No Madonna? No Pet Shop Boys? No Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam?

My 40 favourite songs of the Eighties, compiled without overthinking:

1. New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"
2. Funky 4 + 1, "That's the Joint"
3. Franco, "Attention Na SIDA"
4. Straitjacket Fits, "She Speeds"
5. Franco, "Tres Impoli"
6. Public Enemy, "Bring the Noise"
7. New Order, "Temptation"
8. The Go-Betweens, "Right Here"
9. DeBarge, "Time Will Reveal"
10. Orchestra Super Mazembe, "Shauri Yako"
11. Van Halen, "Jump"
12. George Jones, "He Stopped Loving Her Today"
13. Prince, "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man"
14. Public Enemy, "Welcome to the Terrordome"
15. Mahlathini, "Fair Fight"
16. Talking Heads, "Once in a Lifetime"
17. Prince, "Little Red Corvette"
18. Sonic Youth, "Teen Age Riot"
19. Lucinda Williams, "Passionate Kisses"
20. Prince, "Kiss"
21. Grandmaster Flash, "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel"
22. Afrika Bambaataa, "Looking for the Perfect Beat"
23. Yoko Ono, "Walking on Thin Ice"
24. The Replacements, "I Will Dare"
25. Mahlathini, "The Stream of Music"
26. Franco & Rochereau, "Lisanga Ya Ba Nganga"
27. The Swingers, "Counting the Beat"
28. Taana Gardner, "Heartbeat"
29. A-Ha, "Take On Me"
30. Public Enemy, "Rebel without a Pause"
31. Sonny Rollins, "G-Man"
32. Ornette Coleman, "Jump Street"
33. Joy Division, "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
34. Wayne Smith, "Under Me Sleng Teng"
35. Neil Young, "Rockin' in the Free World"
36. Joan Jett, "I Love Rock & Roll"
37. Sonic Youth, "Kissability"
38. Teena Marie, "Square Biz"
39. The Pretenders, "Back on the Chain Gang"
40. Double Dee & Steinski, "The Payoff Mix"

(Yes, there's more than a passing resemblance to this list.)