I recently happened across a playlist of the top 100 songs from 1980 according to the Billboard charts. Of course, there were a few great songs on there (“Call Me” and “Another Brick in the Wall” held the top two spots), and some good ones, too.
But overall, I can’t describe the unrelenting torture it was to listen to the bulk of that playlist, which I did—in due diligence—to undertake the research necessary to compile this playlist. I normally would prefer to have any music playing, rather than none, but even I have my limits.
As a point in comparison, I tried listening to an equivalent playlist from 1965. Surely, the pop music was just as bad then, right? I mean, we have this idealized view of the 1960s as this wonderful time for music, and the 1980s do indeed have the reputation of being a musical stink-hole. But surely that’s just the illusion of false reputations, right?
So I listened to the Billboard top 100 of 1965. True, much of it was fairly unsubstantial fluff. But most of it was quite enjoyable.
But the pop music of 1980? Fucking wretched. I was an avid pop radio listener back in 1980, so I had hoped that surely I would find some forgotten gems that I still couldn’t help but love. But no. At best, I could like some of it ironically, faux-rocking-out—complete with white man’s overbite—to Christopher Cross (“Ride Like the Wind,” baby!) and nothing more. Let’s not even get into Barry Manilow and Air Supply—they make tired, middle-of-the-road pseudo-funksters like Dr. Hook and Boz Scaggs seem almost fresh. Almost. I found very little genuine enjoyment to be had—at least half of it a boatload of sentimental pap. The few pop songs I found agreeable were actually covers of ‘60s pop hits. No wonder we needed punk rock.
That said, I was still able to come up with a nice selection of singles for your enjoyment. My singles choices tend to be a little more pop (obviously), more R&B and dance-oriented than my album choices. I’ve also discovered some early rap singles, which of course I was completely unaware of back in 1980, being the suburban white boy that I was. (All I knew back then was “Rapture,” like most of us—but that wasn’t a single until 1981.) Good stuff.
1980, The Singles
The playlist is roughly chronological, according to release date. Songs for which I could find no specific release date (many of them the early rap singles) are clustered toward the middle of the playlist.
Playlist Notes:
- The original version of the S.O.S. Band’s “Take Your Time” does not appear to be available on Spotify. All I could find were two more recent remixes, one of which had rapping over the top of the mix, that drowned out the original’s R&B groove with added, more contemporary repetitive beats. I chose the least annoying of the two as a replacement.
- The original version of Joe Walsh’s “All Night Long” from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack does not appear to be available on Spotify. I found a live version by the Eagles that isn’t too far off.
- The classic early rap track “How We Gonna Make the Black Nation Rise” by Brother D with Collective Effort does not appear to be available on Spotify.
About My Singles Playlists
Please note these singles playlists are not necessarily a compilation of all of the year’s best singles!
Rather, they only compile prominent singles that were not from any album featured on any of No Hype No Trends Music’s album playlists. (This includes the Best Albums of the Decade playlists, Year in Review album playlists, and Further Listening album playlists.)
Many of the best singles of each year have already been included in the other album playlists on this site. And any single from these albums that didn’t make the cut for its corresponding album playlist is disqualified from appearing here. (I want to include everything but have to draw the line somewhere! If I didn’t consider it one of the three best songs on the album, it won’t be here, period, even if it’s supposedly the best song of all time!)
Also, keep in mind that I typically designate a non-album single according to the artist’s home country. Many a non-album hit single in the UK, for example, was subsequently included on the US repackaging of UK album release. Thus, a US album track may be considered a non-album single here, so you might find it on a singles playlist instead of the album playlist where you expected to find it.
You might also find a single released in one year included in the Year in Review playlist of the following year, if the album it appears on was released later (as it often is).
More Singles of the 1980s…
[in development, as I work my way through the decade…]
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