3 Songs From the 80s You Can Probably Recognize (Even if You Can’t Name Them)

Unless you grew up in this iconic era of music, there are some songs you’re likely to have trouble remembering. Here are a few songs from the 80s that you can probably recognize, even if their names don’t come to mind.

“I Ran (So Far Away)” by A Flock of Seagulls

This one is a classic and an early new wave hit. This song is still one of A Flock of Seagulls‘ biggest hits. Ironically, it was actually inspired partially by a song they weren’t all that fond of.

“We’d just been to the Cavern in Liverpool and saw a band play a song called ‘I Ran’ and thought, ‘What a great name,’ although we didn’t particularly like the song,” Mike Score, the lead singer, told Billboard. “And then the next day saw a picture from the 1950s of a flying saucer and two people running away from it. And because we had this sci-fi thing going on, it was like ‘Look at that! First ‘I Ran’ and now that!’ So even though we had the basics of the music already, we went to rehearsal that night and the picture was in my head and we started to try to formulate words about that.”

“99 Luftballoons” by Nena

The story of this song is quite interesting. “99 Luftballoons” was inspired by a balloon sighting that Nena’s guitarist saw while in West Berlin for a concert. He started thinking about what would happen if the balloons traveled from one side of the Berlin Wall to the other. This tune tells the story of a bunch of balloons being mistaken for UFOs and causing unnecessary conflict.

You’ve definitely heard this one before, but it might not be in your top list of 80s songs.

“The Boys Of Summer” by Don Henley

This song was actually composed by Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. The song was shown to Petty, but he didn’t feel like it fit their vibe at the time. Don Henley, who was shown the song after him, ended up writing the lyrics and recording the vocals.

The title sneaks past you in this song. What’s super memorable, though, is the guitar riff and the chorus melody. It just instantly takes you back to a different time.

Photo by: Paul Natkin/WireImage