[Album] Reliving the music of the 80's...

I admit I've never had much of an interest in mainstream music in the past, but there is something in a lot of music associated with the "80's sound" that I just can't ignore anymore. Over the years, through radio, commercials, insert songs, etc I've heard plenty I've enjoyed and over the past couple months, I'm slowly becoming something of a fanatic of it.

So...Favorite 80's songs? Bands? Singers? Recommendations?

Some of the ones I've indulged in recently:

Iron Maiden (as always...their 80's material remains their strongest, IMO. Number of the Beast, Powerslave and SSOASS are all great albums).

Twisted Sister (*gasp* They actually DO have other songs besides "I Wanna Rock" and "We're Not Gonna Take It". Pretty good ones too).

Van Halen (both Diver Down and Van Halen 1 are amazing albums and Eddie's guitar playing is always fun to listen to. Also, "Jump" = pure 80's sound)

Go-Go's/Belinda Carlisle (I really like Carlisle's voice, whether alone or with the group)

Bangles (same mold as the Go-Go's..."Walk Like An Egyptian" is <3)

Cyndi Lauper (she really faded over the years, but all of her early work is great)

Bonnie Tyler (her raspy voice is really powerful, but it's creepy at times as well..."Holding Out for a Hero" is one of those songs producers fight to get into their movies)

Bryan Adams (radio-friendly rock songs, but I guess that's not a bad thing when you actually like them. Oddly relaxing and nostalgic instead of annoying.)

Others that I'm less familiar with or only really enjoy a couple selections:

Michael Jackson (Beat It and Thriller...don't really care for anything else of his)
Scorpions (Rock You Like a Hurricane, slowly exploring these guys)
Toni Basil (Mickey...the ultimate one-hit wonder!)
Kylie Minogue ("Locomotion")
Quiet Riot (Cum on Feel the Noize)
Survivor ("Eye of the Tiger" and "Burning Heart", obviously)
Debbie Gibson ("Shake Your Love")
Buggles ("Video Killed the Radio Star"...another good one-hit wonder)
Duran Duran ("Hungry Like the Wolf"...Not sure if I like the rest of these guys)

Recommendations highly welcome, especially for lesser-known artists, since I'm mostly working with a Billboard hits list.

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Eurythmics were one I've touched on ("Sweet Dreams" was one of my mom's favorite songs and it's stayed with me for years...I remember the video for this one was pretty wild)...They're one I definitely want to hear more of.

And yeah...I don't really mean solely "in the 80's" (most of the acts I listed have more recent material as well...I just ordered Twisted Sister's "Twisted Christmas"), but moreso the synthpop/new wave/rock/metal acts that had their most exposure in that timeframe, since they were probably the most characteristic of the decade's carefree approach to music. A lot of the early 80's hitlists were still infested with disco music and I'm surprised just how many soft rock "hits" there were.

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Originally Posted by knkwzrd

Really, most of the '80s music I listen to is either American punk/thrash or highly experimental electronic stuff which doesn't seem to be what you're looking for.

Really, as long as it isn't disco, rap/hip-hop, or grunge, I'm pretty open. If anything, I'm more interested in anything experimental from the 80's than recently, due to the status of the technology at the time and the actual sound of much 80's electronic music. Besides, I'm more interested in what people actually listen to from the 80's than just stuff I might like, since I can always hunt stuff down later on.

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Originally Posted by Encephalon

However, the bulk of the 80's stuff I listen to is the disposable pop that was released in those times. It's my guilty pleasure. SHUT UP!

Heh, nothing wrong with that...For the most part, I find the majority of these pop acts far more listenable than the disposable stuff from the 90's and more recently, although there is a lot that isn't worth it. I just think of the 80's as a time of mindless, but talented fun...I have a much harder time identifying with anything that originated in more recent times (the 90's were none too kind to Cyndi Lauper or Iron Maiden either...). I guess I'm just a helpless victim of the New Wave scene...

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

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