Five songs from the 1980s that were years ahead of their time

Posted On April 25, 2025April 25, 2025

The 1980s were a monolithic era for music. If it’s true that the quality of music soars when society feels particularly dire, the surge of immense talent throughout the decade makes complete sense. After all, through several deeply ingrained political and societal crises and an industry in turmoil, the decade fought back with timeless tunes and immense, unthinkable musical innovation.

In fact, narrowing down the best tunes of the ’80s to a smaller number feels nearly impossible, which is also why hundreds of collected lists exist—there’s just too much. After all, in one corner you’ve got New Order, Depeche Mode, The Cure, and so on, and in another corner exist Annie Lennox, Eurythmics, Kate Bush, George Michael, and many, many more.

David Bowie also delivered timeless tracks like ‘Let’s Dance’, while The Police shattered pop-rock expectations with ‘Every Breath You Take’ and ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’. The point is, to many people, the ’80s were the best-ever decade for music. The familiarity is unparalleled and many of the songs still linger on radio airwaves today.

But what about the ones with a little extra sprinkling of magic that felt inexplicably ahead of their time? What about those that came from deeply connected minds, who knew, more than most, what would withstand the test of time? While many ’80s hits could be considered long ahead of their time, here are five that felt just that little bit more explosive beyond the confines of a simple, of-its-time recording.

Five songs from the 1980s that were years ahead of their time

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