3 Songs That High Schoolers in 1984 Knew Every Word To

In the mid-80s, teenagers were definitely fed in terms of good music. Here are some fantastic songs from the year 1984 that still sound like hits today.

“Dancing In The Dark” by Bruce Springsteen

Even if you didn’t grow up in the 80s, “Dancing In The Dark” will forever be nostalgic. Springsteen wrote this one out of sheer frustration. His manager told him he needed a single for his album Born In The U.S.A., and The Boss ended up writing this song on that same night. Initially, he was annoyed at the prospect of having to write another song. He’d already written 70 potential songs for the project. To be fair, “Dancing In The Dark” did end up becoming the album’s most successful song, so I guess his manager was onto something.

“Forever Young” by Alphaville

Okay, who knows if high schoolers were actually blasting this track on their Walkmans back in the day. Regardless, I’m sure it strikes a chord now for the teenagers of old. “Forever Young” is pretty on the nose as far as a song title goes. One of the lyrics even mentions that “life is a short trip”, as the song reflects on the epic temporariness of youth.

“Let us die young or let us live forever / We don’t have the power, but we never say never / Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip / The music’s for the sad men.”

“Let’s Hear It For The Boy” by Deniece Williams

The movie Footloose was huge in 1984, and so was this song, which scored the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In this song, written by Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford, Williams admits that, sure, her man isn’t perfect. However, “you gotta understand”, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the love they share is one of a kind.

Let’s hear it for the boy
Let’s give the boy a hand
Let’s hear it for my baby
You know you gotta understand
Oh, maybe he’s no Romeo
But he’s my lovin’ one-man show
Oh, whoa-oa-oa
Let’s hear it for the boy.

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