@Angelo Yeates

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Discover new music from artists we think you'll like. Refreshed every Friday.

What if You Had a Universal Remote... That Controlled Your Universe?

Some of the biggest, most career-making hits of the '80s made their splash onto the charts thanks the soundtracks to major motion pictures. Pop on this playlist full of cinematic songs from artists like Kenny Loggins, Irene Cara, and Peter Cetera and feel the movie magic.

Get physical with caffeinated tunes from the ’80s. This playlist is updated regularly with the biggest hits of the ’80s. If you hear something you like, add it to your library.

Rediscover the chart-toppers, classics and lost favourites from the '80s. Our editors regularly update this playlist—if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

Memes don’t lie: hair really was that big in the ’80s. And so was the rock. Dive into the decade’s classic tunes, and you’ll find yourself lost in an ocean of soaring choruses, in-your-face production values, humongous drums and epic synthesisers. Just about every A-lister—Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Tom Petty, Journey, Guns N’ Roses, U2, you name it—conquered the charts and MTV with larger-than-life anthems. But it wasn’t just size that mattered; in contrast to the earthy introspection that dominated the ’70s, the ’80s were all about fun. Joan Jett raised her fists to rock ’n’ roll, while heartland icon John Mellencamp howled about sucking down chilli dogs. Even R.E.M., the toast of the alternative-rock scene at the time, were having a blast proclaiming the end of the world. Of course, the world didn’t end, and the ’80s gave way to the much more angsty ’90s, but not before leaving behind some of rock’s most colourful and energetic jams.

Following the seismic explosion of punk in the late ‘70s, the aftershocks continued to ripple into the next decade, reshaping the mainstream in the process. The result was alternative rock: music that was too offbeat to conform to traditional guitar-band archetypes, yet too insidiously melodic and sonically ambitious to be confined to the indie underground. First-wave punks like The Clash and Talking Heads paved the way when they started taking cues from dance music and became early MTV stars, while post-punk-spawned acts like U2 and R.E.M. offered early prophecies of their arena-filling futures. By the mid-’80s, The Cure’s Robert Smith and The Smiths’ Morrissey emerged as the era’s quintessential anti-rock stars, rallying millions of misfits around the world with their sad-eyed romanticism. However, at decade’s end, harder-edged bands like Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers started whipping up the mosh pits that would carry alternative towards a grungier new phase in the ‘90s.