Top 10 Melodies of the 1980s

OK, so how obvious is it what the #1 melody is? It’s long, it’s got development, it’s got unex-pected twists, and of course, it’s the defining pop song of the entire decade.

1. “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, Tears for Fears. (1983). Written by Roland Orzabal, Ian Stanley and Chris Hughes.

The opening line, with its gaping jump-up-jump down interval to accompany its grave lyrics (“Welcome to your life”), announces that this song has big ambitions right from the start. And from that point, using that single phrase as a basis, it develops. And develops, and develops more, until it has morphed into the definitive finishing melodic phrase of the decade, sung over the titular phrase. This essentially tome-length melodic narrative functions as verse and chorus alike and is completely connected as a single, unseverable arcing whole, from opening to cli-mactic finish. It’s absolutely astonishing to consider, and it’s the reason why practically every-body likes this song. The “other” section—a bridge if you like—sung to “There’s a room where the light won’t find you…” is amazing in its own right and could, if it had to be the focus of a song alongside otherwise average melody, land a song in this top 40 on its own power. But here, it plays second fiddle to the most amazing single melodic phrase of the decade, and possibly of the last 40 years of popular music. The thing about this song is that everything flows so naturally from that opening phrase. It’s as though, after singing “Welcome to your life,” Roland’s (I’m guessing he was primarily responsible) hand was forced. He’d opened the door, and the rest of the song could never have been otherwise.

So that’s it! Those are the most amazing 40 pop and rock melodies of the 1980s, along with some other great songs that almost made the cut! We can argue about this for years, and, in this blog, or on Facebook, or face-to-face, I hope we will!