top 50 forgotten/"lost" US hits of the late '80s

Donny Osmond - Soldier Of Love

this certainly wins for "most hilarious"

Very surprised to see the Miami Vice theme on there but I guess not everyone has a group of friends obsessed with the show.

"Foolish Beat" is good and "Spies Like Us" goofy fun but I'm gonna go with macca's "No More Lonely Nights", a real highpoint of that 80's boomer midlife crisis pop thing imo.

one of the Madonnas would probably be my favourite from the stuff i can remember without looking it up

Great list. Probably could’ve expanded it out to 100 easily. There were a lot of hits in the 80s. To be fair, a lot of these are just failed follow-ups to bigger hits. “We’ll Be Together” even has “If you wanna keep something precious” to jog the listener’s memory. Voting “Cross My Broken Heart”. I loved the Beverly Hills Cop II soundtrack when it came out, but I’ll be damned if I can figure out where in the actual movie the song plays. “Shakedown” by Bob Seger was also on that soundtrack and should’ve been on this list.

I am intimately (sadly?) acquainted with this era of pop singles, so Regina and Survivor are the only ones that didn't start automatically playing in my head when I read the song title (the latter because I kept hearing Whitesnake instead). It's a tough call. 'To Be a Lover' is one of the better Billy Idol singles imo. 'Neutron Dance'? 'Diamonds'? There isn't much on the list that I'm, like, in love with but most of it resides in a warm place inside my heart.

'Diamonds' because I don't remember it from the time unlike most of the good stuff here.

Aw jeez feel like this poll was made for me. Lots of bangers!

The Pointer Sisters - Neutron Dance

This being on the list is a failure of the present, not the past.

26. Taylor Dayne - Don't Rush Me

my vote

Y'all have fun with Sean Ross' essay: https://radioinsight.com/ross/187494/the-100-most-lost-songs-of-the-1980s/

Oops! Sorry, Brad, I didn't see your link.

Some of these songs were fake hits. If Miami's Y-100 didn't play, for example, "She Wants to Dance with Me," "In Your Room," or "Victory" but I heard them on Casey Kasem and Shadoe Stevens' AT40 they were fake hits.

FL stations kinda went their own way, though, IIRC. There were a number of songs I fondly recall getting decent rotation in Jacksonville that, when we moved away, I never heard on the radio again. And some (Radiorama's 'Daddy Daddy' being an example that immediately springs to mind) that never hit the Hot 100 at all.

Definitely recall freestyle tunes that never made the charts, as well.

Just about every synthwave producer seems to have done a tribute/knockoff of the Miami Vice theme at least once, so that certainly doesn’t seem as much a forgotten relic like the rest of these (“smaller followups to big hits” is spot on).

"hey JJ! what you been doin'"

still love "c'est la vie" so that's my vote.

list is a great reminder of how many sappy songs chicago through at the wall over the course of those years. really put us all through the ringer with that shit.

Regina and Survivor are the only ones that didn't start automatically playing in my head...

I was a big enough fan of that Regina single to actually pick up a promo copy of her album in a cheap bin, and even I couldn't make "Baby Love" play in my head this morning. It's pretty good fake Madonna. But this is absolutely "Neutron Dance" for me.

Yeah, this (when I was about 8-10) might be the time I paid the most attention to pop so, even when I can't recall the tune, I do at the least recall the existence or something about the video of at least half of these. (It would probably close to 100% if we were looking at songs from the mainstream rock charts.) "Batdance" is probably best but I really want to vote for "In Your Room".

I had no idea "Look Away" was forgotten but I guess I mostly hear "You're the Inspiration" and "Hard to Say I'm Sorry".

Chicago 19 was my second vinyl record! My dad bought it for me for Xmas along with the soundtrack to Oliver and Company and my first turntable

Cyndi Lauper - Change Of Heart

I love this song so much it's scary.

It's the only one on True Colors that matches the genius of She's So Unusual imo.

Also, I thought that was the only Samantha Fox song anyone knew.

Bangles on backup vocals! xpost

I still ride for all of these:

5. Prince - Batdance
10. Cyndi Lauper - Change Of Heart
13. Arcadia - Election Day
15. Samantha Fox - Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)
19. Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme
20. The Jets - Cross My Broken Heart
27. Bangles - In Your Room
31. Madonna - Who's That Girl
33. Herb Alpert - Diamonds
34. Milli Vanilli - Baby Don't Forget My Number
37. George Michael - Monkey
38. Samantha Fox - I Wanna Have Some Fun
39. El DeBarge - Who's Johnny
41. The Jets - Rocket 2 U
42. Duran Duran - I Don't Want Your Love
44. The Pointer Sisters - Neutron Dance
45. Madonna - Causing A Commotion
47. Huey Lewis & The News - Jacob's Ladder
48. Robbie Nevil - C'Est La Vie
50. Sting - We'll Be Together

This list is reminding me of how much better off we all would have been had someone locked the New Kids in a basement

Also, I thought that was the only Samantha Fox song anyone knew.

Ha, I see there was more than one there. I meant "Naughty Girls".

DJP has most of the good ones, I just have to add a little bit of cheese that's stuck with / stained me.

11. Chicago - I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love
15. Samantha Fox - Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)
18. Steve Winwood - Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?
19. Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme
21. White Lion - When The Children Cry
25. Paul McCartney - Spies Like Us
27. Bangles - In Your Room
31. Madonna - Who's That Girl
34. Milli Vanilli - Baby Don't Forget My Number
35. Paul McCartney - No More Lonely Nights
37. George Michael - Monkey
38. Samantha Fox - I Wanna Have Some Fun
39. El DeBarge - Who's Johnny
40. Chicago - Look Away
42. Duran Duran - I Don't Want Your Love
44. The Pointer Sisters - Neutron Dance
47. Huey Lewis & The News - Jacob's Ladder
48. Robbie Nevil - C'Est La Vie

also

18. Steve Winwood - Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?

reminds that rather little Michelob Rock makes this list, meaning that it must still be in radio playlists somewhere? probably in midwestern bars.

I'm somewhat surprised "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" isn't no here

Rocket 2 U

also, special shoutout to Weird Al’s Ed McMahon-themed El DeBarge parody

Most of these I can't even bring to mind but Arcadia's "Election Day" started playing in my head, so that one.

haha when I sing "Who's Johnny" around the house (which is often), I end up mixing up the lyrics with "Here's Johnny". maybe Al's best parody?

HEYO! HEY-HEYOOO!

Just listened to "Who's Johnny" for the first time in eons. The yuge gated drums! The production reminds me of "Wood Beez," which is odd because the Scritti song came first. I always thought it borrowed from De Barge a bit.

Rocket 2 U

― trapped out the barndo (crüt), Thursday, July 16, 2020 3:50 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh man i don't think i've heard "rocket 2 u" since i was a kid. i've got to vote for it. i have a major attachment to the jets. they were sort of well-known in utah because they were mormon - it's a weird story involving uncomfortable colonial and religious energy i don't exactly know how to explain. one of the few positive contributions to the general culture mormonism is at least partially responsible for. the sets for these videos ("rocket 2 u" and "cross my broken heart") look a lot like the tv show "kids incorporated" which i was obsessed with. i love how cornball and innocent they were, but catchy af and disarmingly substantial in moments.

"crush on you" is obviously their masterpiece though

Batdance is one of the greatest songs of all time, so voted that. A lot of these songs are lesser-known hits from people who are either only associated with one song (Rick Astley, Milli Vanilli) or songs that for whatever reason do not rise to the level of their most important work (Duran Duran, Madonna, and yes, Prince in the eyes of everyone but me) - if I'm only going to remember five Duran Duran songs, none of them are going to be "I Don't Want Your Love". Sort of the '80s equivalent of "The Ballad of John and Yoko" of all fucking things becoming a #1 hit - if that record didn't have the Beatles' name on it no way that would have made #1.

I'll also say that while there are a lot of these songs I can't remember, even though they were totally on the radio and stuff, but I do still remember "Look Away", and I fucking hate it.

A decent number of CVS Jams on those 'Lost' lists.

If post-Cetera Chicago
Is playing on your radio
Look away
Baby, look away

re: The Jets, I have been and always will be a "Curiosity" partisan

if I'm only going to remember five Duran Duran songs, none of them are going to be "I Don't Want Your Love".

"I Don't Want Your Love" and "Notorious" are the only Duran Duran songs I go out of my way to listen to these days

I've played "Rocket 2 U" on a jukebox as recently as this year, so that one. I like the Regina one also, I own the 12" single.

All She Wants Is >>> IDWYL

agreed! I really love All She Wants Is

Not only have I never heard "I Like It" before, I have no memory of the career/existence of Dino. (I think the later in the 80s, the more gaps in my knowledge.)

He's kinda shit, I guess, but I have a massive soft spot in my heart for him.

S-S-SUMMERGURLS

"All She Wants Is" is garbage

I was confused to see Miami Vice Theme on there too, but was getting it mixed up with Crockett's Theme, which I think is much more popular. I have no memory of ever hearing the actual Miami Vice Theme before today.

29. Regina - Baby Love

Aww, I love this song!! Think it was actually originally written for Madonna, but when she rejected it Regina sung it herself. Co-writer was Stephen Bray who also wrote Angel, Over & Over and True Blue with Madonna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4IwsyBFoS0

I bought Election Day and Spies Like Us not because they were good songs but for the Fairlight enhanced bits. I bought C'Est La Vie because it was a CD single and there weren't that many. The El DeBarge might be the pick here without actually listening to any of them.

wow platonic ideal 80s sax solo in "baby love"

david sanborn, no less!

I love Taylor Dane. There, I said it.

*Dayne

"Don't Rush Me" is my favorite Taylor Dayne single.

Because he coded as freestyle fellow traveler, Dino got LOTS of SoFla airplay ("I Like It," "Romeo," "Summer Girls").

crockett's theme is one of the greatest pieces of recorded music in history.

xp

"Who's Johnny"

yeah, I also noted how "Who's Johnny" sounds like second-rate Scritti but with a first-rate vocalist.

Y'all can shoot me, but I'll take David Gilmour's solo in "No More Lonely Nights" -- scrappy, impatient -- over most of his Floyd contributions. It's one of McCartney's best ballads.

Day or night, it's always there

can we talk about how absurd Milli Vanilli were
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhyzGDPwmYU

^^^ their best single!

the ridiculous dance at the "i've been searching high!" part kills me

'Girl I'm Gonna Miss You' still a radio staple this side of the ocean, nowhere near forgotten imo. But then it was a *huge* hit here.

My fav

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbUENJ5FjBk

Xpost dammit

think I have written elsewhere about the unfathomable emotional heft of "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You"

“You Got It All” is the best Jets song. On this subject there can be no debate.

Somebody please do this same list for the Soundscan era (especially 2000-2005). Like, does anybody remember Clay Aiken’s “This Is the Night”? Or Britney’s awful “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” or “Don’t Let Me Be the Last to Know”?

By that time I was completely and totally checked out of pop radio hits.

the Fuel era

no idea where to put this observation, but I last listened to BBC Radio 1 in 2001 when it was played in my office and I HAAAAAAAAATED it, they had Nickelback and Robbie Williams on heavy rotation and Chris Moyles presenting.

I have had Radio 1 on in the car over the last week and it is 100% better, music, shows, presenters, features, everything.

on a big Jets kick this evening thanks to this thread. was familiar with them through an American ex-boyfriend who was a big fan (they never crossed over to the Netherlands), but that was a long time ago. hard to pick a favourite, but I played “Curiosity” five times in a row, so I guess that one (and possibly “Rocket 2 U” for this poll, but there are other contenders - that ex would have a field day)

Let me put in a good word for Sheena Easton’s “The Lover In Me”. Prime L.A./Babyface.

i have never knowingly heard a single song on this list.

part of me once to go through them and see how many i recognize, or which one i recognize first (if any), but i wonder if it would be more interesting to start at 1 or 50 and work backwards.

i feel like the doctor casino of late eighties forgotten hits

"Who's That Girl."

I know about half of these. I had the Sheena Easton song on a year-end Top 10 for whatever year it was; looked it up and it still sounds pretty good. Typically ridiculous video.

I am positive I have heard these songs 20+ times, some a good deal more

3. New Kids On The Block - I'll Be Loving You (Forever)
5. Prince - Batdance
6. Milli Vanilli - Girl I'm Gonna Miss You
17. New Kids On The Block - Cover Girl
19. Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme
27. Bangles - In Your Room
35. Paul McCartney - No More Lonely Nights
44. The Pointer Sisters - Neutron Dance

Also, was Samantha Fox really having hits in the USA?

Oh also

31. Madonna - Who's That Girl

Hey Ducky
Let me stick the 7 inch in the computer

I think I'm familiar with four of these (Batdance, Jacob's Ladder, Miami Vice theme, Who's Johnny). The two from film/television I couldn't sing you a note, Who's Johnny I know from the Weird Al parody, and Jacob's Ladder is one of Huey Lewis' all time classics, so this was an easy vote once I got down that far.

Why do I have to share my baby with a monkey?

One of the "Who's..." maybe? "...Johnny" vid is pretty dreamy, "...That Girl" seemed like as big a deal as any Madonna hit when I was a kid. Still mad it's not on Immaculate Collection.

while it is true that pop playlists had more regional variation then than they do these days, it is likely that a good number of these were indeed "fake hits" -- not to say they didn't do well at all, but that they weren't really getting played as much as you'd think from looking at the charts. in sean ross's followup blog on why hits fade, he explains:

But many of the lost hits on this list are songs that never spent a sustained amount of time in “power rotation” at radio in the first place. There’s not as much chance for listeners to remember them, much less fondly. One industry reader astutely commented that many of these songs were lesser titles from major artists "forced up the charts by promotion. [There are] a lot of follow-up cuts and duds by superstars." Many of the "Lost 100" titles were the first single by an act from a new project following a major hit album. Radio considered them disappointments, and didn’t play them in power rotation, but you can’t often tell from the charts.

he names 8 examples, most of which were top 3 hits, including one that topped the hot 100

Great list. Probably could’ve expanded it out to 100 easily.

it's actually a top 65 ranking on the link! 51-65 are:

51. Martika - Toy Soldiers
52. Exposé - Seasons Change
53. Natalie Cole - Pink Cadillac
54. Thompson Twins - King For A Day
55. Tina Turner - Typical Male
56. Sa-Fire - Thinking Of You
57. Richard Marx - Satisfied
58. Kool & The Gang - Misled
59. Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram - Somewhere Out There
60. Taylor Dayne - With Every Beat Of My Heart
61. Billy Ocean - There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)
62. Rod Stewart - My Heart Can't Tell You No
63. Debbie Gibson - Lost In Your Eyes
64. Suzanne Vega - Luka
65. Stevie Nicks - Talk To Me

Somebody please do this same list for the Soundscan era (especially 2000-2005)

he also did an early 90s ('90-'94) list (which i'm thinking of polling next ;P ) that spans the very beginning of the soundscan era. i don't think he's likely to do late '90s/early '00s equivalents yet tho, since classic hits stations are currently extremely '80s-centric and have not really started to go deep on the late '90s or later at all

Did not realize that Consolidated song was a Tina Turner cover

I love that clogged-drain sound in "Rocket 2 U"

Was reminded of this one yesterday while shuffling through an '80s Billboard playlist. Seems like there are a lot of obscure charting singles where, at a glance, I recognize neither the artist nor the song title but then it all comes rushing back once I listen for a few. And it only reached 52 in 1986, I guess?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaELZ5q6Y7M

Oh also it occurred to me that 'Dancing on the Ceiling' fits very snugly among the selections here. Hit number 2 in 1986 and, outside of my iTunes, I'm not sure I've heard it played anywhere since 1986.

I've heard "My Heart Can't Tell Me No," "Talk to Me," and "Seasons Change" in the wild the last couple years, esp that Rod Stewart single.

"Luka"?? Is the implication that there is another Suzanne Vega song that is better known than this? While I clearly remember "My Heart Can't Tell You No" and "Toy Soldiers", I can understand why they might be of limited importance to anyone who wasn't taping songs off the radio in 1988. "Luka" has to be one of the best songs of is genre, though. Beat Phoebe Bridgers at her game 30 years earlier.

"New Girl Now" is the OPO for Honeymoon Suite.xp

I'd guess that 'Tom's Diner' is probably more well-known than 'Luka'.

"Luka"?? Is the implication that there is another Suzanne Vega song that is better known than this?

Tom's Diner!

xp

'Marlene On The Wall' was a marginally bigger hit in the uk

The only reason I've heard of "Tom's Diner" is because it was used to test the mp3 format. Was it an actual hit?

the DNA remix was massive, yes

#5 in the US

Huh. TIL a group called DNA that does not include Arto Lindsay had a hit with a remix of this weird spoken word thing that was bigger than "Luka".

Oh also it occurred to me that 'Dancing on the Ceiling' fits very snugly among the selections here. Hit number 2 in 1986 and, outside of my iTunes, I'm not sure I've heard it played anywhere /since/ 1986.

(at the peak of their success that is)

still hear Dancing On The Ceiling on the radio in the UK, think a lot of the love for it is people being a bit ironic though

one of the worst songs by a major star ever recorded.
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Friday, July 17, 2020 9:12 AM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

(at the peak of their success that is)

― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl)

otm. 1986 is peak New Jersey.

I was in high school during the later 80s and looking at the list swore a handful of these songs were 84. I was shocked Who's Johnny was 86.

Favorites to vote for are:

Who's That Girl
Causing a Commotion
Monkey

Cheese I can't deny:

When the Children Cry
No More Lonely Nights

Weird. I have zero memory of this remix or its video.

"When the Children Cry" has to be the biggest White Lion song, though?

definitely.

I prefer "Hungry" and "Wait" myself.

Yeah, I hear "Dancing On The Ceiling" in grocery stores and stuff. Also probably his second most lasting video (after "Hello"). Stanley Donen!

About 1/3 of these still end up in my head once every few months (I was singing “I don’t want to live without your love” last week), another 1/3 were immediately audible in my brain when reading the titles even if I haven’t thought of them in decades, and 1/3 I have zero memory of but might if I bothered to track them them down.

Initial gut reaction is Dreamtime which I weirdly love and know every word of.

Also one of the desks in my high school had “white loin” carved into it and I don’t know if it was someone who couldn’t spell and never learned during the time it took them to carve the letters with a pocket knife of compass point or if they were mocking them for “when the children cry”

Huh. TIL a group called DNA that does not include Arto Lindsay had a hit with a remix of this weird spoken word thing that was bigger than "Luka"

I can definitely imagine a few lines of well placed atonal guitar scree in between SV’s verses

absolutely incredible things about the video for 'foolish beat':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf8BoWKeHow

1. the little rollin' hand move she does on stage that ends with her head tilted back. i may remember this becoming a short-lived 'thing'.
2. the waiter in the european restaurant waiting patiently on his mark for the camera to track past the edge of the doorframe before starting up his legs to walk to Debbie's table.
3. that stack of coffee cups. let's get into this. Debbie's drinking straight up espresso, maybe macchiatos. probably single shots. so she's on her 4th cup of coffee. that's pretty raw-dog. her Turtleneck Loverboy is drinking cappucinos. if we consider that in the mid-80s pretty much nobody would have been specifying 'single shots' in their cappucinos, this boy has consumed 6-8 shots of italian espresso, otherwise known as rocket fuel. this guy is FLYING. but wait - there's a flower in the top cup. its stem isn't as long as the flowers in the vase behind the Leaning Tower Of Coffee Cups, so presumably someone has... picked one of the flowers out of the vase and either cut or torn its stem in two? and then placed it in.... an old coffee cup? leaving aside for a moment that if this were a real italian cafe they would have already been barked at for playing with their cups like this, none of the staff would have done this. so either Debbie or Turtleneck did it. and now Turtleneck's pretending like he's just noticed it, and he offers it to Debbie. she accepts, feigning gratitude and surprise. that flower that you just tore in two and placed atop your maniacal Coffee Tower? oh you shouldn't have! no really, you shouldn't have.
4. Debbie's stage outfit is smokin. great look.
5. another flower scene! wait - why is it funny that the kid stole their flowers?? what a little shit-head! he's not even good at skating. not acceptable. this is the year before The Search For Animal Chin came out.
6. as the song ends, Turtleneck waits vainly by the stage door at a... Debbie Gibson concert! wait, this isn't the stage door. stage doors don't have velvet ropes and door guys. this is the... front door? pretty quiet night. maybe it's a Tuesday. anyway, does he have flowers? oh boy does he have flowers. the same red kind of flowers the crappy skateboarder stole. he's gone all out. but he trashes them and walks away. i guess Debbie didn't show? this was hours afterwards and she snuck out the actual stage door, i guess. too bad he didn't pony up for a ticket, he would have seen her rock some sick moves.

still the youngest artist to write and self-produce a #1

Also probably his second most lasting video (after "Hello"). Stanley Donen!

definitely remember watching a making-of doc for the video because of its rotating room set and choreography. and wiki says it was the most expensive video at that time.

i have never knowingly heard a single song on this list.

this is me, except for Batdance

I successfully avoided radio in the late 80's, for the most part

I'm sure I've heard some before, but nothing clicked except Prince when I scanned through

now if this was EARLY 80's, I'd have some opinions

About 1/3 of these still end up in my head once every few months

Yes -- probably more than 1/3 for me, and probably more often than every few months.

This happens especially when I revisit some music for the first time since single-digit age that I used to know word-for-word, buried so deep in my memory that the recollection seems dead upon my first revisiting. But afterwards it plays it my head for about a week or longer and I somehow know every word once again, often exhuming more adjacent seemingly unrelated memories (musical or otherwise) from around the same time.

Most recently it was "This Time I Know It's For Real" which I haven't heard since probably 1991.

Another one was on that MTV30 thing in 2011 -- for whatever reason their Rick Astley selection from Club MTV was "It Would Take A Strong Strong Man" which I had not heard since 1989-ish.

Anyway, I enjoy many of these in the same way that I enjoy b-movies from the same era -- they're kinda campy and funny and stupid and fun. Breathe "How Can I Fall" is one of these for sure, and I doubt anyone else will vote for it, so that's my vote.

I'm surprised that "Jacob's Ladder" became a single, never mind the fact that it charted to high. I always thought it was
incredibly bland and forgettable.

How did I not see Monkey

"10. Cyndi Lauper - Change Of Heart"

I haven't thought about this song in decades, but did this morning when I saw that album was being reissued on vinyl and this song was noted as the other hit from it. I remember that song, kind of, but can't really remember how it went.

I post this only so y'all can remember how hot George Michael was at his prime -- and what an ass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHb2XYeXcJI

I remember that song, kind of, but can't really remember how it went.

many of these choices in a nutshell

I heard "We'll be together" in Trader Joe's last weekend and remembered how good that song is.

Change of heart
Time for a new start
Woo woo hey
Do you wanna go to the moo-vays
I had a change of start
Now I'm playing my part
Hey woo woo
Doodle doodle doo

All this time I been confusing the NKOTB song with this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiC81IOkjNk

“i wanna have some fun” and “monkey” at least to me both feel like un-forgotten monster smashes

I know 22 of these songs by title alone. Of those, I think I would vote either Dreamtime or Who's that Girl as my favorites.

I didn’t know Jacob’s Ladder was a biblical thing and thought maybe it was from the Tim Robbins movie... like that key & peele ray parker jr. sketch

yea Dreamtime is good

Wait, I'm not insane, at least acc to Wiki:

Luka" is a song written and recorded by Suzanne Vega, released as a single in 1987. It remains her highest-charting hit in the United States, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Worldwide, the song charted the highest in Poland and Sweden, peaking at No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, and reached the top 10 in Austria, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. Shawn Colvin sings background vocals on the record.[4]

Maybe it's a legacy song issue??

Hm, the two recordings of "Tom's Diner" have about 54.5M total plays on Spotify but the two recordings of "Luka" have about 43.8M total plays - "lost and forgotten" seems a bit overstated?

To me, the Debbie Gibson and Samantha Fox songs aren't forgotten at all. But they were both such huge phenomenons over here. Tiffany on the other hand, was really a US thing. I don't think I've ever heard "All This Time" and remember a bit of the "Could've Been" chorus where she couldn't hit the notes.

I imagine a problem w/"Luka" is that the three people programming '80s hits & Jack radio in the US are probably not hot to drop a song about child abuse in between Prince and U2 hits on their playlists.

my friends and I used to do kamikaze karaoke, where we'd pick random songs, put them into a hat, and then we had to sing whatever we drew.

one of my very oddball friends put in Suzanne Vega "Luka" and I drew it. I didn't remember how it went. still can't hum it.

Tom's Diner though I sometimes hum random banalities to the melody

I am sitting at my table
UberEats guy took a wrong turn
And my brother's trying to call me
I'm pretending I am busy

I imagine a problem w/"Luka" is that the three people programming '80s hits & Jack radio in the US are probably not hot to drop a song about child abuse in between Prince and U2 hits on their playlists.

― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain)

yeah i could see how that could be a downer sandwiched between the prince hit "1999" (about nuclear apocalypse) and the u2 "sunday bloody sunday" (about a massacre). i can only imagine what casey kasem would have to say about that.

the idea that "monkey", particularly given the jam & lewis remix, is "forgotten" seems to be true mostly within a certain very specific context.

"Luka" was basically Vega's "Fast Car."

I think "Monkey" is forgotten only in the sense that it was (at least?) the fourth single from that album, so perhaps was sort of grandfathered in, kind of like, I don't know, "I'm Goin' Down" by Springsteen, which was the ... sixth single from "Born in the USA?" "Goin' Down" only did modestly on the charts, though. "Monkey" was a #1 hit, which I did not know. How many of the aforementioned 50 songs were #1 hits?

"Monkey" i always used to confuse with "Relax"

probably a good thing monkeys aren't in the song about cumming

Tom's Diner though I sometimes hum random banalities to the melody

I am sitting at my table
UberEats guy took a wrong turn
And my brother's trying to call me
I'm pretending I am busy

This is scarcely more banal than the actual words.

that's what I like about it! you can make your own Tom's Diner song and hum it to yourself

"Monkey" was the fifth single and fourth #1 from Faith.

being on this list (and getting little radio play in the us) is def not a guarantee that a song is entirely forgotten -- just chose that word as a slightly less vague adjective than "lost". there are plenty of songs that are still familiar and well-liked that today's radio stations could play but don't, b/c programmers think they don't fit the overall orientation of their format right now, which leans heavily toward rock/pop crossover

like, i've heard "luka" on the classic hits stations in my city a couple times, but only during the all-80s weekends when they go a little deeper than normal on that decade

Oh, if this is strictly about airplay, then, yeah, I don't hear anything by Suzanne Vega.

Giorgio Moroder included a remake of "Tom's Diner" featuring Britney Spears on his album Déjà Vu, released June 12, 2015.[59] Despite being a non-single track at that time, it became his best-selling digital song,[60] debuting and peaking at number 38 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart[61] and number 14 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Digital Songs chart

trying to pluck up the courage to listen to this and failing miserably

“i wanna have some fun” and “monkey” at least to me both feel like un-forgotten monster smashes

I don't know what "I Wanna Have some Fun" is.

A lot of these still get occasional spins on SiriusXM "80s on 8" or whatever, but I get what they mean even though "forgotten" is a bad descriptor.

Oh, if this is strictly about airplay, then, yeah, I don't hear anything by Suzanne Vega.

By this standard, though, the majority of hits from any era would be 'lost', surely? A smash like "Don't Stop Believin'" comes along a few times in a decade.

I know the melody of “Tom’s Diner” but I don’t know the lyrics so I just sing the Leonard Cohen “Suzanne” lyrics instead

I saw no reason not to go in with an open mind, but the Moroder/Spears version of “Tom’s Diner” is not good.

xps

I was totally unfamiliar with "Luka" until hearing this album: POLE: My Dick's Double Full​-​Length Release by My Dick

just imagining intense synths and Britney singing over it really nasally, like

"duh duh deh deh duh duh deh deh"

“Monkey” isn’t great imo; sonically interesting but unmemorable and the chorus refrain is surface-level decent but just doesn’t hold a candle to the previous singles; it sounds like a fifth single.

“Hand To Mouth” for one, is a much more memorable track.

Hand to Mouth is great but it didn't make anybody wanna fuck

The Jimmy Jam-Terry Lewis remix, which got the airplay, is amazeballs.

as hard, thin, and steely as their work with Jackson (which surely led Michael to hire them).

On first read through the list, the only ones I could hear in my head were the Miami Vice theme (that was my favorite tv show in the late '80s) and "Who's Johnny?", but pretty much every other one I went and listened to I immediately remembered as well. "In Your Room" is pretty decent power pop, if not on the level of the Bangles' best songs. I'm embarrassed to say that I actually once owned that Huey Lewis album that "Perfect World" was on, and I still couldn't remember anything about it. "Jacob's Ladder" is decent, though Huey Lewis always kind of sounds like a fairly standard bar band that somehow ended up famous. I forgot how catchy "Neutron Dance" is. "Election Day" is okay for second-tier Duran Duran. Probably would vote "In Your Room".

"In Your Room" has the trippy fadeout (with excellent as usual harmonies) and classic Steinberg-Kelly smut w/help from Hoffs ("When you're gone I like to try on all your clothes").

Neutron Dance was the first Pointer Sisters song I ever heard and I was hooked immediately.

BTW, for those that are fans of such things, the video for Chicago's "Look Away" is one of those classic super fictionally cinematic plot-driven deals. What's wacky is that the song is from 1988, but there are so many glimmers of "Pretty Woman" in it. I wonder if whoever wrote "Pretty Woman" saw this Chicago video first? Or if Chicago could see into the future?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uKLTtVqQpE

Anyway, the song sucks, but I did learn this:

Before being submitted to Chicago, the song was one of two ballads offered by Epic Records to Cheap Trick, who chose "The Flame" instead.

Songs I didn't recognize by title that I still didn't recognize when listening to them this morning (despite having grown up in the '80s):

New Kids On The Block - I'll Be Loving You (Forever) (though so generic and terrible it's hard to tell)
Tiffany/Could've Been (I suspect DX7 ballads will be a problem for my brain)
Debbie Gibson/Foolish Beat (hot sax! music video plot!)
Tiffany - All This Time
Dino - I Like It (wtf is this shit? my wife knew it, though!)
Cyndi Lauper - Change Of Heart (never heard this, but it's a jam)
Chicago - I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love
Boys Club - I Remember Holding You (boy, Careless Whisper sure made an impact, didn't it?)
Peter Cetera - One Good Woman (barf)
Huey Lewis & The News - Perfect World (I mean, maybe I know this, but it's pretty forgettable)
Kool & The Gang - Victory (weird that I don't know this)
Donny Osmond - Soldier Of Love (eh, not bad. I know of this song from the "Paul's Boutique" 33 1/3, because this is the single Capital wanted to promote over the Beasties)
Daryl Hall & John Oates - Everything Your Heart Desires
New Kids On The Block - Cover Girl (I hated this group at the time)
Breathe - How Can I Fall? (I only know Hand to Heaven)
The Jets - Rocket 2 U (this one I don't know)

My favorite rediscovery of songs I liked at the time are the cuts by the Jets "Cross My Broken Heart" and the one by Regina. Biggest surprise of a song that I haven't heard since it was on the radio: Carl Anderson & Gloria Loring - Friends And Lovers.

How many of these tracks feature orchestra stabs?

I love "How Can I Fall"!

The only reason I know "Spies Like Us" is from the film, but I suspect there are a bunch of disposable boomer tracks like this from the '80s. Like "Just Another Night" by Mick Jagger.

do you personally remember these songs?

Scanning thru the list now. The ones I remember clearly (by title alone) are: Batdance, Miami Vice Theme, When the Children Cry, Spies Like Us, In Your Room, Who’s That Girl, Baby Don’t Forget My Number, No More Lonely Nights, Monkey, Who’s Johnny, Shake Your Love, Jacob’s Ladder (loved that last one as a kid, lol).

Will have to listen to the others and see if my memory is jogged.

Without clicking the link or really researching to see if it qualifies, I feel like Eddie Grant’s “Electric Avenue” should be on this list. That song was huge at the time - has it been played on the radio anytime recently, in any format?

Everybody knows that song.

I haven't heard any stations that play '80s hits lately but "Electric Avenue" seems like it's pretty well known?

I was born in '87 so I missed when the songs here were current hits, but I do remember these being played fairly regularly on the local top 40 station's Friday '80s block in the early '00s:

15. Samantha Fox - Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)
27. Bangles - In Your Room
34. Milli Vanilli - Baby Don't Forget My Number
39. El DeBarge - Who's Johnny
41. The Jets - Rocket 2 U
46. Debbie Gibson - Shake Your Love

Maybe retro songs go in and out of fashion. e.g. I haven't heard Head East on a classic rock station in like 25 years

I predict "Electric Avenue" will endure on the radio b/c the intro is the platonic ideal of song intros that radio DJs can talk over

This is a really difficult tossup between “Who’s That Girl” and “Neutron Dance” for me

I count 8 of those 50 songs from popular soundtracks. And one from a beer commercial.

Everybody knows that song.

I thought the criteria here is whether they’re still played on the radio.

(Also, do younger ppl know it? I’ll believe you if you say yes, but I don’t think I’ve heard it in decades.)

listening to "Don't You Know What The Night Can Do" now, the production is kind of amazing except the snare drum in the chorus which sounds like absolute ass

xp "Electric Avenue" is featured in the intro of Pineapple Express iirc

Ok, I didn’t see that movie

I still hear "Electric Avenue" all the time on the local "All The Hits of 80s, 90s, and today!" station.

Touché – my instincts were wrong!

How about, uh, “Got My Mind Set on You” (G. Harrison version)?

an A/C staple. Heard it twice switching stations this week.

Ok, I’ll stop, lol

i also hear "electric avenue" and "got my mind set on you" with decent regularity (radio is on all the time at my w*rkplace)

"Electric Avenue" is grayed-out on US Spotify!

My kids don't know the Harrison song, but for some reason they know the Eddie Grant.

What does "grayed-out" on Spotify mean? Does it mean "most played?"

Not available to be played.

I think that Regina song may be MIA on all streaming services. That's sort of the definition of "lost" these days.

(re: “Electric Avenue” – I also see now that I tl;dr’d the thread title, and missed the “late ‘80s” bit. sorry, dyl)

I know “everything your heart desire” extremely well because H&O were my favorite band when I was 5. My mom took me to see em on that tour.

Chicago - Look Away ...of course, I totally know this song.

I'm happy for you.

I'm really happy for you.

Thanks, N! That's good to hear.

Cyndi Lauper - Change Of Heart (never heard this, but it's a jam)

It is a jam... and yet somehow it just makes me want to hear "Straight Up," by Paul Abdul (so I'm switching to that).

Debbie Gibson - Foolish Beat

Oh shit... I haven't thought of this song in ages. Now THIS is a jam!

It feels very obviously inspired by "Careless Whisper" (the Wham! ballad).

Arcadia - Election Day

This one sort of sounds like a ripoff of "When Doves Cry." Great chorus, though (I do dimly remember it).

I'm not much of a "Big '80s" fan - partly b/c I've heard all the usual hits a zillion times - but I listen to a song like this, and I "get it."

Boys Club - I Remember Holding You (boy, Careless Whisper sure made an impact, didn't it?)

Haha, just noticed this comment by Josh - re: a different song ("I Remember Holding You") than the Debbie Gibson one I was referring to. This one is, indeed, even more of a slavish copy.

Dino - I Like It

These lyrics are hilarious, this is almost a parody

^Listening to this particular 1989 hit, you realize the '80s ended just in time.

yeah i could see how that could be a downer sandwiched between the prince hit "1999" (about nuclear apocalypse) and the u2 "sunday bloody sunday" (about a massacre).

:D

Also, I thought that was the only Samantha Fox song anyone knew.

top of my head Sam Fox jams: Touch Me (I Want Your Body), Do Ya Do Ya (Wanna Please Me), Naughty Girls (Need Love Too) and (Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But The Pants Stay On

checking her discography, she does also have several singles without parentheticals, but another four with 'em

She also covered "I Only Wanna Be with You."

I think I remember that one. Apparently, "Touch Me" was #1 in Canada, although "Naughty Girls" was her highest charting hit in the US.

Not the Hootie & the Blowfish song.

It was the follow up single to "I Wanna Have Some Fun". Total generic SAW.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Oh, we're supposed to vote on these(?) That's rough, lol

are we voting best or most forgotten

(I went with "Neutron Dance" - one more track that of course I know well, and which is pretty hard to beat overall.)

when I was in middle school science we were learning about like space and stuff and I was having trouble memorizing everything and one of the things was that neutron stars were dense

so my mom actually tried to help me with a mneumonic device by telling me to think of the Pointer Sisters song .."neutron dense"

I love my mother

Around the same time as "Neutron Dance" the Pointer Sisters had a hit with "Automatic," which I thought was them singing "Automan," about the contemporaneous (83? 84?) TV show.

"Automatic" was several months before, to be clear.

I loved hearing the Pointer Sisters on the radio as a kid. i think "Jump for my Love", "Neutron Dance", "I'm So Excited" were shit my toddler ass liked to boogie to

I'm sure I've heard many of these songs but based on titles alone 'We'll Be Together' is the only one I recognize.

I'm sorry

when I was in middle school science we were learning about like space and stuff and I was having trouble memorizing everything and one of the things was that neutron stars were dense

so my mom actually tried to help me with a mneumonic device by telling me to think of the Pointer Sisters song .."neutron dense"

i love this story thank you for sharing

Neutron Dance narrowly pipping Jan Hammer for me. I must say, though, while there are some obscurities here, from this poster’s UK perspective several of these are anything but forgotten.

the organ trills on “we’ll be together” are hideous

well, "organ." It sounds like a Casio preset.

I like We'll Be Together.

iirc the video had not just Sting video acting, but a Rhythm Nation like dance breakdown.

Ha, it's actually worse than I remembered it being.

I know and love a lot of these songs. Voted Change of Heart. Baby Love is gr8; C'est La Vie is gr8 as well.

Spies Like Us, Who's Johnny*, and of course Batdance were from movies, which explains a bit about why they appeared and then mostly vanished: they made little sense once the

Who's That Girl, Neutron Dance, Shake Your Love, and Causing a Commotion were all very big and am surprised that they've faded from pop fans' memories.

* = Short Circuit, in case you don't know

I just listened to a re-recorded version of "We'll Be Together" from some best-of and it was super terrible, so I went back to the ...Nothing Like The Sun version and it's very similar but the slight differences are enough for me to be like "yes, this is a jam".

Basically, the backing vocal arrangement makes this entire song for me.

Spies Like Us, Who's Johnny*, and of course Batdance were from movies, which explains a bit about why they appeared and then mostly vanished: they made little sense once the

Who's That Girl, Neutron Dance, Shake Your Love, and Causing a Commotion were all very big and am surprised that they've faded from pop fans' memories.

You do remember that "Who's That Girl", "Neutron Dance", and "Causing a Commotion" were ALSO soundtrack songs, right?

I feel like this belongs in this thread (I bought the 12" when it came out lol):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_A8Xe9M0NY

xp LOL (I think "Neutron Dance" had even been released a few years earlier, but only became huge after appearing on the "BHC" soundtrack?)

T/S: Steve Winwood, "Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?" vs. Genesis "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" vs. Eric Clapton's 1987 version of "After Midnight."

Only the third was created specifically for a beer commercial but in my memory these three songs share a beer-commercial vibe.

I saw that Michelob commercial as a kid and immediately thought drinking beer would be that amazing.

It's not

I think you mean "drinking Michelob would be that amazing."

True. When i drink St Bernardus ABT 12 i leave the planet

Only the third was created specifically for a beer commercial but in my memory these three songs share a beer-commercial vibe.

The other two songs were also used in Michelob ads, though.

Hah, I knew it.

And DJP, thanks for the expansion on the movie songs - I should have recalled the filmic origins of at least "Who's That Girl" but it evaded my mind.

Though there is still, I think, a useful distinction between "created for a movie" vs. "used in a movie."

"Who's Johnny" will always be remembered by its middle-school parody version: "'Who farted?' she said / Then turned, and walked away..."

Though there is still, I think, a useful distinction between "created for a movie" vs. "used in a movie."

Sure, but the only songs in your list that weren't created specifically for a movie were "Neutron Dance" and "Shake Your Love", and "Neutron Dance" didn't become a hit until it was included on a movie soundtrack, so I'm not sure it's as big a distinction as one might think it should be.

I greatly prefer the ‘87 beer commercial version of “After Midnight” to the original.

Which I only ever knew about because of its inclusion on the Crossroads box set. I didn’t watch no damn TV in 1987!

Yeah the remake of After Midnight is a pretty solid rock track

Sure, but the only songs in your list that weren't created specifically for a movie were "Neutron Dance"

Some interesting trivia that I absolutely have known for a long time, and did not only learn about via Wikipedia earlier:

According to Allee Willis, "Neutron Dance" was written in hopes of being placed on the soundtrack of the film Streets of Fire: "We were told that there was a scene on a bus that was leaving town after there had been this nuclear holocaust, and that a '50s doo-wop black group was going to be at the back of the bus that the lead couple was escaping on ...

ahahahahahahahaha classic

I also prefer the bullshit beer commercial version of After Midnight, though it's extremely tacky that Eric Clapton of all people, with his infamous struggles with substance abuse, should do a beer commercial at all. The Genesis beer commercial, on the other hand, Tonight Tonight Tonight is a song literally about addiction, which makes its usage in a beer ad almost as wrong-headed as Reagan and Born in the USA.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Those results are just burnin'!

Lol, I'm glad I could help take the Bangles to #2.

heh, those results scan like someone just shuffled the song order

listened to the top 5 and didn't recognize anything. the el debarge song sounds like "stand" by REM

It's remarkable to me that someone wouldn't know "Neutron Dance," but then, I'm not going to assume that "Beverly Hills Cop" has filtered down through the generations and/or across borders.

xp oh this is that song from Short Circuit! I was not an especially idiotic child, just normal idiotic, but I always thought Johnny 5 was singing "who is Downey"

xp Do you think I could credibly pull off the "banana in the tailpipe" routine on a Zoomer?

xp The music video features El DeBarge singing in a courtroom, where a judge is presiding over the trial of Johnny 5 (the robotic protagonist of Short Circuit). A representative of NOVA, the government defense contractor that created Johnny, sits at the prosecutor's table as El DeBarge sings his testimony from the witness stand. Stephanie Speck (Ally Sheedy) and a cardboard cutout of Newton Graham Crosby, Ph.D. (Steve Guttenberg) are also in attendance as adversarial witnesses for the prosecution, implying that El Debarge is playing the co-lead role of Ben Jabituya, played by Fisher Stevens in the film. The prosecutor's sole question during these examinations is the titular line of the song "Who's Johnny?" She plays a VHS tape, labeled "Short Circuit," containing various clips from the movie. Meanwhile, Number 5 wreaks havoc in the courtroom (only his robotic hand is visible to the viewer) with various hijinks, including giving the prosecuting attorney a pair of funny nose glasses, turning up the ceiling fan to create a windstorm of papers, swapping the judge's gavel for an exploding one and calling the fire department, resulting in the judge being sprayed with water. Stephanie and El DeBarge sneak out of the courtroom at the end, covering the camera with a slate on their way out. The prosecutor, still wearing the trick glasses, pops up to deliver the last "Who's Johnny?"

The top two finishers are worthy. "Batdance"--eh, I don't really get it. It mostly reminds me of those obnoxious remixes that played over the end credits of a lot of films from that era, where dialogue from the film is mixed into the film's novelty-ish theme song (we could do a whole thread of these). The rest of the Batman album is solid, though, and occasionally even better than that; "Electric Chair" would likely make my list of top ten Prince tracks.

I don't even like "Neutron Dance" much.

more votes than i would have expected for "c'est la vie"!

heh, those results scan like someone just shuffled the song order

such is the genius of this poll