Three Tune Tuesday: The most 80s 80s Songs
I don't often do a three tune Tuesday post but occasionally inspiration strikes...or at least I get an idea. This list of "The most 80s 80s songs" has been one I've been thinking about for a little while but it is almost impossible to limit this to three songs...maybe I'll do a follow-up or few in the future.
The first song I picked is 'The Safety Dance' by 'Men In Hats'. Men In Hats was a one hit wonder, another concept that really gained awareness in the 1980s. This has to be one of the most ridiculous videos and songs ever created. In fact, if I didn't know better, I would almost think this was a parody of 80s songs. Despite awkward lyrics like 'we can dance, we can dance, everybody look at your hands', it's amazingly catchy. What is a safety dance and what is going on in this video? I'm not sure but it definitely seems like one of the most 80s things ever made.
The second song comes from the the king of 80s soundtracks, Kenny Loggins. The 1980s was really the decade in which movie soundtracks really took off. For a while, it seemed like Kenny Loggins was in all of them. He had hit songs in Caddyshack, Footloose, Top Gun, Over The Top, and One Fine Day among others. It's Top Gun that 'Danger Zone' comes from and it's my personal favorite of his. And of course the video has some scenes from an awesome 80s movie.
Speaking of parodies, I picked a Weird Al song for my third pick. Weird Al first becae popular in the 1980s and there is still no musician that combines comedy and music with anything remotely resembling the success with which Weird Al does. This is a style of music that could probably have only gained the success it did in the 1980s. 'Eat It' isn't even close to my favorite song of his but it was one of his earliest massive hits and it won him his first Grammy. It's also a parody of one of the biggest 1980s hits from one of the biggest 1980s artists. Weird Al is not only brialliant at parodying the music of others but writes awesome original tunes as well.
I could probably easily come up with a 100 songs in this category but for now, I will leave you with these three.
Curated Thanks for using Ecency!
I think your choices are spot on. I remember how popular Danger Zone was but these days when I hear it I just want to turn it off. Eat It and other Weird Al songs always appeal to me but I enjoy his originals more than his parodies a lot of the time. He is actually a very gifted singer and songwriter but his originals never get as much attention. He also is clearly very intelligent as is exhibited in his lyrics. Word Crimes is one that I think is very smart and more entertaining than the song it is parodying
My Wierd Al knowledge was limited to Michael Jackson and Madonna parody ("Like a Surgeon" 😄).
I learned he had written a song, "Foil", when I saw this from Foundring.
I got a chance to see Weird Al a couple years ago as part of his "The Unfortunate Return of the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour". The unique thing about this tour was that he only played his original songs. It was at least an hour and a half set and he played every original I can thing of including one of my personal favorites, Christmas at Ground Zero. As far as his parodies go, I think pretty much all of them are better than the originals...Amish Paradise, White and Nerdy, Tacky, Word Crimes, I lost on Jeopardy, Eat It...the list goes on.
I often do eighties for #ThreeTuneTuesday too! I’ll make sure I drop by to see what you pick weekly.
My votes low so I sent you a bonus tip!
2 HSBI!
Classic choices. It's impossible to pick just three, there are too many iconic tracks from that era. Definitely agree on Danger Zone being the peak of 80s soundtracks.
Thanks for the smile this brought to me. I loved The Safety Dance. !BBH