3 Pop Songs From 1988 That Still Stop Us in Our Tracks

It’s always interesting to see how sounds change when a decade is coming to an end. When artists can feel one era concluding and another just beginning, something happens. Vibes and feelings begin to shift towards the unknown. And that is exactly what began to take place towards the end of the 1980s with the onset of the 1990s. Below, we wanted to explore three pop songs from 1988 and remember their power. Three tracks that, when we put them on today, continue to impress with their construction. These are also three songs that hint at the then-oncoming 90s. Indeed, these are three pop songs from 1988 that still stop us in our tracks.

Videos by American Songwriter

“You Got It (The Right Stuff)” by New Kids On The Block from ‘Hangin’ Tough’ (1988)

New Kids On The Block walked so that *NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys could run. Indeed, in the 1980s, way before Justin Timberlake and the fellas, it was New Kids On The Block who were wowing young fans. It was their posters that 80s kids had up on their bedroom walls. And it was all thanks to songs like “You Got It (The Right Stuff)”, catchy numbers that, when you heard them once, you never forgot them. That’s pop music, though. It sticks with you for a lifetime!

“Straight Up” by Paula Abdul from ‘Forever Your Girl’ (1988)

The former Lakers Girl, Paula Abdul, turned her success dancing and choreographing moves on the court during timeouts and halftime into a pop career that has spanned decades. She was one of the it people in Hollywood at the end of the 1980s, bringing a sense of dance and fun to mainstream culture. What she learned about entertaining from the “Showtime” L.A. Lakers basketball team she brought to pop music in 1988.

“My Prerogative” by Bobby Brown from ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ (1988)

The song that had a vocabulary word on the tips of millions of tongues! Bobby Brown taught the world what the term “prerogative” meant. All of a sudden, everywhere you looked in the late 80s, people were saying my prerogative this and my prerogative that. And it was all because the pop star wrote a hit with the word in the chorus. But that’s pop prowess. When you can get the world talking like you, you know you’ve made it.

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