40 sensational songs from the 1980s

Pop Rock

Pop rock always struck me as one of those genres that was difficult to define – but you knew it when you heard it. Harder than mainstream pop, perhaps with more guitar, but also more concerned with singable melodies than hard rock. However you define it, like all the other genres in the ‘80s, pop rock was expanding into new territories.

“Our Lips are Sealed” by the Go-Gos (1981)

Beauty and the Beat kind of came out of nowhere in 1981. It was an all-girl pop album to be sure, but it grew out of a SoCal punk scene that gave it more attitude than had hit the mainstream before. There had been plenty of all-girl pop bands and a matter of all-girl punk bands, but the Go-Gos showed that a hybrid could capture the world.

“Come on Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners (1982)

Contrary to what we here in the States may believe, Dexys Midnight Runners are not the one-hit wonder that famously lost the Outstanding Soul, Spoken Word, or Barbershop album of the year Grammy to the Be Sharps on The Simpsons. They had hits in their native UK. But nothing as big as “Eileen,” which galloped its way to the top of the charts on a never-ending sea of pop hooks, tempo shifts, and the most fundamental of all pop ideas – exhortations for sex.

“Girl Afraid” by the Smiths (1984)

Pop Rock doesn’t really define the Smiths, but I’m not sure anything does, so this is as good a place to put them as I find. They were generally just considered Indie, which lost whatever meaning it might have had before we really even knew what the term was supposed to mean. “Girl Afraid,” inappropriate Smith’s fashion, wasn’t even a single.

It just showed up on their Hatful of Hollow album which wasn’t even released in the States. It was originally the B-side of “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now,” a Morrissey title if ever there was one. “Girl Afraid” is the Smiths at their most jangly – it would be in a jangle pop section if I had one. That jangle counterpoints the portentous lyrics perfectly.

“Boy in the Bubble” by Paul Simon (1986, single in 1987)

Graceland is one of the titanic albums of the decade. The title track, which shows up in the second position on the album, is a brilliant song that could easily be on this list. But when you put the album on, “The Boy in the Bubble” was the first thing you heard, and it blew your conception of pop music away. With Forere Motloheloa’s accordion driving the song forward and Bakithi Kumalo’s bass pulsing with a different kind of life, this was revolutionary.

“Walk Like an Egyptian” by the Bangles (1986)

Was “Walk Like an Egyptian” a gimmick song? Of course, But who cares? It was insanely catchy without being moronic. It was even kind of subversively clever, and it lent itself to one glorious parody by the Swinging Erudites a couple of years later. Like the Go-Gos, the Bangles were a pop band with a touch of punk in their souls, and that led to some great tunes. At Christmas-time, 1986, “Walk Like an Egyptian” was the top song in the USA. It would continue in the spot well in January 1987.

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