Classic 80's Music Reviews

1. Welcome to The Jungle - Guns N' Roses: This song, and video personified Axl Rose. Millions of angry kids raced to the mall to buy Appetite for Destruction after the video, depicting a hayseed from India arriving on a greyhound bus in tinsel town, lit up MTV well after midnight in 1987. MTV never planned to air it until Geffen Records owner asked them to as a favor. The favor was payed back in full as Guns' N' Roses reigned as the biggest band in the world for five years.

2. Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses: As much as the hard rockin' bad boys of GN'R may blush at the thought, it was this soft, love soaked anthem that catapulted Guns n' Roses to a world wide phenomenon. Based on a poem written by Axl Roses' to his then girlfriend Erin Everly, this radio friendly song still breaks girl's hearts who weren't even born when the song came out.

3. Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran: Considered one of the greatest videos of it's time, and a parody of Raiders of the Lost Ark, this disco hit rocketed Duran Duran across the Atlantic and into the hearts of every teen aged girl in America. The lyrics made no sense, but no one seemed to care with the shear disco madness of the beat and sound, not to mention the band's cover boy looks.

4. Rio - Duran Duran: I remember some girls in the 6th grade doing a project just to have an excuse to show the video for this song in class. Based on singer Simon Lebon's writings on a napkin after watching a waitress at the Rum Rummer bar in Birmingham England, this song became the title of their smash record, and a hit video depicting the pretty Duran boys moving effortlessly across the sandy floor and a sailboat of the sun drenched island of Antigua. After the video came out on MTV, Duran Duran reached a brief period of "Beatlemania" as the New York police had to cordon off a section of road near a record store where they made a publicly announced appearance.

5. Material Girl - Madonna: Another anthem of the 80's. No one could resist Madonna's bluntly honest, and catchy tune about unapologetic materialism in the 80's. At least she was no phony as she was a material girl at heart.

6. Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper: This former clothing retail worker tapped into the spirit of every 80's teen aged girl wrestling with their parents who wanted their precious daughters protected in a tower somewhere while the girl yearned to engage in what really mattered: the moment.

7. We're Not Going to Take it - Twisted Sister: For testosterone plagued, angry adolescent males, nothing could have been more cathartic than this anthem about challenging authority and ruthless Independence.

8. Beat It - Michael Jackson: Ahhh, old school Michael Jackson - back when he looked human! This tune had an irresistible beat followed and one of the greatest guitar solos ever by Eddie Van Halen along with a video showing the futility of gang fighting. Michael Jackson had it right - who cares whose right or wrong, just walk away.

9. Love is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar: A meek and petite opera trained waitress/lounge singer was transformed into a star and manufactured into a tough girl even in songs about love, and nothing could be truer than the premise of this song about the emotional war you go through in that game we call love. ",,,Heartache to heartache we stand, no promises no demands, love is a battlefield."

10. Girls, Girls, Girls - Motley Crue: Nobody delighted in the hedonistic 80's lifestyle more than the crue, and no song personified their non-narcotic related interests than this song taking you on a road trip to the best strip joints in the United States. A classic that will be played in strip clubs as long as they exist. Chances are lead singer Vince Neil mentioned a strip club near your neck of the woods.

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