'80s Memories

It was 1981 when the Buggles christened an upstart cable station called MTV with their quirky fortune-teller "Video Killed the Radio Star" and burned their place into the collective pop brainpan. As did all of our '80s Memories Basics, which pack the power to conjure the flavor of that now-distant time, whether it's the winking sex appeal of Robert Palmer's pulsating habit-former "Addicted to Love," the retro noir glamour of Kim Carnes' eternal karaoke classic "Bette Davis Eyes," or the sunny SoCal bounce of the Go-Go's and their bubble-punk anthem "Our Lips Are Sealed."

Ten years is a long time — hit Next Steps for more of the decade's most memorable tunes.

When we say "1980s," what do you think? If the answer is "Girls on Film" and not "Reaganomics," have we got the playlist for you! Let's face it, for a lot of us, Duran Duran is as much a high point of the decade as the fall of the Berlin Wall. The space shuttle may have launched its first mission in '81, but Blondie traveled out of this world simply by mixing rap and downtown dance moves for chart-seizing "Rapture." And while Mt. St. Helens kicked off the decade with a volcanic eruption, Cyndi Lauper's "She Bop" — about a different kind of seismic event — caused just as much of a sensation.

Even more '80s moments await in Deep Cuts.

It's tough to pin down one defining sound of the '80s — to choose between, say, the skinny-tie synth of Kim Wilde's new wave classic "Kids in America," the playful punk-pop of Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy," or even the swoon-bait ache of Air Supply's "All Out of Love." That's why we're going with all of the above, and more — with ten years' worth of '80s Memories, there's no need to choose between the haunting twilight beauty of "Under the Milky Way" by the Church, the furious flashdance fire of "Maniac" by Michael Sembello, or the new-school blue-eyed soul of "Holding Back the Years" by Simply Red.

Whether you were there to witness it all, or need a little help collecting the sonic touchstones from a time before your own, our '80s Memories Essentials gather together the musical milestones of a decade. It's all here, from the early hits of stone superstars (Madonna's "Borderline," U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday") to the brief flashes of glory from '80s one-hit wonders (Nena's "99 Luftballons," a-ha's "Take on Me"). Fire up "We Are the World" by U.S.A. for Africa and remember a time when the greats gathered together for something bigger than themselves, and when even little guys could score with a sweet pop nugget like Dexy's Midnight Runners' "Come on Eileen." From the soaring chorus of Night Ranger's power ballad "Sister Christian" to the awesomely strange sci-fi strains of "Mr. Roboto" by Styx, we make total recall as simple as a download.