The 30 best songs released in 1984
From legendary tracks like Prince's "When Doves Cry" to cult favorites like the Replacements' "I Will Dare," 1984 remains a high-water mark for music
Music Features 1984
1984 is roundly considered to be one of the greatest years in pop music history, a year that produced an embarrassment of riches in both the mainstream and underground. It was a year where the echoes of Michael Jackson’s Thriller could still be felt, a year that Prince turned into a superstar and Madonna had her first hits. And it was a year where the Replacements, Hüsker Dü, the Minutemen, and R.E.M. defined college rock as MTV took hold throughout America, just as Britain wound down its new pop renaissance.
There was too much great music made during 1984 to fit on one list (for further exploration, turn to Michaelangelo Matos’ definitive document Can’t Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop’s Blockbuster Year). But the 30 songs that follow convey the breadth and depth of the music that dominated the airwaves—both in the mainstream and on those stations existing to the left of the dial—and those still sounds phenomenal forty years later.
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Coming from a country where Frankie Goes to Hollywood absolutely dominated the 1984 charts in a way no new band had done since another popular beat combo from Liverpool 20ish years earlier, it’s very jarring to see Echo & the Bunnymen as the city’s only representatives in this list.
Come on—you knew what Frankie was, man. Even then, you knew. Hell I still listen to several Echo songs. Though my taste definitely ran more New Order, Depeche Mode and Echo than most American stuff at the time.
Oh yeah, I’m far more of a Bunnymen fan than a Frankie fan, but those three singles in 1984 were just fantastic, and better than at least two-thirds of this list.
Why? Why? Why would you pick “Turn To You” over “Head Over Heels?”
As a pre-teen in 1984 who credits Belinda Carlisle for rocketing me straight into girl-crazy puberty, I’d still never heard Turn To You until today.
Goddamn right.
Duran Duran the Reflex
This list seems to include some strange choices, most likely in an attempt to drive people to the comment section.
yeah, it’s definitely going to inspire opinions, but it’s a good list, imo. my only beef is a lack of rap—”rock box,” “jam on it” and either “friends” or “the freaks come out at night” would be good choices. and kudos for “going down to liverpool.” the original is even better—one of those songs that’s even better than a one-hit wonder’s one hit.
Man, I loved Rock Box when that came out. I was a suburban white boy and not into rap that wasn’t the Beastie Boys, but that song…that song got me into Run DMC big time.
And yet the gutless cunts still don’t have the balls to to take me outta the greys.
So we’re counting Take On Me as the 1985 release then, rather than the 1984 original release (which is fair, if so)…Some notable charting songs not on the list, presumably because they debuted in 1983: almost anything by Michael Jackson, Uptown Girl by Billy Joel, etc.I love Borderline but for a 1984 song that’s, y’know, MADONNA I might have picked Like a Virgin.What’s Love Got To Do With It should be higher than 8th! Hello from Lionel Ritchie probably deserves to be on the list. Probably one per album, but two more from the Footloose soundtrack alone could probably make the list somewhere (Let’s Hear It For The Boy / Holding Out For a Hero)…
This is the list “White Lines” belongs on–not the 1984 list like I originally thought.
I think we were just so spoiled for choice because so many songs in 1983 either were released so late (or were so popular) that they charted for an immense amount of time in 1984 as well. It was a truly unreal couple of years in music…
This list makes sense in a world where “Like a Virgin,” “Love is a Battlefield,” “Smalltown Boy,” “Dancing in the Dark,” “I Want to Break Free,” “Relax,” “Careless Whisper,” “Karma Chameleon,” “Smooth Operator” and “Thriller” — yes. “Thriller!!!!!!” — do not exist.
But instead we get Huey Lewis and the freakin’ News.
And that, more than anything shows up the elephant in the room: what happened between then and now that people are obsessing over the latest nothingburger from (name any current big artist), which if it were released in 1984, wouldn’t make the top 100.
Thriller is from 1982.
It astounds me that “Smooth Operator” is from that year. It sounds so much more modern, I would have pegged it from the early-90s.
Yes. Sade shouldn’t have been left out.
And Ghostbusters, which legally speaking, is just more Huey Lewis and the freakin’ News.
Bustin’ makes me feel good!
Karma Chameleon is number 14 on the list.
Feck it , I will not stand for the Huey Lewis and the News erasure, although technically they’re already on the list with Ghostbusters 😉
I get it, and appreciate this joke. Also, I will never apologize for unabashedly loving Huey Lewis in the News in a not quite Patrick Bateman way.
Thriller and Love is a Battlefield weren’t released in 84, Karma Chameleon is on the list
That Huey Lewis song was just as huge that summer as the others you mention. Bigger than some of them, in fact. And Thriller came out in 1982.
This list exists to drive ad revenue, period.
Just like the rest of this now-trash family of sites.
The band name was the Babys, not Babies.
The 30 Best Pop Songs of 1984
Fair.
I think Loving the Alien was actually the highlight of Tonight, but then I have been a Bowie fan since 1972. 🙂
Agreed. Tonight as a whole was not great, Blue Jean was OK, Loving the Alien was genuinely brilliant.
Kudos to putting Magic so high up. I have 6 of these albums up behind the bar in my basement.FootlooseCulture ClubHuey LewisBorn in the USAPurple RainJumpAll of them from when I was 10 and my brother was 13. Also have Miami Vice Soundtrack up as well but I think that’s 85.
“A little voice inside my head said, ‘Don’t look back, you can never look back.’”
That was genuinely a great album, too. Boys of Summer is a solid choice for sure, but a strong argument exists for several other songs off that (Sunset Grille would be my personal choice, but thus is music opinion)
Apparently the music for Boys was written by Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers. He pitched it to Petty who didn’t think it was right for what I guess would have been Southern Accents. Would have been interesting to hear that version.
Oh man now I want to hear that. Though it is legit hard to imagine anyone other than Henley singing that song.
“Panama” is better than “Jump”, FIGHT ME!
Also “Hot For Teacher”, at least the guitar work and the drum intro.
And “I don’t feel tardy.”
It all comes down to what you like. Panama is guitar rock. Jump is a pop song.
The real right answer is “Drop Dead Legs”
“House of Pain” for me.
Fuckin A brother, Fuckin A. That song was the real Van Halen song on that album as far as me and my 1-through-Diver Down devoted group of friends were concerned.
Absolutely. Panama has, y’know, guitar in it, and if you’re not listening to Van Halen for Eddie’s fingering of Frankenstein then what the FUCK is wrong with you? Those ice-pick harmonics climbing up to the chorus, man.
Might be his brother’s finest moment on the kit too. Every fucking beat is placed perfectly.
My youth. There are soooo many more to add, but this great.
I thought Rush’s Grace Under Pressure album that year was pretty great.
So obviously written by a “rock journalist” and not an actual music-loving human who was alive during 1984
STE has been around forever, wrote for Allmusic for decades.
It’s been amusing seeing people react to his posts who clearly think he’s just a new zombie av club writer.
Still doesn’t explain how the fuck he knows about the Gurus…
They made a weird little splash on US college radio back then, somehow even getting airtime in very rural New Hampshire (which was otherwise usually about 15 years behind the times, nowhere near any cultural cutting edges).
i was thrilled to see the Hoodoo Gurus on here. they were aces.
Sun’s coming up … what a great record.
1984 was our softest, whitest year. Truly the fishbelly of years.
Due to the technicality of time (and space) itself, Jump is the best song of 1983.
Bowie admittedly did not like most of the songs he made in the 80s. I agree, for the most part. But “Putting Out Fire” (82) is awe-inspiring.“You Might Think” (Cars) is better than “Magic”.Too bad this had to be limited to 1984. Sting’s Ten Summoner’s Tales album (1993) is a classic.
I still reckon The Soul Cages is a better album than 10 Summoners , but not by much .
It is good.
Well, Bowie should have listened to “Modern Love” a little more, I think, as that song is fantastic.
I can only listen to “Under Pressure” but then that’s also Mercury, et al. Let’s Dance, ML, China Girl. Blue Jean, Abosolute Beginner – not for me. But then I’d still like to know if Blue Jean is about Susan Sarandon.An interviewer once asked who ‘the real David Bowie is.” Bowie responded that he identified with the nerdy guy in the Blue Jean video, lol.One of the best things he did in the 80s (83) was The Hunger even though the conclusion is a bit too Telanovela.
Nah I totally get it as certainly it’s not peak-Bowie. Most of those songs were over-played and a bit obvious for Bowie, but there’s just something about Modern Love’s mix of strangeness and catchiness that I can’t resist. It’s even got spoken word bits! Blue Jean almost fits that category as well, but didn’t quite get there. Queen has always fascinated me as they seemed to attract both ultra- dedicated fanboys who were almost as obsessive as Rush fans, or the frat boys who insisted they rocked but only knew the hits played on ‘classic rock’ channels. The weird thing with their fandom is that the 1st group never seems snobby about it like most “I like their non-hits or early shit” fan groups. There was almost a hint of embarrassment with my good friend that owned every one of their albums and could tell you every track in order. I learned about the depth of their music from him, and really enjoy that people seem to remember them every few years and some random song of theirs hits the charts again.
Duran Duran “The Reflex”.
UB40 “If I Happens Again”.“Ghostbusters” shouldn’t have been allowed to escape the theatres, imo.
I fucking love Banarama’s “Cruel Summer” to this day.Also, Metallica’s entire “Ride the Lightning” album was released in 1984.
Its the only “Cruel Summer” I recognise !Also nitpick but Banarama are a British/Irish group , not British (Siobhan Fahey is from Ireland , and useless fact , Dexys “Come on Eileen” features her sister Maire as “Eileen” on the single cover)
I remember that cover! And also that song still makes me insane–as a person alive and of radio listening age at the time it came out (as well as an avid watcher of MtV) it was played to the point that I’m not sure I’ll ever feel like listening to it again. Their cover of Van Morrison’s “Jackie Wilson Said” is still a regular on my playlist though.
I always liked that when they appeared on UK show Top of the Pops performing Jacky Wilson .., someone had put up pictures of Scottish Darts player Jocky Wilson instead .. which is either a mistake or a deliberate joke depending on who you ask.
Deliberate joke.
Best thing they ever did was Geno when they had a horn section instead of fiddles and donkey jackets instead of dungarees.
I like the list ! Although as someone who was an 8 year old kid , but a lover of pop music in 84 (and later as a lover of music that was released when I was a kid )I’d probably have picked some other songs I’d have gone with “ There must be an Angel” over “Here Comes the Rain Again”Also Do they Know its Christmas , ( I cant stress how much of an impact that had in the UK and Ireland ). Relax by Frankie goes to Hollywood, I want to break Free by Queen ,White Lines (Dont do it ) by Grandmaster Flash/Melle MelWouldn’t it be good by Nik Kershaw (actually that or “The Riddle” are both great..actually The Riddle has a “seriously what the fuck is going on” video, as was the style in the UK )Pride (in the name of Love) by U2“Smalltown” Boy by Bronski Beat (which was memorable enough to be shamefully pilfered without credit by Ed Sheeran ).and look , its uncool as hell but damn ..its a a cracker.. 2 Minutes to Midnight by Iron Maiden
Do They Know It’s Christmas is so tone deaf. “Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.” Yeah, it’s those black people in Africa, not us white folks.“Let them know it’s Christmastime.” The Christians in Ethiopia know when Christmas is. The Muslims and Jews in Ethiopia don’t care.It’s the perfect example of Western thinking that you can solve any problem with money.
I’d give them a pass since it was the 80s , and their heart was mostly in the right place . Also its so much better than “We are the World”,
Geldof intentionally wrote the line “thank God it’s them,” and had Bono (a fellow Irishman) sing it, to point out the reality of how people actually feel, uncomfortable as that is. It’s not meant to be taken literally. “Let them know it’s Christmas” simply means do something generous; again, it’s not literally about teaching a holiday. I know the song and the efforts were not perfect, and Geldof himself is not actually “Saint Bob,” but these people were genuinely trying to help, and given the difficulty of what they were trying to pull off in a short amount of time, the results were pretty impressive.
AV Club, why are you deleting my response? No bad words, controversy. Please explain!
You’re taking the words literally. The line, “Thank God it’s them” is meant to show how Westerners actually feel, as painful and difficult as that is. Geldof specifically asked Bono, a fellow Irishman, to sing it. “Let them know it’s Christmas” means show them some generosity, not literally teach Africans a Christian holiday. Not saying Geldof is “Saint Bob,” but they were genuinely trying to help, and in a short amount of time got a lot of the top stars of the time to show up and do their part, while raising millions.
Elrond – You are correct on pretty much all counts but I just love that song despite its obvious, terrible flaws. In any event, it is so so so much better that “We are the World.” Fuck that song.
Definitely agree that leaving White Lines off this list is a crime.
Welp, can’t edit so I’ll throw it in here: White Lines official release date was apparently 1983
I can at least pull the “it got a 1984 release in the local (UK/Irish )charts which is why I counted it” tactic.
Smalltown Boy is an absolute classic.
There’s a special love for Nik Kershaw down here for supporting farmers during drought:
“Turn to You” is fine, but does not have a ‘slight edge’ over the fucking catchiest song with the hardest-moment-to-clap-to in the history of music, “Head Over Heels”, thank you very much.
Good list overall. I would have definitely added Chaka Khan’s “I Feel For You.” Not only was it a smash (#3 hit). It just synthesizes a lot of great 1984 music: The Melle Mel rap intro/interludes showing the burgeoning takeover of hip-hop into pop music, the great synth-lines by one-time Madonna collaborators the System, the glistening Stevie Wonder harmonica. The fact that it was kind of a comeback pop song from Chaka Khan after her interesting but not as commercially successful interludes in jazz and funk. And of course that it was written by the master of 1984, Prince himself.
I think you’ve ticked off there all of the interesting facts about that track that I have gleaned over the years. For a while it seemed that anytime anybody ever mentioned the song, I learned something new.
It’s a remake of a Prince song from one of his first albums. It is nearly the same, only difference is Stevie’s harmonica and Melle Mel’s rap.Still a great song and a good choice.
It’s pretty different in my opinon. The vocals are kind of similar in their yearning breathiness. But Chakha definitely has her own little vocal runs particularly towards the end that are not in the original at all. The synths are similar but I like Chaka’s version better. Really about as different as Sinead’s Nothing Compares 2 U as Prince’s version. They’re the same song but also really not at all.
“Hold Me Now” by the Thompson Twins tho
Jump?! Fucking JUMP?! Is the AI that’s running this site now completely off its goddamn rocker?? Van Halen is dogshit.
Uh, you missed this:
‘The Power of Love’ by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Released: 19 November 1984.
A hit tailor-made for the year of Ronald Reagan’s re-election campaign, “Pink Houses” painted a portrait of the small-town America of John Mellencamp’s home state of Indiana. From one angle, it could seem like a celebration; from another, it could seem like a cutting commentary…It was definitely cutting commentary—exactly along the lines of “Born in the U.S.A.”, which Reagan-Bush also co-opted. You have to be obtuse-bordering- on-lobotomized (read: conservative) to listen to those lyrics and not realize that “Ain’t that America” is sarcastic. Mellencamp has always been an outspoken supporter of Democrats and progressives, specifically.