Jimmy Cliff – “The Harder They Come”, 103. Driven by a funk guitar sound, the track was so catchy it’s seven-minute album version consumed radio, pushing “For the Love of Money” into the top-five on the R&B charts. I've seen a couple of New Wave compilations recently that feature eighties artists heavily (Rhino has a New Wave eighties, The New Wave Connection has a couple of CD's) and I thought this might be a neat list to start since it is the Christmas season. Recorded during the disco era, “September” has become more than just a disco song, ranking as one of the most beloved R&B/funk tunes ever crafted. One could argue it wasn’t really until “Foxtrot” that Genesis had perfected its highly experimental, progressive-rock sound. It’s highly regarded epic is “Stairway To Heaven.” But let’s be real -- nothing hits harder than the punishing closing track. Another big change came with New Wave which combined the ashes of punk and disco to create something new entirely. Bowie is of in the latter category, but if you have to pick a song whose effect on lives surpasses the merely stylistic level, then Bowie achieves it. Queen – “We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions”. This group is useful for showing the difference between Talking Heads and lesser bands - you can see the way a band like the Police fuses styles, while the real thing fuses entire disciplines and has an effect on the advance of consciousness. So here’s the best of the best from The Rolling Stones, Queen, The Beatles (solo and together), Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell and many more. Check out this list with the boldest songs of the 80s: Now they don't matter to me, but they can't be left out by a true pogo man. “Baltimore” was an extremely personal song for Simone, who had grown tired of living in America. But when it came to the genre’s emergence in England, it was all about the Sex Pistols. Fortunately, I've been through infatuations where all the silly songs seemed addressed to me, so I don't snub swell songs like this one because I’m embarrassed as an intellectual to be feeling broad emotions. From ABBA's "Dancing Queen" to Don McLean's "American Pie," do you know the opening lyrics to these '70s songs? Mayfield’s vocal and guitar work would prove highly influential (even impacting Jimmy Hendrix). 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Attitude-wise, Meat Loaf and Rocky Horror transformed more innocence into weirdness than pre-TV nonteens can imagine in their wildest bodysnatcher dreams. Yet it soars with emotion, making it sound bigger than it actually is. I wouldn't have put the Talking Heads in the top 5 myself. Bobby Womack – “Across 110th Street”. But it felt like there was something more to the band, which came to fruition with 1979′s “Heart of Glass.” The song proved to be one of the biggest singles of the 1970s and made Blondie international superstars. Michael Jackson – “Don’t Stop 'Til You Get Enough”. Bon Scott’s voice is intoxicating on this slow blues showcase, which ranks as a fan favorite and AC/DC’s most quietly astonishing tune. Well, I took off on another tangent and didn't flesh out the idea that the Pistols were the red & white beneath the Stones', black and blue, the blood and bones beneath the bruises. Creating an attitude seems to be a matter of having the right radar to tell everybody when something previously uncool (like heroin snorting among 17-year-old rich Britons) is now cool. It just hasn't aged well IMHO.I agree that West End Girls belongs on this list somewhere, although I'm not sure what I'd take off to make room for it. Rock acts, especially rock acts in cult movies, have an archetypal impact across the board of wherever media reach that is monstrous to consider. People have hate complexes about this band, they think it was evil but the evil sounds were just the tonic of the time. The end result is a haunting, yet blissful pop tour-de-force that stays with you. Nice list, although mine - of course - would look a bit different. My Top 200 Favorite New Wave Songs. Thank you Cheap Trick. She was poor and living in Paris at the time of its release. It’s when the protagonist feels like another day and another performance is impossible, only to break through right at the point David Gilmour’s epic guitar solo. He is a human handball. France was not an exception to this trend: the musical stage of the 80s was dominated by pop music (called Variété in French). It’s one hell of a way to begin such a tour de force. Gordy had perfected a system of cranking out R&B hits that didn’t ruffle any political or social feathers. New Wave music first appeared in the late 1970's and subsequently kept us entertained well into the late 1980's. The team of John, lyricist Bernie Taupin and producer Gus Dudgeon is one of all time great songwriting trios of all time. Well, we're a couple of weeks into the new year and while we've been ... Eminem 'The Marshall Mathers' LP. “Heroes” is built around Robert Fripp’s amazing guitar feedback sound, allowing Bowie to deliver lyrics that paint a picture of romance and bliss that can’t help but move you. But Hendrix’s guitar is the show-stopper. The machine is used as punctuation with an expertise usually found on Eno produced albums. This album caught me on the way down from a Clash peak, and held my turntable against all challengers for about two weeks, after which I put it away until recently. This is a highly critical fact, which rock once threatened to obscure. Moroder knew what he had in Donna Summer, a woman whose voice could make anything sound beautiful. Saved by Zero is a great song. Right or wrong, let the heated debate begin. The fact that James Brown has multiple songs on this list is testament to his longevity, or, more so, his prolific nature. There are numerous other songs that showcase the entire band. Van Halen – “Runnin’ With the Devil”. “You read me my rights/then said/ "Let's go' and nothing more.” A love song by a prostitute to a vice cop - what a concept. But the 1970s stands as the decade where everything came together to create a diverse musical landscape that would shape various genres moving forward. It's so spare, almost 50s in its musical trappings, but decidedly 80s in its mentality. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – “Refugee”, 186. You listed Talk Talk's "It's My Life" twice - at #58 and #140. David Bowie's "Let Dance", a top 10 contender in my opinion, is missing, but other songs from the album make the list, and I can't complain about lists that try to avoid oversaturation with individual albums. Blood, incidentally, is animated by the dialectic of metabolism, by which destructive forces break down previous life forms and constructive forces convert them to energy. The 'List: Best of New Wave. Then I was alone in the house and played this song, and the words "Mommy's all right/Daddy's all right/They just seem a little weird /Surrender/Surrender/But don't give yourself away-ay/ay/AYYYY" seemed so constitutive and contextual. The man released more than 70 studio and live albums. The second album, not produced by Eno, detracts from the seriousness of the first by the banality of the subject matter in its context. Under the leadership of Curtis Mayfield, The Impressions became one of the most important acts of the 1960s. I wish I were younger than that now, believe me, but I can't be, any more than all I need is love. 156. Nice list, recognize most, but will have to check out some others. There are certainly Grateful Dead songs that have more of a wow-factor. Elvis Costello & the Attractions – “Pump It Up”, 132. God bless!wennywww.imarksweb.org, Though not explicitly defined as an 80s list, and though the #1 song is actually from the late 70s, I was impressed with. Most of these records were pretty well worn when rock music started breaking through that pantheon of platinum oldies into my lineup of records kept in a stack next to the turntable. 97. Neat list! The fact it’s stood the test of time as a pop masterpiece whose reputation only grows with time is quite amazing. The end result is a level of vulnerability rarely achieved by the band. A hip-hop duo based in Sacramento, CA, Jive Hive is made up of Collin Jacka, aka Jaxa, and Chase Taormina, aka Chase Tea. Editor’s Note: PJ Lifestyle’s Commenter-In-Chief and classic rock guru Allston has been developing an extraordinary series chronicling the best songs by era. They achieved it all and then some. But he did release one of the greatest jazz albums of all time during the decade with “Jack Johnson.” The record consists of just two tracks with the first half being his iconic version of “Right Off,” which finds Davis in full rock mode. Quite possibly. Tom Waits – “Hope I Don’t Fall In Love With You”.