(Finished December 5th, 2023) Part 4 of Rolling Stone’s The 200 Best Songs of the 80s: Songs 164 to 150

Hello,

Rolling Stone has released another Top 200 Best 80s songs list, however for some reason there are only 199 songs? I’m going to post the songs from 199 to 181 and review. I’m not a big fan of Rolling Stone’s rankings as they include songs that I’ve never heard of or songs that were only popular to a very select group of people. My Top 200 80s songs would look completely different. (Updated I checked Rolling Stone’s website and it seems like there’s 200 songs now.)

With MTV at its peak and radio stations playing multiple genres back in the day, if I had never heard of a song it’s truly obscure. I have neither heard of the song or artist for songs 188, 186 and 181. That’s three songs and bands that I had never heard of before today.

By far one of the greatest songs of the 80s, should be much higher than this. It’s at least a Top 50 80s song and probably Top 20. 164) Dexy’s Midnight Runners “Come On Eileen”:

A very good song, probably properly rated. Although it should be higher than Songs 162, 158 and 154-151. None of those songs are even in the Top 500 80s songs. Wait there’s only one Lionel Richie song on this list? There should be at least two or three songs. And if only one then that song must be “Say You, Say Me” in the Top Ten. 163) Lionel Richie “All Night Long (All Night)”:

Well at least I’ve heard of this song. It belongs nowhere on this list but at least I have heard this song. It’s also a decent song. 162) The Stone Roses “I Wanna Be Adored”:

I have to admit this may be a guilty pleasure of mine. 161) New Kids on the Block “Hangin Tough”:

One of my experiences with the wild, weird world of MTV. It also is an absolute amazing song and should be several notches higher on this list. 160) Missing Persons “Words”:

One of the first so-called hair metal songs that really broke out. Seeing Milton Berle in a hair metal video is one of the strangest things from the 80s. 159) Ratt “Round and Round”:

I would suggest “Mirror In The Bathroom”, “I Confess” or “Save It For Later” all much better choices than this song I’ve never heard. I don’t even know that “Twist and Crawl” reaches meh level. 158) The English Beat “Twist and Crawl”:

Bonus songs “Save It For Later”:

“Meet Me In The Bathroom”:

157) L’Trimm “Cars With The Boom”:

156) Modern English “I Melt With You”:

155) Billy Idol “White Wedding”:

154) Peech Boys “Don’t Make Me Wait”:

Um, there’s no hour I’d ever want to hear this song again. 153) The Dream Syndicate “Open Hour”:

Bonus song: I would suggest this song in place of the above song: Primitive Radio Gods “Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth”:

I’m glad I’ve never heard this song before. I understand that he’s explaining his feelings, but it’s just not a good song. The second song that I couldn’t get through because it’s so bad. I don’t even know if this is a Top 20,000 Best 80s song. 152) Linton Kwesi Johnson “Inglan Is a B—-“:

When the 80s synth music went bad. 151) The Dominatrix “The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight”:

After four meh to terrible songs here comes a palate cleanser, here we are with a true late 80s classic. Without a doubt it’s a Top 200 best song of the 80s. 150) Young MC “Bust A Move”:

themusicaddict