The music of the Eighties has a very special place in my heart. This is the decade I went from being a nine year old boy who was just discovering music through my parents old stereo to a high school graduate. I grew up during the Eighties and that music is the soundtrack to much of my childhood and early life. For that reason Eighties music will remain close to me in a way no other music will. It was amazingly difficult to pick just one song from each year so I had to change the rules a bit. Instead of one song per year I allowed myself to choose three songs from each year that I think were the most important. However, even with 30 songs there’s still a lot of my favorite music that got left off the list. After I finish this series of posts look for a special "Hair Metal" and "Rush" editions.

Given the size of these articles I’m going to post these in two year increments. Here’s the 1980 and 1981.

1980

Back In  Black – AC/DC
The Back In Black album was recorded as a tribute to AC/DC’s recently deceased singer Bon Scott. It was also the album that broke AC/DC wide open to the masses. As good as Bon Scott was it was only when new singer Brian Johnson stepped in that AC/DC really took off. This song sounds just as fresh and relevant today as it was twenty-four year ago.

Ride Like the Wind – Christopher Cross
I don’t know why I love this song so much but I do. It’s one of those songs I heard on my big old stereo when I was nine. I think I just liked the Michael McDonald backing vocal of "Such a long way to gooooo!". Years later I saw a skit on SCTV (a Canadian version of Saturday Night Live) where Michael McDonald (played by Rick Morranis) is driving in his car with this song playing in the background. He’s driving like he’s in a hurry to get somewhere. He pulls into the parking lot of a recording studio and rushes inside. After hurriedly dealing with the security guard he runs into a recording booth just in time to sing "Such a long way to gooo". Then he runs out of the booth to argue with the producer and rushes back to the mic just in time for the second "Such a long way to gooo.". It’s one of those things you really have to see to appreciate.

Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne
This is probably the most recognizable song Ozzy ever recorded. The first time I heard it was when Ozzy released the live version on his Tribute album while I was in high school.

Much of Ozzy’s success is really due to the great guitar players he recruits. Randy Rhoads was the first guitarist to play with Ozzy when he went solo in the early Eighties. Randy was an amazing player and had as much to do with the creation of the eighties-metal sound as anyone else. He died in a plane crash after recording only two albums but his impact on the world of hard rock is still being felt today.

1981

Tom Sawer – Rush
Whether you know it or not you’ve heard this song many times. It’s been used at almost every sporting event I’ve been to. Scott Hatteberg of the Oakland A’s uses it as his theme song when he comes up to bat. It was also used in a car commercial a few years ago. It starts with a piercing low "E" on an old Moog synthesizer and a simple but catchy drum beat. Singer Geddy Lee comes in with the line we all know so well. "A Monday warrior, mean mean stride. Today’s Tom Sawer, mean mean pride."

This is another one of those songs that I heard on the radio back in 1981 and absolutely loved it. The distinctive keyboard riff in the middle had me hooked. But I never knew who did the song and subsequently "lost" it. During my first year in high school a friend of my gave me a Rush tape and Tom Sawer was the first song on it. Another song from my childhood rediscovered!

Rush is arguably the most influential and respected progressive rock band in the history of rock-n-roll. During high school and most of college I listened to Rush nearly non-stop. Rush’s impact on my own musical appreciation and development is huge. Their music deserves it’s own "best-of" list like this. At some point in the future I just may do that. However, as far as the larger world of music as a whole goes, Tom Sawer is Rush’s contribution that most people recognize and easily deserves its place on this list.

Another One Bites The Dust – Queen
This song is too cool for words. The big controversy when this song came out was that you could hear a secret message when you played the chorus backwards. Some people said you could hear, "The devil is number one" and other people said you could hear "It’s fun to smoke marijuana". Of course, it was all a bunch of crap. Years later in my college psychology class we actually listened to this song backwards. Almost everyone in the class heard something different which proves that the power of suggestion is very strong indeed.

The real power of Another One Bites the Dust is in the ultra-sparse arrangement. The minimal drums and simple bass line dominate much of the song. The guitar only comes in at a few points but when it does the effect is impressive. The way everything in this song is arranged perfectly creates the edge-of-your-seat suspense the lyrics suggest.

Open Arms – Journey
I’m not ashamed to admit it. I like Journey. Open Arms is a perfectly crafted love ballad and rightfully became their biggest hit. Not surprisingly it became the blueprint for all other love ballads that came after it. However, none of those copycat songs ever equaled the greatness of the original.