anybody Out There)
Tom Petty--Free Falling

And anything from Sandinista by the Clash!

[billybilly]

Wow, fun post.  I entered high school in 1980 so this brings back a lot of memories.  Here is just a handful of what I was into back in the day...

• Queen and David Bowie /Under Pressure
• Dexy's Midnight Runners / Come On Eileen
• ACDC Back in Black (whole album, sorry)
• Devo / Whip It 
• Gary Numan / Cars
• Men At Work / Who can it be now
• Judas Priest... Screaming for Vengeance/British Steel (whole albums again)
• Blue Oyster Cult / Don't Turn Your Back
• John Cougar / Jack and Diane
• Bang Your Head (Metal Health) - Quiet Riot
• In the Eye of the Storm /Roger Hodgson

[docjeffrey]

---

billybilly wrote:

Wow, fun post.  I entered high school in 1980 so this brings back a lot of memories.  Here is just a handful of what I was into back in the day...

• Queen and David Bowie /Under Pressure
• Dexy's Midnight Runners / Come On Eileen
• ACDC Back in Black (whole album, sorry)
• Devo / Whip It 
• Gary Numan / Cars
• Men At Work / Who can it be now
• Judas Priest... Screaming for Vengeance/British Steel (whole albums again)
• Blue Oyster Cult / Don't Turn Your Back
• John Cougar / Jack and Diane
• Bang Your Head (Metal Health) - Quiet Riot
• In the Eye of the Storm /Roger Hodgson

---

Some cool songs! I can do without Men at Work. KROQ just wore that song out and I still can't listen to it.

John Cougar just doesn't hold up for me. I loved that song at the time, but it seems dated. 

Roger Hodgson is an intetesting choice. I loved Crime of the Century and Crisis? What Crisis? but I think those were '70s. 

The Quiet Riot song is cool, but again, KLOS wore that one out. I hated hair metal band because every single person that I knew who listened to it was a total douche. Cropped T-shirts, bad hair, fake tits, etc.

I totally forgot about AC/DC, but I was such a huge fan of Powerage, High Voltage and Highway to Hell that once Back in Black hit the airwaves, I was still mourning Bon Scott's passing. 

Devo was on the 8 track player in my '72 Superbeetle pretty much permanently. I think it was still in there when MS13 stole my car, stripped it bare and left the shell in the barrio of San Bernardino. They took the 8 track and the Devo--probably sold it at a flea market in Placentia.

Judas Priest is cool, but I hated them in the 80s along with all of their peers-Scorpions, Dio, Sabbath, etc. Their music just seemed so archaic at the time compared with Prince, Dire Straits, Devo and the Plimsouls, but I can appreciate it now.

Come On Eileen--Like the Mellencamp song, any song with the name of a girl in it is automatically lame in my book, but that one had a huge hook, so I can see why it made your list.

I used to listen to Gary Numan, Thomas Dolby, and Peter Gabriel a lot. Cool music.