Far Out 40: The 40 best songs from 1984
1984 revealed itself to be an unlikely yet huge moment for music – sandwiched in the middle of the decade that seems stuck in between the past and the future. Far enough away from the countercultural chaos of the 1960s and with the darker grunge wave of the 1990s still to come, it was before the moment when something really new came. But somehow, 1984 was bustling with the release of so many historic hits.
It’s almost as if in the void between two subcultural waves, 1984 was the implosion. Everything that was hanging around seemed to expand and boom into its biggest and brightest version of itself. Rock became the overblown world of glam rock with acts like Bon Jovi, Twisted Sister and Van Halen, making it all bigger and more theatrical than ever before. Even in the mainstream pop world, Elton John, Queen, Prince and Wham! were making the charts glitzy and dramatic.
The 1980s also marked a huge moment for LGBTQ+ representation in music. So many of the biggest tracks of the decade, and 1984 specifically, are either offerings from gay artists or stand are timeless queer anthems.
At a time when British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher was busy introducing oppressive new laws while the AIDs crisis began to take hold, the musical landscape of the year sang out in protest. Works like Bronski Beat’s ‘Smalltown Boy’ or Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Relax’ were, and still are, vital expressions of queer joy.
The same kind of over-exaggeration was happening on the other end of the spectrum, too. Almost as an antidote to the camp pop leaders, Bruce Springsteen felt like a new superhero for the blue-collar workers, making normal working life worthy of a soundtrack.
Similarly, the UK’s alternative music scene began to take a darker turn again. As the miner’s strikes got underway and Thatcher’s rule began grinding industry to a halt, post-punk responded, with artists like The Smiths and Echo & The Bunnymen fashioning an art form out of misery.
It was a time of contradictions. As the world’s political landscape got worse, mainstream music seemed to get happier, glitzier and funnier. Maximalism was in as production became big and bold, music videos got expensive, and the busy neon and patterns we associate with the 1980s really settled in.
The 40 best songs from 1984:
- Dead or Alive – ‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)’
- Bon Jovi – ‘Runaway’
- Bruce Springsteen – ‘Born In The U.S.A’
- The Pointer Sisters – ‘Jump’
- The Police – ‘Wrapped Around Your Finger’
- Diana Ross – ‘Swept Away’
- The Smiths – ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’
- Genesis – ‘That’s All’
- The Cars – ‘Drive’
- Billy Joel – ‘Uptown Girl’
- Twisted Sister – ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’
- Madonna – ‘Like A Virgin’
- Prince – ‘When Doves Cry’
- Elton John – ‘I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues’
- Yes – ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’
- Pat Benatar ‘Love Is A Battlefield’
- Bronski Beat – ‘Smalltown Boy’
- Wham! – ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’
- Eurythmics – ‘Here Comes The Rain Again’
- Bananarama – ‘Cruel Summer’
- Duran Duran – ‘The Wild Boys’
- Cyndi Lauper – ‘Time After Time’
- Bruce Springsteen – ‘Dancing In The Dark’
- Queen – ‘I Want To Break Free’
- Frankie Goes To Hollywood – ‘Relax’
- David Bowie – ‘Blue Jean’
- Thompson Twins – ‘Hold Me Now’
- Echo & The Bunnymen – ‘The Killing Moon’
- George Michael – ‘Careless Whisper’
- Van Halen – ‘Jump’
- a-Ha – ‘Take On Me’
- Sade – ‘Smooth Operator’
- Nena – ‘99 Luftballons’
- Prince – ‘Purple Rain’
- Don Henley – ‘The Boys Of Summer’
- Michael Jackson – ‘Thriller’
- Chaka Khan – ‘I Feel For You’
- Tina Turner – ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’
- Giorgio Moroder + Phillip Oakley – ‘Together In Electric Dreams’
- Paul McCartney – ‘No More Lonely Nights’
