1981 Was a Shitty Year for Pop Music

But I didn't realize just how shitty it was until I saw this meme at ASV. Following michele's instructions, I hopped on over to Music Outfitters, entered the year of my high school graduation into the search function and then chose the "list of the 100 most popular songs." Here is the fruit of my labor:

1. Bette Davis Eyes, Kim Carnes
2. Endless Love, Diana Ross and Lionel Richie
3. Lady, Kenny Rogers
4. (Just Like) Starting Over, John Lennon
5. Jessie's Girl, Rick Springfield
6. Celebration, Kool and The Gang
7. Kiss On My List, Daryl Hall and John Oates
8. I Love A Rainy Night, Eddie Rabbitt
9. 9 To 5, Dolly Parton
10. Keep On Loving You, REO Speedwagon
11. Theme From "Greatest American Hero", Joey Scarbury
12. Morning Train (Nine To Five), Sheena Easton
13. Being With You, Smokey Robinson
14. Queen Of Hearts, Juice Newton
15. Rapture, Blondie
16. A Woman Needs Love, Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio
17. The Tide Is High, Blondie
18. Just The Two Of Us, Grover Washington Jr.
19. Slow Hand, Pointer Sisters
20. I Love You, Climax Blues Band
21. Woman, John Lennon
22. Sukiyaki, A Taste Of Honey
23. The Winner Takes It All, Abba
24. Medley, Stars On 45
25. Angel Of The Morning, Juice Newton
26. Love On The Rocks, Neil Diamond
27. Every Woman In The World, Air Supply
28. The One That You Love, Air Supply
29. Guilty, Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb
30. The Best Of Times, Styx
31. Elvira, Oak Ridge Boys
32. Take It On The Run, REO Speedwagon
33. No Gettin' Over Me, Ronnie Milsap
34. Living Outside Myself, Gino Vannelli
35. Woman In Love, Barbra Streisand
36. Boy From New York City, Manhattan Transfer
37. Urgent, Foreigner
38. Passion, Rod Stewart
39. Lady (You Bring Me Up), Commodores
40. Crying, Don Mclean
41. Hearts, Marty Balin
42. It's My Turn, Diana Ross
43. You Make My Dreams, Daryl Hall and John Oates
44. I Don't Need You, Kenny Rogers
45. How 'Bout Us, Champaign
46. Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Pat Benatar
47. The Breakup Song, Greg Kihn Band
48. Time, Alan Parsons Project
49. Hungry Heart, Bruce Springsteen
50. Sweetheart, Franke and The Knockouts
51. Someone's Knockin', Terri Gibbs
52. More Than I Can Say, Leo Sayer
53. Together, Tierra
54. Too Much Time On My Hands, Styx
55. What Are We Doin' In Love, Dottie West
56. Who's Crying Now, Journey
57. De Do Do Do, De Da Da, Police
58. This Little Girl, Gary U.S. Bonds
59. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around, Stevie Nicks With Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
60. Giving It Up For Your Love, Delbert McClinton
61. A Little In Love, Cliff Richard
62. America, Neil Diamond
63. Ain't Even Done With The Night, John Cougar
64. Arthur's Theme, Christopher Cross
65. Another One Bites The Dust, Queen
66. Games People Play, Alan Parsons Project
67. I Can't Stand It, Eric Clapton
68. While You See A Chance, Steve Winwood
69. Master Blaster, Stevie Wonder
70. Hello Again, Neil Diamond
71. Don't Stand So Close To Me, Police
72. Hey Nineteen, Steely Dan
73. I Ain't Gonna Stand For It, Stevie Wonder
74. All Those Years Ago, George Harrison
75. Step By Step, Eddie Rabbitt
76. The Stroke, Billy Squier
77. Feels So Right, Alabama
78. Sweet Baby, Stanley Clarke and George Duke
79. Same Old Lang Syne, Dan Fogelberg
80. Cool Love, Pablo Cruise
81. Hold On Tight, ELO
82. It's Now Or Never, John Schneider
83. Treat Me Right, Pat Benatar
84. Winning, Santana
85. What Kind Of Fool, Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb
86. Watching The Wheels, John Lennon
87. Tell It Like It Is, Heart
88. Smoky Mountain Rain, Ronnie Milsap
89. I Made It Through The Rain, Barry Manilow
90. You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', Daryl Hall and John Oates
91. Suddenly, Olivia Newton-John and Cliff Richard
92. For Your Eyes Only, Sheena Easton
93. The Beach Boys Medley, Beach Boys
94. Whip It, Devo
95. Modern Girl, Sheena Easton
96. Really Wanna Know You, Gary Wright
97. Seven Year Ache, Rosanne Cash
98. I'm Coming Out, Diana Ross
99. Miss Sun, Boz Scaggs
100. Time Is Time, Andy Gibb

Thank God video killed the radio star.

Titles in bold are songs I like and the one underlined is my favorite of the group. The ones with the strike-throughs are songs I loathe.

Comments

[norbizness]

You haven't lived till you've seen the list from 1989. I was going to post on it, but it's hella-depressing. You have to wait until #37 (Neneh Cherry's Buffalo Stance) before you get to a song that doesn't make you want to kill yourself and everyone within a half-mile radius. And if Neneh isn't your cup of tea, I think it's #50something and "Lovesong" by The Cure.

[norbizness]

Also, I've run this generator by a number of people in the office. If you type in the list from when you were 13, you will find that you will like many more songs than the list from your high school senior year, even though they're objectively just as awful.

[Marie Antoinette (C.b.)]

1981 was shitty? At least Kid Rock wasn't around back then.

[Jennifer]

Done.At least we had Prince.

[Lauren]

I'm not even going to tell you how old I was in 1981.

[Chris Clarke]

Shut up. Lauren.

[Roxanne]

Well that didn't make my day, Lauren.

[lymie]

There maybe something to the "when you were 13" idea, Hey Jude, vs Tie a Yellow Ribbon....gack!

[Tata]

We're the same age. I'm 35 miles south of Manhattan and the best thing that happened to me musically around this time was turning off the radio and passing around punk rock records with my friends.

Nobody ever needed a Rogers/Parton duet. Nobody. I can only listen to two songs on this list without trying to give myself a concussion.

[Roxanne]

Yep. Punk saved my life.

[doghouse riley]

I wasn't sure it would go back far enough for me, but there it was.

[Night Owl]

Aw 1981 wasn't so bad. Looking over the discographies, you do get a sense that it is sort of a transition year with a lot of bands/artists either just starting or moving into a new phase. Lots of creativity during that time though and a lot of great work which (of course) doesn't always show up on the commercial charts.

Take a look at some of the singles not on your list:

Burning for You - Blue Oyster Cult
Centerfold - J. Geils Band
Crazy Train - Ozzy Osborne
Early in the Morning - Gap Band
Girls on Film - Duran Duran
Ghost Town - The Specials
Gloria - U2
Our Lips Are Sealed - GoGo's
Shake It Up - The Cars
Super Freak - Rick James
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
Talk of the Town - The Pretenders
Tempted - Squeeze
Tom Sawyer - Rush
The Voice - Moody Blues
Under Pressure - Queen/David Bowie
You Better You Bet - The Who

And check out the albums - most of which you can go fairly deep into.

Beauty & the Beat - GoGo's
Discipline - King Crimson
Duran Duran - Duran Duran
East Side Story - Squeeze
Face Dances - The Who
Freeze Frame - J. Geils Band
Fire of Unknown Origin - Blue Oyster Cult
Ghost in the Machine - the Police
Hard Promises - Tom Petty
Long Distance Voyager - Moody Blues
Moving Pictures - Rush
Pretenders II - The Pretenders
Sandinista - The Clash
Shake It Up - The Cars
Tattoo You - Rolling Stones
The Time - The Time (songs by Prince)

Some Notable 1981 News

Billy Idol leaves Generation X
Sonic Youth and Culture Club form

... and of course who can forget the album that would later define our new millenium:

My Life In The Bush of Ghosts - Brian Eno/David Byrne

[J.]

*Sputter* you crossed off Kool and the Gang? That song rocked in Pittsburgh. And you don't like Styx? That's not right. Hall and Oats and Neil Diamond off the list? I think you've lost it baby. You're just not living in America anymore. And how can you not love Pat Benetar, when she was young and hot.

Thanks for the nostaglia trip
J, class of 1980

[JDC]

I agree that "Celebration" is a bad song—and as an aside, the Kool and the Gang of the early 1980s can't hold a candle to the Kool and the Gang of the early 1970s—but I have to admit I have a sentimental attachment to that song. It comes from going A's games at the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum.

[PSoTD]

That was horrible, but it wasn't SO horrible that Leo Sayer should have remained on your "like" list...

[Auguste]

You think that's bad? My list has both "Whoomp! (There it is)" and "Whoot, There it is!"

Not to mention "Boom! Shake the Room", and "Three Little Pigs" by Green Jelly.

Green Jelly. The Darkness before The Darkness.

[carla]

Double shut up to Lauren. LOL

I'm a 1982er, myself.

You forgot to cross off Milsap at 88. At least I hope you did. (shudder)

I really hope you forgot to cross Air Supply off as well. That's like Alvin and the Chipmunks on steroids.

I will confess to this much...Dr. Noah Drake (aka Rick Springfield) has been one of my secret crushes. I saw his show in Vegas a few years ago and it was excellent.

[Linkmeister]

I don't know how old Chris Clarke is, but I suspect he's closer to the 1968 list than to the 1981 list cited.

[Chris Clarke]

Almost precisely in the middle at 1974.

[Roxanne]

that's before funk morphed into disco ... for you kiddies out there. Now ask Uncle Chris about Prog Rock!

[Chris Clarke]

I remember I went to the Jethro Tull concert at Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo. I wore an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. Back then if you were lucky your ten dollar bag of pot would have a bud in it. You'd have to clean the seeds out of the stuff on an album cover. See, CDs, they used to be a foot across, and black, and they only had twenty minutes worth of music on them. Get off my lawn!

[Auguste]

I thought Jethro Tull was heavy metal.

The Grammys told me so.

[TravisG]

This guy says 1981 was the best year ever in music, and he put together a 10-disc defense of his argument. However, there is very little -- if any -- overlap in his list and the one you got.

[pansauce]

16 out of 100 for 1986.

[HelenWheels]

I graduated the same year. I loved reading the list!

I know many of the songs are frightening and they make me wanna barf NOW, but man I sure liked 'em back then. I even liked Sheena Easton!!!! I absolutely loved Styx! I even liked Hall & Oates! But I was in a smallish town in Illinois, so maybe we weren't as sophisticated or discriminating as someone on a coast or in a big city would be.

I'm glad to see you liked REO Speedwagon. My sisters who are more bent toward The Punk have never let me forget about how nutty I was for them. I thought Neil Schon was soooo hot with his big hair and tight pants. HA!