WELCOME TO 1982: the year that invented pop music as we know it today.

September 28, 2022 5:28 AM

The 100 Best Songs of 1982. From Rob Sheffield at Rolling Stone.

100. Toto 'Africa'
99. Stevie Wonder 'Do I Do'
98. Toni Basil 'Mickey'
97. Void 'Explode'
96. Siouxsie and the Banshees 'Slowdive'
95. Hall & Oates 'Maneater'
94. Sylvester and Patrick Cowley 'Do Ya Wanna Funk'
93. Joe Jackson 'Steppin' Out'
92. John Waite 'Change'
91. The Pointer Sisters 'I'm So Excited'
90. Axe 'Rock 'N' Roll Party In The Streets'
89. The Bangles 'The Real World'
88. 21-645 'Babble'
87. Scritti Politi 'The 'Sweetest Girl'"
86. John Anderson 'Wild And Blue's
85. Clint Eastwood and General Saint 'Another One Bites the Dust'
84. Rush 'Subdivisions'
83. The Birthday Party 'Big-Jesus-Trash-Can
82. The Dazz Band 'Let it Whip'
81. Richard and Linda Thompson 'Shoot Out the Lights'
80. Men at Work 'Who Can It Be Now?'
79. Haircut One Hundred 'Love Plus One'
78. Bad Brains 'Sailin' On'
77. Eddie Money 'Shakin''
76. The Clean 'Anything Could Happen'
75. Junior 'Mama Used to Say'
74. Donald Fagen 'New Frontier's
73. ABBA 'The Day Before You Came'
72. Shalamar 'A Night To Remember'
71. The English Beat 'I Confess'
70. Motörhead 'Iron Fist'
69. Kim Wilde 'Kids in America'
68. Trio 'Da Da Da'
67. Marshall Crenshaw 'Mary Anne'
66. Missing Persons 'Words'
65. Soft Cell 'Say Hello, Wave Goodbye'
64. Bananarama 'Shy Boy'
63. Peter Gabriel 'Shock the Monkey'
62. X 'The Hungry Wolf'
61. Van Halen 'Little Guitars'
60. The Fall 'The Classical'
59. Aretha Franklin 'Jump To It's
58. The Minutemen 'Sell Or Be Sold'
57. Fleetwood Mac 'Gypsy'
56. Steel Pulse 'Chant A Psalm'
55. The dBs 'Neverland'
54. Mecano 'Me Colé En Una Fiesta'
53. The Who 'Eminence Front'
52. The Jam 'A Town Called Malice'
51. Bow Wow Wow 'I Want Candy'
50. Billy Idol 'White Wedding'
49. Trouble Funk 'Drop The Bomb'
48. Hüsker Dü 'From The Gut'
47. Elvis Costello 'Beyond Belief'
46. Madonna 'Everybody'
45. ABC 'Date Stamp'
44. Vanity 6 'Nasty Girl'
43. Modern English 'I Melt With You'
42. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts 'I Love Rock 'N Roll'
41. Ray Parker, Jr. 'The Other Woman'
40. Adam Ant 'Goody Two Shoes'
39. Pretenders 'Back On The Chain Gang'
38. David Bowie 'Cat People (Putting Out Fire)'
37. Thomas Dolby 'Europa and the Pirate Twins'
36. Mission of Burma 'Trem Two'
35. King Sunny Adé 'Ja Funmi'
34. Lou Reed 'My House'
33. Yaz 'Situation'
32. Kate Bush 'Houdini'
31. Paul McCartney 'Here Today'
30. The Gap Band 'You Dropped A Bomb On Me'
29. Peter Godwin 'Images of Heaven's
28. The Dream Syndicate 'Halloween'
27. The Waitresses 'I Know What Boys Like'
26. Peach Boys 'Don't Make Me Wait'
25. The Psychedelic Furs 'Love My Way'
24. Iron Maiden 'Hallowed Be Thy Name'
23. The Replacements 'Kids Don't Follow'
22. Romeo Void 'Never Say Never'
21. The Clash 'Rock The Casbah'
20. Roxy Music 'More Than This'
19. The Cure 'Let's Go To Bed'
18. Afrika Bambaata and the Soul Sonic Force 'Planet Rock'
17. Bruce Springsteen 'State Trooper's
16. Depeche Mode 'Just Can't Get Enough'
15. A Flock of Seagulls 'Space Age Love Song'
14. The Weather Girls 'It's Raining Men'
13. Marvin Gaye 'Sexual Healing'
12. The Human League 'Don't You Want Me'
11. Indeed 'Last Night A D.J. Saved My Life'
10. Culture Club 'Time (Clock Of The Heart)'
9. Grace Jones 'Nipple To The Bottle' (12" Version)
8. George Clinton 'Atomic Dog'
7. The Go-Go's 'Vacation'
6. New Order 'Temptation'
5. Duran Duran 'Hungry Like The Wolf'
4. R.E.M. 'Wolves, Lower'
3. Michael Jackson 'Billie Jean'
2. Prince 'Little Red Corvette'
1. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five 'The Message'

Links to videos from the article.

posted by the primroses were over (116 comments total)

Do we need to post every click baity Rolling Stone list? Probably not!

But Wednesdays run agonizingly slow in my world, and this one has videos to enjoy if list arguing is not your speed.
posted by the primroses were over at 5:30 AM on September 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

I enjoy a good low-stakes list argument.

Nothing here deeply offends me though. I love Steppin' Out and would put it much higher; but not everybody loves glockenspiel lead lines as much as I do.
posted by solarion at 5:52 AM on September 28, 2022 [18 favorites]

"Surprisingly, this isn't the only song on this list about hungry wolves."

This is a good list, and Rob Sheffield is a pretty entertaining writer. And I've never heard of a bunch of these songs, so that's fun. Thanks for posting!
posted by box at 6:03 AM on September 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

Do we need to post every click baity Rolling Stone list?

What somebody needs to do eventually is rank all the lists.... "The 100 Best 100 Best Lists of Rolling Stone"
posted by chavenet at 6:12 AM on September 28, 2022 [37 favorites]

The biggest surprise to me was how few of the songs were familiar to me - I only recognize 29 out of 100. Sure, I was 6-7 years old when all of these songs came out, but a lot of these seems like deep cuts.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 6:26 AM on September 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

Thank, you, I've discovered 21-645.
posted by dowcrag at 6:26 AM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Out of 100 entries in the list, only 20 are by women, or groups with at least as many women as men.

Disgusting.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:28 AM on September 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

* Joan Jett and the Blackhearts gets a pass because Joan Jett is the featured performer; the Blackhearts are men. If you remove her, then it's only 19 on the list.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:32 AM on September 28, 2022

Great to see Thomas Dolby's 'Europa and the Pirate Twins' get some recognition, for me it is the best thing he did in the 80s by far even if people bang on about 'She Blinded Me With Science' and 'Hyperactive!'
posted by GallonOfAlan at 6:41 AM on September 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

I love Steppin' Out and would put it much higher

LET US SWEAR ETERNAL FRIENDSHIP.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:44 AM on September 28, 2022 [20 favorites]

Now this is a real walk down memory lane for me. I became a radio DJ early in 1982, so almost every one of these rings a bell, although there are quite a few I haven't heard SINCE 1982!
posted by Miss Cellania at 6:45 AM on September 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

If you count "Maneater" there are at least four songs about carnivores eating people. I just think that's neat.
posted by credulous at 6:47 AM on September 28, 2022 [9 favorites]

Duran Duran's 'Hungry Like The Wolf' is my pick for best song of 1982. That's all I got other than 82 seemed to be the last year it was even remotely possible to separate songs from their videos.
posted by Beholder at 6:53 AM on September 28, 2022

Steppin' Out is such a great song. It's odd in that the electronics make it sound unlike most other Joe Jackson tunes. But when this pops up on the radio I always crank it up. "You can dress in pink and blue just like a child... and in a Yellow Taxi turn to me and smile... We'll be there in just a while..." Always gives me chills, but I'm a 51 year old simple man and I long for the old days that never were.
posted by SoberHighland at 6:56 AM on September 28, 2022 [28 favorites]

in 2042, will they be doing a list of the 100 best of 2022 ?
you know, much of the stuff that they routinely ignore for years in favor of safe acts that have a well-established reputation already?

I was very much there in 1982, and here in the states rock radio steered very much clear of most of this music, as did RS ... it's strange to see so many bands that, at that time, were only covered by melody maker and NME ... so any curious music listeners had to find a store with those to seek out any info

I guess it's just the nature of how things are continually re-defined looking backwards, I guess it's a common phenomenon in any art form, but it irks me a bit nonetheless even knowing that things will never ever change in that regard
posted by clandestiny's child at 6:57 AM on September 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

I'm not being snarky when I bemoan the absence of the Safety Dance. The fact that it didn't chart until the following year cannot scrub away its essential 1982-ness. Plus it is a synth-pop classic, and the 12" remix really is a major departure from the 7" version.

You can dance if you want to.
posted by YoungStencil at 7:01 AM on September 28, 2022 [33 favorites]

Rush ahead of Toto on a list of pop songs? Donald Fagen is rightfully ahead of both of them, but I'm not sure The Nightfly album qualifies at pop music, either.
posted by emelenjr at 7:01 AM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

The Nightfly is a great album, too. It's largely about nostalgia that never really was the way we think about it. It's not nostalgia—but it's about nostalgia.
posted by SoberHighland at 7:07 AM on September 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

How is this

R.E.M. 'Wolves, Lower'

higher than these

Marvin Gaye 'Sexual Healing'
The Human League 'Don't You Want Me'

I had to go over to YouTube to listen to that R.E.M. song and I still don't think I've ever heard it before. In 1982 I was deep into album rock (KBCO before it got ruined) so I can't believe 'Wolves, Lower' was a top five-worthy song. Otherwise, I'm fine with the top ten.

in 2042, will they be doing a list of the 100 best of 2022 ?

In 2042 the list will likely be dominated by acts which were heavily supported by iHeart (or whatever its new name will be by then). Basically a lot of songs which sound like they were created for TV commercials.
posted by fuse theorem at 7:11 AM on September 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

I mean, he did call REM the most influential American rock band of the last forty years. And although I love Marvin Gaye, I think 'Sexual Healing' (and, honestly, the whole Midnight Love album) is wildly overrated.

I also note that he says that, prior to King Sunny Ade, no artist from Africa had ever made such a splash in the US.

I was a little kid in 1982.

Were Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masakela less popular than I thought ('Grazing in the Grass' did go to #1 on the pop charts, he played Monterey Pop and the Harlem Cultural Festival, etc.), or was King Sunny Ade more popular?
posted by box at 7:26 AM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Nice to see Bad Brains and Hüsker Dü get some love, however underrated it may be.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:28 AM on September 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

Basically a lot of songs which sound like they were created for TV commercials.

oh !? can we expect a full album of skyrizzi remixes then ? ('i see nothing in a different way .....etc .... nothing is everythi-iii-iiing' ) heh

counter culture of today becomes culture of tomorrow, when it becomes further monetized and debased ... why wait 'till tomorrow though ?
posted by clandestiny's child at 7:31 AM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

counter culture of today becomes culture of tomorrow, when it becomes further monetized and debased ... why wait 'till tomorrow though ?

Well, Instacart is using No Diggedy.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:40 AM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I think both Trem Two and Let's Go to Bed are among the worst songs from their respective bands. A cheesy (instead of mysterious) synth line is how I identify bad Cure songs.

And Trem Two is kinda boring and moody when Secrets, the opener, is right there, is kind of a two-for-one deal. Bonus tracks Laugh the World Away has perhaps the best opening bass and drumline ever (!) though the singing isn't great and Progress has better lyrics.

I think Wolves, Lower is a great REM song, but I'd not put it that high either. It definitely has the 'feel' of an album track and Gardening at Night is available.

On the other hand, I agree with Temptation by New Order- Temptation might be their best song ever (yes better than Blue Monday), and Space Age Love song should have been Flock of Seagull's biggest hit - it's way cooler than I Ran.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:49 AM on September 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

Seconding the comment by The_Vegetables regarding the AFOS song. From a British perspective there were a few songs featured by UK artists which were not actually known as well back in their homeland. As well as a few American artists with their tunes. I'll be spending the day discovering new songs from 40 years ago.
posted by Webbster at 7:55 AM on September 28, 2022

When people make these lists, I wish they would provide their master criteria for the rankings. It's nice to read the little paragraph about each one, but what makes "White Wedding" so very much better than "I'm So Excited"? It can't be sheer influence since far less influential songs than either are higher up the list.

And what about really obvious things that don't make the list? Like, I'm not even talking deep cuts, but what makes "Rock The Casbah" - an equivocal song IYAM and far too fun for frat boys - better than "Should I Stay Or Should I Go"? (Really, what makes either of them better than "Overpowered By Funk", but certainly "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" is well-known.

I mean, I'm sure there's a case to be made and I'd really like to read that case.
posted by Frowner at 7:56 AM on September 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

And I mean, "Planet Rock" is a giant song; what is the logic for saying that it is very good indeed but less good than "Hungry Like The Wolf"? Less famous, yeah, but probably not actually less influential on the music we hear today. That's the stuff I'd like to know - why does this guy listen to these two and say "obviously Hungry Like The Wolf is better than Planet Rock by exactly this much".
posted by Frowner at 8:01 AM on September 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

So delighted to see Images of Heaven on this list. I moved to the UK in 1982 and I feel like so many of the songs I loved are just completely forgotten, and that's one nobody seems to remember but me.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 8:01 AM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm not going to argue about this list. I was 16 in 1982. The early 80s sucked in a lot of ways, but in some other ways, and music was one of them, it was a great time to be a teenager in her peak totally-into-music, this-shit-is-really-important phase, and this list takes me back there, even though there is a fair bit on it I'm not familiar with.

I remember vowing that I would never be uncool and fall out of familiarity with the music world like my parents had. This is a foolish vow that few teenagers will be able to keep. I certainly wasn't.

But I have a 15-year-old with a driving permit right now, and I spend a lot of time riding shotgun on his many errands and outings, and his playlists are fantastic. I'm getting familiar with a lot of the music that's big on tiktok and that the teens are otherwise into, and charmed every time something old or unexpected shows up.
posted by Well I never at 8:09 AM on September 28, 2022 [11 favorites]

All of you who are arguing with the list, however, are correct. Frowner is right about The Clash, for instance.
posted by Well I never at 8:11 AM on September 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

“Steppin' Out” being in the fifth quintile invalidates this list in toto.

“This Haunting 1982 Top 10 Hit From Mysterious Maestro Is TRAGICALLY Overlooked”—Professor of Rock, 16 September 2022
posted by ob1quixote at 8:13 AM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Silly OP, everybody knows that "pop music as we know it today" was invented in 1983, with Thriller.

Also, any list of 1982 hits that mentions Thomas Dolby and does not mention She Blinded Me With Science is just bullshit.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 8:15 AM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Steppin' Out is such a great song.

And paired with “Breaking Us in Two,” you’ve got one of the most powerful one-two punches in pop music.
posted by MrBadExample at 8:15 AM on September 28, 2022 [17 favorites]

I remember vowing that I would never be uncool and fall out of familiarity with the music world like my parents had. This is a foolish vow that few teenagers will be able to keep. I certainly wasn't.

I had a similar goal, which I have kind of managed to keep into my 50s. I'm totally out of touch with popular music now, but I keep exploring music and finding new things that I really like. Some of them are things I missed the first time around (Pharoah Sanders, for instance), some are new and popular (Khruangbin) or new and niche (Jukebox the Ghost, Carsie Blanton, Emma Swift, Mattiel, Mdou Moctar, Etran de L'Air, Automatic, and a bunch of retrowave/synthwave/darkwave bands...).

But the "music world" seems even more splintered than it was in the 80s, I'm not sure anybody could plausibly keep up with even a bulk of whatever passes for mainstream music today. If, indeed, there's actually a mainstream.

If we're defining it as "what the kids listen to" then... I'm totally uncool and out of touch, but that's OK. It's not made for me and my opinion about it probably isn't terribly relevant to anybody that's not me. I've got thousands of albums I do enjoy, and still care about. That's enough to keep me happy. I only regret that other people my age / in my circle couldn't care much less and I don't have anyone I can really connect with about it.

Which brings me back to the list - I love these discussions on metafilter because it's less lonely knowing that other people are equally passionate about these things even if our opinions don't mesh. You care! And I love you all for it.
posted by jzb at 8:22 AM on September 28, 2022 [9 favorites]

That's the stuff I'd like to know - why does this guy listen to these two and say "obviously Hungry Like The Wolf is better than Planet Rock by exactly this much".

this ... but x100 .... I dunno, as someone who loved albums and not songs ... I could never really understand why certain songs get picked up and others left behind .. it all seemed and still seems so .... arbitrary ... a lot of these bands made albums that were consistently great throughout, and I dunno why some people still prefer to hear +/or play one out of 10-12 songs ...

business drives so much of everything and always has, + I guess that's reflected on these lists in one or more ways, with both indirect and direct influences ... maybe it's a reminder not to always take the bait ...one person's list is like their own subjective encryption key of taste, maybe ... no two are alike and that, at least, is kinda cool
posted by clandestiny's child at 8:45 AM on September 28, 2022

I've never liked Sexual Healing. The lyrics are fine but the music is boring. Fight me.

These lists are fun and I think really only exist to create arguments and discussion. I mean, deciding that one song is better than another song is so subjective. I don't usually quibble about where a song is on the list but I might be disturbed that a certain song isn't on the list. Either way, it's all fun!
posted by ashbury at 8:51 AM on September 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

So much I could add here (but can't in the middle of a workday), so I'll just add this in for comparison: Billboard Top 100 for week of July 3, 1982. Several of the listed tracks above are on there, a few wouldn't be by definition, others did hit the mainstream charts at other times of the year. There's a venn diagram between what hipsters thought was important at the time, what the mass-market crowd in general was following, and what history may have consecrated as "important" since then. The overlaps and differences are interesting.
posted by gimonca at 8:52 AM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

in 2042, will they be doing a list of the 100 best of 2022 ?

To be comparable to this list, they'd have to be ranking the best songs of 2022 in the year 2062. And I'm quite positive I won't remember any of today's offerings by 2062 (entirely because I'll either be 100 years old or more likely quite a few years dead by then).
posted by hangashore at 8:52 AM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

The MTV angle on 1982 cannot be stressed enough. For 11 year old me, a new culture was formed and blasted into my home to watch every second it was available. I’m not sure someone who grew up in a digital availability world can really understand just how much we devoured this. It felt like there was just the stagnating classic rock music my parents listened to on the FM and vinyl, and then everything happened.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 8:52 AM on September 28, 2022 [8 favorites]

At least this list is just one guy - so he just personally likes Hungry Like the Wolf better than Africa. Fair enough. It's when it's done as a group effort, that also considers the songs against a vague 'zeitgeist' which involves sales, popularity, and lasting impact that it gets weird.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:53 AM on September 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

I was a Boston nightclub and radio DJ around this time and literally the ONLY reason I shall accept this list is because my buddies Mission of Burma are here.

However, if they were not, I would have many, many massive and whiny suggestions.

Also please invite me to the Joe Jackson fan club, for I also am hit in the guts with "you dress in pink and blue just like a child..."
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 8:54 AM on September 28, 2022 [8 favorites]

I think that most old people - I'm old now - should be "uncool and out of touch". Being old and out of touch in the "I don't keep up with everything like I did when I was eighteen" sense is good because it shows that you've formed yourself into a person. When you're eighteen, it's good that everything new is new and interesting - you're learning about the world, you don't have a lot of experience so you're looking for as much as you can get, you're picking and choosing among a huge variety of stuff. But the whole point is that you're becoming yourself.

The purest forms of mass culture cool are accessible mostly to the very young because the very young can approach them without memories or past experience getting in the way - everything is new and exciting and it's possible to believe in the moment, to believe in pop culture.

(Also, of course, it's good for the kids - who often have pretty ambivalent feelings about parent-age people - to be able to separate themselves a bit. That's why there are cool old people but few cool middle-aged people.)

Obviously if you like music the point isn't to smack the phone out of someone's hands if they show you a Tik-Tok, but by the time you're an Old you should in fact be able to pursue some well-developed interests and build on them. You don't need to keep up with every single new trend.

~~
On a selfish personal level, I find that I am not as into young-person topics anymore - songs about a young person's experience of love, sex, going out, fashion, peer relationships, etc just don't grab me the way they would have when I was younger. I mean, I think that's okay since I am not in fact twenty and it would be kind of weird to have the same feelings I did at the time, but it does mean that the music I like tends to be more abstract or about things/landscapes/experiences/history, and that is usually at least old-people-adjacent music.

~~
Also it occurred to me that Eddy Grant's Electric Avenue, which is about anti-police riots and racist violence in Brixton, also came out in 1982. When I was little and I'd hear it at random, I assumed that the whole "down in the street there is violence" thing was just one of those eighties "I am a tough bad boy pop singer" routines and didn't mean anything, but the song really changes when you realize that it's actually about something important.
posted by Frowner at 9:09 AM on September 28, 2022 [24 favorites]

So much I could add here (but can't in the middle of a workday), so I'll just add this in for comparison: Billboard Top 100 for week of July 3, 1982.

A lot of great pop songs on this list that aren't included in RS's:
Rosanna - Toto (In my opinion, a better song than Africa)
Hurts So Good - John Cougar
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
Caught Up In You - 38 Special
Tainted Love - Soft Cell (probably came out in 1981, judging by the number of weeks on the chart)
Only the Lonely - Motels
Paperlate - Genesis
867-5309 - Tommy Tutone (also probably came out in 1981)
Eye in the Sky - Alan Parsons Project (come on RS, what the hell?!)
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 9:15 AM on September 28, 2022 [12 favorites]

so I can't believe 'Wolves, Lower' was a top five-worthy song

I'm a little confused by this list as well. I get that the criteria was "songs released in 1982", but the author is kind of confusing "a great song from 1982" and "a great artist in 1982" and "an artist's first single in 1982 that will someday be a great artist".

Like, I love Green Gartside but "The Sweetest Girl" isn't a chart-worthy hit. Same for "Wolves, Lower". But both Scritti and R.E.M. will change the world in a few years after this.
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:21 AM on September 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

And paired with “Breaking Us in Two,” you’ve got one of the most powerful one-two punches in pop music.

Hell, the entire album slaps. Following those two songs on the album, you have a bossa-nova ode to hypochondria, a gorgeous song about gender roles, and then a kick-ass slow dance ballad to finish things up.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:22 AM on September 28, 2022 [8 favorites]

And I mean, "Planet Rock" is a giant song; what is the logic for saying that it is very good indeed but less good than "Hungry Like The Wolf"? Less famous, yeah, but probably not actually less influential on the music we hear today.

I was all ready to argue that "Planet Rock" should've been a lot higher, probably #1, then I saw what the #1 song was and grudgingly went, "Okay, fine, solid pick."

I don't agree with the placement of a lot of the other songs, but that's the nature of these sorts of lists.

Also, joining in on the "Steppin' Out" love (and yes, it's too low). The original is great, but Fantastic Plastic Machine's cover is my favorite version.
posted by May Kasahara at 9:23 AM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Obviously if you like music the point isn't to smack the phone out of someone's hands if they show you a Tik-Tok, but by the time you're an Old you should in fact be able to pursue some well-developed interests and build on them. You don't need to keep up with every single new trend.

I agree completely with this - but I hate it when some Olds (not you or me) say disdainful things about newer music. It's okay not to like some or all modern music, but that doesn't mean older-person musical taste is better than young-person musical taste.

Also it occurred to me that Eddy Grant's Electric Avenue, which is about anti-police riots and racist violence in Brixton, also came out in 1982.

I learned a while ago that Eddy Grant started out in the Equals, a mixed-race band from the late 1960s. Their big hit was "Baby Come Back", but they did the original version of "Police On My Back" that the Clash later covered.
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 9:24 AM on September 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

DJ Frankie Bones posted a top 100 dance tracks from 1982 — that he compiled in 1982 — in response. It has a lot more of what I like about 1982: D-Train, Sharon Brown, ESG … take me back!

Link here.
posted by wemayfreeze at 9:31 AM on September 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

Some things I might've included on a similar list, if I were going to make one, which I'm not, because 100 songs? Fuck that noise, that's like a part-time job:

Bad Religion - American Dream
Kate Bush - The Dreaming
Dead Kennedys - Well Paid Scientist
Tom Petty - You Got Lucky
Judas Priest - You've Got Another Thing Comin'
The Replacements - Kids Don't Follow
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Slowdive
Neil Young - Computer Age
posted by box at 9:36 AM on September 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

Spotify playlist
posted by chavenet at 9:52 AM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

Sneaking onto the chart at #98....if you're not fond of Toni Basil's "Mickey" for being an fairly overplayed earworm that year, you can switch to the Spanish version, which was also a megahit in 82/83.
posted by gimonca at 9:59 AM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Strange list. With the exception of New Order at #6 (too high to my mind -- I happen to LOVE their first album and this indicated a major shift in their sound) I've got to go to #22 before I find a track by a so-called white artist that I'd bother to cue up with any enthusiasm today, and then #38 before it's a white male singing lead ... and further than that before it's somebody one might call blatantly heterosexual.

I was there in 1982, twenty-two turning twenty-three, and though I was finding lots of great music, it generally wasn't coming from pop radio or music-vid TV. And even when I did like a hit song (Rock The Casbah comes to mind) it would be sure to get overplayed to the point of my becoming allergic.

This list of top 1982 EPs (extended play singles) from Rate Your Music gets far closer to what was good/great for me. Not that I was cool enough to be hip to everything on it, but the selections I do recognize (roughly half) get me excited about checking out those I don't.

I wonder what Marshall McLuhan would say.
posted by philip-random at 10:00 AM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

I was 14 in 1982, so this list in right there for me. I would never have heard many of these songs if not for MTV (I know, but it was really great in the early days) I lived in the boondocks of northern NJ where everyone listened to classic rock. MTV was my only exposure to anything alternative, or European, or just different. I loved it. those videos!! those dance routines!
posted by supermedusa at 10:07 AM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

So you're telling me that we're now so old that Rolling Stone has moved from worshipping 60s & 70s music on to 80s music? Cool, cool.

Whatever happened 40 years ago was The Best.
posted by medusa at 10:08 AM on September 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

As much as I find these lists to be pretty much foreign to my own musical history, putting the Message at number one was quite appropriate to me. It’s still brilliant.
posted by njohnson23 at 10:21 AM on September 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

Rosanna - Toto (In my opinion, a better song than Africa)

Yeah, there are a ton of better Toto songs. For my money, it’s “99” and “I Won’t Hold You Back.”

GO GO TOTO GO
posted by MrBadExample at 10:24 AM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I graduated high school in 1982 and I was surprised that there were so many songs I didn't recognize. This was also the first year I had access to MTV and it was a game changer. A lot of these songs got their popularity from MTV which I believe then led to radio airplay.
posted by wittgenstein at 10:27 AM on September 28, 2022

Oh and Houdini is a great Kate Bush song, but Sat in Your Lap is the standout on that album.
posted by wittgenstein at 10:29 AM on September 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

Eye in the Sky - Alan Parsons Project (come on RS, what the hell?!)

Speaking of enjoying entire albums and not just individual songs picked off them, one of my favorite listen-to-the-whole things albums from this era is APP I, Robot (came out in 1977, much too early for this list). I feel like I've never really run into anybody who likes APP as much as I did/do.
posted by Well I never at 10:32 AM on September 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

43. Modern English 'I Melt With You'

This is maybe 20 years ago. A friend and I are walking down Sunset in LA and Modern English is on the marquee. It's late and the cover is cheap, so we go in. The band is just finishing their penultimate song, something new that clearly no one recognizes. There is a pause. Then the singer sort of slumps in his mic in a defeated way and says, "I fucking hate this song. But it's the reason you're all here." And with that they break in I Melt with You.
posted by bassomatic at 10:57 AM on September 28, 2022 [14 favorites]

Modern English were/are an entirely okay band. I saw them a couple times back in the day. Title track from the album after Melt With You:

Ricochet Days
posted by philip-random at 11:03 AM on September 28, 2022

A Zlggy era pic with Cat People? NOOOOOO!!!!!
posted by brujita at 11:05 AM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

“Beyond Belief” is so good that I make a point of not listening to it too often. (And it’s not even my favorite Elvis Costello song.)

Please tell me if you’re familiar with that phenomenon.
posted by argonauta at 11:08 AM on September 28, 2022 [7 favorites]

Yeah, there are a ton of better Toto songs. For my money, it’s “99” and “I Won’t Hold You Back.”

You misspelled "Pamela," which has the same signature "bring it down and clap/snap/side stick on the 4" as "Rosanna"
posted by emelenjr at 11:22 AM on September 28, 2022

“Beyond Belief” is so good that I make a point of not listening to it too often. (And it’s not even my favorite Elvis Costello song.)

Please tell me if you’re familiar with that phenomenon.

I think you are me.

(It's not my favorite EC song either, by a long shot, but it may be his best song.)
posted by chavenet at 11:29 AM on September 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

"I fucking hate this song. But it's the reason you're all here."

About 15 years ago, I saw Vanessa Carlton open up for Stevie Nicks. No band, just her on a piano. She played about 7-8 songs without much of a response from the audience. Then she starts into the piano intro to "1000 Miles" and the audience goes nuts. She stops, sighs, says, "Yup, I'm that girl," and then continues.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 11:31 AM on September 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

Might be obscure to U.S. audiences, but L'Aventurier by Indochine was another 1982 landmark.
posted by gimonca at 11:31 AM on September 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

Oh yeah, nothing but love for “Pamela”

Hell, the entire album slaps.
DID WE JUST BECOME BEST FRIENDS?
posted by MrBadExample at 11:32 AM on September 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

"I fucking hate this song. But it's the reason you're all here."

I'm all there for their Quarantine Version, too.
posted by chavenet at 11:46 AM on September 28, 2022

Big-Jesus-Trash-Can was the first I'd ever heard of the Birthday Party, when the DJ substituted it for Altered Images' "Happy Birthday" for a natal anniversary dedication. Thank you, DJ, and kudos to RS for including it here.
posted by whuppy at 11:56 AM on September 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

putting the Message at number one was quite appropriate to me

For sure. Here's what rap music sounded like in 1982. It's... fine, but it would be a few years before we really hit the golden age. 'The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel'/'The Message' and 'Looking for the Perfect Beat'/'Planet Rock' were way ahead of their time.
posted by box at 12:07 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I think one good reason for keeping up with newer music acts, but not the most popular ones, is that the concerts are so much more affordable. You can sell a kidney in order to see a show from some 70 year-old who will give it their all but are still giving the all of a 70 year-old, or see a newer act for under $50 and have the chance to really get blown away.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:08 PM on September 28, 2022 [7 favorites]

1982 was the year that my spouse and I started going to NYC twice a year, in the fall and for her birthday June 11 on the reg. So "Steppin' Out" was sort of a theme song that brings back memories of good times the City. Riding back to our hotel drunk and not caring that the cab was doing 95 mph. Fantasizing about renting a limo and roaming the netherworlds of downtown at 3 a.m. with some champagne. We did manage to get into the Paradise Garage a few times and had a great time. At the time the Garage had the best sound system in NYC. Little did I know then that I would fill in for a DJ at SOB's for a summer in 1995 which is right around the corner from where the Garage used to be. I had been seeking the motherlode of African music for quite some time. The confluence of a trip to Guadeloupe and meeting an African DJ at SOB's was all that it took. I am so grateful for those experiences.
posted by DJZouke at 12:23 PM on September 28, 2022 [7 favorites]

This is such a great list! Rob Sheffield is a very good writer!

I think this stands really well in contrast to the recent (not sure if it was posted here or not) Top 100 songs of the 90s from Pitchfork. That list is FINE, but it's pretty predictable because of its a) dated poptimism and b) need to be everything to everyone and help define (or rather, reinforce) The Canon.

This RS list is so beautifully idiosyncratic. It's a music critic actually doing his job -- saying hey, I think I have good taste, here are things that I like and if you have the same taste as me, maybe you'll like them too. It's a mix of deep cuts and radio hits and I am 100% sure everyone who reads it will find a song on here they have never heard before. It has a point of view, which is something sorely missing in a lot of popular critical work these days, and the blurbs give wonderful, brief introductions to the obscurities and new insights into the classics (i.e. How did I never realize that "It's Tricky" was inspired by "Mickey?").
posted by StopMakingSense at 1:14 PM on September 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

Soooo....

Yeah, Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out" is the absolute bomb. The video made me fall in love with a fantastical New York City after years of hating it. It is one of few songs that can make me cry nostalgic tears of joy.

My biggest beef with this list is where in the hell is Squeeze?!? I'm pretty sure "Black Coffee in Bed" came out in '82.
posted by theseventhstranger at 1:21 PM on September 28, 2022 [8 favorites]

Da Da Da is on there and I am happy. It doesn't seem to make a lot of lists.
posted by evilmomlady at 1:26 PM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

When I was in college they let me have the last radio show of the night, three or four hours up 'til 1 a.m.
I would routinely end the evening with Steppin' Out into "Going Home" ... good memories.
posted by chavenet at 1:28 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Kind of related, Lost Notes 1980 is an excellent podcast about 80s music.
posted by latkes at 1:36 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

('It's Tricky' also has a huge 'My Sharona' sample.

Everlast, at that time a member of Ice-T's Rhyme Syndicate, would go on to use a very similar 'My Sharona' sample in his 'I Got the Knack.' He's said he probably dodged a bullet that it didn't become a hit--it would've steered him firmly in the direction of Vanilla Ice's career arc.

Instead, he went on to be in House of Pain for a few years before making some folky blues-rap albums, beefing with Eminem, etc.

And, speaking of 'My Sharona,' there's also this 1980 classic.)
posted by box at 1:38 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I surmise "Wolves, Lower" was chosen because it was re-recorded in 1982 to slow the tempo a bit, while the rest of the EP was recorded in 1981. Pretty sneaky, Rob.
posted by credulous at 1:43 PM on September 28, 2022

I've finally started reading TFA, watching as many of the videos as I can, and am now up to #84, suddenly remembering how much I love "Subdivisions".
posted by May Kasahara at 2:00 PM on September 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

Another thing about this list: it's very well written, as others have pointed out. Usually with any sort of ranked list of whatever, I read about the entries I'm interested in, and skim the rest, but everything here is made interesting thanks to the engaging writing, so I'm in for the long haul.
posted by May Kasahara at 2:17 PM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

I despair of any 'correct' list, but my hopes are:

1) from the 'pop music as we know it today' file, I'll be relieved if somebody hears New Frontier and finally gets my dated, obscure, reference that landed like a brick:
"Oh! Supalonely sounds like what if Donald Fagen did a producer collab with Billie Eilish". 'Who's Donald Fagen?'

2) I didn't click through to the video for Space Age Love Song, but I hope they used the one with Jennifer Connelly roller-skating through an empty Target.

3) Maybe this list will lead people to some of the various artists' deeper cuts; and things like Love Action will show up in the soundtrack for Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Roller Disco: the Movie.
posted by bartleby at 3:08 PM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

Lotta fellas don't know that actually "Sweetest Girl" is not at all the best track on Scritti Politti's Songs To Remember and that most people prefer the far more interesting Asylums In Jerusalem or Jacques Derrida.

Further, if you like those songs you may also like their old recordings, collected on Early.

Honestly, their later stuff has never really interested me - I know it's supposed to be super formally sophisticated top-grade radio pop but their early stuff is so funny and witty and weird. Not, as it were, radio-friendly.

He's like Tom Verlaine, a very handsome smart guy who got record company attention for some interesting early stuff and who really wanted to be a star for some reason but turned out to be smart in the wrong way.
posted by Frowner at 3:32 PM on September 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

I could easily find a place for Man Parrish on the list, though I also agree with a lot of positive comments and suggestions here.
posted by Wobbuffet at 3:42 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I may not have been a teenager in 1982, so take this with that particular grain of salt, but a lot of pleasant surprises on this list. Sure, I'd put Rock the Casbah in the top 10 at least, but, hey we got the Replacements in the top 25! And Hüsker Dü actually on the list! And, of course, as an aging DC hipster punk dirtbag, really love the DC representation here: Bad Brains, Trouble Funk, hell—Void!

Temptation by New Order: one of my all-time favorites. Don't see that one on a lot of best-of lists despite it being extremely deserving. Definitely belongs in the top 10.

Sucks that Afrika Bambaataa is a real shitbag, because Planet Rock is a revelation. Michael Jackson too, as Billie Jean has the best beat of all time. But, art, artists, separate, yeah.

A few from artists whose earlier work I wasn't really that well area of: turns out I really, really like Wolves, Lower (and the whole record, now that I've listened to the entirety of it this afternoon), and that Madonna track actually rules.

Totally better than that Pitchfork 90s list — in fact, I'd say that the top ten here is pretty on-point, whereas the Pitchfork top 10 is kind of, actually totally is, a joke.

Been a really nice afternoon listening to some pretty great jams from a pretty interesting period in (US) music. Thanks for the post.
posted by General Malaise at 4:09 PM on September 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

This is fun, thanks for posting, and all the great comments (in agreement or no).
One thing I appreciate about a list like this is the time capsule/of-its-time aspect. To me, there's a fair amount of corporate pop junk mixed in with new wave, punk, dance, and what used to be called world music. Just like when a DJ would sneak in something not sung in English by a white guy; when they would play a song you'd never heard before instead of That Song they'd play every hour.

Oh, and, for the comment re: Marvin Gaye Sexual Healing: I, too, do not like the album version. The music is another version of something kinda bubblegummy poppy from a Michael Jackson track (same producer). I've had this version on my play lists for a long time, and it's much better: Marvin Gaye Sexual Healing isolated vocals
posted by winesong at 4:44 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

This list was way better than the last list (100 random TV shows) because it was well defined: 100 songs from 1982. It was well-written and left me wanting to hear the songs I didn't know. I don't care if I don't agree with the order because who ever does?
posted by acrasis at 4:45 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the way I generally deal with order on these lists is just assume that everything is tied for first.

(although in this case, The Message definitely deserves its crown)
posted by General Malaise at 5:01 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

A bit off the original topic, but: I would love to hear about the tracks that have come out in 2022 that you think people will be talking about in 2062, or deserve to be talked about in 2062.
posted by phooky at 6:55 PM on September 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

As someone who was a 'very young adult' in 1982, I can describe the music scene as being at an inflection point. A lot of old stuff was going away, a lot of previously avant-garde or subcultural stuff was becoming mainstream, and newer trends were being born.

Disco had been pronounced dead (it wasn't--it just retreated into clubs--but it was believed to be gone). Previously mainstream R&B was being buried by new outbursts, both the first notable figures of rap and the more rock-oriented sounds in vogue (Prince, Rick James, and yes, Michael Jackson). A lot of classic rock of the 60s and 70s was going or gone. Even the brief wave of what we call "yacht rock" today had petered out.

Instead, a whole variety of new trends broke out of their underground scenes and into the mainstream. Not knowing what to do with them all, media commenters would lump them all into "new wave", fairly or unfairly. A few genuinely "new wave" artists had already broken through, notably Blondie, but 82 was when a full variety of post-punk, or new romantics, or synthpop artists were making themselves the core of a new mainstream.

New movements were coming about as well, either good or disappointing, depending on your tastes. This was the dawn of "college rock", from early R.E.M. to the Violent Femmes to the first efforts by the Replacements or Husker Du. The first stirrings of sophisti-pop also happened about this time, Elvis Costello's 'Imperial Bedroom' being a harbinger, but this also included Martin Fry of ABC, Heaven 17 and the turn in style of Spandau Ballet, not to mention Mr. Paul Weller's impending departure from The Jam to form the brilliant Style Council. The early stirrings of goth were afoot already and gaining ground. If you look ahead a bit, the revival of heavy metal was right around the corner (but that was maybe more of an 83 event).

In summary, if you were a hipster record store clerk -- what a time to be alive!
posted by gimonca at 6:58 PM on September 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

What I remember at street level: record shops full of posters for George Clinton's "Computer Games". The video for "Atomic Dog" is worth a revisit--it's both deliciously, stereotypically 80s at the same time that it's still fresh and forward-looking, in its own way. And still, I don't know, fun?

In the midst of all that change, maybe the best way to go was just to be your own person and let your flag fly.

George Clinton: Atomic Dog
posted by gimonca at 7:13 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

One more link: for the generation immediately after, I think this is how they know Trio's 'Da Da Da'.
posted by gimonca at 7:18 PM on September 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

This list is completely wrong for leaving out Lyin' in a Bed of Fire, the best song on an amazing, sadly underrated solo debut by Stevie Van Zandt. Hugely influential too.

Also, second the question about what criteria lead to this list.
posted by billsaysthis at 8:46 PM on September 28, 2022

This list was way better than the last list because it was well defined: 100 songs from 1982.
what a time to be alive!

It's little bit like that thought experiment, "You're a kid. With enough birthday money to go see one movie. It's the summer of 1985. What do you pick?"
Now that would be a thread.
posted by bartleby at 9:17 PM on September 28, 2022

It's the summer of 1985. What do you pick?

(Milhouse voice) Stick! Stick!
posted by credulous at 9:55 PM on September 28, 2022

from the deep archives, a few key selections from 82 that want to be noted (not necessarily singles):

Laurie Anderson - Big Science
Laurie Anderson, who no one I know has ever heard of, has suddenly painted a picture of the future, equal parts strange and beautiful, yet already haunted. The whole album‘s a gem but the title track deserves special mention for the way it delivers this future — all shopping malls, drive-in banks and every man for himself. And yodeling, hallelujah to that,

Translator - everywhere that I'm not
Everywhere That I’m Not is pretty much perfect, the kind of pop nugget that shoulda-woulda-coulda been huge if the music biz of 1982 actually cared about quality, which it didn’t.

Bill Laswell - upright man
Bill Laswell‘s discography (whether working with Material or solo or any number of other configurations) goes magnitudes deeper and wider than the combined talents of some entire nations, with 1982’s Baselines being his first official solo effort. In the case of Upright Man, that meant laying down a funky, not too busy groove, then dropping in a few samples from the Old Testament to overall cool and mysterious effect.

Monsoon - ever so lonely
Somebody told me a while back that Monsoon‘s Ever So Lonely was the first official World Music hit, whatever that means. Because it’s not as if they had a World Music chart back in 1982. Do they even have one now? I hope not. I mean, it’s all world music anyway, isn’t it? Which isn’t to say Ever So Lonely wasn’t one of the freshest things I’d ever heard when it first crossed my path.

Fun Boy Three - the lunatics have taken over the asylum
The clinic full of cynics have had their way, the lunatics are in control, we’re all gonna die. No party was complete without it.

Flipper - sex bomb
The album is called Generic. The contents are anything but, the band known as Flipper being one of those outfits that weren’t exactly punk, except what else could they be, except maybe one of the all time essential party outfits?

Malcolm McLaren - Buffalo Gals
I’ll always remember the party where I first heard Buffalo Gals, a friend’s place, everyone trying to get excited about Elvis Costello or whoever and suddenly this other tape got put on. So weird and fun that all you could do was dance to it.

Clash - Straight to Hell
Combat Rock is far from the Clash’s best album. Yet Straight To Hell may well be their best single song, working an oddly open groove to make room for a gush of Joe Strummer passion and consciousness that manages to cover all manner of unstable ground from British Colonialism to American interventionism to junkiedom to everything else.

Wall of Voodoo - lost weekend
As I remember hearing it, Wall of Voodoo started out wanting to make movie soundtrack music, but somewhere along the line, they just started making their own movies, in the form of songs. Case in point: Lost Weekend. It may be only four of so minutes long on record, but it’s feature length where it matters, in my soul and imagination.

XTC - Jason + the Argonauts
Five albums into their career and XTC were simultaneously sick to death (literally) of the obligatory punk-pop-new-wave bullshit and ready for something big. And big was definitely the word for English Settlement, a double album at a time when bands just didn’t do that anymore.

Rank + File - the conductor wore black
They called Rank + File cowpunk at the time of their first album, because key members, Chip and Tony Kinman had previously done time in punk contenders The Dils. But it was really just kickass countrified rock and roll. Big beat, lots of twang, and in the case of The Conductor Wore Black, a train to hell, like there’s anywhere else for a train to go.

Bauhaus - Lagartija Nick
Bauhaus were one of those rare bands who were so confident in the songwriting and performing categories that they could casually release something as raw and nasty and good as Lagartija Nick and not even bother to include it on an album.

Mike Oldfield - five miles out
Five Miles Out (found on the album of the same name) definitely rates, if nothing else, as one of the weirder singles to ever at least flirt with the charts. Ethereal vocals c/o Maggie Reilly, vocoder and metal licks c/o Mr. Oldfield, and a story being told of a small airplane caught out in hurricane weather. Or if you’re thinking metaphorically, it’s about any of us at a crisis point.

Holger Czukay + Jaki Liebezeit + Jah Wobble - how much are they?
As the story goes, Jah Wobble‘s dream was to somehow hook up with Can’s rhythm section (Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit) and make a record, which he finally pulled off for Full Circle. Except he took the record company’s advance money, blew it all on drugs, alcohol, other stupid stuff, and neglected to pay his heroes, who he then avoided for years out of shame. But the album still stands, one of the best of 1982, or any other year for that matter. How Much Are They? was the single.
posted by philip-random at 9:59 PM on September 28, 2022 [12 favorites]

Personally I much prefer the album version of "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)". It's fiery, it's angry, and it has Stevie Ray Vaughn. I'm not anti-Moroder, but I find that version dreary. And I would have chosen "Gardening at Night" from the Chronic EP (and put REM lower down). Still a pretty good list.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:23 PM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

I turned 15 in 1982 and was a loyal member of the MTV Generation in that second year of its existence. Any list that purports to talk about the advent of Pop music that year and omits Pat Benatar is highly sus. Her album Get Nervous dropped in November of that year and the song Shadows of the Night won her a Grammy.

I defy anyone to watch the music video for that song and not be transported back to the day in the Golden Age of MTV when there was a perfect marriage of Benatar’s musical chops with that innovation in short-form video storytelling, tailor-made to usher in a new era of Pop.
posted by darkstar at 10:38 PM on September 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

OMG…after further research, Benatar’s Grammy was for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. So not a Pop song, per se. And it was itself a cover.

So, in conclusion, I guess I just dig Pat Benatar.
posted by darkstar at 10:50 PM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

I was also 15 in 1982 and can vouch for the music I liked at the time, the music I thought I was now too cool for as a 15 year old and the music I was too uncool for at the time but got into later; great year.

However - checking the UK list of number 1 singles - I see another category that Rolling Stone have missed out and which we must confront:
Save your Love - Rene and Renato
I've never been to me - Charlene
Seven Tears - The Goombay Dance Band
A Little Peace - Nicole
Oh Julie - Shakin Stevens
The Land of Make Believe - Bucks Fizz
posted by rongorongo at 12:21 AM on September 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have a few more nominations, on reflection:
Category: Supplemental Vince Clarke genius:
The Meaning of Love - Depeche Mode
Bad Connection - Yazoo
Category: Songs Learnt from the John Peel Show:
Lion Rock - Culture
Wax and Wane - The CocteauTwins
Planned Obsolescence - 10,000 maniacs
Category: Slightly embarrassing soundtracks to teenage infatuations
On the Wings of Love - Jeffrey Osbourne
Hard to Say I'm Sorry - Chicago
Jack and Diane - John Cougar Mellencamp
Category: Other Stuff for the Dancefloor (even if I'm the only one dancing):
Filhos De Gandhi - Clara Nunes
Save it For Later - The Beat
Joy - After the Fire
Cake - B52s
Add it Up - The Violent Femmes
Raga Yaman - Charanjit Singh
posted by rongorongo at 3:05 AM on September 29, 2022 [5 favorites]

A bit off the original topic, but: I would love to hear about the tracks that have come out in 2022 that you think people will be talking about in 2062, or deserve to be talked about in 2062.

Madison Cunningham's "Hospital" or, really, anything off her new album. My favorites are "All I've Ever Known" (I was at that concert!) and "In From Japan".

Also, I'll catch hell for this, but I actually think Harry Styles' "Harry's House" album is good and will stand the test of time.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 8:13 AM on September 29, 2022

1982 punk albums that I don't think have been mentioned yet:

Black Flag - Everything Went Black
Crass - Christ: The Album
Descendents - Milo Goes to College
Fear - The Record
The Gun Club - Miami
MDC - Millions of Dead Cops

posted by box at 8:55 AM on September 29, 2022 [4 favorites]

I'll catch hell for this, but I actually think Harry Styles' "Harry's House" album is good and will stand the test of time.

Harry Styles has milkshake ducked himself a bit for me with his queerbaiting and the press circus surrounding his movies, but his music is fairly solid. (I played some of Harry's House for my boyfriend, who thought it was Vampire Weekend.)
posted by pxe2000 at 9:02 AM on September 29, 2022

Yet another 1982 debut: Prefab Sprout: Lions in My Own Garden (Exit Someone)
posted by gimonca at 10:14 AM on September 29, 2022

Seeing all the Joe Jackson callouts in the comments warms my heart - I find the guy criminally underrated in his time. Night and Day was such an amazing album, and what really stands out for me was Sue Hadjopoulos' percussion work, which hits you like a brick in the opening track Another World.
posted by Marco Polo's Lost Codpiece at 3:06 PM on September 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

1982 was also the year Game Theory released Blaze of Glory with Bad Year at UCLA and released an ok version of Beach State Rocking, which are possibly the most college songs ever- the lyrics consist of snippets of art, economics, literature, politics, and the most chords you can possibly play on a guitar all combined to be great and cohesive, while also being sardonically funny: "There's a million things to think about as you're cutting off your ear".
posted by The_Vegetables at 3:11 PM on September 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

I was a teenager in 1982 and had several favorites from this list. But it's funny how music distribution/exposure worked back then--I wouldn't have thought all of these songs actually came from the same year. Listening to punk and new wave on college and community radio and plundering alternative record stores for imports vs. MOR rock radio/top 40. Some of this was much more difficult to be exposed to. And would we get this range of musical styles in taking a sample of popular 2022 music?
posted by amusebuche at 6:19 PM on September 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Like with most RS lists, you could flip this one back to front without changing its accuracy or relevance. Would anyone be the wiser?
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 10:39 PM on September 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

There is, of course, a robust industry of artists on this list who continue to play their 1982 hits. Some interesting re-interpretations out there:
'Space Age Love Song' - A Flock Of Seagulls - (With the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra) - as mentioned
'Add It Up'- The Violent Femmes - 2016 (with strategic deployment of a Weber grill)
'Stepping Out' - Jo Jackson - live 2019
'Never Say Never' - Romeo Void - 2013
'Beyond Belief' - Elvis Costello - 2012
'Kids in America' - Kim Wilde - 2019
'Hungry Like the Wolf' - Duran Duran - 2013
'Love my way' - The Psychedelic Furs - 2021
posted by rongorongo at 11:49 PM on September 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

There's probably no point in arguing, but I did have a couple of moments where I thought, "Why would you choose that song when you could have chosen this song by the same band?" In particular, why pick "Let's Go To Bed" when you can have "The Hanging Garden"?

(If you like the New Wavy side of this list, I urge you to check out the songs on LA radio station KROQ's Top 106.7 of 1982.)
posted by The Tensor at 1:12 AM on September 30, 2022 [1 favorite]

philip-random, any list that includes both Bill Laswell and Jah Wobble tops my list and allows me to recommend their superb 2001 collaboration Radioaxiom A Dub Transmission.
posted by bassomatic at 4:01 AM on September 30, 2022 [2 favorites]

bass is the place
posted by philip-random at 8:59 AM on September 30, 2022

(If you like the New Wavy side of this list, I urge you to check out the songs on LA radio station KROQ's Top 106.7 of 1982.)

Look at the 1982 list vs the current most popular list. Green Day #2, Sublime #11. Yikes.
posted by The_Vegetables at 3:28 PM on September 30, 2022

bass is the place

...with the angry hardcore band?
posted by The Tensor at 6:56 PM on October 3, 2022 [3 favorites]