Acclaimed Music Top 40 Songs from 1984 poll

Can only be "Marcia Baila"

41 U.T.F.O. - Roxanne, Roxanne, 42 Sade - Your Love Is King, 43 Newcleus - Jam On It, 44 Sheila E. - The Glamorous Life, 45 Hüsker Dü - Eight Miles High, 46 Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?, 47 Los Lobos - Will the Wolf Survive?, 48 Sade - Smooth Operator, 49 Rubén Blades - Desapariciones, 50 Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days, 51 Cocteau Twins - Lorelei, 52 Prefab Sprout - When Love Breaks Down, and 53 Killing Joke - Eighties.

lotta songs here where if a different single/popular favorite from the same album was listed i'd be voting for that easy (Tears For Fears, Van Halen, Meat Puppets, Replacements)...gonna go with "I'm On Fire"

i hope we get a Spotify of this one (hint hint Phil). right now it's "The Killing Moon" though back in the day it would have been "Bad." still going to wait and try to listen to all songs before voting.

dancing in the dark

I Will Dare.

Les Rita Mitsouko, easy.

this year's selection is maybe weaker than I would have expected?

28 1781 Prince and The Revolution - Let's Go Crazy
1 38 Prince and The Revolution - When Doves Cry
15 844 Chaka Khan - I Feel for You
7 297 Prince and The Revolution - Purple Rain
22 1275 A-ha - Take On Me
3 182 Madonna - Like a Virgin
13 772 Bruce Springsteen - Dancing in the Dark
20 1195 Run-D.M.C. - Rock Box
5 255 Van Halen - Jump
12 769 Tina Turner - What's Love Got to Do with It

like I feel like the dozen best are totally solid and then I don't care about much after that

When Doves Cry or Foreigner.

How Soon Is Now? would have been it at the time, but I'm going to go with one of the Prince songs at this point.

This list isn't as good as the 1983 one. I voted Hallelujah because I think Leonard Cohen's recording of that song is underappreciated. I'm not even sure whether or not I prefer the Jeff Buckley cover any more.

my POV - dunno yet which one I'll go w/

Prince and The Revolution - When Doves Cry
The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
Echo and the Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
Run-D.M.C. - Rock Box
A-ha - Take On Me

Lake of Fire over Plateau gives one pause

amazed Prince isn't in your parenthetical list, some dude, since Purple Rain houses your favorite song ever

oh yeah, i meant it to be, ha

Bachelor Kisses just ahead of Two Tribes.

Nelson Mandela is such a great song, not just as a vehicle for the political message, but the music itself is a delight, and revisiting it now, there are so many little instrumental touches that I totally missed all those years ago listening to it on the radio - there's a great little flute thing happening in there somewhere, the bassline in the is a whole lot groovier than I remember it being, that guitar snaking its way in and out of things.

Really torn between 'Unsatisfied' and 'Bachelor Kisses', two of my favourite songs ever.

I like 'William It Was Really Nothing' more than any of the Smiths picks here, 'What Difference Does It Make' is one of their weakest singles.

Really tough poll.

I made a playlist, I'm afraid the Go-Betweens track wasn't available but everything else is here -

http://open.spotify.com/user/onimo/playlist/4707mqV7q0JRoZARqAnwZt

spotify:user:onimo:playlist:4707mqV7q0JRoZARqAnwZt

Another song where I love almost everything, but I have such an immediate, in-my-bones reaction to both "Dancing In The Dark" and "When Doves Cry" that it's gotta be one of those two. Since I was not exposed to a lot of non-top-40 music at the time, those two, more than any others, say "It is 1984 and I am a high school freshman" to me. A dark horse candidate is "Jump," but probably not.

(We should poll the b-sides of these, because there are some real gems out there. Just those two give you "17 Days" and "Pink Cadillac.")

Smalltown Boy for me.

Hate being so predictable: "I Will Dare." (Would choose that over "Eight Miles High," too.) Runners-up (no order): "I Feel for You," "Smalltown Boy," "Unsatisfied," "Don't Go Back to Rockville."

no Hall & Oates :(

"Born In The USA". Some great songs but the easiest choice for me so far

went with John Waite's "Missing You."

No "Self Control"??

I kind of want to vote "Two Tribes," but "When Doves Cry" is so fucking revolutionary.

Surprised to see "Hallelujah" since CBS wouldn't even release Various Positions in the U.S.

I do not trust anyone who isn't voting "When Doves Cry"

Two Tribes, for making me aware that nuclear war was a thing, which is heavy information to get from a number one single. It's the berserk zenith of madly ambitious post-punk/New Pop thinking.

I'm not crazy about 1984 - compared to 79-82 in particular (83 less so) it feels narrow, dominated by a handful of megastars. Some genres running out of steam, others yet to take off.

if you remove Minneapolis from the equation, 1984 thins out quite a bit

"I Feel For You."

Every single time.

It is the greatest single ever.

Didn't know this:

The repetition of Khan's name by rapper Melle Mel at the beginning of the song was originally a mistake made by producer Arif Mardin (actually a sample of Melle Mel's song "Step Off"), who then decided to keep it.[1]

'My Ever Changing Moods'

Marcia Baila

also "What Difference Does It Make?" > "How Soon Is Now"

thanks for the Spotify onimo, going to also have some booze to make up my mind about this poll.

i lied and ended watching The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo instead, going to try and rock this thing tonight.

so i'm starting with "When Doves Cry" and it says "This track is not available in the United States." even though i have heard it a million times i was really looking forward to Prince...on to track two.

so regarding the first 10, most i would never like to hear again. liked or even them at the time but have heard enough times. the nine minute "Purple Rain" was pretty cool and i have become a fan of "The Boys of Summer" and "Two Tribes" was really fun but still "The Killing Moon" really towers over all of these so far...

I'm a cool rockin daddy in the USA

not my vote but:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRi8MYrtKYk

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

nearly everything here so perfect, could never choose a winner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XV5_WagxZg

I love how there's always a Go-Betweens song on these Acclaimed lists.

Truly can't vote. I obsessed over and owned so many of these songs that year, memorized the rap in "I Feel For You," learned to play "Jump" on piano and "History Lesson Part II" on guitar. And the Minneapolis greats, and Madonna/Bruce/U2. The Smiths I got into later.

Minneapolis is gonna crush this, so "I'm on Fire"

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"Missing You."

"Like A Virgin" Is great. I just love the production to death (the plinky rhythm guitar, the huge reverb dropped on the snare every other measure).
At the end where she combines "can you feel my heartbeat... for the very first time"... that's some intoxicating stuff. I love how the drums give it this fake hard rock feel.

Ok, I voted for "shout".

and it's Chic backing her up -- can't be said enough.

"I Feel 4 U" vs "Smalltown Boy" vs "Marcia Baila".

I would've considered "Take On Me", but I disqualified it because it's not from 1984. It came out in summer 1985.

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

if you take out 1 then this poll was really bottom heavy.

2 The Smiths - How Soon Is Now? 1
3 Madonna - Like a Virgin 1
4 Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A. 2
5 Van Halen - Jump 0
6 U2 - Pride (In the Name of Love) 0
7 Prince and The Revolution - Purple Rain 1
8 Don Henley - The Boys of Summer 2
9 Echo and the Bunnymen - The Killing Moon 3
10 Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Two Tribes 1
11 The Special A.K.A. - Free Nelson Mandela 0
12 Tina Turner - What's Love Got to Do with It 0
13 Bruce Springsteen - Dancing in the Dark 3
14 The Smiths - What Difference Does It Make? 0

Was on the line between "My Every Changing Moods" and "Unsatisfied."