Favorite Bands, Singers, and Songs from the 80's and 90's

I have always had a pretty wide variety of taste when it comes to music. I think part of it was growing up in the 80's and early 90's we listened to the radio the most. I mean yes I bought albums, cassettes, CD's (when they came on the scene) and would spend hours in Strawberries music stores scouring the shelves for the perfect single or album to buy. But most of the time when we were out in the yard, at the beach (on our boom box), or driving around we listened to the music on the radio. 

I lived for Casey Kasem's weekly top 40 and Shadoe Steven's American Top 40 where those most popular songs were counted down each week; the ones played at school dances, roller skating rinks, the arcade, etc.  I have so many memories associated with these songs of my childhood. 

In no particular order they include:

Def Leppard-- "Pour Some Sugar on Me," "Animal," "Love Bites"-- I have fond memories of roller skating at our local rink to these!

Bon Jovi-- "Living on a Prayer," "You Give Love a Bad Name," "I'll be there for you"-- one of these almost always made it onto any mixed tape I was making. 

 Guns and Roses-- "Sweet Child O' Mine," "Welcome to the Jungle." "Paradise City,"-- what can I say? We really loved our hair bands! 

Journey-- "Any Way You Want It," "Faithfully,"-- more songs I can remember skating to! 

Aerosmith-- "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," "Dude," "Rag Doll"--  their music spanned nearly a decade in my life. I had mostly stopped listening to them when they came out with I Don't Want to miss a Thing. I loved that song (and the movie).

Poison-- "Talk Dirty to Me," "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," "Your Mama Don't Dance" - I think I knew nearly every song from their Look What the Cat Dragged In & Open Up and Say Ahh albums. 

Whitesnake-- "Here I go Again," "Is this Love"-- Songs I remember trying to slow dance to at our school dances. 

 

No Doubt-- "Don't Speak", "Just a Girl,"-- These songs came out when I was in high school and I can remember belting out the lyrics with my girlfriends in their cars (or their parents' cars).

Debbie Gibson-- "Lost in Your Eyes," "Only in my Dreams,"-- Both her Out of the Blue & Electric Youth Albums were played on repeat everywhere we went. 

Tiffany -- "I Think We're Along Now,"Could've Been," "I Saw Him Standing There" -- Made all the more iconic from it's appearance on Growing Pains I don't think there was anyone in my friend group (myself included) that did not own this album. 

New Kids on the Block --"Step by Step," "You Got It (The Right Stuff)"  -- I don't know a single girl my age who didn't have a crush on at least one member of this boy band. 

Belinda Carlisle -- "We Got the Beat," "Heaven is a Place on Earth,"-- I remember our 8th grade teacher joining in with our whole class of girls singing Heaven Is a Place on Earth at a talent show we had in our classroom. 

The Bangles-- "Eternal Flame," "Manic Monday," "Walk Like an Egyptian," -- And yes, we all really did try to walk like an Egyptian just like they did in their music videos. 

Bruce Springsteen-- "Born in the USA," "Hungry Heart," "Dancing in the Dark," "Glory Days,"  -- He really was The Boss. 

 

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince--"Boom Boom Shake the Room," "Summertime,""Parents Just Don't Understand," -- Before he was an actor Will Smith was a musician first. 

Phil Collins-- "In The Air Tonight," "I Can't Dance," "Groovy Kind of Love," "You Can't Hurry Love"-- An iconic voice of the 80's. 

George Michael-- "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go," "I Want Your Sex," "Faith,"-- Leaving Wham! and self producing his own album sure worked wonders for him. 

MC Hammer -- "U Can't Touch This," "2 Legit 2 Quit," "Pray"  -- As much a musician as a fashion icon; I don't think anyone of my generation didn't have some sort of "hammer pants." 

Milli Vanilli--"Girl You Know It's True," "Blame It on the Rain,"  -- we all remember the music and we ALL remember the scandal! Such music fraud that these two were not the ones actually singing. 

Tesla-- "Signs," "The Way it Is," "Love Song," -- I'll be honest I did not remember the name of this band AT ALL but I remember belting out the lyrics to signs in the car with my mom and sister (and my mom being a bit mad when my sister and I sand the explicit lyric version).    

Boys II Men-- "End of the Road," "I'll Make Love to You," "On Bended Knee" -- The first "real" concert I ever went to with some high school friends at a concert venue called "Great Woods." We had lawn seats and it was a lovely sunny day. 

TLC-- "Waterfall," "Creep" --Part of the same Boys II Men concert tour (in 1995). These are fabulous senior year memories.  

Paula Abdul -- "Forever Your Girl," "Straight Up," "Opposites Attract,"--  Not only could she sing but she was an amazing dancer too. 

Salt-N-Pepa-- "Push It," "None of Your Business," "Shoop," "Whatta Man,"-- They had the best songs for belting out lyrics!   

 Whitney Houston-- "I Will Always Love You," "I Have Nothing," "Greatest Love of All,"-- It's no wonder she's often called "The Voice!"

The B-52's-- "Love Shack," "Roam," -- More songs that I think were played at every dance and prom!

 

Ace of Base-- "All That She Wants," "The Sign," "Don't Turn Around,"-- Pretty sure I wore this album out. 

Bryan Adams-- "I Do It For You," "Please Forgive Me," "Cuts Like a Knife," "Summer of 69" -- He had some of the best love ballads. 

Wilson Philips-- "Hold On," "Release Me," "You're In Love," -- Their voices blended so beautifully. 

Mariah Carey-- "Always Be My Baby," "Visions of Love," "Someday,"-- One of the best selling female vocalists of her time she had an amazing range of vocals. 

 

Alanis Morissette-- "Ironic," "You Learn," "All I Really Want," "You Oughta Know,"-- Pretty sure I played Jagged Little Pill album until it was too scratched to listen to anymore. 

Amy Grant-- "Baby, Baby," "Lucky One," "Big Yellow Taxi," "Every Heartbeat"--  She had some very catchy tunes. 

Bell Biv Devoe-- "Poison," "Do Me," -- a bit more of a bad boy vibe than most other R&B bands of the time. 

 C&C Music Factory-- "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)," "Thing That Make You Go Hmmm,"-- Every party and dance seemed to play Gonna Make You Sweat!

Extreme-- "More Than Words," -- Probably the only band on the list that I couldn't come up with more than one song for but this one really sticks out in my mind. It was a HUGE hit and perfect for slow dancing. 

Madonna-- "Material Girl," "Vogue," "Papa Don't Preach,"-- Madonna was the iconic 80's singer/fashion poster girl. 

 

R.E.M.-- "Stand," "Everybody Hurts," "Shiny Happy People,"-- Such a unique sound to most of their music.

Scorpions-- "Winds of Change," "Rock You Like a Hurricane," -- Winds of Change was one of my most favorite songs for the longest time. 

Janet Jackson-- "What Have You Done For Me Lately," "Escapade," "Nasty,"-- Big hair and big attitudes were pretty standard for musicians.

Heart-- "All I Want to do is Make Love to You," "Alone," "What About Love"-- I didn't much like Barracuda or Magic Man but their sound changed in the mid-80's and I liked those songs so much more. 

Bette Midler-- "Wing Beneath my Wings," "From a Distance," -- What can I say? Beaches is still one of my favorite movies to this day!

 

 

One hit wonders like:

Boy Meets Girl-- "Waiting for a Star to Fall,"

Dexy's Midnight Runners-- "Come on Eileen"

A-Ha--"Take Me On" 

Berlin-- "Take My Breath Away" 

Cutting Crew-- "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight" 

Patrick Swayze --"She's Like The Wind" 

Chris De Burg-- "Lady in Red" (I actually wore several red prom dresses in the hopes my date would sing this song to me) 

Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock-- "It Takes Two "

Was (Not Was)-- "Walk the Dinosaur" 

The Belle Stars-- "Iko Iko" 

Technotronic-- "Pump Up the Jam"

 Sinead O'Connor-- "Nothing Compares to You"

Stacy Q-- "Two of Hearts" 

House of Pain-- "Jump Around" 

Vanilla Ice-"Ice Ice Baby"

The Proclaimers-- "I'm Gonna Be (500 miles)" 

The La's- "There She Goes" 

The Heights-- "How Do You Talk to an Angel?"

Lisa Loeb-- "Stay" 

I'm sure there are plenty more I'm forgetting. Did you listen to any/many of these?

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