✅ Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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✅ Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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StevieFan13
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

Post by StevieFan13 »

Great find!
The list so far:
100) Peter Gabriel - Shock the Monkey
99) Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
98) Men at Work - Who Can It Be Now?
97) The Cure - A Strange Day
96) Lyle Lovett - If I Had a Boat
95) Tears for Fears - Head Over Heels
94) Peter Gabriel - Mercy Street
93) Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love
92) The Police - Every Breath You Take
91) Journey - Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
90) Sade - Smooth Operator
89) Flipper - Sex Bomb
88) George Michael - Faith
87) The Jesus and Mary Chain - Head On
86) The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
85) Bruce Springsteen - Dancing in the Dark
84) The Police - Wrapped Around Your Finger
83) Squeeze - Tempted
82) Echo and the Bunnymen - Bring On the Dancing Horses
81) The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York
80) Berlin - Take My Breath Away
79) Erasure - A Little Respect
78) Modern English - I Melt with You
77) Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart
76) Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead
75) Mission of Burma - Academy Fight Song
74) Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
73) R.E.M. - Orange Crush
72) The Smiths - The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
71) The Replacements - I Will Dare
70) The Dead Kennedys - Holiday in Cambodia
69) Hall & Oates - You Make My Dreams
68) Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
67) Run-D.M.C. - Walk This Way
66) Pixies - Where is My Mind?
65) Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Something
64) David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes
63) David Bowie - Let's Dance
62) Hall & Oates - I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)
61) The Clash - Rock the Casbah
60) Queen and David Bowie - Under Pressure
59) Don Henley - The Boys of Summer
58) The Jam - That's Entertainment
57) New Order - True Faith
56) R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe
55) George Clinton - Atomic Dog
54) Sade - Your Love is King
53) R.E.M. - Fall on Me
52) AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long
51) U2 - With or Without You
50) U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name
49) Bruce Springsteen - I'm on Fire
48) Pat Benatar - We Belong
47) Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City
46) The Stone Roses - Fools Gold
45) Daniel Johnston - True Love Will Find You in the End
44) Madonna - Like a Virgin
43) Duran Duran - Rio
42) Bruce Springsteen - The River
41) Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)
40) Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal
39) N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton
38) Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot
37) David Bowie - Modern Love
36) Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
35) Roxy Music - More Than This
34) Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
33) Deee-Lite - Groove is in the Heart
32) A Flock of Seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away)
31) Prince - Kiss
30) Michael Jackson - P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
29) Madonna - Borderline
28) Wham! feat. George Michael - Careless Whisper
27) Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
26) Soft Cell - Tainted Love
25) Public Enemy - Fight the Power
24) Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
23) Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes
22) Chaka Khan - I Feel for You
21) New Order - Blue Monday
20) Herbie Hancock - Rockit
19) Pixies - Debaser
18) a-ha - Take on Me
17) Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight
16) Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
15) U2 - New Year's Day
14) The Smiths - How Soon is Now?
13) Prince - Purple Rain
12) Madonna - Into the Groove
11) Talking Heads - This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
10) Prince - Let's Go Crazy
9) The Human League - Don't You Want Me
8) The Cure - Pictures of You
7) Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
6) New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
5) Prince - Little Red Corvette
4) The Smiths - There is a Light That Never Goes Out
3) Prince - When Doves Cry
2) Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
1) The Cure - Just Like Heaven
Last edited by StevieFan13 on Fri May 19, 2017 5:23 am, edited 7 times in total.
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

Post by Bruno »

Thanks!
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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#s 70-61 have been added! Bowie and Hall & Oates reign supreme. Now let's just wait another umpteen weeks to get the next batch.
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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StevieFan13 wrote:#s 70-61 have been added! Bowie and Hall & Oates reign supreme. Now let's just wait another umpteen weeks to get the next batch.
:mrgreen:
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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Halfway there - 60-51 have been added, and they're good!
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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50-41 have been added, and as is de rigeur, it's mostly boosting one artist (in this case, Bruce Springsteen, as opposed to the waves of Bowie and Gabriel before).
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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40-31 are here now. Great picks, though I believe Groove is in the Heart came out in '90.
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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StevieFan13 wrote:40-31 are here now. Great picks, though I believe Groove is in the Heart came out in '90.
Yes, 1990.
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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We're in the home stretch - here's #30-21. Some expected picks here, some surprises.
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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Either they're going to front-load the Smiths songs or there's going to barely be any...
Top 20 predictions:
- Madonna - Like a Prayer
- The Smiths - How Soon is Now?
- Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message
- Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
- New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
- The Human League - Don't You Want Me
- Echo and the Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
- U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
- The Smiths - There is a Light That Never Goes Out
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

Post by Sweepstakes Ron »

There's only one Prince song so far? There has to be at least one in the top 20. But it still feels like there should be more...
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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Sweepstakes Ron wrote:There's only one Prince song so far? There has to be at least one in the top 20. But it still feels like there should be more...
Oh yeah, I just realized that. For whatever reason, I thought there was more than one. I'm imagining When Doves Cry, Purple Rain, or both (or, considering that this list is so fond of obvious picks alongside left turns, possibly a dark horse pick like Little Red Corvette or If I Was Your Girlfriend).
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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Sweepstakes Ron wrote:There's only one Prince song so far? There has to be at least one in the top 20. But it still feels like there should be more...
(Technically two, if we're counting I Feel for You...)
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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Great choices so far.
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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4 Peter Gabriel's songs is a surprise.
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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Closer and closer! #s 20-11 are now here, and I'm happy to say I like all of them. I wouldn't have expected Naive Melody to be the higher-placing Talking Heads song, but I was correct in saying that How Soon is Now and Purple Rain would eventually make the cut. As for my other predictions, I can't really be too sure. I'd be surprised if Billie Jean and When Doves Cry didn't make the top 10, and considering this list's love of '80s goth rock, I wouldn't be shocked if a Cure joint like Just Like Heaven also made it high (and There is a Light That Never Goes Out probably also stands a good chance).
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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All great songs!
Thanks, Stevie.
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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No prob. I will say that, with all due respect to the late great George Michael, I had no idea how much I hated Careless Whisper until I listened to it all the way through. Everything I don't like about '80s pop in one song.
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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StevieFan13 wrote:No prob. I will say that, with all due respect to the late great George Michael, I had no idea how much I hated Careless Whisper until I listened to it all the way through. Everything I don't like about '80s pop in one song.
Haha, really? I love that song! :mrgreen: It's possible in my top 200 all time.
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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Bruno wrote:
StevieFan13 wrote:No prob. I will say that, with all due respect to the late great George Michael, I had no idea how much I hated Careless Whisper until I listened to it all the way through. Everything I don't like about '80s pop in one song.
Haha, really? I love that song! :mrgreen: It's possible in my top 200 all time.
I definitely hear what other people like about it. It's certainly catchy and iconic, and Michael's voice has always been great, but I hate the lyrics, hate the synths, hate the sax...like it if you want, though. I don't want to ruin your good time, and I definitely like his later stuff after the image revamp (Freedom '90 and Faith are both in my top 200).
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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StevieFan13 wrote:Freedom '90 and Faith are both in my top 200
Good to know! Both are great!
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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I will say that while it's frustrating to wait until Friday to finish transcribing the list, it does make it more exciting than most of these lists tend to be. Look at the view count on this thread! Everyone's waiting to see the top 10, even if it will be, in all likelihood, not too different from a typical '80s top 10 (with the exception of usual suspects like Once in a Lifetime or Blue Monday).
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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And now, the moment you've been waiting for: #s 10-1 are here and the list is complete! As it turned out, most of my predictions came true, even for most of the Prince songs (I didn't see Let's Go Crazy coming, I'll admit). I'm very happy to see Just Like Heaven all the way at #1. Sad that Like a Prayer didn't make a cut, but Madonna did alright on this list. Now I'm wondering if they'll do another decade. This slow-rollout business may have been a pain in the ass, but it did make it more exciting.
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

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Songs by artist:
Prince: 5
Bruce Springsteen: 4
David Bowie: 4
Michael Jackson: 4
Peter Gabriel: 4
The Cure: 3
Madonna: 3
New Order: 3
R.E.M.: 3
The Smiths: 3
U2: 3
Wham!/George Michael: 3
Hall & Oates: 2
Pixies: 2
The Police: 2
Sade: 2
Talking Heads: 2
Tears for Fears: 2
And one each for everyone else. Overall, a nice variety between alternative and pop. Lots of familiar ground, but not necessarily the order you'd expect or the songs you'd select for each band.
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Re: Spectrum Culture - 100 Best Songs of the ’80s

Post by Bruno »

Thanks again, Stevie.

3 Prince songs in the top 10 is a big surprise for me.
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