Over the past week, we’ve had the pleasure of sharing two excerpts from “Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs that Defined the 1980s,” and now we’ve got copies of the book — signed by authors Lori Majewski and Jonathan Bernstein — to give away to two lucky U.S.-based Slicing Up Eyeballs readers.
Published this week, “Mad World” takes a look at 36 classic ’80s songs via new interviews with the artists, a list that includes Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, INXS, Tears For Fears, The Smiths, Simple Minds, OMD, Adam and the Ants and many, many more.
If you haven’t already, check out our excerpts on New Order and Simple Minds.
TO ENTER: Below we’ve listed the 36 New Wave classics spotlighted in “Mad World.” In the comments section, please tell us which of those songs is your favorite, and why. If you’re using the Slicing Up Eyeballs app, please email your entry to info@slicingupeyeballs.com with the subject line “It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world.”
RULES: Contest is open only to U.S. residents (sorry, publisher’s rules). We’ll take entries until 5 p.m. EDT Friday, April 25. After that point, we’ll select two winners at random and contact them via their provided e-mail addresses. One entry per person.
ETC.: If you don’t want to mess around with contests, the book can be ordered via Amazon.com.
UPDATE: Contest is now closed. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and memories about these songs. The winners have been emailed.
Songs examined in “Mad World”
Adam and the Ants, “Kings of the Wild Frontier”
Gary Numan, “Cars”
Duran Duran, “Girls on Film”
New Order, “Blue Monday”
ABC, “Poison Arrow”
Devo, “Whip It”
Echo and the Bunnymen, “The Killing Moon”
Spandau Ballet, “True”
The Human League, “Being Boiled”
Heaven 17, “Temptation”
Dexys Midnight Runners, “Come On Eileen”
Bow Wow Wow, “I Want Candy”
The Waitresses, “I Know What Boys Like”
The Normal, “Warm Leatherette”
Kajagoogoo, “Too Shy”
Thomas Dolby, “She Blinded Me With Science”
The Psychedelic Furs, “Love My Way”
Depeche Mode, “New Life”
Yaz, “Only You”
Kim Wilde, “Kids in America”
Howard Jones, “New Song”
Berlin, “The Metro”
A Flock of Seagulls, “I Ran”
Modern English, “I Melt With You”
Soft Cell, “Tainted Love”
a-ha, “Take On Me”
Joy Division, “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
The Smiths, “How Soon is Now?”
Tears for Fears, “Mad World”
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, “If You Leave”
Ultravox, “Vienna”
INXS, “Original Sin”
Thompson Twins, “Hold Me Now”
Simple Minds, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
Animotion, “Obsession”
Band Aid, “Do They Know it’s Christmas?”
Vienna is my absolute favorite on this list. That song singlehandedly turned me from a Metalhead at age 15 into a die-hard New Wave fan. The rhythmic beats are almost hypnotic and Mideg Ure’s voice never sounded better.
“Cars” is definitely my favorite. Mainly because I remember hearing it for the first time when I was 5 years old and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. My older brother bought me the 45 which I still have to this day. Just a classic New Wave song from a quintessential artist.
‘Blue Monday’ by New Order
‘Blue Monday’ by New Order because hearing this song in Jr High school forever changed my perception of what is good music!
Whit It by DEVO. The song pulled me out of small town USA and into the larger world.
Whip it by DEVO. The song pulled me out of small town USA into the larger world !
Mad World by Tears for Fears. The Hurting and Songs for the Big Chair remind me of my summer after high school, and all the good times spent just driving around town.
Simple Minds, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
“How Soon is Now”, because it’s Morrissey
Spandau Ballet’s True, because it was in Sixteen Candles and like every closeted gay boy in the 80s, I was in love with Jake Ryan.
Kim WIlde: Kids in America.
That’s funny, it was on yesterday on Sirius and I said then how it has always been in my top ten. At 12, and 14 and 16 and, I guess now, the lines about suburbia crawling still resonate. I grew up in suburbia and always thought I was a city kid at heart (and moved here my first chance. And HATED suburbia). It still feels like the epitome of youth and music and the excitement of being a teenager and is still infectious 25+ years later.
Husband wants to know where “East California” is though. :)
Which ONE?! I have to pick just one?! Most of these are the songs that were core to my adolescent development. To be true to my adolescent angst I’ll choose Tainted Love.
Hard choice between Joy Division, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and Echo’s “The Killing Moon’ – for both of these bands, these are their defining songs. JD wins. Within the song, there is a story, there is drama, there is a tragedy… and even after all these years, it still hits all the chords.
Joy Division, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” has to be my favorite; first it’ a great song; and second; it’s one of the first songs to cross over from underground to wider appeal.
“I Know What Boys Like,” because it brings the show Square Pegs back for me. The Waitresses also had such attitude. I love them.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, “If You Leave” – so many favorites off this list, but forced to pick just one it would be this one – the song still takes me back to my early days in college, hanging with good friends, drinking too much rum & coke, and working in a video store. Ah, the 80’s!
Gotta go with Joy Division, “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. The thought of what may have been – a massive greatness on the brink of blowing up, haunts me still.
The killing moon, such imagery and a guitar tone like no other.
So hard to pick, but have to go with Love My Way-saw the Midnight to Midnight tour in 8th grade on my birthday-one of the greatest birthdays ever. They just played here in GA a few nights ago at a club, but sadly I’m now too old to stay up that late :(
“New Song” by Howard Jones is my favorite, because Jones’ use of the synthesizer was more joyful and less “robotic” than a lot of the synth-heavy New Wave music that had come before it. “New Song” is cheerful fun and completely without guile or pretense. A perfect pop tune from my favorite era of music.
Although I loved nearly all the songs on this list, it was Band Aid, “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” that probably made the biggest impression on me.
I was going through a lot of changes and had sought out punk and new wave music as a way to identify what I was feeling. The Band Aid song merged the world of alternative artists with a very relevant and timely social cause. I was captivated by the single and the resulting Live Aid shows, which set me on to my present career in international affairs.
This band, and iconic anthem, quite literally changed my life. Was it a bit hokey, overdone or pretentious? Sure, but so were the entire 1980’s! The point is that these diverse artists were able to come together for an amazing cause that still resonates with me today, many decades later.
Thank you for the music and memories!
“Mad World” by Tears for Fears! TFF is up there with U2 and The Beatles for my top 3 all-time favorite bands. Also love “The Killing Moon”.
Hard to pick just one but for me it would be Being Boiled by The Human League. I’m a big fan of their early, weirder songs and this is one of them. Great stuff!!
So many great songs listed, but I think I’d have to choose ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart”. This song was released by Joy Division in ’79 … long before the New Wave boom of the 80s. Joy Division/New Order inspired so many other bands, is my favorite band and deserves to be the top picked on the list! :-)
That’s a tough call, but my favourite would be “Only You” by Yazoo, mainly because I love those Vince Clarke synths.
shame that Alison Moyet never got her due…she was Adele before Adele…
My favourite out of these listed is “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division, although Joy Division has an even more amazing discography than just that song.
So many stories related to so many songs on this list! Though not necessarily my favorite, The Smiths, “How Soon is Now?” is my choice here. I was in High School French class, and this older, nerdy (before nerds were cool), said to me that the Smith’s Meat Is Murder was life-changing and that I should buy it. My friend was going to the mall with her mom so I asked her to pick it up for me (she bought a Menudo record!). So, that began a life-long love of the Smiths and Morrissey for me. It was life-changing, and saved me from some mediocrity, I’m sure.
“Vienna” by Ultravox is my absolute favorite–just the way it waxes and wanes and has the big build-up. I can listen to it over and over (and do!). I also love “Mad World”, just because it seems like such a sad song but has such a ridiculous video.
My favorite song from the list is “I Ran” by Flock of Seagulls. When I first heard that song, everything changed for me in music and in fashion. Synth pop is still my favorite! Thanks!
Cars is my favorite.it was the first time I heard anything “synth-rock” and I was hooked.
ABC – Poison Arrow.
I remember hearing this on the radio between REO Speedwagon and AC/DC. It was just so smooth and stood out from all of the other noise.
The Smiths “How Soon Is Now,” because the first time I listened it was like nothing else before, especially with Morrissey’s distinctive voice and Marr’s guitar riff.
Being Boiled by The Human League. They have been the very first band that started making music only with synths, they followed a manifesto and they stuck with it even when the odds were not on their favor (that Gary Numan that hit the chart when they had been experimenting for years…). To me the first two records of the Human League are the beginning of everything related to british synth pop – and IMO, their mix of pop and experimentalism was unreachable. Also, i give an extra point to Phil Oakey’s haircut.
It can only be ‘Kings of the Wild Frontier’. Seeing Adam live back then, with the two drummers set up high above the stage on scaffolding, pounding out that rhythm, Adam strutting the stage, calling everyone to attention and demanding that we celebrate our weirdness/difference instead of covering it up: it was a revelation for a rural high school kid!
Depeche Mode, “New Life”
It’s such a simple and FUN song!
The Smiths, “How Soon is Now?”
“Mad World” – listened to it with my now husband on our first date nearly 30 years ago.
New Order’s “Blue Monday” is my favorite song on the list. I can turn to that song today and still feel the thrill of the syncopated beat as soon as it starts.
I could make the case for any single one of these songs, but “Whip It” probably had the most profound impact on me as it was the first song to open my Junior-High eyes to alt-rock.
every one of these songs is part of the soundtrack to my teenage years, so hard to choose…but i think i’d have to pick “Do They Know it’s Christmas”, simply because of the awareness Bob Geldof raised by bringing all of these different artists together. it was quite impressive for it’s time.
So many good songs that bring about great memories. Hold Me Now tops my list, though. That song made my first real girlfriend weak in the knees, and that was good for me!
“The Killing Moon” by Echo and the Bunnymen is my favorite from the list. Ian McCulloch had the coolest voice of the 1980s, and I always lose myself in this song.
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
From a musical history perspective, there was a lot that came before that which paved the way, but for me personally, that’s where it all started.
Plus, I never win anything dammit!
For me, it would definitely have to be “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran. I actually saw the Night Version of this video and it was never played on American radio and that’s why it didn’t chart in the US. If you have ever seen the Night Version of the video to “Girls On Film”, it takes place in a boxing ring and there are several erotic sequences with topless girls that take place. Being 13 at the time, I was entranced by the surreal, earthy quality of the video and the topless girls and the lyrics to the song ushered in a whole array of New Wave hits by Duran Duran, including the iconic “Rio” and the sultry “Hungry Like the Wolf”. Tremendous New Wave band and I’m delighted that they are still around and performing 33 years later!
Depeche Mode “New Life”
Because, Depeche Mode.
New Order’s “Blue Monday” because even my father knows it.
“Blue Monday” New Order. My friends and I used to tear up the dance floor, during our college days, when this came on. This track brings back so many memories every time I hear it.
While this is a challenge to pick just one, I will go with How Soon Is Now.
From the opening chords it just grabs me every time. I have to stop and listen. And “I am human and I need to be loved” is one of those lyrics that resonates with everyone.
“Blue Monday” by New Order because it’s just a perfect song! :)
The Smiths, “How Soon is Now?” Because it made me into who i am now.
Thesecarecall really great songs surprised the cure isnt on the list but my fav on this list would be do they know its christmas time. My friends and I would sit and try to name all the people in the video!!
The Psychedelic Furs – Love My Way
The song that opened me up to this very, very “Mad World”
Have to pick Kings of the Wild Frontier as I listened to that album until the grooves wore off :)
The Killing Moon because it is so ethereal.
Only You by Yaz(oo) because it was the perfect combination of soul (Alison) and electronic (Vince). It’s a beautiful song to boot.
Impossible to choose, but I will pick Ultravox, “Vienna”. This is an amazing song to belt out in the car when you are alone and need to let something out.
So many are “favorites” here, but I will choose “Tainted Love” if only for the memories it brings up of every teen dance experience I ever had, even if the reality of most of them was more like “How Soon Is Now” (“so you go and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own…”).
Tough choice, but I would have to go with Melt with You as that song seems to singlehandedly define the era.
“I Melt With You”, not so much because of that song itself, but because it introduced me to such a wonderful album. I think a lot of folks see them as a new wave one-hit wonder because of that tune, but the ‘After the Snow’ album is full of gripping, more atmospheric tracks, and also opens with a real barn-burner that I regularly listen to for a boost when I’m jogging. :)
Difficult to just pick one out of this fantastic list, but I’d have to say “Only You”. No matter when or where I hear this song it still brings a flood of great memories from the years since it’s release.
I would choose all of the songs if I could but will have to pick Duran Duran’s, Girls on Film. They were and still are my favorite band and I always enjoy hearing this song performed live at a Duran Duran show. Whenever you hear the camera shutter sound at the beginning of the song, you know straight away what song it is :)
Cars. It was the first time I heard what synthesizers could do. Cold and sterile. Perfect.
Love Will Tear Us Apart- nothing else sounded like this and really nothing else ever has.
The Smiths, How Soon is Now. I have a vivid memory of standing along the wall alone in a goth club in my 20’s listening to this song. Everytime I hear it that image flashes through my mind.
Out of all of these, I’d say Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ because of 1988’s Substance compilation…I’d been listening to a college radio for a few years by then, but that year remains a special one for me. That was when I got to hang out with some of my best and oldest friends, all of us HUGE college rock fans. They were all a year ahead of me in high school, so when they graduated that year and left me behind, that album ended up being my personal soundtrack. ‘Love’ manages to be both melancholy and freeing at the same time, a fitting “ending theme” to that time of my life.
Psychedelic Furs – “Love My Way”
Fell in love when I heard this on Mtv for the first time — years later, I had some of the lyrics sung right to me by Richard Butler (swoon!)
Blue Monday – the beat, Bernard’s voice, the album sleeve – not just a song, but history
Gary Numan, “Cars”
Because when I heard it as a youngster living in a tiny town in Southern Illinois, it blew my mind. It scared and enthralled me. I didn’t know what it was, but I loved it and wanted to know more about how songs like that came to be. Gary and “Cars” helped begin a life-long obsession with music, especially UK music.
Carla Conrad
So many great songs and a ton of great memories from another time and place. Any of these songs deserve a shout out but if I had to choose one that I think falls under a m ore iconic category it would have to be a-ha’s “Take On Me”. Its a pretty perfect pop song and has held up all of this time, even after its 1985 release. The song itself is the perfect mix of guitars, drums, synthesizers and Morten Harket’s voice. I have heard this song destroyed at karaoke – in good and bad ways – and its a testament to everything this song encompasses that makes it as fresh today as it was all those years ago. Probably the biggest component and a push here to get the song charted in the US was that video which even now, is amazing to watch. So cutting edge and ahead of its time. Alot of the other videos you see from the same time period are dated and look old. This one still looks fresh and is exciting to watch. The song and video together are def an unstoppable force.
Thanks for the contest and chance to win MAD WORLD
Cars – Gary Numan. I would watch Saturday Night Live in the late 70s early 80s just for the musical acts. I would also stay up late of Friday nights to catch new music vids that were on TV. But this one particular Saturday night Feb 16, 1980 Gary Numan was the musical guest. It was jaw dropping when I saw him and then the song came on. I was 12 and that sons did it for me as far as liking modern or new wave music. Bought the single and I recall preferring the b-side “Metal” a bit better… Been a Numan fan since…
“I Melt with You”- Modern English… I love this song. It illicits all the memories of my first loves. The tinglyness of chemistry. That overwhelming feeling that you cannot live without someone. 💕
ABC- Poison Arrow!! Martin Fry’s vocals are spot on! His Debonair style and the combination of the magnificent production of Trevor Horn of Lexicon of Love!! SUPERB!!
New Order, “Blue Monday”
My sister came back from Germany with a mixtape of songs I had never heard of. I remember liking this song but having no clue who it was or even the name of the song. Nothing was labelled on the tape. Fast forward 2 years later when I bought the US version of Power, Corruption, and Lies. Tacked on the end of Side 1 was Blue Monday – the unknown song I had heard a year prior on the unlabeled mixtape. Today, New Order is still one of my favorite bands and this is still one of my favorite songs.
ABC’s “Poison Arrow’ is one of my all time favorite songs ever. Not only does it represent one of the hi lights of the early 80s but it also showcases Trevor Horn’s excellent production skills. It’s definitely the band’s signature tune instead of Look Of Love
Ahhhh…I adore every one of those songs for different reasons, but if I am forced to choose, I will have to go with Killing Moon. It has this haunting lyrical quality that makes me pine for Ian McCulloch and remember my teenage angst.
The Psychedelic Furs, “Love My Way” because I can still picture the wonderfully evocative video.
Impossible to choose just one! So many memories attached to the music created by these artists… I’ll choose Berlin’s The Metro…because, Terri Nunn’s outfits hahaha and well, I loved her voice.
Girls On Film. Simply because the video was the first time I saw boobs on TV as a kid.
I think the 2nd time was Prince’s Purple Rain movie.
I could choose 90% of this list for different reasons, but I’m going to go with “How Soon is Now?” by The Smiths. Why? Well, that guitar! I remember getting an import cassette version of “Hatful of Hollow” and listening to the whole thing, but this song in particular, over and over again.
The Smiths – “How Soon is Now?”. It completely changed how I thought about music. It was one of the first songs that really described how I felt at the time. It will always have a special place in my heart.
“Come on Eileen” — I bought copies of those old lyrics magazines just to figure out what they were saying, but the real reason it’s my favorite is the video. Nothing like young, clever and extremely dirty Irish youth cavorting around your TV screen!
Pick just 1,Jeez could you make it any harder but I guess for sentimental reasons it would be Only You,my prom theme from 1986
Whip it by Devo. Their experimentation with sound satire and stagecraft is unrivaled. I remember hearing this song first in Jr High and feeling like I had been shown the door to a whole new world.
Adam Ant .. Kings of the Wild Frontier .. amazing album .. amazing song .. the drums make the song and upbeat nature of the album can put a smile on a droopy day ..
To be honest .. almost impossible to pick just one !!
‘Mad World’, because _The Hurting_ was one of the first CDs I ever owned back in the early ’80’s…that and ‘The Crossing’ and ‘90125’.
I’ma go with the slow skate favorite, “True” by Spandau Ballet. Lots of great, timeless songs on the list, but this one for some reason really sticks with me.
“True” is my go-to on Karaoke night…
love that song!
‘Blue Monday’ because it is the greatest synthpop song ever made
“the killing moon” is my absolute favorite. It reminds me of driving in complete blackness, middle of nowhere with my best friend…windows down…cool air…doing nothing and it meaning everything. :)
Oh boy, not an easy choice to make, but I’m going with the Furs’ ‘Love My Way’ because there’s something about that song that keeps cycling itself back around in my head on a fairly regular basis. It evokes a lot of what I remember best about growing up in the 80s, capped by that moody video on early MTV. ‘There’s an army on the dance floor’ paints such a vivid picture in my mind.
Hands down, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division. Ian Curtis was a genius.
The Normal, “Warm Leatherette”
I was already into many bands listed above, but when I heard this song…. WHOA! It was completely different. It opened up a door that would expand my mind into ways never imagined before.
Simple Minds “don’t you forget about me”
Has to be Girls on Film – Great song with some killer John Taylor bass and a funky addictive hook. I also fondly remember the video that I got to see when I was a hormonally-charged 13 year old.
Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
Back in the day I would have picked New Life, as I was huge into Depeche Mode. Now, if I could pick one to listen to, might be Killing Moon, Blue Monday, Love Will Tear Us Apart, but I’m going with I Melt With You.
What a collection, though!
I would have to choose Flock of Seagulls’ I Ran. Why? I blast the radio when it comes on today, 30 plus years later, and it still rocks. The song soars and guitars sing. On a side note, I would have picked other songs by some of the artists you listed had I been given the choice. I’m omitting songs pre 1980. I’d have chosen: Adam Ant: Dog Eat Dog, Duran: Rio, Devo: Girl U Want, Bow Wow Wow: Chihuahua, Psych Furs: Dumb Waiter, Yaz: Don’t Go. Some of the songs may be more (or even less) iconic, but they are just better. ;)
Tainted Love, because, for me, it was the sound of something starting.
My favorite song is actually the title of the book, “Mad World,” by Tears for Fears.
I was a teenager at the time who didn’t fit in any category at school, and thus alienated from all groups. I was an athlete, semi smart, a musician, artist, goof-ball, and hated anything mainstream. I looked androgynous to confuse people, was into theater, and loved life even though I didn’t understand it.
New wave was more than just music for me. It was a lifestyle. It influenced the way I dressed, felt, talked, danced, everything! I was consumed by it. I needed to know everything about the bands, their songs, the lyrics and the meanings behind them.
When I heard Mad World for the first time, I cried. It was a great dance tune with sad lyrics. Come to find out it was written by Roland. When he was 18, he dropped out of everything because he suffered from depression. A song about mental illness. What a concept. A teenager trying to make sense of this mad world. That song was me. It resonated with me. It stayed with me then, as it does now. It’s a timeless song, because what teenager doesn’t feel like that? No matter how far in the future we go, I’m sure all teenagers will feel the same angst we did in the 80’s, as our parent’s did before us as teenagers and so on.
But that doesn’t keep me from still crying when I hear the song.
It’s a toss up between Joy Division’s “LOve Will Tear Us Apart, and New Order’s “Blue Monday.” Both bands changed post-punk/dance/electronic music as we know it, and the first begat the latter through tragic circumstances-yet can you imagine the music scene without New Order? I think not.
I guess if I have to choose one song though, it will be “Love Will tear Us Apart.” It has the most kick ass bass groove (thanks Hooky!), and every word of it is true. Love is a tricky, slippery slope, and all too often it does tear people asunder or, at the very least, tears up our own hearts.
Tough choice between Killing Moon and How Soon is Now. While Killing Moon is the most epic song on this list, on How Soon is Now, Johnny Marr actually changed the way we view the guitar in alternative music. By creating a sweeping, claustrophobic nightmare of sound, Marr expanded the palette of colors available to artists and possibly birthed Johnny Greenwood along the way.
This book should be titled, MAD WORLD, An Oral History of British New Wave Artists* and the songs the defined the 80s (with a few exceptions).
Although it’s really difficult to choose a favorite from such an incredible list of songs, I would have to say that “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division is my favorite. It was definitely one of the most defining songs of my adolecense. Ian Curtis’s unmistakably beautiful melancholic voice was there when I was happy and when I was sad. On those nights that I sat home with a broken heart and in the times when I was dancing and twirling with the other night children on a midnight Saturday. To this day, whenever I listen to Joy Division I smile and shed a tear.
Joy Division, “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
It is just the perfect song.
I believe “I Melt With You” seems the most representative of the era. Asking me to choose a favorite is like asking me which of my 2 boys is my favorite…they all are!
I Ran by AFOS. I loved the video, they looked like futuristic alien hybrid bird people and the song had a pretty good beat too!
Tough one , many good songs to choose .
I’d have to say Simple Minds – Don’t You (Forget About Me) . I was 12 at the time and loved all the John Hughes movies and I believe that was the year the Bears won the Super Bowl ! 👍👍
Devo’s “Whip It” – such a great song with spastic drumming, whip samples, robotic precision guitars, dissonant keyboards and worried man street preaching vocals – I snuck out I bed to watch them perform on Fridays and I’ve never been the same since!
Warm Leatherette- is a song I have never gotten sick of hearing. I associate it with great friends and good times. I also introduced Warm Letherette to friends of a younger generation and they end up embracing it as well. This is what music is all about.
Vienna. Simple yet dramatic and still one of my all time favorites to this day.
The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now”–the first lines, “I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulgar” could be from a William Faulkner novel. Actually, I’ve made up a quiz–“Faulkner or Morrissey?” because their melancholy is at times interchangeable for me.
Joy Division. From the haunting lyrics, the sparse, metallic drums, stabbing guitars…..I love this stuff!
“I Ran” by A Flock of Seagulls. That song ushered in the synthesizer creating an entirely new sound that defined the New Wave era. 2nd favorite would be “Hold Me Now” by The Thompson Twins. The vocals on this song are epic and forever a classic.
How Soon is Now– I was standing by myself in a dance bar in Raleigh, NC, where I had just moved and where I knew no one the first time I heard this song. I had gone there hoping to somehow meet someone, or some people, who might be in the same situation, or who might think I looked like a cool person to get to meet. In addition to be a stranger in a new place, I was struggling with my sexuality at the time, and I think subconsciously I was hoping to meet others in the same situation. A dance bar where a lot of New Wavers, goths and other marginal young people (many who were sexually ambiguous) were hanging out seemed a good possibility for that.
Marr’s opening guitar immediately caught my attention, and I thought, “wow, that’s how to play a guitar.” But when Morrissey’s vocals began, and I heard the words, it was really as if he was singing exactly what I was feeling–he was singing my story. I remember just being stunned, and I almost started to cry.
I still feel chills up my spine every time I hear that song’s beginning notes. I had only been into music for a couple of years at that time, but I suddenly became obsessed with every new wave band that put out a record. The Smiths and Joy Division led me to really loving music, probably because of the power their music had on my immature, emotional self. But that influence has led me to the far more mature, broader love of music of various genres that I have today. I thank all these New Wavers for the emotional outlet they provided, helping me find community in other music nerds and many hours of blissful listening throughout my life.
Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon because it is the best song on the best album ever made. Or at least it is on one of the best Bunnymen albums ever made.
The Smiths “How Soon Is Now?”. Great song by maybe the greatest band of all time.
I love all of these and in reality I could never choose! But for the purposes of this contest I’ll go with “Only You” by Yaz. Alison Moyet’s vocals make me wanna cry when I hear them. So much angst!
Adam and the Ants Kings of the Wild Frontier. As a someone in third grade watching adam and the ants perform this song on American Bandstand, on a Saturday afternoon . I feel in love, with the music and the look and started my love for the rest of the new wave in 80’s
So many good ones on the list… I’m a huge Peter Hook fan so “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and “Blue Monday” are up there…
BUT… of the songs in the list? “New Life” is a great up tempo track… BUT THE LEADER IS?
“The Metro” by Berlin
Hard decision but Terri’s voice, high tempo rhythm, and synthwork has made me jump and skip like crazy since it came out back in the day.
This list is LOADED with goodies.
“Whip it” because now more than ever We’re all Devo!
Original Sin by INXS. This was the first video I saw on our local station in Atlanta that showed videos (Channel 69) and the minute I knew there was more out there than my parents classic rock. We all traded tapes in those days like it was underground movement. To hear them on the radio today brings me such joy.
Duran Duran “Girls On Film”
“Love My Way” by the Psychedelic Furs. I’d just seen them in a pub in Manley in Sydney when they were not big in Australia. Richard Butler was a ‘little tipsy’ and since I seemed to know more songs than the rest of the crowd, he kept handing me the mic! One of my top three gigs and an icon of the 80s new wave era. Top song, best album of theirs.
Kings of the Wild Frontier. Tough choice to pick one out of so many great songs, but this song stands out.
Devo – Whip It. I got into Devo before this song, but they were the first New Wave band I saw live (on the Freedom of Choice tour). I took a lot of heat at school for rocking my Devo shirt, but I didn’t care. I loved them. I loved the music. I loved the other bands too – doing something different. Speaking a new language to an audience wanting something they could latch onto. Devo opened a door for me to other bands and genres of music that changed my perspective on a life level. Once I stepped through, I never looked looked back!
“How Soon is Now” by The Smiths. Unbelievable guitar playing by Marr and the Morrissey lyrics perfectly capture teen angst.
I really like all of those songs, but me favorite would have to be “I Melt With You.” If “Whisper To A Scream” by Icicle Works had made the cut, I would have picked it :-)
I Ran – A Flock of Seagulls
I saved my money and bought a synthesizer way back when because of this song, so I could try and play it. I also had the Flock of Seagulls Mike Score haircut for awhile with a shaved side of my head and checkerboard dyed into it. That went over well in high school…….It was serious! lol
Duran Duran: Girls On Film
The music of Duran Duran captured my imagination when I was a teenager and has stuck with me ever since. I love the play between the drum beats & bass lines in this song. Especially when they play it live.
Love a Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division. From the opening guitar part to Curtis’ haunting vocals, it is just a fantastic song.
There are so many of my favorites on this list. If I had to pick one, it would be New Order’s “Blue Monday”. Whenever I hear that song it takes me back in time, when I could close my eyes, whether in a club or in my room, and feel the music overtake me. That song fills me with the joy of the 80’s and the amazing electronic reverberations of synth, that made New Wave so unique. I am immediately transported to a “happy place” when I can shut out the world and feel the music.
For me it would be “Whip it” by Devo. This song has shown me that there was more to music under the surface of New Wave, which was played constantly on the radio. It was from the New Wave scene that I found Industrial.
Tough choice, but … Yaz, “Only You”. Upstairs at Eric’s is still one of my favorite albums. Every song is great. Allison Moyet’s voice is amazing. I will never get tired of it.
This was a nearly impossible decision to make but I choose Bow Wow Wow’s, “I Want Candy” because, really, who doesn’t?!
I’ll go with “Warm Leatherette” by The Normal, both because it was fairly groundbreaking, and because Daniel Miller went on to be so important with Mute Records and as a producer.
“Do They Know It’s Christmas” is my favorite song from the list. It came out when I was a young teenager and just starting to find my way in life. It showed that music could be used politically to help save lives. It featured an amazing array of artists. And, for God’s sake: It had Phil Collins on drums!
One cannot hear it without noticing that its lyrics truly speak about suffering in Africa contrasted with the reaping of gifts and plentiful food in the states.
Thank you to Bob Geldof for organizing it and to the song itself for being totally singable and catchy!
Gary Numan “Cars” would top my list. Numan opened up my world to electronic music with that song. I found that you did not have to have strings to play good music. Because of this I found many other bands and feel in love with synth music of any kind. My love for New Wave moved to modern Industrial and beyond thanks to Gary Numan. Still one of my fave song of all time.
My favorite is ‘The Killing Moon.’ There’s something about the song that takes me away, completely isolates me when I listen to it. Nothing else exists for those 5 minutes and 50 seconds. And everything about the chorus gives me shivers.
Mine would definitely be “Girls On Film”. I love John’s bass in the song and the videos (censored and uncensored) are out of this world.
Girls on Film. The video was a game changer, nothing like it, totally scandalous for the time, yet they got away with it. Plus, it’s a great song.
Runner up: Tainted Love
Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
Because it’s one of the greatest songs. It reminds me of my youth, and has always been a part of my adult life. It just makes me happy, even though it’s so sad. And Joy Division really has influenced many great bands.
Devo- Whip It. Early accessible ‘weird’ that led down the road to many of the others on the list.
Although Depeche Mode is my all-time favorite, based on the songs on this list I have to go with Mad World by Tears for Fears. It’s just Beautifully written.
Duran Duran ” girls on film” I was just hitting puberty when this song first came out. I was watching an old MTV rival on the USA network called Night Flight with Kathryn Kinley. That is when the showed the 15-20 minute uncensored video of “girls on film” and I was mesmerized by the song and all the beautiful girls in lingerie walking up and down the runway. After that moment, I always smile when I hear that song because of that memory. After that, I watched music videos as much as I possibly could and wound up liking all kinds of different bands and types of music. Good times.
There’s not a song on the list that isn’t a favorite, but I’ll go with “Take On Me” by a-ha, primarily because of the video, which was unlike anything I’d seen at that time.
The Smiths: How Soon Is Now
Johnny Marr’s guitar and Moz’s great lyrics…I am human and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does.
So many good songs and great bands! Though Soft Cell is my fave band I’m gonna go with Duran Duran- Girls on film. That song has had a nice longevity through the years.
Oh that was hard! So many of these have been favorites of mine at different points in my life. But I’m going with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, “If You Leave”. Mostly because this song still makes me feel the same sense of longing that is has made me feel from the first time I heard it. I was pretty young when it came out, but I remember it, and it struck me. And now, here I am half a lifetime later, and it still chokes me up EVERY TIME I hear it.
“Mad World” is my favorite from the list, but “Watch me Bleed” is my favorite from that album!
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division is my favorite. Such a beautiful yet tragic song. Ian’s voice never sounded better. I also love the Beach Boys riff at the end of the song too. Classic!
Soft Cell’s cover of “Tainted Love,” since it showed how something old could be given a fresh coat of synths, tech, and attitude to become something for the new generations.
“I Melt With You” by Modern English. I have loved that song from the first time I heard it in the movie “Valley Girl.” That movie is one of my all-time favorites, it captured a period of time perfectly and I believe it still holds up today as one of the best examples of teen angst on film. The images of Randy and Julie falling in love to that song are so beautiful and I was very jealous of Nicholas Cage’s character at the time.
“Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division. I had never heard anything like it before, and I felt it in my bones…..it is still a haunting song to this day, and probably a huge influence on so much “alternative” rock that came after.
Simple Minds, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” will always evoke images from the best film ever made…John Hughes’ Breakfast Club!
The Smiths “How Soon is Now” (along with everything else they did) would have to be one of my favorites. It takes me back to a time when I thought I would be alone forever (and was almost okay with that thought) and when I listened to it I realized I wasn’t alone at all because I had these bands who shared all of my feelings. I honestly spent more time with music than people in my youth, and I don’t regret any of it. Forget the queen, god bless Morrissey ;)
Duran Duran, “Girls on Film” (the uncut version).
Because I was 16 and saw boobs on TV.
So many classics…..hard choice, but Blue Monday by New Order is the best because it is so good it changed the sound of music as we know it.
It’s impossible to pick one single favorite, so I’ll go with a song that has meaning. I’m going to say Gary Numan “Cars” simply because it’s the first song that I heard before any other, starting me on the road of being a synth music, new wave loving girl. At 7 years old, when it came out, I was smitten.
The Smiths, “How Soon is Now?”
My taste is music was forever altered by The Smiths and especially How Soon is Now. Spent many hours on the dance floor with this song.
New Order, “Blue Monday” and Joy Division, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” are very close 2nd and 3rd!
I love all of them, but Blue Monday is amazing and timeless. I’m dancing as soon as I hear the bass.
The Smiths~ “How Soon Is Now” is a particular stand-out song to me in that it opened me up to a totally new and different sound that completely evolved my musical taste and awareness and made me long to hear and digest as much music as I possibly could…Years later, I still possess this hunger for amazing, beautiful music…though newer tunes have not been as fulfilling as revisiting and rediscovering music from the 80’s and 90’s….How Soon is Now also brought about my life long love/obsession with Steven Patrick Morrissey…This is a light which will never go out. ♥
Depeche Mode–New Life
Depeche Mode New Life
How Soon Is Now – The Smiths
This song had guitars up front, was moody, and the vocals provided even more emotion. Powerful.
Tough choice though.
New Life-Depeche Mode. It was first song I heard from the band, they have always been my favorite. Thank you KROQ and Richard Blade for changing radio in Los Angeles and bringing New Wave and UK Music to LA.
soft cell-tainted love. why? because it was a kind of dark, soft “love” song and it made me feel like I was a part of something bigger back then when I was a teenager, something unique and cool.gave me a bit of independence
My favorite, among a list of many, has to be Echo & The Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon.” Back 16 years ago I had the MTv 120 Minutes tape in my car and I would listen to that song every time I drove from my apartment to my girlfriend’s. It was the exact length of time it took and I would belt out the song. I remember telling her and she thought it was super romantic and started putting the song on as soon as I said I was leaving to come to here place so she knew when I would be there. She’s my wife now and we still talk about that every time the song comes on.
“Love Will Tear Us Apart” because it flips the usual narrative. Instead of love being the salve against hopelessness, love might actually be to blame. Its content does what the form does. The song itself was a breath of fresh air with the low plodding baselines. Flipping the script on what music was sounding like.
Difficult time choosing a single song out of all these awesome selections. But since only one is allowed I am going with DURAN DURAN GIRLS ON FILM.
I loved the video and it introduced me to the New Romantic movement. I remember getting home from school and watching MTV endlessly waiting for it to come on.
I must go with How Soon is Now from the Smiths because it’s 6 minutes and 47 seconds of sublime, ethereal Johnny Marr guitar and represents the year of my complete transition headlong into the New Wave genre.
The Smiths “How Soon is Now” because of the hypnotic groove.
Vienna. This was the first song that I heard that introduces me to the whole New Wave movement.
“Only You” by Yaz(oo)
That first moment of hearing Alison Moyet’s warm, bluesy voice placed in stark contrast against Vince Clarke’s chill electronics was thrilling. They opened whole new vistas of music to my young ears and left me swooning. Still do.
The Smiths and Depeche Mode and TFF and Howard Jones got me though a lot of hard times, but The Smiths/ Morrissey did the most, so I’ll say “How Soon is Now” by The Smiths. You know you are probably wallowing in self-pity when you listen to them repeatedly, but you also know you’re not alone.
New Order’s Blue Monday. Best dance track ever. Sparked a generation of music. Multi-layered and genius designed. Still sounds fresh years later. Hands down best song on the list.
As much as I love DD since forever. .girls on film won’t get my vote. I vote for a-ha take on me. My sister and I were with my parents at an airport in Germany july 1985 overnite flight like 4 am. A-ha was boarding our connecting flight to Frankfurt. I recognized lead singer and my dad noticed I was freaking out. Tried to “help” me out to say something to lead singer and my dad says “rock on” to him as we r in line to get our seats. I was mortified. Plus I love song and video of course. Still gives me goosebumps!
“Mad World” is my pick. Tears For Fears has been my all-time favorite band for the majority of my adult life. That is one of the best songs from their masterpiece “The Hurting.” In the end, every song on that list is AMAZING, but I have to go with my favorite band. I’d like to think it might be the authors’ favorite track too since they used it as the title of their book. :)
Crazy to pick just two of these songs…all classics…but I have to go with my teen idol, Adam and the Ants, “Kings of the Wild Frontier” as I was a serious Ant fan. I went to every concert series he performed in the LA area in the 80s. I had worn his clothes and had the myriad of posters in my room…the second has to be The Smiths, “How Soon is Now?”. I identified so much with Morrissey lyrics and sound and Johnny Marr’s hypnotic guitar put me into a different mental zone…still does. Thanks for doing such great work in keeping our music alive!
I love all of the songs on this list, but I have to pick “Love my Way”.
In 1993, I saw Valley Girl as a young teen and immediately wanted the excellent soundtrack. As fate would have it, Rhino re-released the soundtrack that year. The cassette and CD were both some of the first music that I purchased with my own money. While “I Melt With You” is the iconic song from the soundtrack, it’s the sinister cool of “Love my Way” that does it for me. “Love my Way” is a song I never get sick of and I credit it for sparking a lifelong love for new wave!
ABC Poison Arrow because gold lamé! Duh!
From this list, I’ll go with Love Will Tear Us Apart, just because it’s a great song.
Vienna is my favorite on that list, i now consider Ultravox to be one of the most influential groups in musical history! The group after Kraftwerk that truly defined what electronic instruments can do. each member played a traditional instrument as well as an electronic alternative depending on what the song needed! Numan’s Cars would be second, both him and Ultravox are true pioneers.
Gary Numan’s “Cars” was the first song on the radio that I actually liked and cared about.
Out of many more obvious choices, I’ll go with Berlin’s The Metro. What a fantastic song that is… It was my introduction with the band and I was immediately fascinated (and a little shocked) by what they were doing. The whole album is great, BTW!
Has to be “Love My Way” by the Psychedelic Furs. The really cool thing is that we just saw the Furs in concert April 6th — we’ve seen them several times. Their songs are just classics that you can’t stand still when you listen. The entire listing here is awesome. So many good tunes!
It is almost impossible to choose just one! Howard Jones “New Song” would definitely be on the soundtrack of my life. It perfectly embodies my philosophy on life, which is a direct result of new wave music and the artistic, beautiful, and open people in that scene. I can’t imagine being who I am without it.
So many good songs to choose from….today my fave out of all of those is The Killing Moon by Echo.
I wanted to say Depeche Mode, but See you to me is not their most prolific song for them. I am going with How soon is now- The Smiths. The Smiths with Morrissey and Johnny Marr were unstoppable until well uhmmm… they stopped.
Aside from Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals, Richard Butler has to have the most recognizable male voice in music. For that I pick, “Love My Way” by the Psychedelic Furs although I prefer “Angels Don’t Cry” as an example of their work.
Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart. I believe it was a release that not only marked the end of a musical era, but the beginning of a new one. This seems especially true due to Ian Curtis’s suicide immediately before their first US tour. Without Joy Division, there would be no New Order. And without New Order…well, several bands wouldn’t have had their huge influence to inspire them.
I love every song on this list because every single one of them sound as fresh to me today as they have for the last 35+ years. I keep waiting to hear something that moves me as much as the “Greats”, but it hasn’t happened yet. Bands and artists have come close, but haven’t quite reached that level yet.
New Order….”Blue Monday”. Because it is perfect.
“Love Will Tear Us Apart” is probably my favorite. I love the lyrics.
I have to go with “New Life” by Depeche Mode. I don’t think it’s the best song in the list, but DM was the first of these bands that made an impression on me and led to to discover all the rest.
“Kings of the Wild Frontier” by Adam and the Ants. Adam was my first “bad boy” crush and the first poster I had of a guy in leather pants.
Cars by Gary Numan. It changed the way I listened to music when I was a kid and set me on a path of seeking out other electronic music. I found it hard to believe that a song could be recorded without guitar in it.
Late summer 1982. Outdoor concert in Minneapolis. Headliners are Blondie and Elvis Costello. Billed fourth out of five bands is one I’ve never heard of: Duran Duran. They play, and, to my 19-year-old ears, they’re amazing. As it turned out, they were just about to explode into the mainstream. It’s hard to pick a favorite on this list, but I’ll say “Girls on Film,” because it’s the only one I’ve seen performed live.
It’s very difficult to choose a favorite! I suppose I would say “Tainted Love” – the summer after it came out, my cousins from California brought the 7″ when they visited my family in San Antonio, Texas, which had no stations playing new wave. We played it over and over. I hadn’t heard anything like it before and, though it took a year or more before new wave finally made its way to the college radio, I was hooked.
Love My Way by the Psychedelic Furs
Richard Butler’s haunting vocals lured my senses into a feeling of love and madness simultaneously. The result prompted me to become not only a fan but an avid follower of the band and their music.
berlin metro, close your eyes and dream. play it loud, because it’s soothing after 30 years still
New Song by Howard Jones – I was a big fan of the cure and depeche mode in high school but for some reason howard jones always made me feel so happy
“How Soon Is Now?” by The Smiths was my “theme” song for many years in high school and after. I was the girl who didn’t have a boyfriend in high school…lots of crushes but no love, and I totally related to the lonliness and desperation in Morrissey’s voice. I still love that song to this day except it doesn’t hold the same meaning.
The Normal “warm leatherette”. It was just so strangely subversive in high school. Actually, I could have chosen any of this songs, except for two. All of them are the soundtrack of my teen years.
Wow, this is tough – a great list. Some of these songs I remember where I was when I heard them for the first time – in college many of them.
I’d have to say though – the Furs, “Love My Way”. I took my Wife to this concert, and it’s still sort of our song in a way. When Richard chimed in with “There’s An Army on the Dance Floor” and everybody started jumping in unison. I remember Richard handing the guest Cellist a rose that somebody had tossed on stage at the end of the show. Still a classy guy. And still a fantastic band live.
Although – I’ve got a story for most of the bands you mention here – great times.
New Order’s “Blue Monday” changed the way I listened to music. It was a revelation as were many of those songs, but it sounded like nothing else.
There are so many great songs on this list. However, my favorite would be Devo’s “Whip It”. Devo showed me that a a catchy pop song need not be stupid. We are all Devo.
The obvious pick, and the one most meaningful to me – Tears for Fears, “Mad World”. But actually the entire album, as well as Songs From the Big Chair which I could repeat endlessly (on autoreverse cassette).
My fav song is Girls On Film by DD. It’s quintessential new wave…punk meets disco. Cheeky with a flair for rebellion. This song was the beginning of the ride for DD. The whole album is fabulous. It’s polished much like most of the new romantic music was yet still rough enough to know it’s not too pop music.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, “If You Leave”
My favorite of the songs listed would have to be The Smiths, “How Soon is Now?”. While it is unlike any of the rest of their catalog, it is their most recognizable song to the general public. It still holds up really well to this day, and brings a smile to my face whenever I hear it.
New Song by Howard Jones is one of my favs and the standout from that list. So many of these songs from that era are over-played today. They’re still great songs and very well written but they may have lost some punch and excitement. New Song is very different. It only hit #27 on the US charts, so it got a decent amount of air-play and sounded extremely fresh but never became stale and over-played. Even when I hear it today, it still sounds original, fun, catchy, and unique. That’s what makes a great song !
“Kings of the Wild Frontier” Adam and the Ants.
The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now?” When I was in high school, I was very shy and very strange. I loved music, but I always felt out of place because I loved bands like The Cure and New Order. I was watching “120 Minutes” with my Dad in 1994 (long after the Smiths had parted company). It was our way of bonding (I am an only child and my mother had a lengthy illness when I was growing up). The video for “How Soon Is Now?” came on. I watched as the girl in red seemed so lost and she reminded me so much of myself. Every time I hear the track, it takes me back to being 15 years old. The first time I saw Morrissey live (10 years later in 2004), he opened his set with “How Soon Is Now?” and I cried.
The Smiths’ How Soon Is Now? Is my favorite on this list because it personifies my feelings of social anxiety when trying to find “the one”. I am human, and I need to be loved. (Just like everybody else does). There’s already more than enough scruples when getting to know someone, and with seemingly all my attempts falling flat in one way or another; or not having enough chemistry to really get off the ground, it makes you wonder the old adage “There’s someone out there for everyone,” but I have to ask “How soon is now?”
I’m going to go with Adam and the Ants, “Kings of the Wild Frontier”. It was one of the first music videos I remember seeing and probably one of my first band crushes, plus they have killer drums.
Psychedelic Furs, “Love My Way.”
For no other reason than it reminds me of being a lonely punk in a town full of “normal” people.
Hard to choose, but I would go with Human League, Being Boiled, so different for it’s time.
Because the DM song that’s listed isn’t my favorite (though DM is), I gotta go with How a Soon Is Now? That song got me through my college days, even though it was 10 years after it’s release, and 10 years before it was mainstream to love new wave music again.
So many great choices.
How Soon Is Now? The Smiths.
My favorite is “The Killing Moon”. It reminds me of how I used to listen to EATB at nights, looking at the moon, when I was a teen in South America. The Cure and EATB defined my taste for New Wave.
If You Leave by OMD. I can’t hear it without being transported back to being in 7th grade during the summer and the feeling of having a massive crush on someone at that age. How much it almost physically hurt.
Girls on Film. No other song on the list captures the essence of the band so completely.
This was tough, but after thinking this over very carefully… It has to be INXS, “Original Sin” — Why? Michael Hutchence’s sultry sweet voice.
Really tough choice. So I’ll make my top five chart below. Because it was simply the best decade in the music.
1. How Soon Is Now? – The Smiths
——————————————
2. Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
3. Blue Monday – New Order
4. The Killing Moon – Echo and the Bunnymen
5. Vienna – Ultravox
Cheers
x
The Smith’s “how soon is now” because my relationship with my wonderful wife is built around Morrisey’s lyrics a Marr’s guitars.
Devo, Whip It, because it still is awesome.
One of the toughest musical choices I’ve ever had to make. I found it odd that there was no “Cure” song. However, I finally narrowed my difficult decision down to two. “The Killing Moon” was and is one of the best New Wave songs ever, but I had to choose “How Soon is Now.” “…I need to be loved…just like everybody else does…” One of the most haunting, beautiful songs ever by the best band in the history of rock (REM is close). I have seen Morrissey three times in concert. My biggest regret in life was never seeing “The Smiths” before they parted ways.
As I read each of these titles, I played the tune in my head. All of them are terrific, but as one of the earliest listed, Gary Numan’s “Cars” remains a benchmark of 80’s music sensibility. From the opening drone, everything about that song howls, “1980s” !
Dexys and here’s why. You know when we just had the radio and the overwhelming joy you’d get when they’d play your favorite song? Well, remember when your song became less popular and started to fall out of rotation? And then, remember when a few years would go by between hearing a song you once loved because if the radio didn’t play it, you didn’t hear it (unless you went out and bought the record which I didn’t have the money to do)? Well, I have never been happier than when I heard Come On Eileen on the radio about 4 years after it was popular. That sensation is like a little miracle made just for you. I’m glad I can play it now anytime I want, but it meant more when I couldn’t.
Totes agree Jon! Dexy’s 4 Evs!
“Blue Monday” by New Order was certainly my favorite as a kid, introducing me to the cool world of new wave. Today, I can’t say what my favorite is, so I hold to “Blue Monday,” if only for nostalgic, sentimental reasons. The song has held up great through the years.
Mad World
Soothed My Angst-Ridden Teen days
Such a tough call, they’re all great tunes. But if I had to pick a personal favorite from the list, it’d be Echo and the Bunnymen – “The Killing Moon”. Enjoy the moody atmosphere and brooding vocals. Ask me again tomorrow and you might get a different pick.
It’s a hard choice, but I’m going with Bow Wow Wow’s I Want Candy (sorry a-ha and DD). I first heard this song and saw the video as a kid on MTV, maybe 1983. I loved it and never forgot. None of the other kids believed me that there was a band called Bow Wow Wow and no one knew what I was talking about. Then, probably 5 years later, I saw that blue cover with bronzed Annabella in the record store and was thrilled!! I have loved them ever since and that has been my all time favorite Live Band Karaoke song to sing!
All fantastic song selections, but my favorite from this list would have to be Cars by Gary Numan. The first time I heard this song I was on vacation and was listening to a radio at the beach and the song started and all I could think of was how absolutely different and mesmerizing it was! Nothing else was like it on the radio at the time and it’s such great song. It still brings back such great memories from my younger days…
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, “If You Leave” – is my absolute favorite. Much like Simple Minds “Don’t You Forget About Me” profiled this week, “If You Leave” really defined the mid-80’s era of New Wave Music. Before and after do not compare to mid-late 80’s New Wave. There was much excitement, much newness, much throwing off old conventions, yet all being likable and radio-ready. Rock and Roll has never been the same. No, I do not like both just because they are identified with John Hughes’ films, though one has to admit, Hughes’ films really identified the era for those of us in junior high and high school during this time
“Love Will Tear Us Apart” is just mind-boggling perfection that intertwines a number of emotions into a powerful composition.
I adore most of these songs, but have to go with “How Soon Is Now”, because immediately upon hearing it on my campus radio station I ran down to the station & began dj training sessions. Life changing.
It’s hard to choose which is my favorite from so many fine songs. Killing moon is one of those melancholic songs that brings peace to my soul.I music gem! Thanks Echo!!
Some really special songs on that list, but I’ll have to go with Gary Numan, “Cars”. I remember the Summer it came out… I was 8 years old, and it totally caught my attention… and set me on the path to liking & discovering my own music.
I remember being in a friends driveway, and there was a radio on the hood of a car… and it came on.
“How Soon Is Now?” by The Smiths. I first heard it when I was 16. Discovering music (or anything) during adolescence is extremely profound. The discoveries, revalations, and insights that you experience at this time is like no other time in your life. I remember reading the lyrics and being astonished that a group of people could put their thoughts and emotions into words and create a memorable piece of music all at the same time.
TBH there are too many favorites to pick just one. New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’, The Smiths ‘How Soon is Now’ and Echo & The Bunnymen’s ‘Killing Moon’ are some of the songs that shaped my childhood. Almost every song on this list reminds me of going camping in the backyard with my father when I was 9 or 10. We brought a radio and tuned it into the local college radio station, WESS 90.3 located East Stroudsburg University right down the street. That one night pretty much shaped my taste in music to this day. There isn’t a song on this list that wasn’t played throughout that weekend. Modern English’s ‘Melt with you’ was the song that blew me away though. That one more than any other opened my eyes and made me want to go out and spend every dollar I had on music. I was extremely disappointed when the song was used in a stupid Burger King commercial. FOR SHAME!
The Smiths: “How Soon Is Now”. The opening, that Marr reverb riff. This lyrics. The optimism in the Morrissey dark. The danceability. And, as a college radio DJ, it was the perfect song to throw in to have time to run to the toilets!
Love all of them. But to pick one i would choose Echo and the Bunnymen ~ Killing Moon stirs so much emotion in me.
Mad World. Such a great feel, lyrically and musically. Every time it comes on I have to stop and listen.
I have to say “How Soon is Now?”.
This is TOUGH.
I guess in terms of zeitgeist, “Love My Way” really ushered in my teen romantic angst years as I remember visiting an uncle who was near to my age but older and he and his friends were building a cassette library of punk and new wave. I remember staring at their Chuck Taylors and Ray-Ban (certainly knock off) sunglasses and thinking, “so this is college? cute guys and cool music? I’m IN.” “How Soon is Now” is a very close second for similar reasons.
I have to pick “Too Shy” by Kajagoogoo. It was so different from anything on pop radio. Still love the beat. I also have a distinct memory of someone playing this on the bus to school in the 7th grade.
I honestly love every track listed above! “Only you” by Yazoo is 80’s synth pop at it’s best. I remember feeling this was the sound and voice of the future. An emotional, soulful and timeless love song. When Alison Moyet & Vince Clark got together for the Re-Generation tour in 2008, my best friend and I booked flights to see 3 shows in London. They added shows in LA and NY and we caught another 3 shows.
This is the first time I’ve ever heard Joy Division classified as “New Wave,” but whatever.
I’ll vote for the Modern English song “IMWY,” for the good memories, the fact that the album around it was actually better than the single everyone knows — and they’re the token 4AD band on the list, so deserve support on that basis alone.
The Smiths “How Soon is Now?” First because of the intro, second the video, third “I am human and I need to be loved…just like everybody else does.”
Kings of the Wild Frontier….the Ants. “A new royal family a wild nobility” the drums (2 sets no less), the guitar, the singer. This song has it all and really kicks the other songs’ butts in terms of raw power. Also becoming an antfan pretty much changed my life. A+
Man so tough. I’d say If You Leave by OMD. There are many of my fav bands on this list, hell, I follow morrissey on tour! But few love songs have impacted the secret romantic in me like if you leave. It’s one of those songs you wish someone loved you enough to write about you. But alas. No one has written a song about me. They wrote it last minute for the movie, proving perfection isn’t necessarily practiced. I suppose Ringwald is the ultimate muse. Le sigh
“Hold Me Now” by Thompson Twins is my favorite of the list because the song is catchy and the dayglow video makes it clear that they are not twins. The song reminds me of summers in grandfather’s garden, watching the sunset and swatting away mosquitos.
Gary Numan, “Cars” Nothing sounds more 80s than CARS!
How soon is now, Hauntingly amazing. still love to hear it every day
Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. Story goes that my mom used to play the song for me when I was a fussy infant, and it was the only thing she said that soothed me.
There are many favorites in that list but for now I’ll choose Kajagoogoo’s “Too Shy” mainly because I thought they were the coolest looking band in the world. I was ten when it was released and I REALLY REALLY wanted to get beads in my hair just like Nick Beggs!
The Smiths’ “How Soon is Now?” is one particular favorite mainly because so many memories of dancing (at clubs in the 1980s) are associated with it.
I should add: I still own a “How Soon is Now?” EP I bought in the 1980s!
The Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen. I spent hours gazing into this album cover sitting cross legged on the floor of my bedroom. Ian’s haunting vocals take me back to the 80’s, my vinyl, my headphones and my happy place.
Soft Cell – Tainted Love
I remember dancing madly to this at Masquerade and Eclipse in Ybir City hoping to draw the attention of some cute girl. What memories.
If I have to pick just one (which is hard!) I’ll choose “I Melt With You” by Modern English. it’s a sweet, sweet song that takes me back to a sweet, sweet time in my life.
“Tainted Love” — as “Tainted Love/Where Did I Our Love Go” was the flagship 12″ single in my music collection. The song helped shape my musical taste and brought me into the realm of the ‘new wave’ genre that I will always be apart of.
Love Will Tear Us Apart – beautifully haunting and full of despair
Thomas Dolby. I remember being driven to a small record store in commack ny and picking up his album. He made science, alluring rather than staunchy. Gosh, I really really loved one of our submarines too. Probably was because of him that I fell in love with note nuances and electronica.
Temptation by Heaven 17. I NEVER tire of that one! It has a great energy, you cant help but to sing and dance along!
even though my favorite band is the Smiths, song-wise I have to pick “I melt with you” by modern english. when that song was new I was 11-12 years old and super-idealistic and optimistic, and wanted to be Deborah Harry when I grew up. :)
‘Mad World’ by Tears for Fears is my pick, because it WAS a crazy world back then in the 80’s! It’s also a beautiful, sincere melody with touching and insightful lyrics — arguably TFF at their very best.
Simple Minds “Don’t You Forget About Me” . This song defines the 80’s for me and it has a cool story behind it # I♥JohnHughes
“Blue Monday” by New Order has to be my favorite. While I’d heard New Wave when I was younger, this was the one song that really spoke to me when I was in college and got me to snatch up all the New Wave I could find and introduce me to so many other bands I love. Plus it was always a good song to cheer me up when people had let me down.
“Mad World” from Tears for Fears because it and the album it was on–“The Hurting–helped me through a very dark time duringy teenage years. And years later, it made a brilliant addition to the “Donnie Darko” soundtrack (eventhough it was a cover version).
Joy Division-Love will Tear Us Apart.
At that time in my life my 1st love and I were ending and i was very sad and listened to this over & over. Luckily we made our way back to each other and are still together now.
I Know What Boys Like by The Waitresses. I love her cool, unaffected tone throughout the song.
Many good ones, but I will say “Vienna” by Ultravox, especially hearing it at Live Aid. “It means nothing to me” — can bring me to both tears and great heights of ecstasy, all in one song. Midge Ure has an incredibly powerful voice. They are one of the most underrated groups; I can’t wait to hear what the book says about the song.
If you like bass guitar, even a tiny bit, you will be blown away by Nick Beggs in “Too Shy” by Kajagoogoo.
Adam and the Ants, “Kings of the Wild Frontier” is what got me through my senior year of high school in 1989. Best year ever. The Summer of ’89…
So many of these mean different things to me. So many good songs…
If one? Soft Cell, “Tainted Love.” Reminds me of the love of my life.
One of the best New Wave songs that I still love to hear is Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”. I especially loved the extended version where they blended “Tainted Love” and the Supremes, “Baby, Where Did Our Love Go?” Awesome Tune!
The Smiths, How Soon is Now. Without a doubt one of my obsessions!! The legacy of The Smiths lives on today and changed music and my life. I remember being a preteen sitting on the floor in my room listening to Smiths records I stole from my brother who was in college. Legendary. A brief moment in time, then they were gone.
Girls on Film. I was a HUGE Duran Duran fan. I guess I still am!
“If You Leave”–takes me back to the impressionable age of 10 and the movie “Pretty in Pink.”
The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now” just has an epic, timeless sound and somehow conveys happiness and hopelessness at the same time. You can put this on repeat and never get tired of Marrs’ guitar sound as well…
I named my whippet Devo…enough said.
Freaking priceless. We’re all DEVO.
My favorite is The Normal’s “Warm Leatherette.” With its minimal synth line and haunting vocal track, it took ideas that began percolating with Suicide’s first album and showed a radical new direction for electronic music. Later finding resonance with Tubeway Army and John Foxx, this seductive new idiom molded postpunk and new wave in equal measure.
80’s Love.
“New Life”
Because it’s Depeche Fucking Mode :)
How soon is now. Why? Have you heard the song? It is amazing musically and lyrically. Just flat out perfect. And it seemed to describe just about every attempt at social interaction of my entire high school/early college years.
Have to go with “How Soon Is Now?” That guitar was unlike anything I’d heard before. Sadly, I never saw a Smiths show, but have seen Johnny twice, including with Neil Finn at the Fillmore. When they played this song, the crowd went nuts. Will never forget the vibrating floor, spinning disco ball, and permeating bliss.
p.s. Actually already have the book, and it is AWESOME! Would love to see a sequel with Split Enz, Big Country, the Beat, the Fixx, and more. Fingers crossed!
I went in a different direction, but that’s the best song on the whole list by a mile.
I remember what a dork I was when I first heard it in college, I kept thinking he was singing “I am the sun, I am the air…”
[rolls eyes]
You weren’t alone in your “sun” and “air” thinking, son. :)
Its got to be “How Soon Is Now?” for me. That awesome ghostly guitar building up to that cool atmospheric crescendo and Morrissey’s brilliant lyrics over top. Just great stuff.
My favorite song on the list is: Joy Division- Love Will Tear Us Apart… Such raw emotion. I feel love and heart break at the same time. Gives me chills every time I hear it <33333
New Order, “Blue Monday”. Teenager, stupid and staying up as late as possible all to the soundtrack of this song. I danced like a mad man to that bass beat. Since then I’ve had an on again off again love for this band (you know who I’m talking to Mr. Hook) but this song should be given to every teenager learning to jump.
Yaz(oo) – Only You: Alison’s vocals on it are the best. Also my high-school girlfriend loved this song… aaand I may have lost my virginity to it.
Blue Monday by New Order is one of my favorite songs to dance to. My local club’s dj plays the video and my friends and I sing along with gusto. It’s a classic bad breakup song.
As much as I love Duran Duran, “The Killing Moon” by Echo and the Bunnymen is my favorite song on the list. I have described it as one of the most perfect songs I have ever heard….it is beautiful and haunting and so filled with emotion….it often brings me to tears….
The Normal “Warm Leatherette”
Such an intriguing soung, so aggressive, pure new wave, had nothing to do with all those hair bands from the 80s
How Soon is Now? by The Smiths was one of my “late elementary school”/”early junior high” anthems. It will always return me to very fond memories of those days.
This is like Sophie’s Choice! I can’t just select ONE of my children!! There are many on this list that are almost timeless classics to me, but I’ll choose Tears For Fears’ “Mad World” because it has such great lyrics and has been covered by current artists and still sounds fresh! They are a class act!
Tomas Dolby She Blinded me with Science!
It’s summer, 1982. Two 13yo girls are sitting on the roof of a house with a little boombox, rewinding and replaying ONE song off a K-tel “New Wave Hits” cassette. They’ve both seen at least one of this sexy, stylish, funky band’s videos on MTV, and they are rabid for more.
The band is Duran Duran. The song, “Girls in Film”. One of the girls is me. We learned that song from beginning to end within hours that day…
I bonded with other girls and became part of a community because of the band. My sexuality was awakened by the band. My love for incredibly well-produced, seriously danceable bass-driven pop was cemented by the song. 30+ years later, I STILL get goosebumps every time I hear those shutter clicks. “Girls on Film” is a classic in every sense of the word.
Love My Way by the Furs. It sounded futuristic and old school at the same time. Richard Butler’s voice and the band just sound so cool. I saw the Furs live on this tour and they were even cooler. In truth there are many other songs on this list that could have been “the One”, but today I pick Love My Way. Thanks.
It would have to be Duran Duran’s ” Girls on Film” because I discovered college alternative music in jr high & it changed my life & love for music. I bonded with my best friend & made school life tolerable. She has passed on now but I think of her every time I hear a Duran Duran song.
warm leatherette because it would stop anyone in their tracks. to say “what is that?” wasn’t it the start of “mute” records ??
Duran Duran, “Girls on Film”: Just like back in the day, my Durandemonium hasn’t stopped. I still spend a third of my income on anything Duran Duran. When the first album came out, I bought three versions of it (2 different US versions plus the UK version). BTW, I did the same with their follow-up, “Rio”.
I gotta choose just one?
I loved Adam and the Ants, Kings of the Wild Frontier. When I was a DJ at my college station, I preferred playing songs that were not huge hits in the college/alt scene (as I knew it at least).
Kings of the Wild Frontier – true dandy rock at its finest!
“The Killing Moon.” I love the way the word “fate” is sung.
New Order – Blue Monday. I was 11 when my brother went to college and came home with a bunch of records for me and told me to listen to them and that this is the music to know. Substance was one of them, and it hooked me.
She Blinded Me With Science literally changed my life. It brought me a bunch of friends from around the world, including Thomas Dolby’s father, two boyfriends, and reinforced my determination to get my PhD in genetics.
Echo and the Bunnymen, “The Killing Moon”
Of all the bullshit braggadocio that spews from Ian’s mouth, his boasts about this song are absolutely truthful – it is one of the greatest songs ever written.
Almost every song on the list has had some importance in my life at one moment or another, but I’m going to go with Devo’s Whip It. Although I quickly learned that Devo had better songs less known in their catalog, Whip It was the first I heard, or rather seen, on MTV as a kid. My family was all about hard rock, but I cradled my secret love for Devo until I was able to buy their albums and eventually figure out that they were from Akron, which was pretty much my neighboring city all of my life. The awkward sexual innuendos in the video probably had some sort of subconscious affect on me too, but that’s probably for another time and place.
The Killng Moon. So many emotions! I always have to listen to that song, like, 10 times in a row.
“The Killing Moon” by Echo and the Bunnymen. A very amazing guy I dated long ago put this on a mix tape for me, and it became one of my favorites. I have most of these songs on my iPod today! Cannot wait to read the book.
There is no single song that sums up the angst and chaos of the 80s more than “How Soon is Now?”. From the desperation and urgency of the vocals to the guitar riff that is instantly recognizable for the tension it creates. If I were stuck on a deserted island and could only have one single song to listen to, it would be this. I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard it, and it takes me back to that moment every time I hear it. The fact that Johnny Marr cannot precisely remember how he created the riff, and it’s one of the best riffs of all time, is reason enough that this is hands down the best song of the 1980s.
“Love Will Tear us Apart” is my favorite on the list because such a classic song. Joy Division were known being gloomy and while the lyrics are pretty dark here, the music is kind of playful and instantly grabs your attention.
Band Aid, “Do They Know it’s Christmas?”
It was the original and far superior We Are The World.
Only one? WOW. I like BLue MOnday….Devo…but gotta give it to MOz. “How soon is now” by the Smiths is my fave. Brings back memories of college. I listen to this music still today. EPIC. Thx for the post.
Some great selections to choose from but I have to go with The Killing Moon – the best song, not just on this list, but of all time. How do I know that? Ian McCulloch said so.
Love will tear us apart because it is true. In addition the urban legends that grew up as to the tragedy of the band itself and the ‘dark wave’ credit given to fans made JD worth every minute
The Smiths, “How Soon is Now?” Remember my sister picking up Hatful of Hollow on cassette for me when I was maybe 14 or 15, and listening to this song (alone in my bedroom, maybe the ideal way to hear this song) so much I wore the tape out.
GAH! So many “choice” choices, but one stands out in my mind, and I remember it like it was yesterday. Imma hafta go with Dexys Midnight Runner’s “Come On Eileen” b/c it was the very first video I saw on MTV, and as a child of the 70’s/80’s, MTV was a BIG DEAL back then :) We didn’t have cable, but when I visited friend’s with it, we watched 24/7. All of these songs bring back so many FAB memories, but Dexy’s will always be my first. Any song that’s “New Wave” with a band playing stringed instruments, dressed as hobos and street urchins, is my kinda “Mad World” :) thanks for the opportunity to win Matt!
love with tear us apart – joy division
this song and band is ground zero for me for all the amazing bands and songs that came after….absolute classic/timeless!
Love them all…..but picking Simple Minds..Don’t You (Forget about me)
“Whip it” because it has so many meanings!
Way too many good choices. Yaz’s “Only You” if I have to pick one. Love the vocals, must have listened “Upstairs at Eric’s” (on cassette, of course) a thousand times. I think I need to go find it now…
Love Will Tear Us Apart and The Killing Moon are among the greatest songs EVER.
Oh man, this one is tough because I LOVE most of these songs. However, I’m going to say Kings of the Wild Frontier by Adam and the Ants is my actual favorite. The reason is that I had a stack of records that my mom got me at a yard sale when I was in high school. At that point in time, I only listened to cd’s, and didn’t care about vinyl. But the first record in the stack was Kings of the Wild Frontier by Adam and the Ants. I used my dad’s old turntable and put the record on. As soon as the tribal drums of the title track started to play, I fell in love with the sound of vinyl, and the song. From that point on, I’ve collected vinyl. So that one will always hold a special place in my heart.
Girls on Film. Duran Duran was the first band I found and loved on my own.
Love My Way. I was too young to experience New Wave as it happened, but these songs and these bands shaped the sonic landscape for generations to follow and of these bands that still tour, seeing Love My Way performed recently with teenagers younger than me and ladies old enough to be my mother with everyone dancing in sync was truly a magical thing.
How Soon is Now ….. best song of the 80’s!
Psychedelic Furs – Love my Way.
This song is definitely my favorite from this pack of awesome 80’s Bands. Richard Buttler has an incredible voice and great stage presence. This song is forever stuck in my head!
New Song of course. Melodic and meaningful. Brings back memories when music meant everything! Howard’s use of synths was unmatched and cutting edge. Takes me right back to 1983.
“Cars” by Gary Numan is my favorite. I remember listening to The Pleasure Principle for the first time and being blown away by it, even though I came to it a bit late. It’s been an honor to see Numan perform the album live in its entirety, as well as seeing him join Nine Inch Nails onstage to perform the song with them. A song that never fails to amaze me.
INXS, “Original Sin”
Dark New Wave funk from down under, Jerky yet smooth and funky. Amazing bass and drums. Plus the proper use of sax.
“How Soon Is Now” by The Smiths has stood the test of time and remains today on many video programs and radio stations. With Johnny Marr’s reverb guitar playing, Morrissey’s lyrical style and the anthem feel of such a powerful song, it achieves cult status without falling into the one-hit wonder category of so many 80’s bands/hits. I am a huge fan of ALL New Wave artists and songs and collect as much as possible. One could pick any of the 36 New Wave classics listed and have a legitimate argument for best. Hard to pick just one, but if stranded on a desert island with just one song it’s How Soon Is Now (for me).
Love WIll Tear Us Apart because the opening chords never fail to give me that ‘cry lump’.
“Killing Moon” by Echo & The Bunnymen
Wow–so many great choices. I have to go with the band that defined alt rock in my youth. And I’ll never forget their debut of this song in the early 80’s L.A. concert at the Hollywood Palladium–fog machines be damned!
Yaz – Only You. Who knew then that the intersection of cool, faceless synthesizer and blue-eyed soul existed, much less could sound so warm and moving.
It’s a tough list but if I had to pick one, it would be Echo and the Bunnymen “The Killing Moon”. It’s the one song that if I hear it on the radio, I don’t change the station.
Yaz “Only You”… it is a song I didn’t know until recently, somehow. And what is awesome about that is that I associate it with slow dancing in the kitchen with my five year old. Recent memories are good memories. <3
The Killing Moon By Echo & The Bunnymen
There were songs on this list other than “How Soon is Now?” Really? I didn’t notice.
Every single one of these songs trigger a special place in my memory bank. Gotta go with Bow Wow Wow’s “I Want Candy” as the favorite. When I hear it now I still want to crawl into an oversized sweater and take on the world with a young vision.
‘Mad World’ by Tears For Fears. Closely followed by many others on the list :-)
Lots of good choices on this list…and even more that are missing! If I have to pick just one, I’ve got to go with “The Killing Moon”. Moody, unique, weird. Kinda like me when I was a sullen teenager. I wore it out on vinyl, cassette and CD. Thank God for digital. Learned it on guitar as an adult. Love, love, love this one. Did I mention that I love it?
Echo and the Bunnymen are easily my favorite band from that list and “Ocean Rain” is my all-time favorite album. However, “I Melt With You” ranks as my all-time favorite song. Can’t wait to read the book!
Many of the songs on your list are amongst my all-time favorites…several are currently loaded onto my iPod. If I had to pick one, though, it’s have to be “How Soon is Now” by the Smiths. It’s one of those songs that compels me to stop what I am doing…every note is so worthy of my full attention.
“How Soon is Now” is my favorite song from this list because Morrissey’s intense, self-introspective lyrics melded with the tight, controlled-climatic musicianship creates a vibe unlike any other song ever written.
Original Sin would be the one that drew me in. Coming out of my metalhead days as a teen in the 70’s into the new music movement in the 80’s I found INXS to be an incredibly talented band with great production, great hooks and passion. I like several songs on the list, but Original Sin would be my absolute favorite.
Take On Me by a-ha is my favorite song by far. The day I fell in love with music is the day I saw the a-ha Take On Me video before a movie that I had gone to see with my Father. We were immigrant to American, I didn’t have cable to watch MTV, and they didn’t listen to American music much. But I saw that video and to this day, no matter where I am when I hear it, either at a club, or on a bus, or on the street, and I stop, listen, sing along and cry a little bit.
I flew all the way to England from California to visit Ian Curtis’ grave and made a special video with my favorite song of all time “LWTUA”. http://youtu.be/QOpy9XVvgmU (Only viewable on desktop mode).
Definitely Killing Moon. I had a girlfriend in 9th grade that gave me a mixed tape with that song on it and I wore it our. Then it showed up later on Donnie Darko soundtrack.
Girls on Film by Duran Duran.
I think this song, and Duran Duran in general, turned me on to most of the others listed above.
OMD “If you leave” why? 2 words-Molly Ringwald!
It’s hard to pick just one… this lineup could be the only mixtape I’d need for the rest of my life… That said, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is the one that stands out as the song I had to listen to again and again and again the first time I heard it (and ever since…).
Berlin. Metro. I remember hating you for loving me. The song is so emotional and sad and I was that young angstry kid having her heartbroken at the time this came out. The song itself, with that amazingly distinguishable synth track at the beginning always made me crank it up. And the words always got me fired up (still do) to scream at the top of my lungs. Years later, I actually took a trip all by myself where “I was on a Paris train. I emerged in London rain” and now I always think of that song when I remember that amazing vacation!
Hard to pick one, but I will go with Love My Way. Loved it the first time I heard it and still love it to this day. Plus, it has Flo & Eddie on the background vocals.
Looking forward to this book!
Lots of great singles here… as I scrolled through the comments I kept changing my mind. Was going to go with “New Life” out of loyalty to DM. Plus, I love that song, and as simple as it is, it’s deceptively so. I love listening to all the synth parts interacting with one another.
BUT, instead, I’ve chosen “Hold Me Now” by the Thompson Twins. I remember seeing that video and getting drawn in to the world of new wave through it. It also tugged at my young little heartstrings in a powerful way. First crushes being what they are. ;)
Is it my favorite song on the list, looking at it through today’s eyes? Probably not. (That might even go to “Killing Moon.”) But it has the strongest tie to the era for me, and it’s hard for me to think of 1984 (*yes I know, it was released in 1983) without thinking of that song.
Wow – this list is like a “New Wave’s Greatest Hits Collection”! I’m going to have to go with New Life by my boys, Depeche Mode. I’m so glad it’s this song and NOT Just Can’t Get Enough! Great song to dance to…..
I’ll pick INXS Original Sin. Having discovered Shabooh Shoobah the previous summer I was looking forward to their next release. They did not dissappoint
Lots of classics in that list. I’ll have to say “The Killing Moon.” For some reason, that particular song conjures the clearest memories I have of watching the record spin on the turntable while I’m sitting behind the mike at WUAG-FM, which I did frequently from ’82 to ’84.
“Girls on Film” because Duran Duran was my first favorite band!
It’s hard to pick just one from this list – I will pick “Do They Know It’s Christmas” b/c I actually purchased this on vinyl back in ’84. (3O years ago!) Many of the artists of the day were on that record – U2, Duran2, Sting, George Michael, Bananarama and of course Bob and Midge who put it together. I remember hating “We Are the World” b/c it was so inauthentic compared to “Do they Know…” which also led to Live Aid!
So many of those songs that are hallmarks of my youth. The first arrow was struck by “Melt With You”. I was living on an army post in Germany and had zero clue about music except what I played in Jr high band on what was on AFN (good ol’ Casey Kasem interspersed with country and a single hour of R&B). Cut to a babysitting job where the folks told me they had just received a videotape from back home…MTV. I didn’t know what the heck MTV was, but the first video was Modern English and it floored me. I watched it over and over and over again….who knew music could sound like THAT?
“Love Will Tear Us Apart” – Without this song and the success of Joy Division the music scene in the most important New Wave city, Manchester, flounders. No Smiths, no Stone Roses, etc. Plus the heartbreaking timing of the release coinciding with Ian Curtis’s suicide adds to the gravitas.
So hard to choose just one. I truly love them all. But I’ll go with Thomas Dolby, “She Blinded Me With Science.” Leaving high school in the mid-80s, I was already very much into alternative and new wave music. The day I first visited the college that I chose, I was fortunate enough to experience a beautiful day and somebody blaring this song out into the courtyard of the dorms. I knew that I had found a good home for the next 4 years. It was magical, and a moment that I will never forget. :)
“The Killing Moon” – Echo and the Bunnymen
It is the greatest song ever written! ;)
So many favorites from different parts of my life, but I’ll take a-ha’s Take on Me since it was the first one I loved as a kid, I’d just gotten MTV, that video and that song really shaped the way I listened to music for the next 30 years.
I’d have to say that “Mad World” by Tears for Fears is at the top of the list for me. Besides taking me to a very interesting time in my life, “The Primal Scream” reference with the lyric “the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had” is just flat out cool!
There are many on this list that bring me pure joy and there are an equal number that make my toes curl.
Going top to bottom, my initial answer was Echo and the Bunnymen’s Killing Moon – to this day it is a song that truly moves me. Moving further down the list I got hung up on the three in a row of Joy Division, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” The Smiths, “How Soon is Now?” and Tears for Fears, “Mad World”. Are you kidding me? You expect me to choose between these three anthems? I think The Smiths would run away with it if I hadn’t seen Morrissey over the years sing it as if he was Tom Jones in Vegas. The biggest question is where’s the Cure?
But you have saved the best for last. Without a doubt / hands down / no questions asked / check please / the party’s over the most important and most influential song on this list is Band Aid, “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” It’s our generation’s version of Lennon’s Happy X-mas, it’s the song that launched Live Aid, Farm Aid, Sun City & USA for Africa. It’s the song that brought awareness and relief to millions of people and it’s a song that gives me chills every holiday season.
While all the other song made us dance Band Aid’s anthem made us act … and it was recorded on my birthday.
Peace,
John
New Order Blue Monday. This really is the song that started the entire dance rock new wave era. Everything about it defines The time and it still holds up to this day. It’s an amazing piece of music and I will rate it my fav all time 80’s track.
This is really, really hard to choose, because each song had some meaning or triggers a memory from my formative years. Looking back on all of those years, peppered with all of those songs, I choose “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division. Why? I suppose it’s because it makes me feel…like none of the others make me feel. Kind of a maturity, paired with a vulnerableness, mixed with really cool musicianship. And it’s my ringtone.
“Love Will Tear Us Apart,” because as influential as punk rock was on me as a teenager in the late ’70s, this cut so much deeper and struck harder. As Tony Wilson/Bernard Sumner put it, punk was about saying “Fuck you,” and the postpunk Joy Division helped pioneer was about saying “I’m fucked,” about expressing emotions more complex than any other form of pop music dared at the time. It set up the deeper, sometimes darker, sometimes brighter, musical concerns of so much great music that followed, from REM to U2 to Arcade Fire and the next band that will inevitably blow my socks off.
While not my favorite song on the list, nor the most influential, I think OMD “If You Leave” best defined the 80’s. Even those who weren’t into new wave get nostalgic.
Wow. I’m supposed to pick ONE song? I should pick “Girls on Film” because Duran Duran was my first favorite band. But I’ll go with “How Soon is Now?” because it opened my ears to a whole new world of music that wasn’t played on mainstream radio stations at the time.
Joy Division, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” would count as my favorite on this list. Such an epoch defining song, it encapsulates what makes post-punk/alternative music from the 80s special. Consider how many times it has been covered in recent years. And, of course, it made for an appropriate epitaph for the late, great Ian Curtis…it’s hard to believe he was only 23 when he died.
This is so difficult, deciding on a favorite. I have a vivid memory attached to each and every one of these songs … asking my mom to drive me to the mall so I could buy the Band Aid album, getting the new Howard Jones album in mail and listening to it over and over …
I’m going to go with “The Metro” by Berlin. It’s just a good song and holds up, even today. I have it on my mp3 player. It’s a good song to run to.
It’s hard to pick one but I’ll say “I Know What Boys Like” by the Waitresses. I grew up in Akron and in the 70s & 80s we were quite proud of our contribution to the new wave scene nationally and internationally. While everyone knew DEVO and the Pretenders, the Waitresses weren’t quite as well known. That whole first album is just incredible. I’ve taught sex ed to teens in recent years and I’ve used this song to prompt discussion about relationships, power, sex and gender roles. The punch line is always when I tell them that a GUY actually wrote all the lyrics. The teens usually erupt in expressions of disbelief or “I told you so”s. So great.
Well, since Bronski Beat’s Small Town Boy isn’t on the list, I’d have to choose Love Will Tear Us Apart…lyrics that rip me in two still today…why is the bedroom so cold…why is it something so good just can’t function no more…all the failings and disappointments lead to ambivalence and it’s just all fucked up and it’s gonna be that way forever. That’s what I get. And that’s why I love it.
Depeche Mode my favorite but not the song New Life. Out of these songs my pick would be: New Order, “Blue Monday”. This song gets me through my Mondays especially at work. When having a sucky Monday I just put New Order on my mp3 player and listen to Blue Monday. I am seeing New Order in concert in July. I am so stoked!!
Original Sin – INXS, The year this song and album were released (1984) was such a defining year for me, freshman in high school. The song and group were so cutting edge, the ease of the lyrics, and unique sound drew me in and i’ve never got tired or stopped listing to their music. INXS, U2 & The Police, have been staples in my life and each of them had a profound influence on music and life growing up in the 80’s, great stuff!
Only You has got to my all time fave. It was the first Yaz song I ever heard, and was picked by a radio station DJ back in the day as a dedication (I know, cheesy) to someone I was dating. HAHA Holy cow, putting into words amplifies the cheese factor, but I love it anyway!
All be it a very tough choice I will have to go with “Mad World” simply for the fact i remember playing that vinyl over and over ..and then some more. One of my all time favorite songs. A true classic.
“Girls on Film” Is my favorite. It still gives me chills when I hear the clicking of the camera in the first sequence. Duran Duran was my first love. They were all so cute and the clothes they wore were so stylish. And the hair! Oh how I wished the boys at my school liked like them. It was so new to me and amazing. I still dance to this song all the time.
Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science” is my favorite among your song listing, but it’s very difficult to choose just one, as “Science” and many on the list are certainly definitive time capsule-worthy of this exciting musical era.
I like Bow Wow Wow’s “I want Candy” best (not really, my 7 year old boy loves Candy and loves this song due to his candy addiction. I do like the way he and his brother and sister love 80’s Alternative.
For someone who always dated outside of their race INXS’s Original Sin always spoke to me. The funky groove and Michael’s voice didn’t hurt either.
Blue Monday. I bought the vinyl on a whim because of the cool floppy-disk sleeve, and was so pleasantly surprised by what was inside.
I have to choose “How Soon Is Now” by The Smiths as the song that is still most relevant to me.
Gary Numan’s “Cars” is my favorite. It was one of the first music videos I saw and I was mesmerized by both Gary and his music. I just recently saw his “Splinter” tour and bought the VIP ticket so I could meet him and tell him how much I appreciated the way he influenced my adolescent years.
many great songs on the list…and years ago my pick would’ve been different as some of these songs haven’t aged well or some of them have been way overplayed….so, I’m going with the song that brings back the best memories and makes me happiest when I hear it…. “original sin” by INXS
Adam and the Ants “Kings of the Wild Frontier”. An amazing song, so layered and complicated yet very danceable. Plus, Adam is gorgeous!
Don’t You Forget About Me. It wouldn’t have been my favorite song in the 80s, though I loved Breakfast Club. It would be my favorite now because 2 years ago my best friend since we were 13 took his life. He liked that song & it reminds me of him…the good times we shared, seeing that movie together in the theatre when it came out. Also, because I never will forget about him.
Vienna by Ultravox by far. Beautiful video, beautiful song that jumps over boundaries of what a song should of been for the time period.
How about favourite 6:
Adam and the Ants, “Kings of the Wild Frontier”
Echo and the Bunnymen, “The Killing Moon”
Depeche Mode, “New Life”
Joy Division, “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
The Smiths, “How Soon is Now?”
Tears for Fears, “Mad World”
“Love My Way” by the Psychedelic Furs. The song is so haunting and it still holds up as a relevant, listenable piece. It also brings back memories of one of favorite 80’s movies VALLEY GIRL!!!!
Poison Arrow, because it is, quite simply, the best produced pop song of the decade. It is also the stand out in an album full of standouts.
It’s painful to pick an aesthetic or emotional gut-reaction favorite from that list of favorites, but from a historical / influential perspective, I’m gonna go with ‘Warm Leatherette’ by Daniel Miller as The Normal. The importance of this single and everything it triggered – from a DIY electronic aesthetic and methodology, almost a musical manifesto in and of itself, to the spawning of Mute Records and its continued influence to this day, and proving that simple post-punk and electronic music arrangements could be stark and minimal (‘Leatherette’ basically has a one-note arrangement and no melody) and still catchy, synth-pop without being cute or pretty, and highly stylized while nearly anonymous…far outstrip’s the singles financial or popular success, and the brevity of Miller’s career as a pop musician.
Echo & the Bunnymen’s “Killing Moon.” The song is so haunting, and Ian transitioning to a lower octave for the chorus at the end of the song just amplifies that. It has stood the test of time and still gives me goosebumps. (A close second is “How Soon Is Now?” for its longevity and, of course, the guitar riff.)
INXS — Original Sin is by far my favorite on this list. I love everything INXS, but this song had a sound at the time that was different from the others being played on the radio. John Taylor even mentions in his autobiography that he heard this song when it first broke in Australia an knew he had to work with Nile Rodgers. INXS is by far my favorite band and I would actually buy this book just because one of their songs is highlighted….. :)
“New Life” by Depeche. In the mid 80s I was introduced to Depeche Mode with Catching Up With Depeche Mode (including New Life), and thus began a life-long love affair with them and New Wave.
Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, because it is so perfectly painful.
INXS “Original Sin” was really different from any of the other songs on the radio at that time and Michael’s voice was very full and powerful. It brings me back to a happier time.
My cousin used to DJ at a punk/new wave club in Baltimore called the Depot. I was 11, and was just starting to acquire an interest in music (although my taste at that time included Motley Crue and a lot of bad pop music). I was flipping through the vinyl my cousin had, and he offered to play some of the records for me. The first song he played was “How Soon is Now?” by the Smiths. At that point, the world tilted for me, and I was absolutely captivated. I had never heard a guitar sound like that, and Morrisey’s voice gave me chills. My small music collection of Motley Crue and bad pop found its way into a bargin box at the next family yard sale.
Definitely “Original Sin” by INXS!!! Controversial lyrics, Nile Rogers, and Daryl Hall all joined together with the best band of all time.
A great list of songs with New Order’s Blue Monday (12″ mix) sitting right at the top. Thumping bass and synths, really cold, detached vocals and a rhythm that at times seemed to bump, stop, and throw itself in reverse. Perfect for any moody, misunderstood, misfit teenager – then and now!
Cars, brings me back to a time when I was really starting to notice good music.
I would have to say “The Killing Moon” by Echo and the Bunnymen. I was struck by Ian’s haunting lyrics and the lush orchestral music when I first heard this song- I’ve been a Bunnymen fan ever since.
New Song by HoJo… First concert ever. I vividly remember my HoJo earrings that I ordered from my faithful Musicade catalog. Boy…did they get a lot of my teenage money.
Love will Tear Us Apart – its just a classic. Everytime I hear it I think of this era and the amount of great music that was introduced to all of us.
Thompson Twins, Hold Me Now. I love so many of the songs on this list but this one is tied to one of my first live concerts and good memories of being with one of my best friends. I had the 12″ on vinyl and played it A LOT.
I have so much love for many of these, but when I hear those shutter clicks at the beginning of “Girls on Film” I get goosebumps. In an instant I’m 13 again, staying up late to watch Duran Duran videos in secret.
Adam and the Ants, “Kings of the Wild Frontier” is my favorite on the list. It was just a vibrant, exciting call to arms amid all the dreck like Foreigner (uuggggh..)crowding the musical landscape at the time. The spaghetti western guitars, the crazy look of the band, and of course, THOSE DRUMS.
Duran Duran’s “Girls on Film.” When I got to rent that on VHS from Erol’s Video, I knew I had a keeper! It’s pretty naughty.
Blue Monday by New Order because it’s artistic, iconic, electronic, and personal a at the same time. One of the best songs ever.
The Normal’s “Warm Leatherette” … highbrow literary allusion mated to cold cold robotic vocals and metallic synths with a fully fulfilled promise of sex and death.
Original Sin. I saw INXS in a little club in Toronto in 1985. There were maybe 200 people and the stage was barely above the dance floor. I was a college freshman and couldn’t believe I was actually there, so close to the band. Once INXS took the stage, we couldn’t look away. They were right on the brink of stardom and I just knew it was a night I would never forget. “There was, a time, when I did not care.” That song totally captured my angst-filled 18-year old heart.
While Echo and the Bunnymen and The Smiths were my favorite 80s bands on the list, “True,” by Spandau Ballet brings back more personal memories than any song in the lot.
“The Killing Moon” by Echo and the Bunnymen has one to be one of the most iconic sounding songs ever. It is so beautiful, yet it’s still incredibly chilling and creepy sounding. It is, hands down, one if my favorite songs of any decade.
Love Will Tear Us Apart, because Ian Curtis’ voice is the most amazing.
Every single song on this list brings back very specific memories of that time. For some reason the music of that period is the one trigger that can take me back. If You Leave by OMD still to this day gives me the same sense of longing and teenage angst that it did the very first time I heard it. I LOVE every single song on this list and still listen to them regularly!
This is a great list and hard to choose one but, Depeche Mode – New Life its such a great song and was my first record I ever owned so many memories
Ultravox, “Vienna”
Im 31. I was raised by new wave & post punk music and visual arts.
I cannot think of this glorious song without picturing its beautiful film noir video featuring a gray post war Europe, dark alleys, mansions, beautiful and mysterious men in suits and ladies in gowns.
And then spiders start creeping into the scene to just snap you out of this glamorous dream to make you wonder if it is actually a nightmare.
Flock of Seagulls! I wore that hair cut proudly in the 80’s. Ran into Mike in a Bar in Melbourne Beach, FL back in 2002. Dude didn’t have ANY hair left. I was disappointed.
Modern English, “I Melt With You”
It’s a perfect pop song. So smooth, but the synths get your feet tapping. But then that jangly bit in the middle (right before “The future’s open wide”) shakes things up a little. On the whole, though, musically, both soothing and energizing strands run through the song; it’s a lovely combination. The chicks like it because it’s so romantic, promising the impossible and the total in the name of love. Overall, the lyrics are not the strongest part of the song, but do occasionally soar (“Trapped in a state of imaginary grace.”) And for a teenager, the promise of pure love, and physical and spiritual transcendence, can be well nigh iressistable.
“How Soon is Now?” by the Smiths
This song helped me through many late nights in college, doing homework, being with friends, dancing in a club. Many of my favorite memories started with this song. 20+ years later I still listen to it and my 11 year old son is now a Smith’s fan.
Gotta go with Thompson Twins, Hold Me Now. I wore the Hell out of that vinyl in my parents basement!
E&TB: Killing Moon. From the very first notes it puts me right back in that place and time!
Where is U2’s New Year’s Day…?
Love My Way!
“I Ran” – because it was sonically perfect and sounded absolutely amazing on a good stereo. I prefer the long intro version. This was right around the time when I was old enough to start collecting decent stereo equipment, and it came along in time for the birth of the CD. I still remember WROQ in Charlotte using that song in their promos when they were the first station to play only CDs. They called themselves “Laser Rock 95.1.” It still gets my blood pumping!The perfect blend of synth and guitar.
Echo and the Bunnymen with The Killing Moon hands down. I’m lame and first heard it seeing Pavement cover it in the 90s and fell in love with it.
To pick a favorite would depend on the day and mood — so many memories to go with each one. Today, I’ll say “How Soon is Now.” That rippled, tremelo effect with Marr’s guitar is haunting yet beautiful. When the heart and soul are a little dark, this song hits it just right.
So many great songs on that list!! But for me the favorite is easily “How Soon Is Now”. Why? I dunno…there’s just something about that crazy, oscillating Johnny Marr riff that I never EVER get tired of listening to.
Simple Minds, “Don’t You Forget About Me.”
I listened to every single one of these songs–some obsessively. I WANT to pick the Smiths. (Heck, I WANT to pick all of them). But a song that “defined the 1980’s?” All of them, of course, but the Simple Minds song is not only awesome, was also an important part of a movie that defined the 80’s, as well.
Simple Minds–Don’t You Forget About Me
Song of a generation, Generation X, that brings one back to a simpler time when one’s cassette player and a mix tape mattered.
Atwood
Take on Me by A-ha. Propulsive and also Great video.
Every single one of these songs transport me back to the ’80s. If you played them all back-to-back like the Saturday Night Safety Dance it would be my favorite song. The greatest music decade ever.
I’ve written about many of these songs already on my blog Nostaligia in the Time of Machines [http://japeland.wordpress.com/], but here’s what I said about “I Ran”:
“I’ve really enjoyed the rise of Future Islands, a Baltimore-by-way-of-North Carolina band that recently hit critical mass — if for no other reason than I always feel like I’m back in college when I hear them. The time I first saw them, I jokingly described them as A Flock of Seagulls… if Tom Waits had been the lead singer. While Future Islands’ style has since become distinctively their own, they still sound like a they just came through a wormhole from the 1980s.
“Hopefully they will avoid the fate of A Flock of Seagulls, better remembered (and mocked) now for their hair than the droll synthpop of their New Wave hits. “Space Age Love Song” and “Wishing (I had a photograph of you)” ensured they wouldn’t be one-hit wonders, but so what — it is “I Ran” that will be played again and again and again (as it was just about every hour on MTV in 1982).
“My freshman year at IUP the local automated radio station played it so religiously you could set your clocks by it, and there wasn’t a dorm you could walk through without hearing it echo down the hallway.
“As with Blondie’s “Heart of Glass,” I could listen to the bionic reverb that makes up the backbone of the song on an infinite loop. Forget about the hypnotically-bad haircut; “I Ran” is mesmerizing all by itself.”
Contest is now closed. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and memories about these songs. The winners have been emailed.