FORGOTTEN MUSIC #87: 80’s POP HITS [3-CD Set]


These might not be the biggest hits of the 1980s, but 80s Pop Hits brings together three CDs full of memories. There’s a lot of value here for the money. Classics like Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” are included along with more obscure songs like “Every Time You Go Away” by Paul Young and “The Warrior” by Scandal. How many of these 40 songs do you remember? Are any of these songs your favorites? GRADE: B+
TRACK LIST:
DISC 1
1. Easy Lover
Philip Bailey / Phil Collins / Nathan East
Philip Bailey / Phil Collins 5:06
2. Rosanna
David Paich
Toto 4:33
3. You’re a Friend of Mine
Jeffrey Cohen / Narada Michael Walden
Jackson Browne / Clarence Clemons 4:49
4. All Cried Out
Full Force
Full Force / Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam 4:45
5. Keep on Loving You
Kevin Cronin
REO Speedwagon 3:21
6. Total Eclipse of the Heart
Jim Steinman
Bonnie Tyler 4:30
7. Sexual Healing
Odell Brown / Marvin Gaye / David Ritz
Marvin Gaye 4:00
8. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
George Michael
Wham! 3:52
9. Let’s Hear It for the Boy
Dean Pitchford / Tom Snow
Deniece Williams 4:22
10. Talking in Your Sleep
Coz Canler / Jimmy Marinos / Wally Palmar / Mike Skill / Peter Solley
The Romantics 3:57
11. Wishing Well
Terence Trent D’Arby / Sean Oliver
Terence Trent D’Arby 3:32
12. Voices Carry
Michael Hausman / Robert Holmes / Aimee Mann / Joey Pesce
‘Til Tuesday 4:21
13. Take Me Home Tonight/Be My Baby
Jeff Barry / Ellie Greenwich / Michael Leeson / Phil Spector / Peter Vale
Eddie Money / Ronnie Spector 3:30
DISC 2
1. Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Robert Hazard
Cyndi Lauper 3:49
2. Shake You Down
Gregory Abbott
Gregory Abbott 4:07
3. Carrie
Mic Michaeli / Joey Tempest
Europe 4:31
4. Can’t We Try
Beverly Hill / Dan Hill
Dan Hill / Vonda Shepard 3:59
5. Stop to Love
Nat Adderley, Jr. / Luther Vandross
Luther Vandross 5:10
6. Time and Tide
Basia / Basia Trzetrzelewska / Danny White
Basia 4:04
7. The Flame
Nick Graham / Bob Mitchell
Cheap Trick 4:39
8. When I See You Smile
Diane Warren
Bad English 4:19
9. I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)
Maurice Starr
New Kids on the Block 4:24
10. Eternal Flame
Susanna Hoffs / Tom Kelly / Billy Steinberg
Bangles 3:55
11. Heaven
Joseph Allen / Jerry Dixon / Jani Lane / Steven Sweet / Erik Turner
Warrant 3:56
12. How Am I Supposed to Live Without You
Michael Bolton / Doug James
Michael Bolton 4:16
13. Shining Star
Leo Graham / Paul Richmond
The Manhattans 4:39
DISC 3
1. How ‘Bout Us
Dana Walden
Champaign 4:36
2. Break My Stride
Greg Prestopino / Matthew Wilder
Matthew Wilder 3:01
3. Shower Me with Your Love
Bernard Jackson
Surface 4:54
4. Hearts of Fire
Eric Kaz / Randy Meisner
Randy Meisner 2:46
5. Key Largo
Bertie Higgins / Sonny Limbo
Bertie Higgins 3:19
6. This Could Be the Night
Jonathan Cain / Paul Dean / Harry Nilsson / Mike Reno / Phil Spector / Bill Wray
Loverboy 4:59
7. Leader of the Band
Dan Fogelberg / John Philip Sousa
Dan Fogelberg 4:17
8. Your Love
John Spinks
The Outfield 3:37
9. Everytime You Go Away
Daryl Hall
Paul Young 4:25
10. Footloose
Kenny Loggins / Dean Pitchford
Kenny Loggins 3:47
11. Who Can It Be Now?
Colin Hay
Men at Work 3:21
12. The Warrior
Nick Gilder / Holly Knight
Scandal / Patty Smyth 3:48
13. Der Kommissar
Falco / Andy Piercy
After the Fire 4:08
14. Love Me Way
John Ashton / Richard Butler / Tim Butler / Vince Ely
The Psychedelic Furs 3:32

28 thoughts on “FORGOTTEN MUSIC #87: 80’s POP HITS [3-CD Set]

  1. Steve Oerkfitz

    Lot more garbage here than good stuff. I like Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye , Love My Way by Psychedelic Furs, Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper, Voices Carry by Til Tuesday and a couple others. But to get to them you have to wade through crap like Wham, New Kids on the Block, Eddie Money, Toto, Europe, Kenny Loggins, Philip Bailey, Reo Speedwagon, Mathew Wilder, Loverboy, Dan Fogelberg, Outfield and a host of others. About a ratio of about 1 good song to 5 bad ones. I would give this about a D-.

    Reply
      1. Steve Oerkfitz

        Not to me. The 80’s for me was Springsteen, The Clash, Talking Heads, Tom Petty, The Cure, Elvis Costello, Robyn Hitchcock, The Pretenders.

  2. Deb

    It will come as no surprise that a former Disco Dolly and Reagan-era Go-Go Girl like yours truly knows almost every song in this collection—although I must concur with Steve that there’s a lot of dross amongst the gold here (if I never have to hear “Key Largo” or “Leader of the Band” again, it will not trouble me unduly). My favorite song here is “Love My Way” by the Psychedelic Furs. I also like “Der Kommissar”, although I think the version by Falco (one of the song’s writers) was superior. Also, if you ever want to get lost down the rabbit hole, take a look at what happened to Terrence Trent D’Arby (“Wishing Well”) after fame and fortune passed him by.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Deb, you’re right about Terrence Trent D’Arby’s sad fate. I admit this 3-CD set is a hodgepodge of songs, but it does capture aspects of 1980s music I had forgotten.

      Reply
  3. Prashant C. Trikannad

    George, the entire eighties had the best pop music, including the 1984 Grammy Awards. I have listened to many of these 40 songs including “Every Time You Go Away” by Paul Young, who was rather popular in my group.

    Reply
  4. Jeff Meyerson

    I hate Every Time You Go Away. I change the channel whenever it comes on, like Upside Down or Baby, I Love Your Way. Snore inducing. Also hate Michael Bolton, who makes me gag. – and a lot of the 80s music in general (sorry, Deb). I like the Marvin Gaye and Cyndi Lauper, of course, and will never get tired of hearing Bonnie Tyler sing this or anything else, but I have to admit there are a bunch of these I wouldn’t recognize if I tripped over them in the street.

    And get off my lawn!

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Jeff, I gave into temptation to buy this 3-CD set because of the $12 price. There are enough songs here to make the purchase worth it, but I do skip around a lot!

      Reply
  5. patti Abbott

    It reminds me of what I heard in my house at the time. So I love or like most of them. And most of them are as good as what I heard in A STAR IS BORN,.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Patti, I listened to a lot more music in the 1980s than I do now. Most of contemporary music doesn’t interest me. I play a lot of old music CDs (even though Patrick and Katie make fun of me for doing so). I’m just not a Pandora, Spotify, or iTunes type of guy.

      Reply
  6. Rick Robinson

    I counted 14 that I know just by title, but if I heard them there would probably be more. I liked many of the ones I recognized. I’d probably download the songs I like to the iMac and file the CDs to that dusty box in the basement.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Rick, I’m sure you’d recognize a lot of these songs if you heard them. But, as Steve, Deb, and Jeff have pointed out there’s a lot weak songs on these CDs.

      Reply
  7. Jeff Smith

    I still buy cds and play them constantly. I’ve been playing all my Cyndi Lauper cds over the past couple months and have been surprised at how much I still enjoy them. All seven of them. I like all kinds of stuff, from avant-garde to pop. (Right now, Brian Wilson is singing “Be My Baby.”) My favorite band remains Yes, who had their biggest hit in the 80s, “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” There’s a bunch of stuff on this set that I don’t know, but of what I do know, I can probably enjoy more of it than many people here.

    I just love listening to music. I play the classical music station on the tv and the cds in my stereo for four-to-ten hours a day. (Now playing: probably my favorite song from the Emmylou Harris/Dolly Parton/Linda Ronstadt recording sessions, Linda Thompson’s “Telling Me Lies.”) (And while I was typing that sentence, that song ended and now it’s the title song from Joan Baez’s new album, “Whistling Down the Wind” — with a saw providing the whistling sound.) (Now Stevie Wonder’s playing harmonica on a Cyndi Lauper track.)

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Jeff, I listen to CDs every day. I still have a vehicle that has a CD player in it (most new cars have eliminated CD players) and listen to music as I run my errands. And, I have hundreds of CDs I haven’t listened to yet. And, on top of that, I have dozens of audio books waiting for me to listen to them, too!

      Reply
      1. Jeff Smith

        My car has a CD player, though I only use it when I have something I specifically want to hear. I would generally put six of my weekly “new to me” cds in the car each month, and play them in rotation. (Only one cd from a multi-cd set, which is how I get more than 6 cds a month.) Now I put the six cds on a flash drive — no skipping when I hit a bump, no fumbling with changing discs. Getting to be time to reload it.

      2. george Post author

        Jeff, I may end up transferring music to flash drives, too. Most new cars come with Bluetooth and no CD player (an expensive option if available at all).

  8. Todd Mason

    I, too, know essentially all of these, and like only some…Aimee Mann, the key member of ‘Til Tuesday, has certainly continued to do a Lot of good work (I like her early punk band before TT, as well); the Bangles’ worst hit is what they choose…ah, well. (“In Your Room” is at least up-tempo. The Bangles’ own often brilliant compositions downplayed by CBS, which held them in something like contempt).

    ’80s for me was a lot of jazz, a fair amount of folk and bluegrass and some Hawaiian, a lot of punk and ’60s rock and ’70s funk and a fair amount of new wave, and not a little classical music…with doses of blues and a bit of country. DJ’d to some extent or another on three radio stations.

    Reply
      1. Todd Mason

        Oh, I sought out music…certainly didn’t depend on commercial radio. Nor even the video shows, though I did enjoy them to a limited extent…NIGHT FLIGHT and all that.

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