Cause for concern - 80s songs?
Posted by oldschoolie@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 32 comments
This is half jest, half worry. I'm 53. I got through the pop and rock music of the 80s with gritted teeth, then was saved by dance music in '89, a passion I've sustained through to the present day. Techno is my true love.
For the last couple of years, about five times a day, I'll get random 80s lite-rock or pop songs (Top-40 stuff) pop into my head and I'll sing snippets of them for the next hour or so. These were songs I didn't even like back in the day, but because they were popular, I seem to have retained a startling amount of their lyrics without trying. For example, today's earworms are 'The Glory of Love' by Peter Cetera and 'Missing You' by Chris de Burgh. I don't like either of them.
Is my brain just nostalgic for what it perceives to be a safer, less complicated time of my life, or is this early-onset dementia?
viewering@reddit
Chris de burgh
My 80's self : đđ©
KurtStation68@reddit
I might not know a lot of the artists, I know what I like. But yes there are ear worms that are rent free fortunately enjoying a broader range of music helps because it adds variety and keeps me actively listening.
I wonder what I song I will be mumbling when I loose it - or even if there's a song that I will hear when I meet my demise. I'd hope there's some Tom Waits, but I'm not that Bluesy.
Optimal-Ad-7074@reddit
my dad suddenly bust out with this, after I'd tucked him into my car:Â Â
https://youtu.be/JYxNsBiOkUs?si=uqqA4wD1mI6h3zY7
the man sang every day of my life. he sang opera arias and bluegrass standards and burl ives songs and British music hall tunes and Irish folk and South African novelty songs.  I know abdul the bulbul emir and my brother sylvest' by heart still. Â
never heard word one of this one. never heard it again afterwards. I hunted it down on the Internet after his death. Â
MrsByrne80@reddit
I was saddened to discover I knew all the words to Nothinâs Gonna Stop Us Now when it came on in the restaurant I was having dinner at the other day. I canât remember two months ago, but dog gonnit, I can remember 40 years ago. Completely NOT what I loved as a kid/teenager. We always had the radio on, everywhere, all the time.
ratsta@reddit
Whenever one of those "If you could remove one thing from history..." type memes comes up, I don't think Hitler, I think of the band Starship. Nothin's gonna stop us now and We built this city are two of the most insidious, horrible pieces of music to have ever been inflicted on sapient beings. Up there with Vogon poetry.
Optimal-Ad-7074@reddit
on the upside, you remember the vogons.
ratsta@reddit
Yeah, I'm 55. I can't remember what I learned yesterday, but I do remember what I learned in my teens and 20s :D
tandem_kayak@reddit
Lol, I feel like those are the 80s-est songs that ever 80s-ed! Like, I wasn't particularly fond of them back in the day, but they've just got that sound, when I hear them today they take me right back to sneaking into movies with my friends and going out for shakes and fries at 1am.Â
oldschoolie@reddit (OP)
Same! Every. Single. Word.
bookant@reddit
TIL there are people who actually like techno.
oldschoolie@reddit (OP)
We are legion.
tamhenk@reddit
Good Techno is fucking amazing to listen to.
warrenao@reddit
Eh, it happens. I keep getting whacked in the head by Mellencampâs âJack and Dianeâ, which I detested then for its shallow futility and loathe just as much now, for the same reason.
Sea_Brush4156@reddit
This sounds crazy, but the same thing happens to me a lot, and I've noticed that a lot of the time, it's because the lyric that is repeating in my head is trying to tell me something. The next time you get some random song lyrics in your head, focus on what the lyric is and if it may be pertinent to something that is currently going on in your life. It sounds nuts, but I've noticed that sometimes there is a reason a specific lyric comes to mind.
Cinisajoy2@reddit
My mom got Werewolves of London stuck in her head. I told her it was about the Beatles and it went away.
Candleforce-9728@reddit
That would be great. For me itâs just that someone said a wordâ or I thought a wordâ that was in the refrain and the whole song will be stuck in my head for a week. Peter Cetera is a repeat offender here.
oldschoolie@reddit (OP)
I think there's something in this!
mashed_pajamas@reddit
âMissing Youâ is John Waite.
Chris de Burgh was âLady in Red.â
edwoodjrjr@reddit
Chris de Burgh should only be remembered for Donât Pay The Ferryman
ratsta@reddit
Oh come on! Patricia the Stripper is a fun one!
Ok-Conversation-7292@reddit
Agreed!
Embarrassed-Cause250@reddit
Itâs getting an annoying song stuck in your head, like Mariah Careyâs Christmas song. The 80âs song that wonât leave my head is Karma Chameleon, so annoying!
lexi_prop@reddit
Some day somebody's gonna make you wanna turn around and say goodbye. But til then, baby, are you gonna let it hold you down and make you cry? Don't you know things will change, things will go your way if you hold on for one more day.
đ
Giant_Acroyear@reddit
Unch, unch unch, uncha unch, unch unch...
allaboutaphie@reddit
I was more into indie, Edie Brickell, the Corrs, and smashing pumpkins. Or is that alt?
TheJokersChild@reddit
I have a random song playing in my head every time I wake up. I wouldn't be too alarmed about whether I like it or not as long as I don't have a reason for hating it with a passion.
UraTargetMarket@reddit
This happens to me. I donât want to believe itâs a dementia symptom so I tell myself that I hear it somewhere in passing, like a grocery store or in Hallmark or the dentist. Sometimes I get a random song in my head for no reason at all. For instance, your post made me think of a main offender, which is âTake These Broken Wings.â I always hated that song. Sometimes songs get stuck in my head before I even wake up in the morning. I canât stand when that happens. I often get Paul McCartney/Wings songs in my head, but my daughter is a HUGE Beatles fan and we listen a lot to the SiriusXM Beatles Channel in the car.
Iâm also a huge techno/electronic fan. I never get Boards of Canada or Aphex Twin or whoever stuck in my head, though! Always Whitney Houston or Paula Abdul. Major labels probably paid big money to include some subliminal earworm thing to all these tracksâŠ..
Western-Calendar-352@reddit
Missing You was John Waite not Chris de Burgh.
TheSwedishEagle@reddit
Clearly a sign of mental decline
Diela1968@reddit
Why does it have to be either? Songs becoming an earworm that bugs you anywhere between a day and a week are common. I havenât used a clock radio as an alarm for decades, but I will still wake up from a good nightâs sleep with a very random song stuck in my head.
Popular songs became popular way because of their âcatchyâ quality.
Just sing it or play it to attempt to make it go away, or suffer through. Itâs not just you.
Direct-Dish1779@reddit
I think it has to do with the style of writing. I'm not saying they were written better, but the structure is different now. The lyrics are designed to follow easily imo.
Current songs repeat a lot of phrasing to the point it is borderline annoying.
I love trance from my 90s days. Some techno is extremely irritating. If the sound repeats more than 16 bars without an update. I instantly skip.
With regards to your medical question, I have no idea. If you ask me to sing lyrics from the 80s on the fly, I would have a hard time. But if the song is playing, I won't miss a word.
Sirsmokesalotta@reddit