It’s coming up on that time of year again! Since last year’s inaugural Return to the ’80s March Madness Tournament was a success, we will make this an annual thing. Last year was all about Hall & Oates (with “Out of Touch” being their most popular song among Return to the ’80s readers.
For those of you who discovered this site within this past year, here’s how this works. We take an artist, and place their 16 biggest hits in brackets, and have the same format as the NCAA basketball tournament. Two songs will be pitted against each other for several days, and the winner moves on in the tournament. We keep narrowing it down, until we have a winner. You can vote on this site, as well as on Twitter, and the main Facebook page and the Facebook group page. I will add the votes together.
This year I’m going to need your help to get this started. I am having a difficult time choosing which artist to cover. This is where you come in. I have listed some of the top musical icons of the ’80s. So, please vote for the artist who you would like to see in this year’s tournament. I will leave the voting open for a week. You can vote here, and in the Facebook Group. The Facebook page and Twitter don’t allow enough options, so those pages won’t be used until the actual tournament begins. I have listed Phil Collins (his solo and duet stuff – not Genesis), Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, and Bon Jovi. I should also note that only the singles that charted in the ’80s will be in the actual tournament. I have also allowed the option to write in somebody that is not on the list.
Thank you so much for your help! This should be fun! And unlike any political election, no matter who wins, we all win.
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The synth-pop group followed up their smash hit, “What’s on Your Mind (Pure Energy)” with another Top 10 hit. In that previous song, they had sampled Leonard Nimoy’s voice from the Star Trek episode “Errand of Mercy”. In this song, they sampled William Shatner as James T. Kirk saying “It is useless to resist us” from the Star Trek episode, “Mirror, Mirror”, and James Doohan as Scotty saying “Let’s Go See!” from the Star Trek episode, “Wolf in the Fold”. They did not have any other top 10 hits after this song. Maybe they needed to sample Doctor McCoy saying “I’m a doctor, not a ____”.
Yes, Rick Astley had other songs besides “Never Gonna Give You Up” and “Together Forever”. Somebody better inform the ’80s radio stations and shows that are out there.
My second ’80s crush of this countdown! This was the first song released from Samantha’s third album, I Wanna Have Some Fun. I always loved her music. And 16-18 year old me really appreciated that every one of her songs at that time were about sex or love…but mostly sex. Pretty much the pop version of the band Kiss.
This was one of Sheena Easton’s biggest hits in the U.S., peaking at #2. After having a strong run throughout the early ’80s, this would be her final Top 10 hit. This song was written by Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Daryl Simmons, who were quite the powerhouse at that time.
This awesome ballad would be Tiffany’s final Top 10 hit. I personally think she is very underrated. She has a very cool and unique voice, and puts a lot of emotion into her songs. And she is another ’80s artist who is still out there recording new music….most recently, 2018’s Pieces of Me.
Speaking of unique voices, here is another awesome power ballad. White Lion had a really good run in the late ’80s/early ’90s before they called it quits.
2-3-4!!! Bon Jovi was not slowing down one bit at this time. This was the 2nd single released from the New Jersey album, and was the 2nd of 5 Top 10 songs from that album alone. That was the most top 10 hits for any hard rock album.
Thanks Wikipedia for letting us know that the title is a reference to the phrase “doin’ the wild thing,” a euphemism for sex. Duh!!!! This song would peak at #2. It is a lot of fun. I do like rap with guitar and heavy drums. As usual, if a rap song has a great rock sound to it, that means it was stolen. In this case, it used an uncredited sample of Van Halen’s “Jamie’s Cryin'”. There was a lawsuit that was settled out of court.
This was the third song released from Paula Abdul’s Forever Your Girl album (after “Knocked Out” and “The Way That You Love Me”), but this is the one that shot her up to superstardom. This was the first week the song topped the charts, and would stay here for 3 weeks. She had a long string of hits in a short time after this. And the former Laker Girl already had a huge career as a choreographer in many, many music videos and blockbuster movies.
Awesome song that has that eary-mid ’80s sound. And yes that’s Leonard Nimoy’s voice as Mr. Spock from the Star Trek episode “Errand of Mercy”, which was the first time we saw the Klingons in the Star Trek universe.
Wow, my two least favorite ’80s songs are both on the same countdown! First there was “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. And now there’s this Neil Diamond cover.
Awesome rocker, which was U2’s first single off their Rattle and Hum album. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
If you noticed that the last three bands in this countdown have an abbreviation/acronym as a band name, welcome to my brain.
It is in the middle of Fall, and this 1988 Olympic theme song is still going strong.
After Slippery When Wet launched Bon Jovi in the stratosphere, they did not let up, as they followed up with the incredible New Jersey album, with “Bad Medicine” as the lead single.
Kylie Minogue was the third act to make this song a top 5 hit, starting with LIttle Eva in 1962 and Grand Funk Railroad in 1974. This song was a locomotion for Minogue, as it started as a hit in her home country of Australia. Then it made it’s way to Europe and Asia, then came to the U.S. and Canada.
We have another cover here, as Phil Collins recorded this Mindbenders 1965/66 hit for the Buster movie soundtrack. Between this song, and “Two Hearts”, you would think the movie was going to be a blockbuster. However, I still haven’t seen it, and I don’t know anybody who ever has.
This song would go on to be a number one hit next week. The Escape Club the only British artist to have a No. 1 hit in the United States while never charting in the UK.
I think we can track the division in the country back to this song. I personally think it’s a fun song, although I did get very sick of it. But, a lot of people had this extreme hatred of this song. And seeing John Stamos on drums really sent them over the edge! This song would be their last hit on the Hot 100.
This was the end of Lionel Richie’s run in the ’80s. A sweet song to end it. Supposedly, it was written for Lionel’s daughter, Nicole.
Peter Gabriel had some groundbreaking videos in the late ’80s. Which means that they were on MTV every other song. Which also means that I couldn’t stand it! I was dreading listening to this again, but now I’m liking it a little more.
You got my rock in your rap! You got your rap in my rock! What?! Mmmm, delicious. Two great genres that go great together.
Bruce Willis hopped on that actors-turned-singers bandwagon. And he did a very respectful job of it, in my opinion.
At this time, I was too cool to watch cartoon movies. So, I’ve never seen An American Tail. But, I do love this song. Such a perfect duet with two incredible voices.
Nice ballad from The Jets, written by Rupert Holmes (“Escape (The Piña Colada Song)”), and sung by 13-year-old Elizabeth Wolfgramm.
If Chicago is asking us if we will still love them after the departure of Peter Cetera, the answer is Yes!
Between this, and Janet Jackson’s “Let’s Wait Awhile” earlier in the countdown, all we need to do is substitute Samantha Fox’s “Touch Me” with Jermaine Stewart’s “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off”, and we would have a perfect countdown for a Catholic school dance.
Hands down, this is my favorite Huey Lewis and the News song. “All I want from tomorrow is to get it better than today.” That’s all anybody can ask.
Bon Jovi had a huge hit with “You Give Love a Bad Name”. But, this ’80s anthem is the one that changed them forever. When you say the words “’80s music” to somebody, this is one of a handful of songs that would immediately come to mind. This is totally deserving of the #1 spot, and a great way to end the countdown.
” by Bon Jovi from 
(1986)
