"It seems almost like the secret to the best music in the universe was discovered in the 80's and then lost forever." -OneEyedJack1970, YouTube user
The 1980s. The era where everything was made of fishnet, your hair was bigger than your head, and the world was holding its breath as America and Russia hovered their fingers over the nuke button.
Also one of the most influential eras of modern music. Before Brittany Spears and the Backstreet Boys, before Michael Jackson was a child molester, before the gangstafication of rap, before Rick Astley was an internet joke... Was an era of moonwalking zombies, buzzing synthesizers, and the simple yet awesome mantra of "don't stop believin'."
Let me take you back...
This World is rated PG-13, for... well... sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. American politics may have been conservative in the '80s, but the music was not. Tread with caution.
Here I Go Again, by Whitesnake (1982/1987) From the albums "Saints & Sinners" and "Whitesnake"
"Here I Go Again" was originally released on the Whitesnake album Saints & Sinners, and had a distinct blues-rock sound. When the band got around to releasing a self-titled album 5 years later, lead singer David Coverdale decided to re-release "Here I Go Again," re-written as a glam-metal song with a slightly altered chorus. The original line was "Like a hobo I was born to walk alone," which Coverdale thought would be misheard as "like a homo," and changed the word to "drifter." Actress Tawny Kitaen, the woman dancing on the hood of the cars in the music video, appeared in a number of Whitesnake videos, and was married to Coverdale from 1989 to 1991.
In 1987, the glam-rock version hit number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart as well as the Canadian singles chart, yet it never hit number 1 in Whitesnake's native UK. It was voted the 17th best song of the 1980s by VH1 viewers.
The Trooper, by Iron Maiden (1983) From the album "Piece of Mind"
-Submitted by TimeChaser-
Having achieved major international success with the release of their 1982 album The Number of the Beast, heavy metal band Iron Maiden followed it up in 1983 with Piece of Mind. The album achieved the #3 spot on the UK charts, #14 in the US, and #70 on the US Billboard Hot 200.
The songs on Piece of Mind reflect the band's interest in literature and film. The single "The Trooper" is inspired by the Alfred Lord Tennyson poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" about a disastrous British cavalry charge at the Battle of Balaclava in 1854 during the Crimean War.
The song has been covered over the years by various other bands, including Iced Earth, Rage, and Coheed & Cambria.
Life in a Northern Town, by Dream Academy (1985) From the album "The Dream Academy"
"Life in a Northern Town" by UK band Dream Academy is a calm song about a day in the life of a sleepy little town, specifically Tanworth-in-Arden in the UK. The song was written as a tribute to singer-songwriter Nick Drake, who died of antidepressant overdose in 1974, and the song's style references his. There are 2 different versions of the music video- one from 1984 when the song was recorded, which was filmed on the Hebden Bridge near Halifax in Yorkshire, and another version, filmed in 1985 in Newcastle upon Tyne and Manchester.
The song ranked #7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1986 when the song came stateside, higher than its peak position of #15 on the UK Singles chart. In 2007, "Life in a Northern Town" was covered by Sugarland, Jake Owen, and Little Big Town; the cover was nominated for a Grammy.
We're Not Gonna Take It, by Twisted Sister (1984) From the album "Stay Hungry"
-Submitted by TimeChaser-
Although they were formed in the early '70s, Twisted Sister did not achieve much success until the early '80s. They finally gained worldwide fame in 1984 with the release of their third album, Stay Hungry. The single "We're Not Gonna Take It" is their most well-known song and their only Top 40 hit, peaking at #21. The song was ranked #47 on the 100 Greatest 80s Songs and #21 on VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s.
The video was criticized by conservative groups for it's slapstick violence, and in 1985 "We're Not Gonna Take It" was included on the 'Filthy Fifteen' list compiled by the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center), the group that would ultimately be responsible for the music industry adopting parental warning labels on albums. Twisted Sister's vocalist/lyricist Dee Snider was one of the few musicians to testify in the PMRC senate hearings.
Random Trivia: The part of the father in the video was played by actor Mark Metcalf, who played the character Neidermayer in the 1978 film National Lampoon's Animal House.
Down Under, by Men at Work (1981) From the album "Business As Usual"
An Australian song about an Australian traveler and the people he meets who are interested in Australia, "Down Under" is one of the nation's most iconic songs, and one of Aussie reggae-rock band Men At Work's best known. It has become a patriotic anthem in the land Down Under, and was included in the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympics, held in Sydney. The song was also used in the trailer for the Pixar animated film Finding Nemo (2003). However, there's a bit of legal controversy surrounding the song's flute riff, which Men At Work have been accused of copying from the children's rhyme "Kookaburra." The dispute has yet to be settled, as "Kookaburra" is protected under copyright law, and the rights are not held by Men At Work's record company.
The land "Down Under" reached the #1 spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1983 (as the single wasn't released internationally until 1982), and was voted by VH1 viewers as the 96th best song of the 80s. The Australasian Performing Rights Association declared it the 4th best Australian song of all time. Do you come from a land down under?
