3 Song Lyrics From the 1980s That You’ll Never Forget

There are many ways to use mnemonics to improve memory. Music is a common mnemonic device, which may explain why you can remember a pile of decades-old song lyrics but not a lick of what you’ve studied for tomorrow’s exam. Don’t panic, no one’s testing you here, but I’ll bet you remember these song lyrics from the 1980s.

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“Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses from ‘Appetite For Destruction’ (1987)

Few rock bands have had a debut album title more fitting to their career than Guns N’ Roses. After releasing Appetite For Destruction, GN’R slowly disintegrated one band member at a time until only Axl Rose and a crew of hired “guns” remained. Which makes the following lyric from “Sweet Child O’ Mine” so poignant: “Where do we go now?” They could have followed the Sex Pistols model, dropped one stellar record, then split. Losing Steven Adler was one thing, but once Izzy Stradlin left, it was like pulling a cord on GN’R’s self-destructing sweater. Regardless, you won’t forget Rose’s second-most famous lyric.

“Fight For Your Right” by Beastie Boys from ‘Licensed To Ill’ (1986)

Thanks to Rick Rubin, this one fits either the rap or rock category. “Fight For Your Right”, like many rap tunes, has a lot of words. But I still remember them all. For most of us growing up in Middle America, this track was an introduction to Ad-Rock, MCA, and Mike D. Our parents hated it, which only made it better. I’d already heard Run-DMC’s Raising Hell, but this felt utterly dangerous. “Fight For Your Right” didn’t sound like rap rock. It was a punk band rapping. And these punks had several masterpieces in front of them.

“Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince And The Revolution from ‘Purple Rain’ (1984)

Dearly beloved… I don’t know how many songs begin with a eulogy, but I do know that none of them are as good as this. Prince eulogized “this thing called life”, then ripped what sounds like the best guitar riff Jimi Hendrix never got around to recording. But funerals are also celebrations, and here Prince calls for crazy behavior before “they put us in the truck.” The intro hymn is psychedelic. The Revolution wasn’t going to play a dirge. This is the opening track on Purple Rain. Two songs that bookend a perfect album with Prince’s best guitar solos. “Let’s Go Crazy” gets ahead of the pain from loss. There would be plenty of time for sorrow in the title track. Until then, don’t let the elevator bring you down.

Photo by Ilpo Musto