Acclaimed Music Top 40 Songs from 1982 poll

1. "Save It for Later," 2. "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" 3. "Senses Working Overtime." God, I hate "Rock the Casbah."

41 Wah! - The Story of the Blues, 42 Rhoda Dakar - The Boiler, 43 The Cure - Let's Go to Bed, 44 Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast, 45 Yazoo - Situation, 46 The Gap Band - You Dropped a Bomb on Me, 47 Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', 48 The Jam - Beat Surrender, 49 Toni Basil - Mickey, 50 Madness - House of Fun, 51 John Cougar - Jack & Diane, 52 Elvis Costello and The Attractions - Beyond Belief, 53 Culture Club - Time (Clock of the Heart), 54 Yazoo - Only You, 55 Fearless Four - Rockin' It and 56 Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me with Science.

Back on The Chain Gang, Our House, The Look of Love and Poison Arrow are some of my favourite singles ever but Party Fears Two is my favourite song of all time, so that.

what a year for songs, i want to vote for either "Mad World,"Little Red Corvette," "More Than This," or "Love My Way." will probably vote for "I Melt with You" but will wait until i hear all these song yet again.

I've managed to narrow it down to 'Town Called Malice', 'Mad World' and 'Senses Working Overtime', but really struggling to choose between those three!

Ye Olde Spotifye List: http://open.spotify.com/user/pdennison1/playlist/4i5CA6CHaOSbkVIAzEO8OV

I love pretty much every single one of these songs, but this is so "1999" it isn't even funny.

would have voted for "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" if it was an option, but my top 10:

5 208 Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock
2 24 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
4 179 Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing
7 320 Prince and The Revolution - 1999
17 819 George Clinton - Atomic Dog
3 122 Prince and The Revolution - Little Red Corvette
6 308 Michael Jackson - Beat It
25 1471 Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse
27 1513 Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Looking for the Perfect Beat
28 1531 Michael Jackson - Thriller

1 20 Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five - The Message
2 24 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
3 122 Prince and The Revolution - Little Red Corvette
5 208 Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock
7 320 Prince and The Revolution - 1999
8 499 The Clash - Rock the Casbah
10 574 The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go
14 647 Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
15 721 Pretenders - Back on the Chain Gang
16 731 Culture Club - Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
18 860 Madness - Our House
20 1013 Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City
22 1111 Roxy Music - More Than This
28 1531 Michael Jackson - Thriller
30 1553 The Clash - Straight to Hell
33 1558 Willie Nelson - Always on My Mind
37 1901 Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills
40 2145 The The - Uncertain Smile
plus 'wanna be startin' something', 'mickey', 'only you'

this is my list of finalists and i still had to cut like 15 songs i absolutely love

Went with 'Senses Working Overtime'. It's perfect, just absolutely perfect.

ha, it just occurred to me that "Sexual Healing" and "Night Nurse" are the same song

these polls always make me feel so boring because i always have to go for the obvious choice, but how could anything top billy jean?

by being little red corvette

man the year of my birth was pretty dope huh

might be tempted to vote for "Mad World" or "Straight To Hell" if i wasn't afraid of implicitly endorsing their awful incarnations in 21st century hits.

Holy crap, just about every one of these is great. Voting "The Message" for no real reason over many others.

billie jean
little red corvette
atlantic city
the classical
atomic dog/the message

one of my favourite years for pop - i mean, look at that list.

Planet Rock or The Message.

Not finding this list quite as amazing as '81 or '80 - lots of good stuff but not much I truly love the way I love maybe half the tracks on the '81 list. Looking forward to seeing what's on the '83 list, as lots of great Italo came out that year but I don't expect any to show up.

Only song I actively hate is 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go'. Don't think I've ever heard the Modern English, Psych Furs or The The songs. Would have voted for 'I Confess' if it was there, always preferred that to 'Save It For Later'. On a whim, I am voting for Gregory Isaacs.

one of my favourite years for pop - i mean, look at that list.

Same here - out of the whole 40, there's nothing I really dislike (I'm a bit fed up of two of the three Clash tracks but that's about it). Going with 'The Look of Love' followed by 'Billie Jean' and 'Promised You a Miracle'. 'Time (Clock of the Heart)' at #53 would be in with a chance too.

1999

Little Red Corvette followed by Temptation, The Message, Save It For Later, The Classical, Love My Way and everything else

Tough to pass over songs as glorious as Atlantic City and Temptation, but I guess I should've known by the way you parked your car sideways that it wouldn't last.

yeah everything here is a certifiable Good Song.

narrowed it down to "Planet Rock", "The Classical" and that dumb song that goes "and I've got ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE, senses working oooo-ver-tiiime", god damnit

between save it for later, billie jean and temptation for me

this is flat-out impossible

^^^

1 20 Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five - The Message
2 24 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
3 122 Prince and The Revolution - Little Red Corvette
4 179 Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing
5 208 Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock
6 308 Michael Jackson - Beat It
7 320 Prince and The Revolution - 1999
8 499 The Clash - Rock the Casbah
9 566 New Order - Temptation
10 574 The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go
11 576 ABC - The Look of Love
14 647 Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
15 721 Pretenders - Back on the Chain Gang
16 731 Culture Club - Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
17 819 George Clinton - Atomic Dog
18 860 Madness - Our House
19 877 Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
21 1057 Modern English - I Melt with You
24 1387 Tears for Fears - Mad World
26 1481 XTC - Senses Working Overtime
28 1531 Michael Jackson - Thriller
30 1553 The Clash - Straight to Hell
33 1558 Willie Nelson - Always on My Mind
35 1674 Malcolm McLaren - Buffalo Gals
37 1901 Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills
38 1908 The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way

I could vote for ANY of these

Run To The Hills

Save It For Later, since that's a really good song and I have a feeling it will get slighted here.

With these polls, I read the list twice and just go on instinct. Therefore, I vote for "Love My Way".

i think i like some of these songs that were not including in the Top 40. "You Dropped a Bomb on Me," "Situation" and "Only You" are among the best, i have even finally come around on "Jack & Diane."

I think there's only one song on that list I don't like, and another two or three I'm not sure I've heard. Everything else is great.

And the ones I haven't heard may be great too! Outstanding music year.

Even the 40-56 part could be the top 20.

'Planet Rock' '1999' 'Beat It' 'Chain Gang' 'Classical' 'Run to the Hills'

how the fuck to choose?

Close your eyes and listen to the first one that pops up in your head.

top 10: come on eileen > little red corvette > hungry like the wolf > our house > sexual healing > melt with you > run to the hills > the message > beat it > 1999

"Planet Rock" but I would have voted for "You Dropped A Bomb On Me" if I could.

"more than this" but also considered "come on eileen"

For some reason, I always thought of 1982 as a shit year. But holy fuck, I can't choose between these:

1 20 Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five - The Message
2 24 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
3 122 Prince and The Revolution - Little Red Corvette
4 179 Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing
5 208 Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock
6 308 Michael Jackson - Beat It
7 320 Prince and The Revolution - 1999
8 499 The Clash - Rock the Casbah
17 819 George Clinton - Atomic Dog
20 1013 Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City
27 1513 Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Looking for the Perfect Beat
29 1546 The Beat - Save It for Later
39 2070 Richard and Linda Thompson - Wall of Death

lots of songs i love on there but was relatively (only relatively, as many songs i really really love were there) easy to whittle down to my final two of NO's Temptation and little red corvette, then got stuck

and i am always reminded of how i never got/get the love for the michael thriller tracks on there, i lived thru it, i had the album as an 11/12 year old, listened for thriller every night on the nightly local radio countdown etc, but all 3 tracks above have no hold on me now and were so easy to cut

i listened to Phil's Spotify Top 30 playlist tonight. now think that "Temptation" was the best song but still going with my original feeling and voting "Mad World."

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

16 731 Culture Club - Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? 0
21 1057 Modern English - I Melt with You 0
32 1557 ABC - Poison Arrow 0

So sad.

If I never hear "Come On Eileen" again, it'll be too soon. Righly or wrongly, it put me off the band ever since.

You've never heard Don't Stand Me Down!?

missed this, but def would have voted for Temptation

You've never heard Don't Stand Me Down!?

Never. I think I've got a track from Rowland when he was in some punk band.

Hurray for Party Fears Two!

Oh Gerald you're missing out on some seriously great music with Dexys. Searching For The Young Soul Rebels and Don't Stand Me Down are absolute masterpieces and have nothing to do with Come On Eileen.

Ok guys, I trust your taste. I'll give those albums a spin.

I managed to not hear "Come on Eileen" for about 10 years, and now I like it again.

What does "Don't stand me down" mean? Same thing as "stand me up"?

Well, I can only explain in terms of a fire engine.

If a fire engine is called out to a fire, and halfway there it gets a message saying the fire is out and it's no longer needed, it gets stood down.

So, the Fire engine parks in a layby, and awaits the next message. To either go to a new fire, or return to base.

Does that help?

Ok, I totally dig "Dance Stance" (and just remembered it's on one of Cherry Red's "Seeds" comps) but otherwise, ehhhh, not sure the rest of "Searching" floats my boat.

because it's the fourth of July here in the states, local radio station KRTH is playing all 80s. i just heard "Situation" and was wondering where that placed in this poll. come to find out it placed 56th and not part of this poll afterall. probably the correct winner but still surprised "I Melt with You" got no votes.

hope everyone had a great fourth