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. 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.
via my kindergarten jamboree library: 2/13/2010

Notes
The Boys of Summer

Don Henley

Building the Perfect Beast

Geffen
via TK library: 10/29/2012

Notes
Summer of ’69

Bryan Adams

Reckless

A&M
via TK library: 4/27/2013

Notes
Footloose

Kenny Loggins

Footloose

Columbia
via TK library: 5/3/2008 (on cassette in 1984)

Notes
When Doves Cry

Prince & The Revolution

Purple Rain

Warner Bros.
via TK library: 6/26/2007

Notes
Ghostbusters

Ray Parker Jr.

Ghostbusters

Arista
via TK library: 10/1/2011 (on 7" in 1984)

Notes
Somebody’s Watching Me

Rockwell

Somebody’s Watching Me

Motown
via TK library: 12/5/2008

Notes
Close (To the Edit)

Art of Noise

(Who’s Afraid of) The Art of Noise?

ZZT
via TK library: 9/21/2013

Notes
It’s Like That

Run-DMC

Run-DMC

Arista
via TK library: 2/1/2011

Notes
Escape (I Need a Break)

Whodini

Escape

Jive
via TK library: 10/20/2013

Notes
Fresh

Kool & The Gang

Emergency

Def Jam
via TK library: 9/21/2013

Notes
Meeting in the Ladies Room

Klymaxx

Meeting in the Ladies Room

Geffen
via TK library: 9/18/2011

Notes
Jungle Love

The Time

Ice Cream Castle

Warner Bros.
via TK library: 6/18/2012

Notes
Obsession

Animotion

Animotion

Mercury
via TK library: 4/28/2013

Notes
People Are People

Depeche Mode

Some Great Reward

Warner Bros.
via TK library: 6/11/2011

Notes
Relax

Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Welcome to the Pleasuredome

ZZT
via TK library: 11/2/2012

Notes
Original Sin

INXS

The Swing

ATCO
via TK library: 2/27/2009

Notes
No More Words

Berlin

Love Life

Geffen
via TK library: 12/27/2013

Notes
Holding Out for a Hero

Bonnie Tyler

Footloose

Columbia
via TK library: 2/13/2012

Notes
Dancing in the Dark

Bruce Springsteen

Born in the U.S.A.

Columbia
via TK library: 11/25/2008 (on cassette in 1984)

Notes
Drive

The Cars

Heartbeat City

Elektra
via TK library: 4/22/2009

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

Phil Collins

Against All Odds

Atlantic
via TK library: 6/9/2009

Notes
I Want to Know What Love Is

Foreigner

Agent Provocateur

Atlantic
via TK library: 9/9/2012

Notes
Can’t Fight This Feeling

REO Speedwagon

Wheels Are Turnin’

Epic
via TK library: 11/12/2012

Notes
Forever Young

Alphaville

Forever Young

Warner Bros.
via TK library: 1/7/2014

Notes
Tinseltown in the Rain

The Blue Nile

A Walk Across the Rooftops

Caroline
via TK library: 9/21/2013

Notes
It’s My Life

Talk Talk

It’s My Life

EMI
via TK library: 8/26/2012

Notes
The Killing Moon

Echo & The Bunnymen

Ocean Rain

Sire
via TK library: 1/12/2010

Notes
Dazzle

Siouxsie and the Banshees

Hyaena

Geffen
via TK library: 9/21/2013

Notes
Mercenary

The Go-Go’s

Talk Show

I.R.S.
via TK library: 7/6/2011

Notes
James

Bangles

All Over the Place

Columbia
via TK library: 5/3/2014

Notes
New Song

Howard Jones

Human’s Lib

Elektra
via TK library: 9/30/2013

Notes
Talking Loud and Clear

Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark

Junk Culture

Virgin
via TK library: 9/21/2013

Notes
Hold Me Now

Thompson Twins

Into the Gap

Arista
via TK library: 5/6/2013

Notes
Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly)

The Icicle Works

Icicle Works

Beggars Banquet
via TK library: 10/5/2013

Notes
Dance Hall Days

Wang Chung

Points on the Curve

Geffen
via TK library: 11/2/2012

Notes
Down in the Subway

Soft Cell

This Last Night in Sodom

Mercury
via TK library: 9/21/2013

Notes
This Charming Man

The Smiths

The Smiths

Sire
via TK library: 2/17/2012

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

Joe Jackson

Body and Soul

A&M
via TK library: 11/29/2009

Notes
Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)

Billy Ocean

Suddenly

Jive
via TK library: 9/4/2009 (on cassette in 1984)

Notes
Cruel Summer

Bananarama

Bananarama

London
via TK library: 2/12/2012

Notes
The Glamorous Life

Sheila E

The Glamorous Life

Warner Bros.
via TK library: 2/28/2013

Notes
I Feel for You

Chaka Khan

I Feel for You

Warner Bros.
via TK library: 11/2/2012

Notes
Let’s Hear It for the Boy

Deniece Williams

Footloose

Columbia
via TK library: 2/12/2012 (on cassette in 1984)

Notes
Easy Lover

Philip Bailey & Phil Collins

Easy Lover 7"

CBS
via TK library: 6/9/2009

Notes
Tenderness

General Public

All the Rage

I.R.S.
via TK library: 3/22/2014

Notes
Out of Touch

Daryl Hall & John Oates

Big Bam Boom

RCA
via TK library: 8/8/2008

Notes
Dancing With Tears in My Eyes

Ultravox

Lament

Caroline
via TK library: 9/21/2013

Notes
A Spy in the House of Love

The dB’s

Like This

Bearsville
via TK library: 2/12/2012

Notes
Cool It Now

New Edition

New Edition

MCA
via TK library: 1/23/2013

Notes
Torture

The Jacksons

Victory

Epic
via TK library: 10/20/2013 (on 7" in 1984)

Notes
Like a Virgin

Madonna

Like a Virgin

Sire
via TK library: 2/27/2009

Notes
What’s Love Got to Do With It

Tina Turner

Private Dancer

Capitol
via TK library: 5/7/2011

Notes
I Just Called to Say I Love You

Stevie Wonder

The Woman in Red

Motown
via TK library: 2/18/2012

Notes
You’re the Best Thing

The Style Council

Café Bleu

Polydor
via TK library: 12/27/2013

Notes
Smooth Operator

Sade

Diamond Life

Epic
via TK library: 2/13/2010

Notes
Everything She Wants

Wham!

Make It Big

Columbia
via TK library: 7/7/2009 (on cassette in 1984)

Notes
Too Late for Goodbyes

Julian Lennon

Valotte

Atlantic
via TK library: 2/28/2012

Notes
Perfect Skin

Lloyd Cole and the Commotions

Rattlesnakes

Capitol
via TK library: 4/28/2013

Notes
An Elegant Chaos

Julian Cope

World Shut Your Mouth

Mercury
via TK library: 12/27/2013

Notes
Heaven

The Psychedelic Furs

Mirror Moves

Columbia
via TK library: 9/23/2013

Notes
A Sense of Belonging

Television Personalities

The Painted Word

Illuminated
via TK library: 6/26/2013

Notes
Flowers by the Door

T.S.O.L.

Change Today?

Enigma
via TK library: 4/5/2008

Notes
Eight Miles High

Hüsker Dü

Eight Miles High

SST
via TK library: 10/7/2011

Notes
Lake of Fire

Meat Puppets

Meat Puppets II

SST
via TK library: 9/18/2010

Notes
This Is Not a Love Song

Public Image Ltd.

This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get

Elektra
via TK library: 2/11/2013

Notes
Wild Thing

X

Wild Thing 7"

Elektra
via TK library: 10/29/2012

Notes
Sixty Eight Guns

The Alarm

Declaration

I.R.S.
via TK library: 10/5/2013

Notes
True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers

EMI
via TK library: 12/27/2013

Notes
Howling at the Moon

Ramones

Too Tough to Die

Warner Bros.
via TK library: 9/21/2013

Notes
Corona

Minutemen

Double Nickels on the Dime

SST
via TK library: 12/6/2010

Notes
Will the Wolf Survive

Los Lobos

How Will the Wolf Survive

Slash
via TK library: 11/15/2003 (12/28/1997)

Notes
Sound of the Rain

Rank and File

Long Gone Dead

Slash
via TK library: 3/10/2014

Notes
Lights of Downtown

Long Ryders

State of Our Union

Island
via TK library: 6/22/2013

Notes
Cold Shot

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Couldn’t Stand the Weather

Epic
via TK library: 11/17/2003 (11/18/1995)

Notes
Country Death Song

Violent Femmes

Hallowed Ground

Slash
via TK library: 6/2/2013

Notes
Ghost on the Road

Guadalcanal Diary

Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man

Elektra
via TK library: 9/21/2013

Notes
Easy Does

Let’s Active

Cypress

I.R.S.
via TK library: 3/28/2013

Notes
Neon Lights

Love Tractor

’Til the Cows Come Home

dB recs
via TK library: 9/21/2013

Notes
Just a Shadow

Big Country

Steeltown

Mercury
via TK library: 9/21/2013

Notes
Hands Across the Sea

Modern English

Ricochet Days

4AD
via TK library: 3/22/2014

Notes
Unsatisfied

The Replacements

Let It Be

Twin/Tone
via TK library: 4/5/2009

Notes
My Girl

Hoodoo Gurus

Stoneage Romeo

A&M
via TK library: 5/26/2013

Notes
Draining the Pool for You

The Go-Betweens

Spring Hill Fair

Sire
via TK library: 12/3/2013

Notes
Skin Deep

The Stranglers

Aural Sculpture

Epic
via TK library: 4/3/2014

Notes
All You Pretty Girls

XTC

The Big Express

Caroline
via TK library: 9/21/2013

Notes
Kosciusko

Midnight Oil

Red Sails in the Sunset

Columbia
via TK library: 9/23/2013

Notes
A Pagan Place

The Waterboys

A Pagan Place

Island
via TK library: 4/10/2012

Notes
Bad

U2

The Unforgettable Fire

Island
via TK library: 11/17/2003 (9/12/1996)

Notes
Burn

The Dream Syndicate

Medicine Show

A&M
via TK library: 9/21/2013

Notes
Lovers in a Dangerous Time

Bruce Cockburn

Stealing Fire

Columbia
via 103.7 The Mountain ca. 1992 library: 11/5/2012

Notes
Middle of the Road

Pretenders

Learning to Crawl

Sire
via TK library: 2/7/2010

Notes
Blue Jean

David Bowie

Tonight

EMI
via TK library: 12/8/2007

Notes
I Love You, Suzanne

Lou Reed

New Sensations

RCA
via TK library: 11/7/2013

Notes
Nobody Told Me

John Lennon

Milk and Honey

Polydor
via TK library: 7/24/2008

Notes
Beautiful Waste

The Triffids

Beautiful Waste 7"

Hot Records
via TK library: 3/22/2014

Notes
Pink Frost

The Chills

Pink Frost/Purple Girl 7"

Flying Nun
via TK library: 11/5/2013

Notes
Sunlight Bathed in the Golden Glow

Felt

The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories

Cherry Red
via TK library: 6/9/2013

Notes
Pretty Persuasion

R.E.M.

Reckoning

I.R.S.
via TK library: 10/26/2003 (5/11/1996)

Notes
The Backyard

Miracle Legion

The Backyard

Incas
via TK library: 12/15/2012

Notes