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What are your favourite cheesy 80s songs?

Thursday, April 3, 2008 by Nialler9 | 49 comments |

This was prompted by the rather wonderful new M83 track ‘Kim & Jessie’ which was obviously directly inspired by all things adolescent and 1980s. There’s been a bit of a non-ironic 80s revival going on lately with stuff like Neon Neon par example. Before that we had Donnie Darko and its distinctive soundtrack which is referenced on the Saturdays=Youth cover art along with The Breakfast Club.

Whether your cheese of choice is Rico Mambo, ‘Live to Win‘, ‘We Built this City‘, A Flock of Seagulls, ‘Don’t You Forget About About Me‘ or Final Countdown, spill your guts in the comments – What are your favourite cheesy 80s songs?

Here’s one to get you started along with the inspiration for the post..

M83 – Kim & Jessie (2008)

Tears for Fears – Head Over Heels (1985)

I’m off to London to do visuals for the Bonus Party, see you on the other side!

  • http://doss-spot.blogspot.com Joe

    Footloose.

  • http://doss-spot.blogspot.com Joe

    Footloose is the greatest 80s song ever – FACT

  • http://doss-spot.blogspot.com Joe

    oops – double post, sorry!

  • slurkid

    Ah the 80′s: the zombie decade. I wish it would just die already.

    I don’t remember much of the 80′s, but I’m pretty sure they played a lot of 80′s music back then. Then when the 80′s ended (about 1993/94) all the old hits rose from the dead to plague day-time radio and cheap compilations.

    Then the 90′s ended (Nov 2001, RIP Sir Henrey’s) but for some reason, day-time radio still played the same tunes, ditto for shit compilations. What the fuck?

    Ok, I know day-time radio does play some stuff from the 60′s, 70′s and 90′s, but way too much of it is from a certain decade I’m sick talking about. Seriously, every morning in the canteen while I queue for my coffee, I’m subjected to some shitty Stock, Aitken & Waterman toss, rasping out of the chef’s tinny AM/FM radio.

    Ironic or not, I’m sick of it.

    That said, I’m kind of partial to “I’d Rather Jack” by the Reynolds Girls. The idea of a SA&W song complaining about mainstream radio’s unwillingness to play new music is kind of funny. Just as long as I don’t actually have hear it.

  • Mr Jelly

    Yeah the 80s were total crap – SO much dross spewed forth; I find it hard even to name a decent film from that era. Can you?

    At the moment, I must confess my guilty secret of deriving mucho perverse enjoyment from watching this classic:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pHnqmw9QRM

    & watching those twits make complete jackasses out of themselves in what has got to be the *top gun* of music vids surely. Wait for the cheese-tastic “Cherry pie you’re not as cute as me” bit. Makes my skin crawl.

  • robbie

    The soundtrack to Scarface, in particular ‘Push it to the Limit’ & ‘She’s on fire’. Cheesetastic!
    It was all produced by Giorgio Moroder (the guy that DJ Shadow nicked Organ Donor off)

  • leaveitout

    These aren’t really that cheesy enough but:
    Orange Juice – Rip It Up
    Squeeze – Up The Junction
    Fine Young Cannibals – Johnny Come Home
    A Flock Of Seagulls – Wishing
    Steve Miller Band – Abracadabra
    Have to agree with Mr Jelly about the amount of crap that existed. I can’t stand the proper cheese and I don’t really get why people like it, or as James Murphy put it, they have “borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties”.

  • http://myspace.com/lovewhoyoudo CAMERON

    Hey what’s this picture in the post from, CREDITS??

  • http://www.myspace.com/nippons cash

    why does the ’80s always get such a bad rap?

    it was the decade that brought us post punk, hip hop, house and techno. every decade is going to have its shit radio pop. surely the ’90s is even worse for this?

    and as for great ’80s songs, who could forget: pat benatar – love is a battlefield

  • x

    House and techno didnt really take off until the 90s.

    Agreed with many of the posters, and I could never understand how “ironic” enjoyment of shit 80′s songs differed from the people who actually like them for real, dancing around like gimps in the likes of Coppers etc. Its the same music, you’re just as drunk, you’re the exact same as them underneath your cool intellectual exterior.

  • Markham

    Nik Kershaw – The Riddle

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlYt8tvuB64
    And at Live Aid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q711tY76_38

    80s GOLD. Random Nik fact – His brother was a dolphin trainer.

    Had the album on vinyl until my sister unforgivably threw out our entire vinyl collection while I was in Australia.

  • flynnduism

    Drunken cheese anthems aside, my favourites would be

    The Ghostbusters theme
    The Cars – Whos gonna drive you home tonight?

    In terms of sheer 80s awfullness, Gary Moores reworking of an old Irish folk classic wins hands down every time:

  • Barrygruff

    The Anfield Rap – Pure Class

  • Aero

    The first song i can remember loving as a wee fella was Tears For Fears – Everybody Wants To Rule The World.
    Another fav has to be Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy. Quality!

  • http://taint.org/ Justin

    Kim Wilde – Kids In America
    Flock of Seagulls – I Ran

    in fact, a whole stack of the ‘Grand Theft Auto: Vice City’ soundtrack. artful selections, few things beat tooling around Vice City on a fast bike doing wheelies to it ;)

  • Chas

    I don’t know what it is about the song, but I can never resist Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benetar

  • http://taint.org/ Justin

    oh yeah. Love is a Battlefield is a definite karaoke favourite

  • stringzzz

    Anything and everything from DJ Yodas How to Cut and Paste 80s edition.

    The inside sleeve is also daecent.

    Incidentally are electric picnic bringing back any old school hip hop acts like they have in the past ie. Melle Mel and Grandmaster Flash???

  • carnie

    i’m playing at a 80s party tomorrow night but anytime i try to workout a set i always seem to find myself listening to level 42 – temptation the most

    what a track!!!

  • yahorse

    Eddie Murphy & Rick James – Party all the time

  • Soc

    Foreigners – I Want To Know What Love Is
    Don Henley – Boys of Summer
    John Waite – Missing You

    All from 1984 when music peaked as an art form!

  • http://darraghdoyle.blogspot.com Darragh

    Given the amount of times I’be been rickrolled recently I’m going with

    Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley.

    Let the slagging/judgements continue… ;)

  • http://egoeccentric.blogspot.com/ ctrl/alt/delete

    anything by jans hammer or malcolm mclaren – buffalo girls
    “two buffalo girls go round the outside round the outside”

  • http://egoeccentric.blogspot.com/ ctrl/alt/delete

    oh yeah and Musical Youth – Pass The Dutchie

  • http://mattvinyl.blogspot.com Matt Vinyl

    Don’t get me started on the nostalgia. I’ll never stop you know.

  • Mr Jelly

    This *artist* has got to be the epitome of 80s cheese for me.

    Definitely much more into computer games then & wearing the keys off my zx spectrum playing Daley Thompson’s Decathlon! Anybody know of any decent remixes of “Saturday Night” & “Am I black enough for you?” by Schooly D.? Twas ace to hear those choons in the King of New York :)

  • phoney

    Don Henley’s ‘boys of summer’ is fantastic, always reminds me of watching MT USA in my Nan’s house of a Sunday…
    Ditto Springsteen’s ‘Dancin’ in the Dark’..
    oh and mustn’t forget a-ha, ‘the sun always shines on TV’
    “touch me how can it be?!……”
    i loved those choons….

  • http://thosegeese.blogspot.com Karl

    Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order, the full cheesy version.

  • cov

    Rico mambo…

    Rico mambo yeah…

    I get that feelin…

  • http://pascalscountrysounds.blogspot.com/ cletus_buckley

    Love Club – Hot Summer Nights
    is just too good.

  • http://www.scientology.org holly

    its got to be that men without hats tune safety dance- best vidjo eva!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qW0Edq1KqI

    but i have an emotional connection with tears for fears’ everybody wants to rule the world- that guitar bits as catchy as ever!

  • http://indiehour.wordpress.com aoife mc

    I love that Billy Ocean song – get out of my dreams…and into my car…Yeah!

    I also must concur with slurkid on I’d rather Jack and Joe on Footloose. Both of which come with excellent visuals – I’d Rather Jack has an amazing video and Footloose is one of the best examples of cheesy 80s movies with a message. Bloody brilliant.

  • http://www.myspace.com/theholyromanarmy theholyromanarmy

    I’m going to have to go with ‘Who’s gonna drive you home tonight?’ by the Cars too. Heartbreaking… When you think about it, you really can’t go on thinking nothing’s wrong. Can you?

  • Mike

    pet shop boys cover of Always on my mind has some synths and hits that make ya curl up like a prawn cracker in battery acid

  • Paul

    Marillion with “Kayleigh” and Peter Cetera with “Power of Love”. Two of my favourite tracks from Hits 5 and Now 5, two of the first records I ever bought. Fair play to the wikipediatrics for cataloguing the tracks.

    For the ubernerd:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hits_5
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_That%27s_What_I_Call_Music_4_%28U.K._series%29

  • Paul

    Owen Paul’s “My Favourite Waste of Time” takes the serious cheese-biscuits.

    Bonkers story of this mulleted misunderstood artist
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp2/artists/p/paul_owen/located/page1.shtml

  • http://www.nialler9.com nialler9

    [quote post="1143"]Hey what’s this picture in the post from, CREDITS??[/quote]

    It’s the M83 album cover..

    [quote post="1143"]Eddie Murphy & Rick James – Party all the time[/quote]

    That’s one of my favourites I forgot about!

  • http://wordpress.hotpress.com/offherrocker Nay

    Anything set to a double-time montage…

  • Ed

    Rockwell’s Somebody’s watching me feat. MJ and Jermaine as sung by Tubs from Miami vice… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRyJW5UScgY

    Of course Push it to the Limit from Scarface which I think Robbie mentioned is also amazing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRyJW5UScgY

  • Bread

    Jump – Van Halen

    ‘Mazin..

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  • Linda

    total eclipse of the heart by Bonnie tyler

    Or True by Spandeau ballet

  • She likes Sparkles

    I loved at the time I loved ‘I Think We’re alone now’ from Tiffany (oh the shame), Journey ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, ‘Karma Chameleon’ from Boy George and The Human League classic ‘Don’t you want me baby’.

  • luke mc

    Word Up – Cameo
    Fade To Grey – Visage
    Sweet Dreams – Eurythmics

  • Speewah

    The Blow Monkeys – It doesn’t have to be this way

  • Ciara

    Stacey Q – Two of Hearts
    The Romantics – Talking in your Sleep
    Desireless – Voyage Voyage
    The Cars – Heartbeat City
    Visage – Fade to Grey
    Eurythmics – Love is a Stranger/Sweet Dreams
    Human League – Don’t you want me baby/Love Action/Things that dreams are made of

    and basically everything from The Business soundtrack, but tbh for me those songs aren’t even cheesy, they’re just pure 80s gold.

    I can’t believe how uptight some people here are about 80s music – what’s the big problem? So much spectacular music was formed in that decade, like Italo, that still stands up to this day and it was all made in the early 80s, and synth pop, new wave, no wave, post punk, and whoever said house and techno got big in the 90s, you’re missing the point, they were FORMED in the very late 70s-early 80s so that era is responsible for them, the very start of the decade when disco was growing into house in Chicago and hip-hop in New York, the New York soundsystem parties where DJing as we know it today was forming, the development of synthesizer-based music forming the basis of techo, all revolutionary stuff.

    The 90s were grand but most of the big bands of that decade were just rehashing 60s guitar pop (Britpop anyone?) except grunge and rave obviously which changed the musical landscape.

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  • Scenester

    oh my god….M83 is rocking….find the MONTAG remix too….it is very nice!!!!!! :) ok best 80′s song would be TEARS for FEARS…..Mad World….such a great song!!! :D my favorite song is LOVE WILL TEAR US APART bu Joy Division but technically that was ’79…but was a huge hit in 1980. ;)

  • Sunny

    If you don’t like eighties music then don’t post anything here. This is for fans of eighties music, do you not have anything better to do than visit this page specifically to do the opposite

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