100 Greatest Songs of the '80s - The Full List

Since so many of you are upset about the absence of certain songs in VH1's Top 20 Greatest Songs of the '80s, I figured I'd post the whole list of 100 so you can see where your favorites fell.

1. Bon Jovi / "Livin' on a Prayer"
2. Def Leppard / "Pour Some Sugar On Me"
3. Duran Duran / "Hungry Like the Wolf"
4. Michael Jackson / "Billie Jean"
5. Prince / "When Doves Cry"
6. Hall & Oates / "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)"
7. Guns N' Roses / "Sweet Child O' Mine"
8. Madonna / "Like a Virgin"
9. Run-D.M.C. / "Walk This Way"
10. AC/DC / "You Shook Me All Night Long"
11. Journey / "Don't Stop Believin'"
12. Whitney Houston / "How Will I Know"
13. U2 / "With Or Without You"
14. The Bangles / "Walk Like an Egyptian"
15. Van Halen / "Jump"
16. INXS / "Need You Tonight"
17. Whitesnake / "Here I Go Again"
18. Dexy's Midnight Runners / "Come On Eileen"
19. Cyndi Lauper / "Time after Time"
20. Rick Springfield / "Jessie's Girl"
21. Michael Jackson / "Beat It"
22. The Cure / "Just Like Heaven"
23. Cyndi Lauper / "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"
24. A-Ha / "Take On Me"
25. Go-Go's / "Our Lips Are Sealed"
26. Guns N' Roses / "Welcome to the Jungle"
27. Kajagoogoo / "Too Shy"
28. Wham / "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"
29. Talking Heads / "Burning Down the House"
30. Pat Benatar / "Love is a Battlefield"
31. Queen and David Bowie / "Under Pressure"
32. Night Ranger / "Sister Christian"
33. Soft Cell / "Tainted Love"
34. Poison / "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"
35. Phil Collins / "In the Air Tonight"
36. Tommy Tutone / "867-5309 (Jenny)"
37. Aerosmith / "Janie's Got a Gun"
38. U2 / "Pride (In the Name of Love)"
39. Modern English / "I Melt With You"
40. The B-52's / "Love Shack"
41. Motley Crue / "Dr. Feelgood"
42. The Clash / "London Calling"
43. ABC / "Look of Love (Part One)"
44. Bananarama / "Cruel Summer"
45. Janet Jackson / "Nasty"
46. The Police / "Every Breath You Take"
47. Twisted Sister / "We're Not Gonna Take It"
48. Bruce Springsteen / "Born in the U.S.A."
49. Beastie Boys / "Fight For Your Right"
50. Eurythmics / "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"
51. Ratt / "Round and Round"
52. Dead or Alive / "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)"
53. Billy Idol / "White Wedding"
54. Salt-N-Pepa / "Push It"
55. A Flock of Seagulls / "I Ran (So Far Away)"
56. Bonnie Tyler / "Total Eclipse of the Heart"
57. Toni Basil / "Mickey"
58. Culture Club / "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me"
59. John Mellencamp / "Jack & Diane"
60. Young M.C. / "Bust a Move"
61. Styx / "Mr. Roboto"
62. Berlin / "Take My Breath Away"
63. Devo / "Whip It"
64. Paula Abdul / "Straight Up"
65. Foreigner / "I Want to Know What Love Is"
66. Depeche Mode / "Just Can't Get Enough"
67. REO Speedwagon / "Keep On Loving You"
68. Public Enemy / "Fight the Power"
69. R.E.M / "It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
70. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts/ "I Love Rock N' Roll"
71. Rick James / "Super Freak"
72. The Fixx / "One Thing Leads to Another"
73. Nena / "99 Luftbaloons"
74. George Michael / "Faith" c
75. Prince / "Little Red Corvette"
76. Thomas Dolby / "She Blinded Me With Science"
77. New Edition / "Candy Girl"
78. Blondie / "Call Me"
79. Human League / "Don't You Want Me?"
80. Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock / "It Takes Two"
81. Cameo / "Word Up!"
82. Squeeze / "Tempted"
83. Prince / "Kiss"
84. Lionel Richie / "All Night Long (All Night)"
85. Robert Palmer / "Addicted to Love"
86. Bow Wow Wow / "I Want Candy"
87. Falco / "Rock Me Amadeus"
88. Chaka Khan / "Ain't Nobody"
89. The Pretenders / "Brass in Pocket"
90. Tone-Loc / "Wild Thing"
91. Katrina and The Waves / "Walking On Sunshine"
92. New Kids on the Block / "You Got It (The Right Stuff)"
93. Gary Numan / "Cars"
94. The Rolling Stones / "Start Me Up"
95. Debbie Gibson / "Only in My Dreams"
96. Men at Work / "Down Under"
97. The Romantics / "What I Like About You"
98. Bobby Brown / "My Prerogative"
99. Wang Chung / "Everybody Have Fun Tonight"
100.Loverboy / "Working for the Weekend"

I have many issues with this list. I can't possibly hit them all, but here are some:

1. Yeah, they're high up with a song at #3, but how is it possible that Duran Duran only has ONE song on this list?? Cyndi Lauper, Prince, Michael Jackson and U2 have at least two songs represented. Where is "The Reflex" or "Rio" or "Is There Something I Should Know?" As I said before, Duran Duran = The '80s. How they can only have one song on here is beyond me.

2. Why is "Born in the U.S.A." the only Springsteen song represented? That record had so many great songs, including "Dancing in the Dark," which was a much bigger hit. And who doesn't remember that video with Courtney Cox being pulled onstage at the end? That is such an '80s moment.

3. Can't we remember the '80s as they actually WERE?? "Mr. Roboto" made the list? Seriously? Isn't that one of the most ridiculed songs of the '80s? How is it suddenly great? And "I Melt With You?" It's a good song, but because Modern English sold out to Burger King, it was bigger in the '90s than it was in the '80s. Back then, if you saw Valley Girl, you knew it. Otherwise it was lost in the shuffle of New Wave.

4. There is a serious lack of hair metal on this list. Ratt, Twisted Sister, Motley Crue, Poison, Whitesnake, Def Leppard and Bon Jovi each are represented by one song. Some could argue that some of these bands don't really deserve the "hair band" moniker, but I'm putting them all in the category for simplicity's sake. Less-hairy/more-scary heavy metal bands aren't represented AT ALL, which is insane. No Metallica? No Judas Priest? No Ozzy? AC/DC is the only real metal band on the list. Aerosmith doesn't really qualify because they really started heading for pop territory in the '80s and '90s. I don't really consider Guns N' Roses "metal" either, just good, hard rock.

5. How is Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody" on the list, yet her cover of "I Feel For You" is nowhere to be found?? That song was huge. Again, people aren't remembering the '80s accurately.

Finally, what I would call glaring omissions: "Goody Two Shoes" by Adam Ant, "Centerfold" by J. Geils Band, "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds, "Hold Me Now" by The Thompson Twins, "Always Something There To Remind Me" by Naked Eyes, "Everytime You Go Away" by Paul Young, "Missing You" by John Waite and "She's a Beauty" by The Tubes.

Comments

Metal Mark said…
Hey that looks exactly like my top 100 songs of the 80's. Well, actually it looks nothing like what my list would look like. Then again I kind of gave up on the radio around 1985.
LoraLoo said…
Ooooh I like some of those you mentioned that they completely overlooked. Soooo many hair bands they missed, so many rock songs overlooked. Not that Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" was that horrible, but better than Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)"??? WTF?

Dexy's Midnight Runners - if I hear that song one more time in my life, my head might explode.

The reason Duran Duran only has one song here: Panel members who were men so insecure with themselves as teens in the 80's, never scored with that Don Johnson jacket and those damn shoes with no socks... they're resentful against those they had to compete with back then; the ones the girls had plastered all over the walls.

Just sayin'.
Lee Ann said…
I like a lot of those, but some....I agree with you!

Love AC/DC....they ROCK
Anonymous said…
No ZZ Top?

Totally agree on Springsteen, and I f'n can't believe that "Talk Dirty to Me" isn't number 1 on the list. That song screams 80's
Anonymous said…
No Huey Lewis and the News??? They only had like a dozen top ten hits with great videos. I agree that ZZ Top should also have been represented. I also noticed that the list is very hard rock/Metal heavy.
Mme.G said…
Hear, hear! re: lack of hair metal...there's way too much generic pop stuff on that list. Not to mention that I can't stand that woman they have narrating every one of their "100 Greatest" shows.

My myspace page has some amusing photos of my hubby and I dressed up as hair metal people this past Halloween...we were a big hit! At the end of the night, though, we ran into these two guys dressed as Slash and Axl Rose - except that, in my drunkenness, I mistook Axl for Bret Michaels and got all excited (I was dressed as a Poison groupie, and his bandana and stringy blond hair totally could have been a later Bret...) the guy went along with it, but probably thought I was a total nutjob.

That's the end of my amusing hair metal story. I don't get a chance to read and comment too often, so I'll make up for it with length!
Anonymous said…
No Safety Dance? C'mon, did 25 year olds make this list?
Malcolm said…
I am glad that I lived through the 80s. Otherwise, I would look at a list like this and think that music back then was mostly garbage. How in the hell can "Living On A Prayer" be #1?! As with any list, there are many omissions that would have been worthy of inclusion.

Situation- Yaz
Drive- The Cars
Burn Rubber- Gap Band
Cult of Personality- Living Colour
Love Will Tear Us Apart- Joy Division