'80s Love Songs

If the '80s make you think less about the fall of the Berlin Wall than how hard you fell for the girl in the hall, then listen up — we've got the Essential tube-skirted and skinny-tied songs of love from an era when Her Madgesty was just a bleach-blonde lass in love ( "Crazy for You"), and neon diva Cyndi Lauper dropped her so-unusual '80s shtick to lay down the eternal tune of devotion, "Time After Time." Today, Peter Gabriel's romantic soundscape "In Your Eyes" is still a great way to tell your loved one you'd gladly tumble into that world within, while Marvin Gaye takes it from there with the fail-safe, night-of-love standard "Sexual Healing."

Grab onto your special one's hand — we've got more time traveling to do in Next Steps.

After all these years, poor Richard Marx is still "Right Here Waiting," so don't leave the man hanging. Prove your adoration for '80s love songs and get with LL Cool J and his smoove rap plea "I Need Love." Mingle hearts and souls with your beloved just like Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville meld lilting voices on a lush and lovely "Don't Know Much." Remind him that he can still stop your heart with Berlin's "Take My Breath Away," and let the INXS steamer "Never Tear Us Apart" tell her how a couple of decades is just a drop in the bucket compared to the years you want to spend with her.

"Do That to Me One More Time" sing Captain & Tennille on their groovy pop smoothie, but why settle for once when there's a whole other Deep Cuts playlist?

The Style Council goes retro squared with the classic-soul sounds of "You're the Best Thing," and score a timeless love offering in the process — that's our [i]'80s Love Songs[/i] in a nutshell, with tracks that recall a moment in time (the yacht-rock flow of Pablo Cruise's "Cool Love," the sweet ska-pop of Madness and "It Must Be Love") while remaining as true and fresh as the passion currently pounding in your heart. That means your time-tested soundtrack d'amour always plays just right, whether Rick James & Teena Marie's "Fire and Desire" is stoking a here-and-now blaze, or you're waltzing through life to the tune of Anne Murray's "Could I Have This Dance."

You want him to know that you can still see it, the sight of him all hunked out in his Members Only jacket. You need a way to tell her you can still smell the sweet perfume of her Aqua Net hairspray as she brushes past you, bangs teased nigh on to heaven. Then again, maybe you just want to tune in to the sounds that led to your very creation. Enter [i]'80s Love Songs[/i], with ten years' worth of passionate pop (George Michael's "Careless Whisper"), pulse-pounding power ballads (Journey's "Open Arms"), and slow-burn soul seductions (Freddie Jackson's "You Are My Lady"). The decade may be long gone, but with our passion-packed set of everything from swoon-bait dance beats (Modern English's "I Melt With You") to intimate R&B invitations (Luther Vandross' "Here and Now"), you can make the music last all night. [i]All[/i] night.