These rock songs from the 1980s feel all the more important now that the artists who sang them have some years on them. They were hits in their day, and now they are legendary pieces of art.
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“My Hometown” — Bruce Springsteen
“I’d sit on his lap in that big old Buick / And steer as we drove through town. He’d tousle my hair / And say, ‘Son, take a good look around’ / This is your hometown,” Bruce Springsteen sings in the nostalgic “My Hometown”. As the years pass, this song about losing one’s home to time becomes all the more poignant.
Now, as an older artist, Springsteen can lend even more credence to this rock song than he could in the 1980s. “Now Main Street’s whitewashed windows / And vacant stores / Seems like there ain’t nobody / Wants to come down here no more,” the lyrics read. By the time we’re 20-ish, we’ve all had to reckon with some amount of change. But when you’re 70, that fact becomes glaringly obvious.
“I Won’t Back Down” — Tom Petty
A younger Tom Petty made this rock song feel like sage advice. As he got older, that fact became even more true. Even now, in the wake of his passing, this song seems to be more and more important by the day.
“Well, I won’t back down / No, I won’t back down / You could stand me up at the gates of Hell / But I won’t back down,” the lyrics read. Thanks to Johnny Cash, we know what this song sounds like coming from an elder. It means a lot when we hear Petty singing in his 30s, standing up for his beliefs, but it carries more weight as the decades go by. It’s even more meaningful when someone is still willing to stand up against life’s naysayers after all that time.
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” — U2
This U2 masterpiece is the kind of rock song that instantly evokes nostalgia. It’s innately existential and relatable. But this song has become even more powerful and consequential over the years. What was clearly an era-defining hit is now a thesis statement, standing for the enduring career of rock giants.
“I have climbed highest mountains / I have run through the fields / Only to be with you,” are lyrics that have come to represent Bono and his singular career. When he sings this song in the present day, the audience feels connected to the legendary artist. That link has grown and grown over the years.
(Photo by KMazur/WireImage)