Missed Music

January 2, 2012 2:53 PM

Catchiest pop songs from 1977-1983? I was born too late to grow up with this music, and it was never played on the classic rock stations my parents would listen to. I'm discovering great songs that I've only had a vague awareness of, such as What a fool believes, September, Private Eyes and love the syncopated rhythm and catchy melodies. Would you recommend some others?
posted by parallax7d to Media & Arts (59 answers total)

It came out in 1976 but the catchiest pop song of all time is Elton John/Kiki Dee's Don't Go Breaking My Heart.
posted by birdherder at 3:01 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

A few years ago Gary Mulholland wrote a book called "This is Uncool" in which he highlighted a number of great songs from this kind of area. Here is a list of them.
posted by rongorongo at 3:04 PM on January 2, 2012

Best answer: Greg Kihn Band - Jeopardy
posted by Fairchild at 3:04 PM on January 2, 2012

I hate the layout and design, but you could mine the links here
posted by edgeways at 3:10 PM on January 2, 2012

Best answer: Marshall Crenshaw: Someday, Someway. The whole album this comes from is superb, catchy pop.
posted by davebush at 3:15 PM on January 2, 2012 [5 favorites]

The Knack's (creepy but catchy) "My Sharona." 1979 was...a year.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:20 PM on January 2, 2012 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Great call davebush, I'm really digging Mary Anne
posted by parallax7d at 3:22 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'd just like to point out that the version of "My Sharona" that MonkeyToes links to above is the edited single version, which criminally cuts out about 80% of what I consider to be the greatest guitar solo in the history of rock. Here's a link to the full version of My Sharona

The solo starts at the 2:40 mark and goes on for almost two minutes. So so great.
posted by Ike_Arumba at 3:26 PM on January 2, 2012 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Peg by Steely Dan.
posted by emelenjr at 3:31 PM on January 2, 2012

Another Brick in the Wall. Effing huge when it came out.
posted by Melismata at 3:36 PM on January 2, 2012

Everyday I Write the Book - Elvis Costello, Cruel to Be Kind - Nick Lowe
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 3:37 PM on January 2, 2012 [6 favorites]

The song that defines "catchy" for me is Katrina and the Waves' Walking on Sunshine.
posted by worldswalker at 3:41 PM on January 2, 2012

Roxanne.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 3:42 PM on January 2, 2012

Check out Squeeze.
posted by Lieber Frau at 3:49 PM on January 2, 2012 [6 favorites]

My Ever Changing Moods
posted by timsteil at 3:50 PM on January 2, 2012 [3 favorites]

That was when ABBA was at their peak of popularity; almost all of their hits fit your description.
posted by TedW at 3:51 PM on January 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

Also Billboard has archives of their top 10 charts going back to 1955; 1977 starts here and as you can imagine is full of catchy pop tunes.
posted by TedW at 3:55 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

The catchiest? The Cars, My Best Friend's Girlfriend (1978)
posted by vers at 4:04 PM on January 2, 2012

Best answer: You need to be rocking the Squeeze. Catchy, singable, danceable, melodic as all hell... A favorite of mine... A little more lesser known cut. And this one got a bit of airplay, but the chorus is difficult-ish... (OTOH, the video is a bit of fun...)
posted by Samizdata at 4:05 PM on January 2, 2012

Best answer: Pop Muzik. Video Killed The Radio Star.
posted by iviken at 4:13 PM on January 2, 2012

Another Hall & Oates hit that is majorly catchy and also has a nice syncopated beat is "You Make My Dreams Come True." It came out in 1980.
posted by Ike_Arumba at 4:15 PM on January 2, 2012

Huey Lewis and the News - "Do you believe in love ?"

Joe Jackson - "Steppin' out"

Supertramp - "The Logical Song"
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 4:25 PM on January 2, 2012

Damn, there's a whole world of Power Pop you need to explore. Start here: The Records - Starry Eyes.
posted by davebush at 4:33 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Prince - Controversy

Everything from Prince's albums Dirty Mind and 1999.

Everything from Cyndi Lauper's album She's So Unusual.

Talking Heads' first 5 albums.

XTC - Making Plans for Nigel
posted by John Cohen at 4:45 PM on January 2, 2012 [3 favorites]

It wasn't a huge hit, but Sniff N' the Tears' "Drivers Seat" is awesome!

Also, "Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads
"Take the Long Way Home" by Supertramp
The entirety of the Cars' debut album (including this gem)
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 4:53 PM on January 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Whip It
posted by Thorzdad at 4:54 PM on January 2, 2012

Best answer: Turn to Stone - Electric Light Orchestra
posted by Thorzdad at 4:58 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Doin' it all for my baby - Huey Lewis (but it's 1987)
Teenage kicks - The Undertones
Is she really going out with him? - Joe Jackson
XTC, Robert Palmer, and Steve Winwood, & Squeeze generally
You to me are everything - The Real Thing (probably '76, though)
Girls' talk - Rockpile / Dave Edmunds
posted by Prof Iterole at 5:07 PM on January 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

Anything on this list:

Top 10 Yacht Rock Songs Of All Time
posted by mkultra at 5:11 PM on January 2, 2012

Nena -99 luftballons
Bob Dylan -Jokerman
Nick Lowe -Cruel to be Kind

..and for CanConCatchy you have..
The Spoons -Nova Heart
Men Without Hats -Safetydance
Doug & the Slugs -Too Bad, Makin' it Work
Teenage Head -Let's Shake
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:12 PM on January 2, 2012

Nick Lowe - All of "Labour of Lust", plus the poppiest
posted by benito.strauss at 5:43 PM on January 2, 2012

Best answer: (Dammit, posted too quick)

... plus the poppiest Pop song ever: So It Goes.
posted by benito.strauss at 5:45 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sorry if I'm being a bit of a bore, but this is my favorite version of "So It Goes", better than the previous one.
posted by benito.strauss at 5:47 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

M - Pop Muzik
Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi
Blondie - Heart of Glass, One Way Or Another
Berlin - Sex, The Metro, Masquerade
The Clash - London Calling
Joan Jett - everything
Flock of Seagulls - I Ran, Space Age Love Song
Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Missing Persons - Walking In LA, Destination Unknown
Nick Gilder - Hot Child In The City
Prince - Little Red Corvette, Raspberry Beret (plus lots of others, but I'm not a fan)
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
Saturday Night Fever/Grease
posted by Ardiril at 5:52 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

If you like the syncopated beat, don't miss Danger, by The Motels.
posted by benito.strauss at 5:55 PM on January 2, 2012

Roxy Music "More Than This"
posted by indognito at 5:55 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Maybe you'd dig Marianne Faithfull. Awesome bonus: that song was written by Shel Silverstein.
posted by Lieber Frau at 5:56 PM on January 2, 2012

Best answer: The Waitresses - I Know What Boys Like
posted by Ardiril at 5:57 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy
Toni Basil - Hey Mickey
posted by Ardiril at 6:02 PM on January 2, 2012

Here are the top hits of the year for:
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
Just taking a quick look through these, I remember as catchy poppy songs (that I don't typically hear on classic rock stations):
Call Me by Blondie
The Things We Do for Love by 10cc
I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
YMCA by The Village People is so catchy poppy it hurts
Don't You Want Me by The Human League is so 80's it hurts
When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman by Dr. Hook
Abracadabra by Steve Miller Band
We Got the Beat by The Go-Gos
Down Under by Men at Work
Maniac by Michael Sembello
Too Shy by Kajagoogoo
Kiss on My List by Hall & Oates
Just about anything by Hall and Oates
Take a Chance on Me by ABBA
Just about anything by ABBA, for that matter

After I compiled this list, my (black, R&B-loving) girlfriend from the same era recommended:
Get Off by Foxy
After the Love has Gone by Earth, Wind & Fire
posted by CrunchyFrog at 6:11 PM on January 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

That's entertainment
Town called malice
both by The Jam

You're the best thing - The Style Council
posted by Prof Iterole at 6:17 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

The very British strand that exists in parallel to New Wave and encompasses Nick Lowe, Squeeze, 10cc and XTC can be mined pretty deep: 'Senses Working Overtime', for starters.

'Golden Brown' by The Stranglers is from 1981, and very out of keeping with the rest of their stuff, but gorgeous, and to be filed under 'ridiculously pretty heroin songs'.

1983 was when the very first Now That's What I Call Music compilation came out. You can see the New Romantic thing kicking in, but I'll take 'Down Under' and 'The Lovecats' from that track listing any day.

Also, very much: Martha and the Muffins, 'Echo Beach', for that guitar line.
posted by holgate at 7:34 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Duran Duran's "Rio" remains one of my favorite pop songs, 30 years later. Heck, I don't think there's a bad song on the entire Rio album.
posted by themissy at 7:40 PM on January 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

There are two "pop" songs in the list below if you go by this definition, but when I think about "pop music" from this time period, I think about all of what I heard on AM radio. And that was a mix of bubble-gummy, catchy stuff from white artists, disco, funk, and rock. So...

• Do not hesitate to grab the Specials' first release from 1979 - you won't be disappointed. There is so much good ska from this time period: English Beat, the Selecter...
• The Pretenders, more on the rock/punk side, released their first album stateside in '78/'79.
• I am shocked, SHOCKED, that no one has mentioned Stevie Wonder. "Secret Life of Plants" was released in 1979.
• You can't talk about this period of pop music without mentioning Donna Summer. Check out "Sunset People" or "Walk Away" sometime, although her best-known songs are probably "Last Dance," "I Feel Love," "Bad Girls," and the infamous "Love to Love You Baby."
• Seconding "Get Off" - it came and went when I was a kid and I haven't heard it much since. Great, sort-of-raunchy funk from the pre-AIDS era, always nice to remember those days even though I was too young for THAT sort of party!
• Culture Club!
• I am really partial to "Whenever I Call You Friend" by Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks - to me it's the ultimate late-70's AM radio pop song.
• In the same vein: Walter Egan's "Magnet and Steel." (blush)
• ELO's "Don't Get Me Down. Never fails to make me smile.
• Michael Jackson did some of his best work around 1980, before Thriller, if you ask me: "Off the Wall" and "Shake Your Body Down To The Ground" come to mind.
• Finally, "Boogie Wonderland" by Earth, Wind & Fire. Perfect roller-rink music, and roller rinks were where you wanted to be when you were in junior high around 1978.

It frigging blows me away that I heard the Talking Heads' "Take Me To The River" for the first time as part of a Billboard Top 50 countdown on AM radio. For all the variety that's available online, somehow the musical world seemed wider open back then. Or maybe that's because I was 13.
posted by Currer Belfry at 7:58 PM on January 2, 2012

there's lots of great, catchy "alternative" pop from that era:

the cure - boys don't cry
the clash - rock the casbah
violent femmes - blister in the sun
yello - oh yeah
b52's - rock lobster
jim carroll band - people who've died
romeo void - never say never
joy division - love will tear us apart

also this is maybe more "new romantic" than "new wave" or "alternative"* but:

spandau ballet - true

is a stone cold 80's classic.


*learn the differences between these terms and you will learn much about catchy, syncopated pop circa 77-83
posted by messiahwannabe at 8:02 PM on January 2, 2012

Prince - ... Raspberry Beret

Nope, that's not in the OP's time range.
posted by John Cohen at 8:36 PM on January 2, 2012

ELO, "Mr. Blue Sky" (1977)
posted by kirkaracha at 9:38 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm old enough that from 2nd - 5th grades, the school bus driver played the late 70s pop on his transistor radio (where I fell in love with H&O, Steely Dan, Michael McDonald and a lot of hard rock), and from 6th - 9th grades, I had a knock-off Sanyo portable cassette player for the early 80s stuff. My K-8 school was on a university campus, so the college rock record store was a hangout where I heard a lot of imported British pop, so yes to XTC, yes to any Paul Weller, yes Elvis C. and Joe Jackson, Smiths, Cure, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, yes, yes, yes.

Love Will Find A Way - Pablo Cruise
Heaven on the 7th Floor - Paul Nicholas
Born to Be Alive - Paul Hernandez
Pop Muzik - M
Situation - Yaz (Yazoo in the US)
Lucky Number - Lene Lovich
In a Big Country - Big Country
Bad Case of Lovin' You - Robert Palmer
Right Down the Line - Gerry Rafferty
Barracuda - Heart
Love Is Like Oxygen - Sweet
Der Kommissar - Falco (covered in English by After The Fire)
Let It Whip - Dazz Band
Electric Avenue - Eddy Grant
posted by droplet at 9:43 PM on January 2, 2012

The Romantics, "What I Like About You" (1979)
The [English] Beat, "Mirror in the Bathroom" (1980)
Tommy Tutone, "867-5309/Jenny" (1981)
Madness, "Our House" (1982)
Modern English, "I Melt With You" (1982)
Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Come On Eileen" (1982)
posted by kirkaracha at 9:59 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Someone mentioned the Pretenders, I'd say specifically "Talk of the Town".
posted by ifjuly at 10:02 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Babys, "Every Time I Think of You" (1979)
Eddie Money, "Two Tickets to Paradise" (1978)
38 Special, "Hold On Loosely" (1981)
Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "Relax" (1983)
The Bus Boys, "The Boys Are Back in Town" (1982)
posted by kirkaracha at 10:37 PM on January 2, 2012

Definitely check out Rhino Records' Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the '80s. You also might like Rhino's Have a Nice Decade: The 70s Pop Culture Box and their Have a Nice Day album series (which overlaps the box set).
posted by kirkaracha at 10:40 PM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty (1978)
posted by JujuB at 11:39 PM on January 2, 2012

If you like What a Fool Believes, I have to think you'll like Michael McDonald's 1982 hit, I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near). Jeff Porcaro from Toto on drums makes it pretty funky. That reminds me, get some Toto while you're at it. I would add Boz Scaggs' album Silk Degrees, which also features Jeff Porcaro (I think the guys decided to form Toto while working on this album), but that's from 1977.

Also check out Donald Fagen's album The Nightfly (also from 1982).
posted by crLLC at 7:34 AM on January 3, 2012

I am shocked, SHOCKED, that no one has mentioned Stevie Wonder. "Secret Life of Plants" was released in 1979.

My Billboard Top 10 link above had a link to I Wish, which was then stuck in my head all day (which is a good thing). Songs in the Key of Life was released in December 1976 but its singles were on the charts all throughout 1977. I thought about coming back and mentioning it, but figured someone else would be along to bring Mr. Wonder to the OP's attention.
posted by TedW at 7:36 AM on January 3, 2012

Response by poster: loving Heart of Glass
posted by parallax7d at 12:11 PM on January 3, 2012

The power of gold by Dan fogelberg
posted by wittgenstein at 12:44 PM on January 3, 2012

I was five in 1978 when I became aware of FM radio in the carpool for school, and I would say this seems like a job for Pandora. I made a new station with the songs that parallax7d has mentioned so far, and the first track that came up was Corey Hart's Sunglasses at Night. Since I had this on cassette from Columbia House in 1983, I would say that it's on the right track.
posted by love is a murderer at 3:05 PM on January 3, 2012

Very late to the party, but sounds like you need to do some searches for "Jangle Pop"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jangle_pop
posted by unceman at 10:26 AM on January 16, 2012