Best Songs of 1984

Just like I did in 2013, I have dedicated myself to creating 100-song Best of Lists representing 30, 20, and 10 years ago, along with a list for this year. Much like my 1983 list, going back to 1984 was a chance for me to rediscover favorites from my childhood alongside a TON of new discoveries.

In the past two years since I started this process of culling tracks from every year of my existence, I have come across a slew of great albums and artists that I had only heard of (but not heard), or, in a few cases, had never known about at all. It's been a wonderful experience, yet again, to piece together this list.

As before, this list is an honest attempt to assess a year in music, merging the reality of a list made 30 years later with the idea that, had I been able to conceive of such a list at the time (as an adult, not as the six-year-old I was), I would have included pop hits, obscure tunes, aging favorites and new artists alike.

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 or my preferred streaming service, Rdio. Sadly all 100 tracks aren't available in either case, but you get the general idea. Track notes to come eventually or—particularly if last year's un-annotated lists are a sign of future action—maybe never.

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Van Halen

1984

Warner Bros.

Notes
The Boys of Summer

Don Henley

Building the Perfect Beast

Geffen

Notes
Summer of ’69

Bryan Adams

Reckless

A&M

Notes
Footloose

Kenny Loggins

Footloose

Columbia

Notes
When Doves Cry

Prince & The Revolution

Purple Rain

Warner Bros.

Notes
Ghostbusters

Ray Parker Jr.

Ghostbusters

Arista

Notes
Somebody’s Watching Me

Rockwell

Somebody’s Watching Me

Motown

Notes
Close (To the Edit)

Art of Noise

(Who’s Afraid of) The Art of Noise?

ZZT

Notes
It’s Like That

Run-DMC

Run-DMC

Arista

Notes
Escape (I Need a Break)

Whodini

Escape

Jive

Notes
Fresh

Kool & The Gang

Emergency

Def Jam

Notes
Meeting in the Ladies Room

Klymaxx

Meeting in the Ladies Room

Geffen

Notes
Jungle Love

The Time

Ice Cream Castle

Warner Bros.

Notes
Obsession

Animotion

Animotion

Mercury

Notes
People Are People

Depeche Mode

Some Great Reward

Warner Bros.

Notes
Relax

Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Welcome to the Pleasuredome

ZZT

Notes
Original Sin

INXS

The Swing

ATCO

Notes
No More Words

Berlin

Love Life

Geffen

Notes
Holding Out for a Hero

Bonnie Tyler

Footloose

Columbia

Notes
Dancing in the Dark

Bruce Springsteen

Born in the U.S.A.

Columbia

Notes
Drive

The Cars

Heartbeat City

Elektra

Notes
Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)

Phil Collins

Against All Odds

Atlantic

Notes
I Want to Know What Love Is

Foreigner

Agent Provocateur

Atlantic

Notes
Can’t Fight This Feeling

REO Speedwagon

Wheels Are Turnin’

Epic

Notes
Forever Young

Alphaville

Forever Young

Warner Bros.

Notes
Tinseltown in the Rain

The Blue Nile

A Walk Across the Rooftops

Caroline

Notes
It’s My Life

Talk Talk

It’s My Life

EMI

Notes
The Killing Moon

Echo & The Bunnymen

Ocean Rain

Sire

Notes
Dazzle

Siouxsie and the Banshees

Hyaena

Geffen

Notes
Mercenary

The Go-Go’s

Talk Show

I.R.S.

Notes
James

Bangles

All Over the Place

Columbia

Notes
New Song

Howard Jones

Human’s Lib

Elektra

Notes
Talking Loud and Clear

Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark

Junk Culture

Virgin

Notes
Hold Me Now

Thompson Twins

Into the Gap

Arista

Notes
Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly)

The Icicle Works

Icicle Works

Beggars Banquet

Notes
Dance Hall Days

Wang Chung

Points on the Curve

Geffen

Notes
Down in the Subway

Soft Cell

This Last Night in Sodom

Mercury

Notes
This Charming Man

The Smiths

The Smiths

Sire

Notes
You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)

Joe Jackson

Body and Soul

A&M

Notes
Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)

Billy Ocean

Suddenly

Jive

Notes
Cruel Summer

Bananarama

Bananarama

London

Notes
The Glamorous Life

Sheila E

The Glamorous Life

Warner Bros.

Notes
I Feel for You

Chaka Khan

I Feel for You

Warner Bros.

Notes
Let’s Hear It for the Boy

Deniece Williams

Footloose

Columbia

Notes
Easy Lover

Philip Bailey & Phil Collins

Easy Lover 7"

CBS

Notes
Tenderness

General Public

All the Rage

I.R.S.

Notes
Out of Touch

Daryl Hall & John Oates

Big Bam Boom

RCA

Notes
Dancing With Tears in My Eyes

Ultravox

Lament

Caroline

Notes
A Spy in the House of Love

The dB’s

Like This

Bearsville

Notes
Cool It Now

New Edition

New Edition

MCA

Notes
Torture

The Jacksons

Victory

Epic

Notes
Like a Virgin

Madonna

Like a Virgin

Sire

Notes
What’s Love Got to Do With It

Tina Turner

Private Dancer

Capitol

Notes
I Just Called to Say I Love You

Stevie Wonder

The Woman in Red

Motown

Notes
You’re the Best Thing

The Style Council

Café Bleu

Polydor

Notes
Smooth Operator

Sade

Diamond Life

Epic

Notes
Everything She Wants

Wham!

Make It Big

Columbia

Notes
Too Late for Goodbyes

Julian Lennon

Valotte

Atlantic

Notes
Perfect Skin

Lloyd Cole and the Commotions

Rattlesnakes

Capitol

Notes
An Elegant Chaos

Julian Cope

World Shut Your Mouth

Mercury

Notes
Heaven

The Psychedelic Furs

Mirror Moves

Columbia

Notes
A Sense of Belonging

Television Personalities

The Painted Word

Illuminated

Notes
Flowers by the Door

T.S.O.L.

Change Today?

Enigma

Notes
Eight Miles High

Hüsker Dü

Eight Miles High

SST

Notes
Lake of Fire

Meat Puppets

Meat Puppets II

SST

Notes
This Is Not a Love Song

Public Image Ltd.

This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get

Elektra

Notes
Wild Thing

X

Wild Thing 7"

Elektra

Notes
Sixty Eight Guns

The Alarm

Declaration

I.R.S.

Notes
True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers

EMI

Notes
Howling at the Moon

Ramones

Too Tough to Die

Warner Bros.

Notes
Corona

Minutemen

Double Nickels on the Dime

SST

Notes
Will the Wolf Survive

Los Lobos

How Will the Wolf Survive

Slash

Notes
Sound of the Rain

Rank and File

Long Gone Dead

Slash

Notes
Lights of Downtown

Long Ryders

State of Our Union

Island

Notes
Cold Shot

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Couldn’t Stand the Weather

Epic

Notes
Country Death Song

Violent Femmes

Hallowed Ground

Slash

Notes
Ghost on the Road

Guadalcanal Diary

Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man

Elektra

Notes
Easy Does

Let’s Active

Cypress

I.R.S.

Notes
Neon Lights

Love Tractor

’Til the Cows Come Home

dB recs

Notes
Just a Shadow

Big Country

Steeltown

Mercury

Notes
Hands Across the Sea

Modern English

Ricochet Days

4AD

Notes
Unsatisfied

The Replacements

Let It Be

Twin/Tone

Notes
My Girl

Hoodoo Gurus

Stoneage Romeo

A&M

Notes
Draining the Pool for You

The Go-Betweens

Spring Hill Fair

Sire

Notes
Skin Deep

The Stranglers

Aural Sculpture

Epic

Notes
All You Pretty Girls

XTC

The Big Express

Caroline

Notes
Kosciusko

Midnight Oil

Red Sails in the Sunset

Columbia

Notes
A Pagan Place

The Waterboys

A Pagan Place

Island

Notes
Bad

U2

The Unforgettable Fire

Island

Notes
Burn

The Dream Syndicate

Medicine Show

A&M

Notes
Lovers in a Dangerous Time

Bruce Cockburn

Stealing Fire

Columbia

Notes
Middle of the Road

Pretenders

Learning to Crawl

Sire

Notes
Blue Jean

David Bowie

Tonight

EMI

Notes
I Love You, Suzanne

Lou Reed

New Sensations

RCA

Notes
Nobody Told Me

John Lennon

Milk and Honey

Polydor

Notes
Beautiful Waste

The Triffids

Beautiful Waste 7"

Hot Records

Notes
Pink Frost

The Chills

Pink Frost/Purple Girl 7"

Flying Nun

Notes
Sunlight Bathed in the Golden Glow

Felt

The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories

Cherry Red

Notes
Pretty Persuasion

R.E.M.

Reckoning

I.R.S.

Notes
The Backyard

Miracle Legion

The Backyard

Incas

Notes