1980s retrospective
Best Songs of the 1980s
The '80s built the music-video industrial complex, gave the world synth-pop, and produced more enduring radio hits per year than any other decade in rock history. Production-wise it's a polarizing era — gated reverb, DX7 presets, layered drum machines — but the songwriting under those sounds is some of pop's all-time best.
What defined this era
Synth-pop, post-punk, hair metal, and golden-age hip-hop all in one decade.
Artists at the center
- • Michael Jackson
- • Prince
- • Madonna
- • Tears for Fears
- • Talking Heads
- • The Police
- • New Order
- • Whitney Houston
- • Bruce Springsteen
- • Kate Bush
A listening note
Listen on a real stereo if you can. '80s production was mixed for big rooms, not earbuds.
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