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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

101. sandra V -
i wish this type of music would come back in style its so awsome

102. MiMi -
When I am driving I usually put my 80's station. My opinion it is the best music ever made for our era. I prefer listening to that music than the one played now a days.. 80's music rocks!!!!

103. FITZEDWARD -
THEY'RE WAAAAAAY BETTER THAN THE CRAP WE HAVE TODAY

104. Yahoo! Music User -
80's music is AWESOME! I have NEVER been embarrassed to admit that I LOVE these songs and many others from that era! I just have one question...where is Come on Eileen, Always Something There to Remind Me, Don't You Forget about Me, and Just Like Heaven? It isn't 80's music without those!

105. rekud -
What about Eileen by Dixie's Midnight Runners? Girlfriend back then drove me nuts with that song. Probably why I broke up with her.

106. Phonebreaker -
I'm a man and I like good music, regardless of when it was made. The 80's rocked and I hide it from no one. There's a lot of jams you missed too...

107. CarolynS -
Esp. "Tainted Love", w/ a bit of "Where Did Our Love Go" on the end---yes, honey.
What about some early Prince stuff ("1999" "Raspberry Beret" for example)? "She Works Hard For The Money"---Donna Summer. Think of a few other great songs to dance to----

108. Yahoo! Music User -
If you were a guy and listened to these songs in school, you should have gotten beaten to a pulp......If you are a guy who listens to these songs today, you should be beaten again!

109. cj -
This is awesome! And I am so glad I'm going to see Yaz in Chicago this summer.

110. Bethany H -
I was born in 1985, and I love these songs they are good to listen to when cleaning the house LoL

111. AstralS -
Nice list; I can remember most of those songs from when I was a really young child in the 80s. But there's something missing - where is Owner Of A Lonely Heart?

112. the stache -
new wave pop art. the aftermath of the 70's/60's. coldwar era easy listening.

113. SonyaW -
I am not ashamed. I like most of what's on this list. I'm only sad this era went away. So ther.

114. David -
Well, all of these I remember and about 98% of that list I still enjoy listening to. Actually have Depeche Mode and Talk Talk on my ipod right now. Have moved on to the more upbeat techno and trance but still go back to the classic now and then. Good Stuff!

115. -
40 year old masculine guy...and no shame here! Liked them all!

116. BrianZ -
dude the 80's rock plain and simple.

117. Yahoo! Music User -
Hey...come on now, you have to admitt that music out there has changed! I love the old 80's trend. It brings back a lot of good memories. It makes you think of people you haven't seen in a long time and wonder were they are. I have 3 cds I burned with all my favorites.

118. D -
Why would anyone be embarassed to listen to 80's music. This music changed our perception of dance music, pop music and r & b. Please don't forget the emergence of hip hop as well. Think of all the songs today (in all gemres) that that have an element of 80 pop music (as cover songs and samples). The 80's for the most part was the last decade of originality in music.

119. Mestoph72 -
Yeah, most of my youth was spent in the '80s listening to the likes of Minor Threat, Fugazi, Dead Kennedys, Dag Nasty and the host of other post-70s punk rock bands. Nonetheless, it's a good list of popular New Wave music from that bygone era.

120. Denyse P -
I was president of the Culture club fan club. that music brings me back to a happy time in my teenaged life. Full of concerts, music and a simpler happier time no worries about bills, rent, motgages, Bush, Spitzer...
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