cover image source: f***yeahmichaeljackson.tumblr.com
80's nostalgia arguably made it's biggest comeback sometime in the 2010's, and the decade hasn't really left us since. Things come and go in cycles and I have a theory that we tend to bring back things from ~30ish years ago... so, the 90's should be here by now. That said, I still feel like we're steeped pretty heavily in 80's nostalgia. Anywho, this is a just windy intro to say let's embrace the 80's and share our favorite tunes from the decade. If ya prefer modern music with an 80's twist, that's totally cool too!
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Time to hop in the DeLorean... let's take it back to the 80's! Note: you can embed a link to your song using the following syntax {% embed https://... %}. This should work for most common platforms!
Really looking forward to listening to y'all's suggestions! 🎶
Top comments (21)
Three of some of my alltime fave songs :~)
Oh wow, I'm digging all these.
And while I know the band titles, I really haven't gotten into any of these bands before... I particulalry liked the New Order song + looked up the lyrics and it's deep. I think I might have to deep dive into some of their stuff today.
Would you say these bands fit in the same genre? Feels kinda new wavey, post punky... but this is relatively new territory for me, so def correct me if you think it's something entirely different.
Lol yeah I am definitely a new wavy type fellow, love me some 80s synth - I think new wave is prob the most appropriate catch-all definition but New Order is the second iteration of Joy Division which is one of the quintessential postpunk bands so they definitely have that heavy influence
Another shameless playlist self promo but I do have another playlist (which I think I shared on one of these threads months ago?) which is more of a post-punk playlist heavily centered around the 80s (Bauhaus, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, etc.)
These days I've been on a completely different music kick but this is motivating me to get back to exploring/building out these playlists :~) thank you!
and my 80s playlist to go along with it
Chris, I just want ya to know that I put on Spotify for the first time in a long time (as you probs know, I'm a YouTube guy) and I see your awesome playlists populating my sidebar.
I've got eighties baybee, vaguely ominous, and just added not quite summer yet from above (though it is summer now, haha).
Anyway, had to come find ya here on DEV and tell ya that I appreciate the heck outta ya sharing so many good tunes with me. Been a minute since I've seen ya and I hope you're doing well. 🙂
Truly thank you Michael! I'm super late responding to this but absolutely made me smile lol last quarter messed me up good at work and I'm slowly easing off the brink of burnout, took a break from social media/internet for a while!
I've been lurking on the music discussions each week tho 👀 was very tempted last week to comment on the chill edition but missed the opportunity so was waiting for this week to jump back in!
Woot!! I'm glad to hear this message hit you square in the feels. 💚
You seriously have shared so many good tunes with me... I really love all your playlists and as I can see from your response in the fresh MM, you're still out there making'em and giving them crazy good titles as always, haha! 🙌
Good on ya for recognizing the burnout before it got to be too bad and taking the time to recharge. Takin a pause on social media/the internet is something that more of us should do more often. All that said, I'm so glad to catch up with ya and hear that you're doing well... and selfishly to have you feed me more great tunage!! 😀
As for the chill edition, you can count on that one to make it back into rotation one of these days. Hold your cards! 🃏
You rock! Forget deep diving into New Order today, maybe I'll just let your list here take me on a ride, haha.
I gotta give a shoutout to two of my favorite 80's performers that can each get super strange in the best of ways — Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel.
Kate Bush got a lotta love last year after her song "Running Up That Hill" was featured in Stranger Things. It's a seriously incredible song and the interpretative dance is pretty damn good too. I know she has plenty of other excellent songs, but this one really pulled me into her orbit.
And then there's Peter Gabriel... A fellow Fairlight CMI synthesist and contemporary to Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel's album "So" is one of my all-time favorite pop albums. I love him for bringing so much weirdness to the masses. One of my favorite music videos of his has to be for "Sledgehammer":
Also, I gotta mention their duet on "Don't Give Up":
This is by far one of my favorite 80s songs probably because its lyrics contain lil wisdom:
Also, I like Annie's buzz cut G. Looks dope!
Such a classic! And what a badass music video.
Annie Lennox totally rocks the buzz cut and her vocals are so powerful. But also props to David Allan Stewart who came up with one of the most iconic synth lines of all time.
I'm jamming out to Spyro Gyra's Breakout album today.
Wow, this is dope! I'd never heard these folks before. I'm getting lotsa Weather Report vibes listening to this right now and that is most definitely a good thing.
They're so good. I've really been jamming out a lot to them lately. I was lucky enough to get the Breakout album on vinyl this weekend and it reignited my love for them. Jazz Fusion is so diverse in sound and these guys bring the 🔥 lol
Ooooo I love seeing a good classic live performance. This is awesome! I'm a fan of when he dips down his glasses, haha. This song gets pretty funky too!
Haha same! We need more music like them these days!🥹
This will be forever as one of the top in my 80's playlist.
Totally a classic! And the vibes between the two singers kinda reminds me of "Having the Time of My Life" another 80's hit.
Watching the music video, this must've been for a movie too. Looked it up and it's for something called "Mannequin" ... guess the movie wasn't nearly as much of a classic, haha!
It was perfect for the 80's movie Mannequin. 😄
I'm sharing the rest of the playlist here: