Your favorites of these overplayed classic 80s songs

[KevShmev]

You can vote for up to 5.

I will go with:

Africa
When Doves Cry
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Billie Jean
Heat of the Moment

I have heard all of those songs a million times and will never tire of any of them.

[wolfking]

Journey
Tears For Fears
Michael Jackson
Phil Collins
Van Halen

Tears For Fears is lightyears ahead of the other 4 though for me.

[MirrorMask]

Livin' on a Prayer.

I don't know half of the songs however 

[Lowdz]

Bon Jovi
Asia
Def Leppard
Phil Collins
Van Halen

[Cool Chris]

Man, Kev's classic rock "Overplayed" list had way, way better songs than this. If I stumbled across any of these songs on the radio, I would change the channel. And only a few of them due to overplayed-ness. I didn't like more than half these songs when they came out.

And don't get me started (again" on that damn Serengeti line from Africa.

[TAC]

Journey
Guns n Roses
Bon Jovi
Asia
Phil Collins

[KevShmev]

Man, Kev's classic rock "Overplayed" list had way, way better songs than this.

Well, that's because the 70s (where most of the songs on that list came from) is the best decade ever for rock music. 

The 80s were still great, regardless. 

[Ninjabait]

Don't Stop Believin', Livin' On a Prayer, Sledgehammer, Africa, and Billie Jean.

Welcome to the Jungle and In the Air Tonight get honorable mentions.

[TheCountOfNYC]

Van Halen-Jump (Easily my favorite of the bunch)
Guns N' Roses-Welcome to the Jungle (Appetite for Destruction is the greatest debut album of all time)
Toto-Africa (I know it's become a meme in recent years, but it's still a great song)
Phil-Collins (The atmosphere of this song is amazing)
Def Leppard-Pour Some Sugar on Me (A decent song by an overrated band)

[hefdaddy42]

None of these songs are overplayed, and all of them are at least pretty good.

[KevShmev]

Don't Stop Believin' is not overplayed?

Pour Some Sugar On Me is not overplayed??

Let's be serious, now.

[TAC]

Pour Some Sugar On Me sucks so fucking bad.

[wolfking]

Pour Some Sugar On Me sucks so fucking bad.

Yeah, it really fucking does.

[TAC]

I just cannot believe that was the same band that recorded High n Dry, one of the greatest hard rock albums of the 80's.

[Cool Chris]

I just cannot believe that was the same band that recorded High n Dry, one of the greatest hard rock albums of the 80's.

Why not? That was the direction their genre of music was going at the time, and they were not going to miss that ride when millions of album sales were at stake.

[KevShmev]

Pour Some Sugar On Me has become one of those songs I hope I never again.

The popularity of Hysteria was so unexpected at the time, considering the first single from it, Women, was a major mainstream flop.  You don't see that often, where an album becomes that big after seeing the lead single flop.

[TAC]

I just cannot believe that was the same band that recorded High n Dry, one of the greatest hard rock albums of the 80's.

Why not? That was the direction their genre of music was going at the time, and they were not going to miss that ride when millions of album sales were at stake.

Their genre was the NWOBHM, which definitely did not go that way.


Hey, they were successful so fuck me, right? But Hysteria took 4 years, and one scrapped album to come out, and it was a total suckfest.

Pyromania was not nearly as heavy as HnD, but it still had some balls. Hysteria had nothing. (other than a shit ton of mega hits! ). But no integrity.

The popularity of Hysteria was so unexpected at the time, considering the first single from it, Women, was a major mainstream flop.  You don't see that often, where an album becomes that big after seeing the lead single flop.

They had a bunch of singles on deck. I don't remember Women waffling in the air too long.

[KevShmev]

Gods of War is still a killer deep track, I still like Rocket and Animal quite a bit, and Love Bites finally grew on me after nearly three decades.    I never much cared for the Armageddon It or the title track.

[Cool Chris]

I just cannot believe that was the same band that recorded High n Dry, one of the greatest hard rock albums of the 80's.

Why not? That was the direction their genre of music was going at the time, and they were not going to miss that ride when millions of album sales were at stake.

Their genre was the NWOBHM, which definitely did not go that way.


Hey, they were successful so fuck me, right? But Hysteria took 4 years, and one scrapped album to come out, and it was a total suckfest.

Pyromania was not nearly as heavy as HnD, but it still had some balls. Hysteria had nothing. (other than a shit ton of mega hits! ). But no integrity.

And which way did NWOBHM go? How'd those bands do in the late 80s/early 90s? And bah, no integrity, c'mon, TAC, they were working on a rock album, not the Declaration of Independence. Besides, you weren't in the studio with them. Not sure why I am getting so defensive. Hysteria was my favorite album from its release till the Images and Words, but it's not something I ever listen to now.

Gods of War is still a killer deep track...

Definitely!

[MirrorMask]

Anyway, out of these songs, these are the ones I don't know, or that I don't realize that I've ever heard them:

Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me
Prince - When Doves Cry
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
John Mellencamp -Jack and Diane
Asia - Heat of the Moment
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight
Van Halen - Jump


I know there's a song by Michael Jackson called Billie Jean, if you ask me "who sings Billie Jean" I can answer right, but I don't know how the song goes. Probably I'll remember it if I hear it.

[wolfking]

Anyway, out of these songs, these are the ones I don't know, or that I don't realize that I've ever heard them:

Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me
Prince - When Doves Cry
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
John Mellencamp -Jack and Diane
Asia - Heat of the Moment
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight
Van Halen - Jump


I know there's a song by Michael Jackson called Billie Jean, if you ask me "who sings Billie Jean" I can answer right, but I don't know how the song goes. Probably I'll remember it if I hear it.

Bro, no offense, but do you live under a rock?

[MirrorMask]

I'm a metalhead and I grew up with classic / power metal, then prog and folk. And until I was a teen I barely listened to anything foreign, Bon Jovi was actually the first non italian group I started to follow in 1994. Is it that far fetched that completely avoiding the radio and the mainstream music I was never exposed to all those songs? Bon Jovi and Guns n' Roses were the only hard rock I lsitened before shifting to heavy metal with Maiden, that rules out Def Leppard and Van Halen. And I've always been a Dream Theater fan before than a prog / prog metal fan, that rules out chances to listen to Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins. And I actually don't even know who John Mellencamp is.

[wolfking]

I'm a metalhead and I grew up with classic / power metal, then prog and folk. And until I was a teen I barely listened to anything foreign, Bon Jovi was actually the first non italian group I started to follow in 1994. Is it that far fetched that completely avoiding the radio and the mainstream music I was never exposed to all those songs? Bon Jovi and Guns n' Roses were the only hard rock I lsitened before shifting to heavy metal with Maiden, that rules out Def Leppard and Van Halen. And I've always been a Dream Theater fan before than a prog / prog metal fan, that rules out chances to listen to Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins. And I actually don't even know who John Mellencamp is.

As I said, I don't mean to cause offense, it's just hard for me to fathom that no matter what you're into and what you've been exposed to, you wouldn't know the likes of most of those songs.  The Asia and John Mellancamp fair enough from my point of view, but the rest surely I would have thought they are impossible to not run into or have heard at some stage.  As I said, not having a go mate.

[MirrorMask]

Well, I guess that simply you can't listen to everything. There are movie fans that for whatever reason haven't seen so many classic movies that "everyone" has seen, and so it can happen with music as well. Hell, I'm a metalhead and I never even listened to a full Deep Purple album - I know all the staples of course but I don't remember ever listening to a full studio album from start to finish, just the orchestral one with Dio as guest among others.

And don't worry, I don't feel it as having a go at all, no problem. I know it's curious that I never heard those songs, that's why I commented to begin with 

[Podaar]

The Police - Every Breath You Take
Guns N' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer

I could only pick four. The rest of the songs on the list would make me change the radio channel instantly. Even at that, Songs from the Big Chair is the only album I own personally.

[Stadler]

I don't know about the "integrity" of Hysteria.  It's not my thing - I agree that High and Dry is my favorite Leppard album, but they certainly put in the effort.   


As for MirrorMask, and I mean this nicely, but doesn't it interest you to hear where things come from and how things evolve?   I remember listening to Used Bin Radio, and they were talking about "Tommy", and I realized that I had never heard it before.  I  went to AKA Records in Philly, bought it used for a $1.00 and checked it out, not because I'm the hugest Who fan, but because I feel like I have to know "Tommy" to know and appreciate (or not) what came after.  Same with Hendrix; not the hugest Hendrix fan, but after listening to the three studio albums that he made while alive, it really explained a LOT about the music that I listened to growing up.   Kiss, Priest, Scorpions (at least Roth), Vai, ALL influenced HEAVILY by Hendrix, but interestingly, Maiden, not.    It puts things in context. 

[TAC]

And which way did NWOBHM go? How'd those bands do in the late 80s/early 90s? And bah, no integrity, c'mon, TAC, they were working on a rock album, not the Declaration of Independence. Besides, you weren't in the studio with them. Not sure why I am getting so defensive. Hysteria was my favorite album from its release till the Images and Words, but it's not something I ever listen to now.

I don't know about the "integrity" of Hysteria.  It's not my thing - I agree that High and Dry is my favorite Leppard album, but they certainly put in the effort.     

OK...maybe "integrity" was a bit strong.

I just want to say that High n Dry is one of the most important albums of my musical life. With that, and their debut, I was poised to be a Def Lep fan for life. Even though pyromania was quite a bit lighter than HnD, I could still live with it. In fact, the pyromania tour was my first concert. I was 14. But from age 14-18, I experienced so much musical growth. I was of course quite excited when Hysteria was finally released, after years of delays. And I heard it and almost puked.  Hey, obviously it worked out for them, right? Hell, I even saw the tour three times.
The change of style was just not what I was looking for. So for this fan, instead of being a Def Leppard fan, when I think of them it's simply, "yeah, I like a couple of their albums"...



And yes, Gods Of War is excellent. As are the Hysteria B sides.

[Stadler]

Dude, in some ways, you're a brother from another mother.

Almost exactly the same experience.  Heard the first two, and they smoked.  Saw Pyromania, opening for Billy Squier (wasn't my first, but second concert ever) and thought, well, maybe next time...     Then the whole arm thing, and the delays, and... that wasn't what I was looking for at all.    I also thought the b-sides were superior.  I had all of them on 7" singles (still do, actually) and to this day I prefer Ride Into The Sun and I Wanna Be Your Hero to anything on the album itself.

Where we differ is that it grew on me, and I think I get where they were going.   I like it a lot better now in the whole catalogue than I did at the time.

[TAC]

That's only because the rest of the catalog continued to blow, and you had youth served on the Hysteria tracks. It wasn't that Hysteria grew over time, it's just that as bad as it is, they continued to release albums that are actually worse.

[MirrorMask]

As for MirrorMask, and I mean this nicely, but doesn't it interest you to hear where things come from and how things evolve?   I remember listening to Used Bin Radio, and they were talking about "Tommy", and I realized that I had never heard it before.  I  went to AKA Records in Philly, bought it used for a $1.00 and checked it out, not because I'm the hugest Who fan, but because I feel like I have to know "Tommy" to know and appreciate (or not) what came after.  Same with Hendrix; not the hugest Hendrix fan, but after listening to the three studio albums that he made while alive, it really explained a LOT about the music that I listened to growing up.   Kiss, Priest, Scorpions (at least Roth), Vai, ALL influenced HEAVILY by Hendrix, but interestingly, Maiden, not.    It puts things in context.

Well, sometime down the road I want to explore stuff I've been missing out so far... the point is that there's so much music out there and only so much free time...

[RoeDent]

Africa
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Billie Jean
Sledgehammer
In the Air Tonight

[bosk1]

None of these songs are overplayed, and all of them are at least pretty good.

Don't Stop Believin' is not overplayed?

Pour Some Sugar On Me is not overplayed??

Let's be serious, now.

For the most part, I'm with Hef.  A song being played A LOT is not necessarily the same thing as "overplayed."  To me, no matter how much a given song may have gotten played, it isn't "overplayed" if either (1) it is a good enough song to warrant getting the number of plays it does and/or (2) there is sufficient demand from fans to warrant getting the number of plays it does.  I think one can make a strong argument that most of the songs on the list have ample amounts of both factors going for them.

As for my choices, I went with:
Don't Stop Believin'
Welcome to the Jungle
Everybody Wants To Rule the World
With or Without You
In the Air Tonight

No hesitation whatsoever about the two I bolded.  They are two of my favorite songs of all time.  As for the other three, at any given moment, I could easily have chosen others from the list as favorites.  There are also a few songs on the list where I feel like other songs from the same band (and even same album) are stronger, and are just as likely to end up on an "overplayed" list that I like more.  But that's okay.  Good list.


TAC, on the topic of Def Leppard, I disagree with you.  But at the same time, I completely get where you are coming from.  Hysteria was so different from the first three albums and such an obvious move in a commercial, pop direction that I can understand how that threw a lot of people.  It threw me at the time, and I really liked the album.  Hysteria and Adrenalize represent an important aspect of the band that I think highlights the greatness of Hysteria.  They sound and feel VERY similar.  In lots of ways, Adrenalize could be Hysteria pt. 2.  But despite that very similar sound, Adrenalize didn't have nearly the staying power or appeal, and the reason is fairly straightforward: the songs just aren't as good.  Love it or hate it, Hysteria had really well-written songs that easily found mass appeal and have proven staying power.  Adrenalize had songs that sounded similar, but just weren't as good.  So while I get where you are coming from, and part of me also wished they would have stayed with the NWOBHM sound, I can step back from that and appreciate that they still delivered an exceptionally strong album with Hysteria.

[TAC]

TAC, on the topic of Def Leppard, I disagree with you.  But at the same time, I completely get where you are coming from.  Hysteria was so different from the first three albums and such an obvious move in a commercial, pop direction that I can understand how that threw a lot of people.  It threw me at the time, and I really liked the album.  Hysteria and Adrenalize represent an important aspect of the band that I think highlights the greatness of Hysteria.  They sound and feel VERY similar.  In lots of ways, Adrenalize could be Hysteria pt. 2.  But despite that very similar sound, Adrenalize didn't have nearly the staying power or appeal, and the reason is fairly straightforward: the songs just aren't as good.  Love it or hate it, Hysteria had really well-written songs that easily found mass appeal and have proven staying power.  Adrenalize had songs that sounded similar, but just weren't as good.  So while I get where you are coming from, and part of me also wished they would have stayed with the NWOBHM sound, I can step back from that and appreciate that they still delivered an exceptionally strong album with Hysteria.

It's a "me" problem. Obviously, Hysteria is a strong album. But it's not for me, and I moved on from them. Which is too bad because I love HnD so freaking much.

[KevShmev]

I've still never heard anything from High 'N' Dry except Let It Go and Bringin' on the Heartbreak.  Gimme 2-3 other must-have songs from it, fellow 80s fans. 

[TAC]

I've still never heard anything from High 'N' Dry except Let It Go and Bringin' on the Heartbreak.  Gimme 2-3 other must-have songs from it, fellow 80s fans. 

Mirror Mirror
Another Hit And Run
Lady Strange
On Through The Night