3 of the Best Songs from the 1980s to Sing Along to

The 1980s were both a strange and fun time to be a music fan. It is perhaps the oddest decade for popular music since maybe the 2020s. There was rock, glam, the beginnings of rap, new wave, the rise of synths. and the battle between big names like Prince and Michael Jackson. There was a cornucopia of sounds, both strange and wonderful.

Here below, we wanted to explore three songs from the decade that were fan favorites both because of their craftsmanship and they were simply just fun to sing along to. A trio of tracks to belt out at the top of your lungs on a night out with friends or while driving solo. Indeed, these are three of the best songs from the 1980s to sing along so.

[RELATED: 3 Two-Hit Wonder Groups from the 1980s]

“What’s Love Got to Do with It” by Tina Turner from Private Dancer (1984)

You know you have a sing-along hit when you can just mention the title and it gets people going. It’s a little ironic—Tina Turner has one of the most striking voices of 20th century popular music. It breaks like lightning and it soars like thunder. But somehow this talent makes normal folks want to sing along with her. Either way this No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 from 1984 is one of the best songs to play at karaoke or just to belt out going down the beltway. And on it, Turner sings,

You must understand though the touch of your hand

Makes my pulse react

That it’s only the thrill of boy meeting girl

Opposites attract

It’s physical

Only logical

You must try to ignore that it means more than that

Oh, oh, oh

What’s love got to do, got to do with it?

What’s love but a second-hand emotion?

What’s love got to do, got to do with it?

Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?

“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper from She’s So Unusual (1983)

This song, which hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, is another that leaps off the tongue when you simply hear the title mentioned. From Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 LP She’s So Unusual, this anthem for enjoying yourself has become a staple on playlists or radio stations around the world. Put it on when you want to signal you want to have a good time. Or to show a closed-minded person that a woman is meant to have something less than her full experience of life. Indeed, as Lauper taught us, having fun is the bee’s knees. And on this hit track, she sings,

I come home in the morning light

My mother says, “When you gonna live your life right”

Oh mommy dear, we’re not the fortunate ones

And girls, they wanna have fun

Oh, girls they wanna have

Hey now, hey now

What’s the matter with you

Girls just wanna have fun now

Come on

“Don’t Stop Believin’,” by Journey from Escape (1981)

Even cartoons know what’s up with this song. But while that scene is humorous it’s built off the fact that everyone loves this song and it’s one of those in which the lyrics seem ingrained in your veins. The song about not giving up and achieving your dreams, about going where you need to go and living the life you’re meant to have, has become a classic. The song from the Bay Area-born band, which hit No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, is an all-timer for sure. And on it, lead vocalist Steve Perry sings,

Just a small town girl

Livin’ in a lonely world

She took the midnight train going anywhere

Just a city boy

Born and raised in South Detroit

He took the midnight train going anywhere

A singer in a smokey room

A smell of wine and cheap perfume

For a smile they can share the night

It goes on and on and on and on

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