The Essential Authoritative Indispensible Top 25 Songs Of The Eighties

Someday when I'm feeling particularly homicidal I'll go through the notes of all the billions of honorable mentions and put together a full hundred. As for now, though, here's a quarter of that with five times the effort.

#25: Biz Markie's "Just A Friend" (89)
#24: Faith No More's "Epic" (89)
#23: N.W.A.'s "Express Yourself" (89)*
#22: Run-DMC's "It's Like That" (84)
#21: the Clash's "Rock The Casbah" (82)**

#20: U2's "With Or Without You" (87)***
#19: Run-DMC's "It's Tricky" (86)****
#18: Talking Heads' "Road To Nowhere" (85)
#17: the Police's "King Of Pain" (83)
#16: George Clinton's "Atomic Dog" (83)

#15: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' "Free Fallin'" (89)
#14: Violent Femmes' "Add It Up" (83)
#13: U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (87)***
#12: Pat Benatar's "Love Is A Battlefield" (83)
#11: N.W.A.'s "Fuck Tha Police" (89)*

#10: Simply Red's "Holding Back The Years" (85)
#9: Aerosmith & Run-DMC's "Walk This Way" (86)****
#8: the Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (81)
#7: Public Enemy's "Don't Believe The Hype" (88)
#6: Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" (85)
#5: the Clash's "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" (82)**
#4: the Police's "Every Breath You Take" (83)

Third, "Fight The Power" by Public Enemy (1989, a number, another summer (get down) sound of a funky drummer)

Second, "Once In A Lifetime" by Talking Heads (80)

And of course, Don Henley's "The Boys Of Summer" (84)