We’re fond of constructing playlists here at B&V and have been publishing them pretty much since we started this blog. It wasn’t until three years ago that we did our first playlist built from rock n roll tied to a specific year, in that case it was 1971. What a landmark year for music that was! It was so much fun, the next year we did a playlist of rock n roll from 1972. And after that we’ve had this rolling 50 year-lookback playlist we do to kick off every year. It was when I was doing my 1972 and later my 1973 playlist that I realized looking back 40 years to the 80s would be fun too and ended up doing playlists for 1982 and 1983. I guess I need to circle back and do 1981 at some point, since I didn’t do it the year I did 1971, but I digress. We did 1974 to kick off this year and now seems as good a time as any to look back only 40 years to 1984.

Ah, 1984… It wasn’t the dystopian nightmare of George Orwell’s novel but it was a pretty uptight time. I was in college and was surrounded by some of the most uptight young adults in the history of college. Don’t get me wrong, I met a lot of kindred spirits in those days: Drew, RK, Walt, the accountant, and Stormin’ to name a few who I actually still mention in these pages. While 1984 the actual year looked nothing like 1984 the novel, the Reagan administration was doing everything they could to bring it about. It seems we’ve saved the mass surveillance, permanent warfare, “cult of personality” and doublepeak (and alternative facts) for today’s world. I seem to remember the women had extremely tall hair and wore leg warmers. But then again so did a lot of the rock stars. “Greed is good” was a mantra. There was the L.A. Olympics, sadly boycotted by the Russians. I knew a guy who participated in those Olympics… he introduced me to Belinda Carlisle once after a Go-Go’s concert, but I’ve already told that story. Sadly nothing in that meeting happened that could have made a VH1 Behind The Music episode.

Despite all that grim stuff, we still managed to have a really good time. The movies were exceptional that year. The original Ghostbusters remains one of my all-time favorite movies. Beverly Hills Cop was another great comedy with Eddie Murphy, perhaps his best flick. I also dug the latest installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. I seem to remember watching a lot of Miami Vice and Magnum PI on television. I think the 49ers started their NFL dynasty around that time, but I don’t like the 49ers so I don’t know. But the thing that really got us through 1984 was the rock n roll. What a year that was! It was no 1971, but man it was pretty epic.

When I think about the 80s, and ’84 in particular the first thing I think is: synthesizers. In the 70s bands like Rush, Queen and Van Halen eschewed synths as an evil to be avoided. But by the mid-80s it had invaded the sound of every major band: Rush, Queen, Springsteen even used them, famously Van Halen, and a litany of synth-based pop bands. Along with the all conquering synth the second thing I remember about 1984 is the sound of the acoustic guitar virtually disappeared. It was odd. The main thing about 1984 was the large number of blockbuster records we got that year: 1984, Born In The U.S.A., Purple Rain, Heartbeat City, Learning To Crawl. It seems like every rock group who released an album that year released a huge selling album that spawned multiple hit singles. Granted the production values of the time immediately tie these albums to that particular era, but oh well, I still dig the music.

I also remember a proliferation of the types of music we listened to. Alternative rock was being born on college radio. Hip Hop was beginning to get noticed, even amongst the uptight folks I described earlier. Hair Metal had begun to raise it’s highly coiffed head. Synth pop/synth rock bands began to proliferate. Classic rock still existed but it had begun to change. As mentioned the synth popped up on every classic rock artist’s record. Most of those big 70s bands had split up and the 80s saw either the dawn of a solo career (Roger Waters, Steve Perry) or the continuation of a solo career (David Gilmour, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, John Lennon, Paul McCartney). Let’s admit it, MTV and the visual images the acts chose had a huge influence on what we heard and absorbed. I could sit drunk in front of MTV and watch for hours, mindlessly. Now I’m more likely to see a music video on the Weather Channel than on MTV.

I’ll be the first to admit to you, I was not cool enough to actually have been listening to some of these bands – especially the synth pop or the alternative rock bands – in 1984. Some of these bands took years for me to discover. I was too busy listening to music from the 70s to pick up on the then-current music of the 80s. I’m lucky the Rock Chick was a huge fan of a lot of this music and turned me on to much of it. She lead me to the Cult, Psychedelic Furs, and Echo & The Bunnyman. Some times it matters when you hear a song if you’re going to be a fan… sometimes you have to be ready to hear it. I was not ready for a lot of this in 1984… immature ears. Well, if I’m being honest, my immaturity went way beyond my ears but again, I digress.

With all these great albums and songs from 1984 to choose from, I used my usual tactic. I picked only songs from albums that were released in 1984. I chose only 1 song per album (you may like a different song from the album, which is cool). This is a rock n roll blog so I didn’t put much pop on here – there’s no Madonna or Wham!… although admittedly I like “Careless Whisper.” Kenny Loggins had his big hit “Footloose” but I like ’70s Loggins, not ’80s Loggins… and it’s a song about dancing. I don’t dance. I tried to capture the melange of different styles and moods from ’84 which means I can go from Sade to Metallica. You can listen straight through or you can shuffle. If you hear something you don’t like, skip it… if you hear something you like, turn it up. As always, I put these playlists together to remind you of a song you haven’t heard in a long time or better yet, to turn you on to something you’ve never heard before. Hence, all the different styles of music in one playlist. Below, you’ll see my pithy insights on each track… Enjoy!

1. Van Halen, “1984” – Well, where else was I going to start? A keyboard instrumental entitled “1984” from an album entitled 1984 that introduced Eddie Van Halen‘s new fascination with keyboards and kicked off the year 1984. I do consider this to be merely the intro to “Jump,” so you’re getting two Van Halen tracks for the price of one.
2. Van Halen, “Jump” – Such an iconic song all these years later (same for the video). I guess Eddie figured if he can fuel a Michael Jackson song (“Beat It”) to the top of the charts with one of his guitar solos, he could put out a synth heavy track and do the same for his own band.
3. Bruce Springsteen, “Born In The U.S.A.” – This title track is my favorite song on the album. I can remember where I was when I first heard this album. The story of an anguished Vietnam vet, back in America trying to pull his life together.
4. Queen, “Hammer To Fall” – Queen pulling out all the stops on this “balls-to-the-walls” rocker. Great guitar from Brian May. This was a comeback of sorts for the band everywhere in the world except maybe… the U.S.A.
5. Sammy Hagar, “I Can’t Drive 55” – Sammy expressing the collective American highway angst when the speed limits were only 55 mph. Bill Clinton lifted that restriction during his first administration.
6. Pretenders, “Middle Of The Road” – Chrissie Hynde singing, “I’m not the cat I used to be, I’ve gotta kid I’m 33, baby,” is what I live for. The Pretenders had been through a lot since their sophomore album… they’d lost two members and Hynde had her first kid. We were just glad they were back.
7. David Bowie, “Blue Jean” – From the much maligned album, Tonight. I still love this track. I think there were 3 separate videos for this song. I considered “Loving The Alien” from this one too, another exceptional song on a so-so album.
8. The Cars, “You Might Think” – We just posted about the epic record this song was from, Heartbeat City. I could have chosen almost any song on the album but went with this, the first single.
9. Prince, “When Doves Cry” – From Prince’s masterpiece, Purple Rain. I considered “Let’s Go Crazy” or “Purple Rain” but there’s something about this song that pulls me in, 40 years later.
10. Bon Jovi, “Runaway” – From their debut. I’m not a huge Bon Jovi fan, but I love this song. When that falsetto comes in at the end… crank that up and hit the gas pedal.
11. Whitesnake, “Slide It In” – My all time favorite Whitesnake tune. I was playing this song, while doing “research” for this playlist and the Rock Chick wandered by the door and I heard her say, “Ooooh, that’s a great song.” Indeed.
12. John Lennon, “Nobody Told Me” – From John’s first posthumous release. It was bittersweet hearing it – I dug the song, but it made me miss John Lennon… still do.
13. General Public, “Tenderness” – Having just seen Dave Wakeling play this song when the English Beat opened for Adam Ant last month, I had to include it. Great, great song! (Great show too).
14. Christine McVie, “Got A Hold On Me” – Probably her biggest solo hit. I remember the video, which made fun of making videos which was a thing back in ’84. Sad to think we just lost Christine McVie.
15. Ratt, “Round And Round” – As I mentioned, Hair Metal had started to rear it’s heavily coiffed head by the mid 80s… This was a worthy example of the genre from Ratt’s debut.
16. Dio, “The Last In Line” – I love Dio’s work in Rainbow, Sabbath and solo… but this is my all time favorite song of his. The video, where a kid gets in the elevator and it freefalls into Hell…and Ronnie has to descend down from a rooftop in New York to save him. Oh, Hell yes! That’s money.
17. Scorpions, “Rock You Like A Hurricane” – Love At First Sting was the second Scorpion’s album I bought on vinyl (the first was Animal Magnetism). I’d recorded Blackout on cassette… I love this album. The Scorpions put out Rock Believer a while back and it took me back to those glory days.
18. Talk Talk, “It’s My Life” – Always liked this song… No Doubt did a great cover version of it.
19. Thompson Twins, “Hold Me Now” – I know nothing about the Twins of Thompson, but everyone I knew dug this song.
20. The Smiths, “What Difference Does It Make” – From their debut, seemingly answering the question, “Were they always sad?”
21. Missing Persons, “Surrender Your Heart” – A track I’d completely forgotten about. I quickly added it to my Valentine’s Playlist, Songs About Hearts.
22. Wang Chung, “Dance Hall Days” – A track the Rock Chick introduced me. “To Live And Die In L.A.” is still my favorite of theirs, but this is a great song.
23. April Wine, “This Could Be The Right One” – A dying gasp from April Wine… at least for radio play in K.C.
24. David Gilmour, “Blue Light” – One of two competing albums from former Pink Floyd members on this list.
25. Joe Jackson, “You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)” – Joe Jackson in full jazzbo mode!
26. The Go-Gos, “Head Over Heels” – I met Belinda Carlisle on the tour for this album in ’84. I wish I’d known more about how hard she partied before meeting her… that meeting could have gone a lot differently.
27. INXS, “Original Sin” – I never get tired of hearing INXS.
28. Run-D.M.C., “It’s Like That” – I’m on record as not being a huge Hip Hop fan, but this song did catch my attention way back when. A dude down the hall was a fan. Great stuff from these O.G.’s of Hip Hop.
29. The Icicle Works, “Whisper To A Scream” – Another great song it took years for me to discover.
30. R.E.M., (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville” – Reckoning, their second album, was the first one I bought.
31. Rush, “Red Sector A” – Grace Under Pressure is probably the last Rush album I absolutely loved. This track, which was inspired by Geddy Lee’s family’s experience during the Holocaust, is stunning.
32. Lee “Scratch” Perry, “Heads Of Government” – It’s always important to have a reggae legend on your playlist. Here he’s spouting truth to, well, the heads of government.
33. Roger Waters, “5:06AM (Every Strangers Eyes) – From his odd first solo album which details a man’s midlife crisis through an early morning dream cycle. After complaining about Gilmour and guitarists in general he goes out and recruits Eric Clapton to play on The Pros And Cons of Hitchhiking. My buddy Drew bought the album the day it came out and thus has the original album cover where the hitchhiker in question is naked and not obscured. Good for Drew!
34. Echo & The Bunnymen, “The Killing Moon” – A great tune I included on my Playlist: Songs About The Moon.
35. Lou Reed, “I Love You, Suzanne” – From Lou Reed’s most accessible album, New Sensations. Lou just sounds happy on this record.
36. Steve Perry, “Oh, Sherrie” – It’s hard to explain how much we all loved Steve Perry back in the day. I owned this record on vinyl.
37. Twisted Sister, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” – A nice rallying cry of a song. I saw Dee Snider live in a city park in Winter Park a few years ago.
38. Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Cold Shot” – From the epic Couldn’t Stand The Weather. I could have gone with the title track, but I’ve always loved this bluesy, post-breakup tune.
39. Tina Turner, “What’s Love Got To Do With It” – I’m on record as being a bigger fan of Tina’s earlier rock n roll work, but now that we’ve lost her, I’m all in on this song.
40. Jefferson Starship, “No Way Out” – Another 60s iconic band with an album out in ’84. I bought this record on the strength of this song about a cheating boyfriend and his forgiving girlfriend.
41. Bruce Cockburn, “If I Had A Rocket Launcher” – A favorite track of my buddy Arkansas Joel. Oh, if I only did have a rocket launcher…
42. Hagar, Schon, Aaronson, Shrieve, “Whiter Shade Of Pale” – Sammy Hagar and Journey’s Neil Schon form a supergroup (with Schon’s former Santana bandmate Shrieve on drums) and record a Procol Harum song. I do think Annie Lennox’s cover is better but this isn’t a bad track.
43. Siouxsie & The Banshees, “Swimming Horses” – I feel like I should have been a bigger Siouxsie fan back in the 80s.
44. John Waite, “Missing You” – My brother bought this song on a 45 for me. It was a song that used to mean something to me in a galaxy far away. It was nice of him to notice how much I liked the song.
45. Elton John, “Who Wears These Shoes” – I didn’t remember this song until I pulled up the Breaking Hearts track list. I like this one so much more than say, “Sad Songs” from this album.
46. Rod Stewart, “Infatuation” – At the time, this was his first collaboration with Jeff Beck, who played guitar on the song, in years… it led to Rod singing on Beck’s next album on “People Get Ready.” I wish these guys could have done something else before Jeff Beck’s demise last year.
47. Elvis Costello & the Attractions, “Only Flame In Town” – Yet another great song from Costello.
48. Glenn Frey, “Smuggler’s Blues” – A track that help land Frey a role on Miami Vice as, I believe, a drug smuggler. In terms of ex-Eagles I’ve always been more of a Henley guy – or if I’m being completely honest, more of a Joe Walsh guy – but I like this song.
49. The Time, “Jungle Love” – I was already a fan of Prince’s when I saw the Purple Rain movie (friends had turned me onto 1999), but I left the theater a fan of the Time.
50. Sade, “Smooth Operator” – Sadly, in ’84 I was far from being a smooth operator. I’m still not a smooth operator but I love this song. A beautiful woman with a beautiful voice singing a beautiful song.
51. The Psychedelic Furs, “Heaven” – Another great alt rock song that I didn’t hear until well after ’84. There was so much great music out in the mid 80s that I could have discovered if I’d just paused my intense listening of the Faces and Zeppelin.
52. Lindsey Buckingham, “Go Insane” – I had a roommate named Walt (name changed to protect the guilty) who loved solo Buckingham. He was ahead of his time. I remember him playing this cassette in the room. I must admit, at the time, I didn’t need to “go insane,” I already was.
53. Billy Squier, “Rock Me Tonite” – I defy you to find anybody who lived through the 80s who didn’t like Squier.
54. Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Police Helicopter” – I read in Scar Tissue, Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography, that the producer of their debut album labeled this song as “shit.” I’ve always loved it. But then, I used to date women from the sketchy part of town… saw too many police helicopters hovering over the neighborhood… but those records are sealed.
55. Scandal, “The Warrior” – Scandal opened up for Elton John, the one time I saw him, in 1982. I was never a huge fan, but if Eddie Van Halen considered hiring Patty Smyth to replace Roth, she must have something.
56. Stevie Wonder, “I Just Called To Say I Love You” – I was told this was the Motown Legend’s biggest hit and that stunned me.
57. A Flock Of Seagulls, “The More You Live, The More You Love” – Another song I’d completely forgotten about but rediscovered during my “research.”
58. Hanoi Rocks, “Up Around The Bend” – A Hair Metal band covers a Creedence Clearwater Revival song and scores their biggest hit only to lose their drummer, Razzle – killed by Vince Neil in a drunk driving accident – all in the same year. Is there anything more ’84 Hair Metal than that?
59. Judas Priest, “Freewheel Burning” – Wonderful, punishing metal.
60. Metallica, “Ride The Lightning” – The title track from my favorite Metallica album. They are one of the few bands to overcome the sophomore slump and put out an even better second album.
61. Iron Maiden, “2 Minutes To Midnight” – I forget how melodic Iron Maiden is. This is a great track, even if I don’t have a clue what they’re singing about.
62. The Cult, “Spiritwalker” – Another debut from a band I love. Dreamtime. And for all of you out there, he’s singing “wind walker” not “weed wacker” towards the end of the song.
63. Kiss, “Heaven’s On Fire” – I was never a member of the Kiss Army but they always had a handful of decent tunes. Their 80s stuff was pretty paint-by-numbers Hair Metal…melodic but rocking stuff.
64. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, “Cherry Bomb” – Where Joan goes back to visit the first big hit from her first band, the Runaways, “Cherry Bomb.” It was originally sung by Cherie Currie but I dig Joan’s turn on lead vocal here.
65. Depeche Mode, “People Are People” – I love Depeche. Last year’s Momento Mori had to grow on me, but it was a great record.
66. Midnight Oil, “Minutes To Midnight” – A band my buddy Doug always liked.
67. Ramones, “Howlin’ At The Moon (Sha-La-La) – I didn’t realize the Ramones were still alive and kicking in ’84. I thought they’d gone their separate ways by then.
68. U2, “The Unforgettable Fire” – I could have gone with “Pride (In The Name Of Love),” the big hit from this album, but I went with the title track. I’ve always loved this slinky song and the cool video. I once won a bet with Arkansas Joel (a huge U2 fan at the time) who was insisting there was no title track from The Unforgettable Fire.
69. The Replacements, “I Will Dare” – Hats off to any band who had the balls to name an album Let It Be.
70. Talking Heads, “Psycho Killer – Live” – I typically skip live albums for these playlists, but I’ve come to realize that’s a mistake. Stop Making Sense is one of the greatest live albums of all time so I had to include a song. I consider this the definitive version of “Psycho Killer.”
71. Julian Lennon, “Too Late For Goodbyes” – I think this is a first that I have song by both father and son on a playlist. I hated the video for this but I dug the song.
72. Paul McCartney, “No More Lonely Nights” – Great song, with David Gilmour on lead guitar, from an ill-advised movie and soundtrack.
73. Autograph, “Turn Up The Radio” – I think these guys recorded a local versions of this song for every market. In Kansas City, I recall hearing the singer at some point sing, “KY102” which was the local rock station at the time. Although my memory can sometimes be fuzzy…
74. Deep Purple, “Perfect Strangers” – As I said recently when writing about Machine Head, it may be their masterpiece, but for those of us of a certain age, Perfect Strangers was “our” Deep Purple album. This is not only one of my favorite Deep Purple songs, it’s one of my favorite songs.
75. Philip Bailey (with Phil Collins), “Easy Lover” – I tried to veer away from “pop” songs but this great song from Earth Wind & Fire singer Philip Bailey with Phil Collins on drums/vocals was so popular, it was hard to not hear it. I kinda dug it.
76. Bryan Adams, “One Night Love Affair” – I’m on record as not being a huge Bryan Adams fan, but I’ve always had a soft spot for this one. The story of two people who end up in a one night stand but just might have been looking for something more substantial. Much more interesting than the usual one night stand songs.
77. Eurythmics, “Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)” – From a soundtrack for a movie adaptation of Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. A novel that perhaps has more relevance today than ever. This song was actually banned and very hard to find for a long time. Big Brother is out there.
78. The Honeydrippers, “Rockin’ At Midnight” – Robert Plant’s side project where he played old rock songs. “Sea Of Love” was the big hit, but I always dug this one. Jeff Beck plays guitar on this song! I think Elvis did it back in the day.
79. Don Henley, “Boys Of Summer” – Henley’s masterpiece song, co-written with Heartbreaker Mike Campbell. The video “made southern California look like the south of France.” I always liked the lyric, “I saw a Dead Head sticker on a Cadillac, a little voice inside my head said “Don’t look back, you can never look back.” A lot to love in this song.
80. The Kinks, “Do It Again” – The Kinks are just always kick ass. I feel like they deserve even more respect than they already get. This is just a great rock song.
81. Triumph, “Follow Your Heart” – One of the last songs from Triumph that I remember hearing get radio airplay. Such a great Canadian power trio.

I’m not going to lie to you, my first attempt on this playlist had 120 songs. So there are a lot of songs from a lot of albums that I left “on the cutting room floor,” as the saying goes. There’s only so much typing one man can do in one sitting. If there’s an album you’re fond of from 1984 with a great song you think would be a nice addition to this playlist, drop it in the comments and I’ll add it. I like to think of these playlists as “our playlists” not “my playlists.” I will warn you, I do my homework and will have to verify the record is actually from 1984. Other than that rule, I welcome all suggestions. I do hope I bring a song back to your ears that you haven’t heard in a while and it stirs up a fond memory of those halcyon days… or better yet, you discover a song you haven’t heard before and it causes you to do a little musical spelunking and you seek out that album… You never know where you’re going to find a gem!

Enjoy this one, Cheers!