I love that, though. It means that my fondness for the music of the 80's isn't just out of familiarity. I gives me hope that I really did grow up at a unique music moment. Maybe the college graduating class of 2008 is just coming to Right Round to get laid, but they still go nuts when "Come On Eileen" comes on, and I allow myself a little moment of pride for my life's good timing.
But after thirty years of discovery, re-discovering and digging deeper into the times of my teens, I can't help but feeling that the 80's dance nights have dug themselves a little bit of a rut. I love the classics, too, but here's ten songs that I'd love to hear among the standards of early 80's nights.
NOTE: The mp3s have been removed. Listen either on the player above or on our page on The Hype Machine
The The, "Infected" (1986)
This song I found in that most 80's of ways--by stumbling on the video one night--made me sorry I didn't spend more time on dance floors in high school. Possessor of one of the greatest snare sounds in...well, in my collection, anyway...it's a burner that deserves some love at 80's nights.
find it on Infected
Bow Wow Wow, "Do You Wanna Hold Me?" (1983)
This song is pretty much the entire reason for this mix. Bow Wow Wow is remembered as a one hit wonder for their cover of the blues song "I Want Candy" and for being alongside Adam and the Ants as the short-lived Burundi Beat fad, but "Do You Wanna Hold Me" is the song that takes their style from gimmick to pop genius. The hook of the chorus, the call-and-response, wordless backing vocals and the extended, building vocals at the end make this one of the most overlooked pop songs of all time. A hit in England, it at least deserves to be pulled out for 80's nights in this country.
find it on Playlist The Very Best of Bow Wow Wow
Orange Juice, "Rip It Up" (1982)
Whether Orange Juice abandoned poetic indie pop for this moment of pop funk for commercial gain or a sudden change of inspiration, they ended up with a winner, with surely one of the oddest hook lines ever: "I hope to God you're not as dumb as you make out".
find it on A Casual Introduction 1981/2001
Echo & The Bunnymen, "The Cutter" (1983)
Thanks in part to Donnie Darko, "The Killing Moon" has become more common at 80's nights, and "Lips Like Sugar" slips in there now and then, but this is the real capital-M Moment of the Echo & The Bunnymen well-knowns, thanks to the chorus that remains one of the most glorious pop music moments ever.
find it on Songs To Learn And Sing
Simple Minds, "Speed Your Love To Me" (1984)
"(Don't You) Forget About Me" totally deserves its status as one of the guaranteed floor packers of any 80's night, but it's a shame that that's where the love for Simple Minds stops. "Speed Your Love To Me" is a high mark of brooding pop, and it's just danceable enough to bring the people to the floor, but there's not so much of a groove that bad dancers feel like they can't join in. Plus, the jackasses could yell out "More cowbell!" Everybody's happy.
find it on Glittering Prize 81/92
(originally on Sparkle In The Rain)The Jam, "Beat Surrender" (1982)
"Town Called Malice" now exists just below the standard mark, but "Beat Surrender" should be there with it, existing as the "Shout" (Isley Brothers, not Tears For Fears) of 80's nights.
find it on The Very Best Of The Jam
The Housemartins, "Happy Hour" (1986)
Because "difficult to dance to" isn't a reason to not be part of an 80's night, and because misunderstanding pop songs is our constitutional right, letting us sing along with sincerity what's meant with irony.
find it on London 0 Hull 4
Gang of Four, "To Hell With Poverty! (Live)" (1981)
Keeping with the misunderstanding the message them (how fun would it be to yell out "Let's get drunk on cheap wine!" on a dance floor?), but adding a disco beat and as killer a riff as two notes could ever be is this song that today's dance punk bands would wish for.
find it on A Brief History of the Twentieth Century
Sparks, "Cool Places" (1983)
One of those eighties songs that I first heard in the nineties (on an 80's comp, no less), I've always wondered why it wasn't better known. It's possible that the dinky synths are almost too eighties for today, but the back and forth duet treads the line between actual cool and cheesy pop both in the characters and the music.
find it on In Outer Space
A Certain Ratio, "Shack Up" (1981)
This is probably too stark and off-kilter a dance song to ever make it to the modern 80's nights, but it'd keep the dance floor throbbing when nestled perfectly in between "White Wedding" and "Billie Jean".
find it on Early
