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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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 has that classic 80s British pop sound. And yes, that is Andy Warhol in the video doing an impersonation of Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues”.
This is my favorite song of the countdown by far! I cannot believe that this didn’t even chart in the U.S. I had never heard of it until I bought 
Whitney was beloved all over the world. It still breaks my heart whenever I hear her music. What a talent.
If you were to pick the top wedding songs of the ’80s, this would be on the list. This song hit #1 on all of the U.S. charts, and it landed at #3 in the U.K.
This song was the lead single off of Richard’s Always Guaranteed album. I like all of his songs when they appear on these countdowns, yet I still don’t own anything by him. I’ll have to rectify that. Or at least add him to some of my Spotify playlists.
ha. a-ha. Yes, they had more than one hit song! Pretty good James Bond theme, and the first James Bond film to star Timothy Dalton.
This is one of those songs that I hated back in the day, but I appreciate it more now. I’m not loving it, but I like it a little bit more now.
3 words – What the Fuck?!?!?!
For an actor jumping into the music business, Bruce Willis is actually pretty respectable. This is a good cover of The Drifters’ 1964 hit.
A great way to finish the Top 40! This happens to be my favorite song by the British synthpop duo. it was a top 10 hit in the U.S., but was #1 in the U.K. for three weeks.
I prefer Stevie Wonder’s music from the ’70s, but this is a pretty song. Love his voice!
This is one of my favorite Bob Seger songs. This is one of those misunderstood songs. It is not a patriotic song. It is about cocaine abuse. In an 
A great song from one of my favorite soundtracks – Rocky IV. And you know it’s good because it was featured in a Rocky training montage in the film.
I’m not the biggest Dire Straits fan, so I wouldn’t mind if this song moved so far away from me.
On the other hand, I loved Whitney. She could do no wrong with me in the ’80s. I wish that she did know that crack is indeed wack. One of our great artists gone way too soon.
Mr. Mister’s follow-up to the smash hit, “Broken Wings”, was another #1 smash hit. They did have two other U.S. top 40 hits after this, but nobody remembers those.
I don’t remember this song. Not one of my favorite Jermaine tunes, but it’s OK.
The Outfield has other great songs that rarely get played. However, despite the fact that I’ve heard this song a few million times in my life, I still love it.
If only this song was also featured in a John Hughes film like their other hit song.
I loved Janet Jackson. But, whenever I hear this song, this is the first thing that comes to mind [keep in mind that this is Eddie Murphy. So if you’re listening at work, make sure your headphones don’t pop out]:
This cover of George Benson’s 1977 hit enters the Top 40 this week. This would be one of many iconic Whitney songs.
Time to hit the dance floor!
Level 42 had about 42 top 40 hits in the U.K. OK, I may be exaggerating a bit. They actually had 20, but 42 would have been cooler. However, in the U.S., they only had 2 hits in the U.S., with this being the first. Maybe we’ll catch more Level 42 songs when we head back to the U.K.
This song, from the soundtrack of 9 1/2 Weeks, which starred Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke, was John Taylor’s first solo singing performance during Duran Duran’s hiatus.
I had never heard this song. It is a pretty good rocker. And it could be just as appropriate today as it was 32 years ago.
Iconic ’80s tune from an iconic ’80s movie – Pretty in Pink.
Here is another music discovery for me. I’m loving this R&B hit!
This was Miami Sound Machine and Gloria Estefan’s second English language hit, after “Conga”. This was the beginning of a long string of hits for Gloria Estefan.
Totally forgot about this one, from the Austrian group, Opus! na na na-na-na
Is it me, or does it seem like every released Phil Collins tune – either solo, or with Genesis – was iconic?
Welcome back everybody! If you missed the previous songs, you can check out songs 
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