Best Songs of 1980

I started loosely working on this list sometime in 2013, and it took until 2015 to finish it. As I did in 2014, I’m releasing 100-song lists from 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, and 5 years ago, along with a list for this year. My end goal is to produce a list for every year I’ve been live, which means in 2015 I also get to make a 35-year-old list.

A good chunk of this Best of 1980 (close to half) were new to me as of 2013 or later. It was a unique and eye-opening process going back to the sounds of a time before I knew anything about music (AKA back when my age was still measured in months), and in so doing, I discovered that we are probably more likely to go back to a time before we were alive (say, for me, the early ’70s), than to explore sounds from our baby days. (My guess is that it’s a parental thing—they were too busy raising us to listen to new music in those early years.)

In the end, however, I have come across a great number of songs that are now very important to me, and, oddly, remind me vaguely of that era of my life, even though I may have just heard them for the first time in the past couple years.

For these year-end lists, I like to undertake the seemingly impossibly task of creating an hours-long mix. The order you see below represents that effort, which you can listen to via Spotify. Sadly all 100 tracks aren't available, but you get the general idea. Track notes to come eventually or maybe never.

Show Grid

Once in a Lifetime

Talking Heads

Remain in Light

Sire

Notes
Video Killed the Radio Star

Buggles

The Age of Plastic

Island

Notes
Do You Dream in Colour

Bill Nelson

Quit Dreaming (And Get on the Beam)

Mercury

Notes
Mirror in the Bathroom

The English Beat

I Just Can’t Stop It

I.R.S.

Notes
Could You Be Loved

Bob Marley & The Wailers

Uprising

Island

Notes
The Magnificent Seven

The Clash

Sandinista!

Epic

Notes
Rapture

Blondie

Autoamerican

Capitol

Notes
Monster Jam

Spoonie Gee Meets The Sequence

Monster Jam 12"

Sugar Hill

Notes
Stomp!

The Brothers Johnson

Light Up the Night

A&M

Notes
8th Wonder

The Sugarhill Gang

8th Wonder 12"

Sugar Hill

Notes
I’m Coming Out

Diana Ross

Diana

Motown

Notes
When You Were Mine

Prince

Dirty Mind

Warner Bros.

Notes
More Bounce to the Ounce

Zapp

Zapp

Warner Bros.

Notes
That’s the Joint

Funky 4 + 1

That’s the Joint 12"

Sugar Hill

Notes
The Breaks

Kurtis Blow

Kurtis Blow

Mercury

Notes
Give Me the Night

George Benson

Give Me the Night

Warner Bros.

Notes
Just the Two of Us

Grover Washington Jr. & Bill Withers

Winelight

Columbia

Notes
Can You Feel It

The Jacksons

Triumph

Epic

Notes
Did I Hear You Say You Love Me

Stevie Wonder

Hotter Than July

Motown

Notes
Burnin’ Hot

Jermaine Jackson

Let’s Get Serious

Motown

Notes
Celebration

Kool & The Gang

Celebrate!

De-Lite

Notes
Emotional Rescue

The Rolling Stones

Emotional Rescue

Universal

Notes
Coming Up

Paul McCartney

McCartney II

Columbia

Notes
Woke Up Laughing

Robert Palmer

Clues

Island

Notes
Late in the Evening

Paul Simon

One-Trick Pony

Sony

Notes
Hey Nineteen

Steely Dan

Gaucho

MCA

Notes
Drivin’ My Life Away

Eddie Rabbitt

Horizon

Elektra

Notes
Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Queen

The Game

Elektra

Notes
It’s All Right

Curtis Mayfield

Something to Believe In

RSO

Notes
Open Your Eyes

Bobby Caldwell

Cat in the Hat

Clouds

Notes
You’re the Only Woman

Ambrosia

One Eighty

Warner Bros.

Notes
More Than I Can Say

Leo Sayer

Living in a Fantasy

Warner Bros.

Notes
Oh God, I Wish I Was at Home Tonight

Rod Stewart

Foolish Behaviour

Warner Bros.

Notes
How Do I Make You

Linda Ronstadt

Mad Love

Elektra

Notes
9 to 5

Dolly Parton

9 to 5 and Odd Jobs

RCA

Notes
On the Road Again

Willie Nelson

Honeysuckle Rose

Columbia

Notes
What Do You Expect

J. J. Cale

Shades

MCA

Notes
Hawks & Doves

Neil Young

Hawks & Doves

Reprise

Notes
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)

Bruce Springsteen

The River

Columbia

Notes
Nightshift

The Heats

Smoke

Chuckie Boy

Notes
Ain’t Even Done With the Night

John Cougar

Nothin’ Matters and What If It Did

Mercury

Notes
Romeo and Juliet

Dire Straits

Making Movies

Warner Bros.

Notes
New Amsterdam

Elvis Costello & the Attractions

Get Happy!!

Columbia

Notes
When I Write the Book

Rockpile

Seconds of Pleasure

Columbia

Notes
Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)

Squeeze

Argybargy

A&M

Notes
Embarrassment

Madness

Absolutely

Sire

Notes
Geno

Dexys Midnight Runners

Searching for the Young Soul Rebels

Parlophone

Notes
Beat Crazy

Joe Jackson

Beat Crazy

A&M

Notes
I Need Two Heads

The Go-Betweens

I Need Two Heads 7"

Postcard

Notes
That’s Entertainment

The Jam

Sound Affects

Polydor

Notes
Drinking About My Baby

The Damned

The Black Album

Chiswick

Notes
Totally Wired

The Fall

Totally Wired 7"

Rough Trade

Notes
Dirty Blue Gene

Captain Beefheart

Doc at the Radar Station

Virgin

Notes
Ace of Spades

Mötorhead

Ace of Spades

Sanctuary

Notes
Los Angeles

X

Los Angeles

Slash

Notes
I Wanna Destroy You

The Soft Boys

Underwater Moonlight

Armageddon

Notes
Nine Times Out of Ten

The Undertones

Hypnotised

Armageddon

Notes
Do the Method

The Method Actors

This Is It 7"

Armageddon

Notes
Salad Days

Young Marble Giants

Colossal Youth

Rough Trade

Notes
Love Will Tear Us Apart

Joy Division

Love Will Tear Us Apart 12"

Factory

Notes
Looks

Student Teachers

Marty Thau Presents 2x5

Red Star

Notes
Falling and Laughing

Orange Juice

Falling and Laughing 7"

Postcard

Notes
Feast on My Heart

Pylon

Gyrate

dB Recs

Notes
Give Me Back My Man

The B-52’s

Wild Planet

Warner Bros.

Notes
Antmusic

Adam & The Ants

Kings of the Wild Frontier

CBS

Notes
Whip It

Devo

Freedom of Choice

Warner Bros.

Notes
Do It Clean

Echo & the Bunnymen

Crocodiles

Korova

Notes
I Will Follow

U2

Boy

Island

Notes
Enola Gay

Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark

Organisation

EMI

Notes
Touch and Go

The Cars

Panorama

Elektra

Notes
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da

The Police

Zenyatta Mondatta

A&M

Notes
Imitation of Christ

The Psychedelic Furs

The Psychedelic Furs

CBS

Notes
Babooshka

Kate Bush

Never for Ever

Parlophone

Notes
When I’m With You

Sparks

Terminal Jive

Virgin

Europe-only release
Ashes to Ashes

David Bowie

Scary Monsters

RCA

Notes
And Through the Wire

Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel

Geffen

Notes
Misunderstanding

Genesis

Duke

Charisma

Notes
Over You

Roxy Music

Flesh and Blood

Reprise

Notes
Hearts in Her Eyes

The Records

Crashes

Virgin

Notes
Respectable Street

XTC

Black Sea

Virgin

Notes
I Got You

Split Enz

True Colours

A&M
What I Like About You

The Romantics

The Romantics

Sony

Notes
Baby Loves to Rock

Cheap Trick

All Shook Up

Epic

Notes
You Shook Me All Night Long

AC/DC

Back in Black

Columbia

Notes
Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Pat Benatar

Crimes of Passion

Chrysalis

Notes
I’m Alright

Kenny Loggins

Caddyshack

Columbia

Notes
9 to 5 (Morning Train)

Sheena Easton

Take My Time

EMI

Notes
Kiss on My List

Daryl Hall & John Oates

Voices

RCA

Notes
Brass in Pocket

Pretenders

Pretenders

Sire

Notes
Let My Love Open the Door

Pete Townshend

Empty Glass

Atco

Notes
How Do You Speak to an Angel

Lou Reed

Growing Up in Public

RCA

Notes
Play It All Night Long

Warren Zevon

Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School

Elektra

Notes
Fascist Architecture

Bruce Cockburn

Humans

True North
Sharp Cutting Wings (Songs to a Poet)

Lucinda Williams

Happy Woman Blues

Folkways

Notes
Wayfaring Stranger

Emmylou Harris

Roses in the Snow

Warner Bros.

Notes
Jersey Girl

Tom Waits

Heartattack and Vine

Asylum

Notes
Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)

John Lennon & Yoko Ono

Double Fantasy

Geffen

Notes
Don’t Ask Me Why

Billy Joel

Glass Houses

Columbia

Notes
Theme From New York, New York

Frank Sinatra

Trilogy

Reprise

Notes
America

Neil Diamond

The Jazz Singer

Capitol

Notes