This list started out as a "request" I had asked a friend, to share her 90s' songlist with me, which in turn had gotten me intrigued on songs which "instinctively reminded me of the 80s" once I heard it, and of course I had come out with a decent stack of mixtape suggestions!
So, instead of choosing my own "Top Ten Favourites", I'd offer instead different "volumes" of tunes from the 80s that are dear to me and my Soundtrack of Life!
"Too Shy" by Kajagoogoo (1983 / Album: White Feathers) instinctively contours up a vivd memory of a certain afternoon, as I am laying front down on the floor, on a mattress, as I am writing into an "autograph book" of a classmate (maybe I had a crush on her?), while beside laid a plate with a couple of slices of pandan cake. This was in Teban Garden's flat, when I was more likely in Secondary 3, or 4, or repeating my Sec 4. Crips memory too.
I do not have a very distinct memory of "Always Something There To Remind Me" by Naked Eyes (1983 / Album: Burning Bridges), except that hearing it would bring me back to the heydays of the 80s ... the excitement of the tune, the adventure that awaited...
Tears For Fears had been one of my ultimate "Top Ten" bands of the 80s, with most of their songs from their "Songs from the Big Chair" album my faves - which folks will remember "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" and "Shout" - but to me, the track that triggers my memories more is "Head Over Heels" (1985) ... which might or might not have described a moment in life for me back then ... I really don't remember the details, but the feels ...
I first heard Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" on the radio (1985 / Album: The Breakfast Club), but in reality only really watched the film from which its apart of the soundtrack for, early last year!
And while Spandau Ballet is also one of my "Top Ten" bands of the 80s, this track - "True" (1983 / Album: True) - is without a doubt the clearest fave of their discography, at least for me.
The Human League's "Human" (1986 / Album: Crash) is the epitome of 80s soundscapes for me.
This list is a personal list, and one track that had always stuck with me, was Haircut 100's "Love Plus One" (1982 / Album: Pelican West), which may be one of the earliest tracks which somehow "introduced" me to the British New Wave...? A very "safe" relaxing track, it was a smooth harbinger to the techno-synth soundscape which subsequently devoured me LOL
I cannot remember the exact moment when I first heard "Relax" by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, but hell I know their era of ZTT tunes stayed with me for a while longer than other songs, methinks ... this is the "Laser Version".
Depeche Mode is my ultimate 80s-Jam and onwards! And each of their tracks and albums are very distinctive of the 80s, and are yet ageless, IMHO. Two songs battle for the top spot: "Somebody", and the first DM song I've ever heard; "Just Can't Get Enough" (1981 / Album: Speak & Spell).
If New Order's "Blue Monday" (1983 / Album: Power, Corruption & Lies) is a "cliche" for "80s Tunes", then colour me CLICHED, dammit! LOL
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