The quintessential 80s pop song?

[Shorty]

 

[Shorty]

… and of course this one, also by Frankie GTH, featuring Ronald Reagan and his Sovjet counterpart Konstantin Chernenko. Video by Godley & Creme.

 

[Frank2]

These songs sound even better when performed by stellar musicians:

 

[jsilvela]

Queen and Bowie need to be here.
I read somewhere that the North American public was introduced to Queen with Wayne's World rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody!

 

[Puddingbuks]

Oh boy, those were the days. So many great 80s songs. I’m from 72 so my forming years were in the eighties. The decade where rap/hip-hop and house/techno exploded, lots of experiments with new styles and sounds.

Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, Madonna, Spandau Ballet, U2, The Cure, Prince, etc. The Linn/808/909 drum machines. The TB-303 bass synth.

Watching the first few videos here actually brought tears to my eyes. A wonderful time when life was good and I still had my parents.

 

[Colonel7]

 

[thewas]

 

[Multicore]

I'm not sure a vicious satire of rapacious 80s egocentric philistine consumerism counts as a quintessential example of same. But thanks all the same, I never saw that video. It made me think of the recent comedy film Sorry to Bother You in which a young black man puts on his white voice (actually he steals it from David Cross) and manners to get ahead at work. I listened to the whole of Thing Fish a couple of times again in the fall last year trying to get new perspectives on what's changed, what hasn't, and how?

 

[Multicore]

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes​

Frankie's two big hits, this and Relax, were a secret pleasure of mine at the time. Given my pretensions to higher musical arts it was infra dig to be known to enjoy HiNRG pop songs. I remember seeing huge piles of the album cut out for a quid at HMV or Virgin I passed. I can't allow people to find that in my collection!

 

[JustJones]

 

[JonK99]

To me 80s pop means MTV. And you couldn't watch MTV for 30 minutes without this one coming on:

 

[Multicore]

I would like to cast a vote for the Buggles if I may

Of course! They were aiming for quintessential 80s pop song, or something even more than quintessential, with this song.

 

[Multicore]

Yes, of course Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax

1. Was this before or after the BBC ban of the song?

2. How did I forget how ugly John Peel was?

3. I shoulda read more before posting my own daily dose. But like I said above, FGTH were a guilty please for me. Those two hits sounded thrilling then and still do today.

 

[Multicore]

Queen and Bowie need to be here.

Yes, I agree. But I'm not sure either qualifies for the contest to name ASR's avatar of rapacious 80s egocentric philistine consumerism.

 

[mhardy6647]

Well.
If this thread came out as a K-Tel compilation (or a Rhino remix/remaster with extensive liner notes and a photo booklet)... I'd buy it.


May I also suggest:

(at least in my memory this was her first 'big hit')

(notice that I skipped Ms Lauper's "greatest hit" of the era )

 

[Multicore]

If this thread came out as a K-Tel compilation (or a Rhino remix/remaster with extensive liner notes and a photo booklet)... I'd buy it.

Oh yeah!

Or how about one of those el cheapo cover version albums.

 

[zman01]

Mr. Mister - Kyrie

 

[dBiz]

Thread ramping up, hope this isn't a dupe.

 

[Chester]

If we’re looking objectively at what makes a great pop song from the 80’s, this ticks nearly all the boxes

 

[Puddingbuks]