This new wave classic still makes most ’80s teenagers feel like they’re mustering up the courage to ask someone to dance at the junior high Spring Fling. Any kid from the ’80s who doesn’t admit that they wanted to fall in love while listening to this song is either lying or dead inside. Also, it has hands-down the best humming solo in the history of recorded music. So, thank you, Modern English. Thank you. How many other one-hit wonders from the ’80s begin with a Celtic-style fiddle? (None. The answer is none.) The only thing that makes us sad about “Come on Eileen” is the fact that the band’s frontman, Kevin Rowland, is no longer interested in singing it. As he explained in an interview with The Irish Times, he actually hates going to shows and seeing bands play their old hits. “I’m very careful not to live in the past,” he said. “[It’s] just all about people reliving their memories.” Um, yeah, and what’s wrong with that exactly? Come on, Kevin! And for more famous songs bands don’t want to perform anymore, check out the 17 Hits Popular Musicians Hate Playing Live. Yes, we love A Flock of Seagulls and their hypnotic hit—almost as much as we love the classic ’80s haircut lead singer Mike Score donned back in the day. It was a work of art made out of hairspray, a majestic waterfall two tufts sticking up on either side like an eagle’s wings. It was ridiculous but hypnotizing, like a Picasso sculpture. And speaking of unforgettable ‘dos, This Is the “It” Hairstyle the Year You Were Born. In the ’80s, a new and noteworthy music video would immediately spread like wildfire. And boy, to say that the video for “Take on Me” was a doozy would be an understatement. Who knew line drawings could tell a story so effectively? This masterpiece still makes all the CGI technology of modern movies and videos seem irrelevant and unnecessary. Oh Mickey, he’s so fine—he’s so fine, he blew our minds in the 1980s. And you know what else blew our minds? Finding out that “Mickey” is actually a cover of a 1979 song called “Kitty” about a girl named—you guessed it—Kitty. Toni Basil didn’t change much for her ’80s cover, other than the name and gender of the main character. We were pretty amazed after listening to both songs, but we still prefer Basil’s take, if only because it’s the version that was played in the video we saw over and over and over and over again on MTV. And on a similar note, here are 25 Huge ’80s Bands You Totally Forgot Existed.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Eddie Murphy is one of the greatest comedians who ever lived. But as a singer… well, it’s hard not to giggle at his attempt to be a bona fide pop star. Yes, he has a great singing voice, and sure, he got Rick James to produce and write his one Billboard hit—but seeing Murphy take himself so seriously about partying all the time with his girl was just confounding for any ’80s kid. And speaking of 1980s icons, check out The Biggest Male Icon Every Year Since You Were Born. There isn’t a single kid in the ’80s who didn’t try calling the number 867-5309 just to see if a girl named Jenny would pick up. As it turns out, it is a real number with a real person at the other end—but unfortunately, that person is not a girl named Jenny. As a Brown University student with an 867-5309 phone number complained in a 1999 interview, “It’s so annoying. It’s the worst number to have in the world.” But one New Yorker with the phone number had a different approach: They offered to sell it in 2004 for $8,000. Thomas Dolby once admitted in an interview that “She Blinded Me with Science” is “probably about the most frivolous song that I’ve ever written.” Apparently, he only came up with it so he could make a video about “a home for deranged scientists.” Frankly, we have to agree that the crazy video accompanying the tune, filled with truly mad scientists, was worth whatever creative compromises it took Mr. Dolby to get there. And for more on top hits, check out these 20 Songs You Totally Misunderstood, Explained. The lead singer and songwriter of Men Without Hats, Ivan Doroschuk, once explained to a Canadian radio station that he wrote “The Safety Dance” after he had been kicked out of a bar in Ottawa “for pogoing to The B-52s.” The incident inspired him to go home and write a song about how “it is safe to dance.” Interesting, Mr. Doroschuk, because that’s hardly what anyone thinks about when they hear this song. And for more songs with actual subtlety, here are 20 Songs You Didn’t Know Have Secret Messages. As far as anyone in the ’80s was concerned, this was essentially a Michael Jackson song. Sure, he just sang backup on it, but he was the voice people recognized and loved on the track. Poor Rockwell never really stood a chance. This joyful ’80s tune was the definitive optimism anthem. While it might not have been that simple to just stop worrying and be happy, with his four-minute hit, Bobby McFerrin made us feel like it was. The whistling really helped. Yes, lead singer Aimee Mann’s hair in the video for “Voices Carry” was ridiculous, and that final scene in Carnegie Hall where she interrupts the opera to start singing is pretty cringeworthy. But there were few songs in the ’80s as satisfying to sing along to while alone in your bedroom after some jerk at school had broken your heart than this one. It’s the perfect balance of self-pity and righteous indignation. Funkytown, to the best of our knowledge, is not a real place that exists on a map. However, this ’80s song sure made a convincing case as to why it needed to become an actual geographical destination. It was the most effective commercial jingle for a town that no one had gotten around to building yet. Supposedly this song, the first and only hit from German artist Nena, is about post-World War II nuclear paranoia in Germany—or more specifically, about how a bunch of balloons once got mistaken for a military aircraft and nearly caused an all-out nuclear war. Those deeper meanings never really connected with ’80s kids, but we loved the song anyway! When this song first hit the charts, the band insisted that it was really about “motivation.” Not even teenagers were fooled by that, though, and all we could do was pray that our parents wouldn’t listen too closely to the lyrics. At least those “Frankie Says Relax” T-shirts looked ambiguous enough. “Our House,” the song that made it cool for American kids to love ska, was ironically enough one of the least rebellious-sounding tunes that ever played on MTV. It’s essentially about domestic bliss, even when things get a little hairy. Dad may be late for work, mom may be super tired, and that sister of yours sure does sigh a lot in her sleep—but at the end of the day, it’s our house… and it’s in the middle of the street. And apparently, that’s worth celebrating. “What I Am” was the song that finally captured what it was like to have a late night conversation with a philosophy major in college. “What I am is what I am. Are you what you are or what?” Um… yes? What’s the right answer here? The melody was infectiously catchy, even if we didn’t always understand what the heck Edie Brickell was talking about. Not only is this song one of the highest-charting reggae-pop tunes ever recorded, but it’s actually based on a real street! (No shade to “Funkytown.”) As Eddy Grant revealed in an interview with The Guardian, “On the way home one night [in London] … I saw Electric Avenue on a street sign, and thought: ‘What a fantastic song title.’” But it didn’t just make a great title—it made for an equally good song, with Grant’s deep baritone voice and a thumping electronic groove taking charge. When it was released in the early ’80s, Electric Avenue seemed like some place in the distant future, where everybody is dressed like Flash Gordon and dancing is the main form of communication. Sounds awesome, right? Synthpop duo Soft Cell was looking for a “throwaway cover song” to record when they settled on the 1964 soul staple “Tainted Love” by Gloria Jones. What they couldn’t have realized at the time, though, is that they’d end up making the biggest—and unfortunately, only—hit of their career. Even though it was released in 1979, “Video Killed the Radio Star” was the song that literally launched MTV in 1981—its accompanying video was the first to play on the 24-hour music channel ever. While the two-man band that is The Buggles never had another song that even came close to touching the success of “Video Killed the Radio Star,” the song remains one of those ’80s hits that elicits instant nostalgia. Not to mention, it was eerily prescient: How did they know that video would indeed kill the radio star?! And for more throwbacks, here are 20 Funny Things People in the 1980s Were Totally Guilty of Doing.
