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The official "New Wave Sissy Boy 80s Hits You Were Afraid To Admit You Liked In High School" playlist

Posted Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:04pm PDT by Robert of the Radish in The Y! Music Playlist Blog

I published my first playlist to the web almost 4 years ago on June 12, 2004. And this is the very same list which kicked off a playlisting obsession for me.

When I was in grade school during the late 1970's classic rock bands like The Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin ruled the hallways. Tough guys wore black concert t-shirts looking to pick a fight with anyone who had the slightest propensity toward disco -- another major pop genre of the time.

Disco was eventually slayed by rock & roll and no one dared admit owning a Village People or Gloria Gaynor album, although almost everyone did.

Then the 80's came and with them came "new wave", a genre that was neither outright ridiculed by the rock & roll set, nor embraced. But a new invention called cable television gave MTV an opportunity to bypass previous methods of getting music out to the masses and new wave took off.

However, many of us who were raised on the classic rock or first wave punk of the 1970's had trouble admitting that we were attracted to the music of Culture Club, Kajagoogoo or Wham!

But we were...

This is the ultimate 80's new wave guilty pleasures playlist. All the sissy boy hits we secretly loved in high school, but were never man enough to admit until grunge killed pop metal.

The official "New Wave Sissy Boy 80s Hits You Were Afraid To Admit You Liked In High School" playlist

1. Too Shy - Kajagoogoo

2. No One Is To Blame - Howard Jones

3. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me - Culture Club 

4. Poison Arrow - ABC 

5. Save A Prayer - Duran Duran

6. Careless Whisper - Wham!

7. Hold Me Now - The Thompson Twins

8. If You Leave - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark 

9. Blasphemous Rumours - Depeche Mode

10. Tainted Love - Soft Cell

11. It's My Life - Talk Talk

12. More Than This - Roxy Music 

13. I Ran (So Far Away) - A Flock Of Seagulls

14. Promises, Promises - Naked Eyes

15. Perfect Way - Scritti Politti

16. West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys 

17. Only You - Yaz

18. Girls Just Want To Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper

19. Safety Dance - Men Without Hats 

20. Love Plus One - Haircut 100

21. True - Spandau Ballet 

2545 Comments

61. Heather -
This is a great playlist, and these are all songs that I still gravitate towards. We can't forget Joe Jackson, Level 42, or Tears for Fears though...

62. d a -
Ashamed? Not at all. They music was great and the hair and clothing make today seem very boring.

So many of today's music is 80's remakes anyways.

63. christian james -
Who could be afraid to post a comment? These songs to this day are fu*kin great! These times are when things were amazing! anyone who is a hate clearly has no class or taste.

64. LizS -
love the list, still listen to 80s, just something about it was so great. always fun to sing along with

65. Robin -
As a girl from the 80's I listened to these all and so much more. It always broke the boredom in a small town. What shocked me more and still does, my mother loved them as well so we had them on the radio all the time. Can't wait til my 25 year reunion this year to hear them being played all over again.

66. mark -
WOW..THOSE WERE REALLY GOOD TIMES..THE 80"S ROCKED MY LITTLE WORLD

67. Contorted Rose -
Depeche Mode is still quite awesome.

68. Yahoo! Music User -
Talk Talk is one of the most underrated bands of the last 30 years -and the bass player (Paul Webb) RULES!

69. Sanford Mike -
I'm 54 and still love True.
True....

70. Writergal -
Oh my...I *JUST* missed out on this era....I'm in my late 20s...I was barely in elementary school when Madonna and MIchael Jackson ruled the airwaves...Why did I have to be stuck with New Kids on the Block?

71. Rudolph -
Yes, there is some good stuff like West End Girls, Hold Me Now and Tainted Love. But, Roxy's Avalon is incredible! It is not bound by time. The entire album is sublime.

72. Suki D -
OMG love the 80s. Love cheesy 80's music and androgynous guys! Hot stuff

73. peeps green -
what about some classic Slade "run run away"

74. jkfhjsd j -
I'd be more ashamed to admit that I liked current music (if I did, which I don't). 90s and back for me, all the way!

75. j -
yeah, almost as bad as the disco era of the late 70's. The 80's "the music truly died decade"

76. Huntley -
As a new wave / punk music guy the songs by Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Yaz, Pet Shop Boys, Roxy Music, OMD, Thompson Twins, The Cure, The Smiths, and even Duran Duran were never embarassments. I proudly jammed to them in clubs and my home as a teenager and like them just as much now. Only people embarassed about liking this music is kids who didn't like wearing black, doing up your hair and going to dance clubs. We were the edgy kids.

77. bbuck1979 -
only weird people like this junk, give me metal or give me death!

78. Ronda -
Several of these are still great!!! My daughter, who is a teen now, loves a lot of these!!!!

79. Natty -
i'm not ashamed to admit i'm a total 80s aholic
i was born in 78. i cried when the drummer from duran duran got married. i think i was 6yo at the time. lol
he was supposed to marry me!! lol

80. Vallerieh -
I still think that a lot of the 80's and early 90's music is great. They bring back a lot of good memories of great times back then!
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