3 Songs From the 1980s That Make Me Feel Invincible Today

The entire decade of music in the 1980s remains among the best eras of music of all time. Amid the sad songs, rock songs, and sweet love songs are these three powerful anthems. All out in the 1980s, they still make me feel invincible today.

“Bad” by Michael Jackson

The title track of Michael Jackson’s seventh solo album, “Bad” was released in 1987. The song was written by Jackson.

“Bad” says, “Well they say the sky’s the limit / And to me that’s really true / But my friend you have seen nothing / Just wait ’til I get through.”

“‘Bad’ is a song about the street,” Jackson later said in Moonwalk, his 1988 autobiography. “It’s about this kid from a bad neighborhood who gets to go away to a private school. He comes back to the old neighborhood when he’s on a break from school, and the kids from the neighborhood start giving him trouble. He sings, ‘I’m bad, you’re bad, who’s bad, who’s the best?’ He’s saying when you’re strong and good, then you’re bad.”

“Livin’ On A Prayer” by Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi dominated the 1980s with a lot of powerful rock songs, including “Livin’ On A Prayer”. The song, written by band members Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, along with Desmond Child, is part of Slippery When Wet, Bon Jovi’s third studio album.

A story song about a young couple, Tommy and Gina, surviving only on love, “Livin’ On A Prayer” says, “Whoa, we’re halfway there / Whoa, living on a prayer / Take my hand, we’ll make it, I swear / Whoa, living on a prayer.”

Interestingly, when the three writers began writing “Livin’ On A Prayer”, it started as a piano ballad.

“Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake

An anthem of empowerment if there ever was one, Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again” first came out in 1982. The song, written by the band’s own David Coverdale and Bernie Marsden, is on Whitesnake’s Saints & Sinners record.

“Here I Go Again” says, “’Cause I know what it means / To walk along the lonely street of dreams / Here I go again on my own / Goin’ down the only road I’ve ever known / Like a hobo I was born to walk alone.”

“Here I Go Again” barely cracked the Top 35 at radio when it was first released. The band later released an updated version of the song in 1987. The new take on the song is on their eponymous record, also out in 1987. That version became a Top 5 hit in the United States.

Photo by Bob King/Redferns