(Finished June 28th, 2023) Part 1 of The Greatest Rock, Pop and Soul Songs of 1980

Hello,

In 1980 Disco music was on the way to dying out, it had peaked in the year of Disco, 1979. It was being replaced by New Wave and all other sorts of music. 1980 was sort of a transition year. All sorts of genres are on Billboard Top 100 Year End chart. The New Wave peak from about 1982 to 1986 was just around the corner. Also 1980 is not too far from the hair metal era. There’s not much of either genre on this list though.

At the start of 1980 we were still about 18 months away from MTV. 1980 was full of a lot of straight ahead rock, a lot of so-called black music, a lot of pop. Also we see a hint of the things to come for both Michael Jackson and Prince.

Indeed 1980 was the year of the beautiful, and heartbreaking, love song “Romeo and Juliet” and the can’t sit down dance music of Kool and The Gang.

If you pay attention to my blog you will notice that multiple songs will be featured on two separate years. I’ll highlight a great song the year it was released and the year it was a hit, if different. There are even a few songs that might be on 3 different years.

1) Jackson Browne “Boulevard”:

2) Dire Straits “Romeo and Juliet”:

3) The Police “De Do Do Do De Da Da Da”:

4) The Clash “Magnificent 7”:

5) The Brothers Johnson “Stomp”:

6) Michael Jackson “She’s Out of My Life”:

7) Kool and the Gang “Celebration”:

Sibling to Janet and Michael, has there ever been a more musically talented family. The only other family that I can think of off the top of my head are the Gibb brothers. 8) Jermaine Jackson “Let’s Get Serious”: