Older doesn’t always mean better. However, when it comes to 80s music, some songs definitely still have what it takes to be modern pop hits. Here are some hits from 1987 that you likely forgot about that still hold their own today.
“Who’s That Girl” by Madonna
“Who’s That Girl” was written for a film that Madonna starred in of the same name. It was also the name of her 1987 world tour.
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She told Smash Hits Magazine: “That’s why I called my tour ‘Who’s That Girl,’ because I play a lot of characters and every time I do a video or a song people go ‘oh that’s what she’s like.’ And I’m not like any of them. I’m all of them. I’m none of them.”
“Little Lies” by Fleetwood Mac
“Little Lies” is easily one of the best Fleetwood Mac songs that was penned by Christine McVie. McVie wrote this one while she was married to Eddy Quintela, a Portuguese musician and songwriter. This whole song centers on how believing a lie is the main thing keeping a relationship going.
As McVie told Timothy White: “The idea of the lyric is: If I had the chance, I’d do it differently next time. But since I can’t, just carry on lying to me and I’ll believe, even though I know you’re lying.”
“Heat Of The Night” by Bryan Adams
Written by the epic songwriting duo that is Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, “Heat Of The Night” was the biggest song on his album Into The Fire. This song was inspired by the film The Third Man and also by a trip that Adams and Vallance took to Berlin, when the wall was still up.
“Is This Love” by Survivor
“Is This Love” was released in October of 1986 and became Survivor’s final Top 10 hit in January of 1987. The song attempts to define a relationship that the narrator seems uncertain about. Survivor keyboardist Jim Peterik explained this to Songfacts.
“That’s another song that I wrote out of experience,” he shared. “‘We run those mean streets, blind alleys where the currency of love changes hands, all touch, no feeling, just another one-night stand,’ we’ve all felt that. I felt that when I was dating and on the road and empty relationships that you knew weren’t going to go anywhere. What is love? It’s a guy questioning that.”
Photo by: Ross Marino/Icon and Image/Getty Images
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‘The Buggles’ au salon du Midem à Cannes, en janvier 1980. -
Singer Del Shannon recording in the studio at a vintage microphone in circa 1962 in New York. (Photo by PoPsie Randolph/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
Tommy Heath and Jim Keller of the rock band 'Tommy Tutone' pose for a studio portrait session in 1981 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
LOS ANGELES – AUGUST 1977: Cellists Melvyn Gale and Hugh McDowell, violinist Mik Kaminsky, guitarist and singer Jeff Lynne, drummer Bev Bevan, bassist Kelly Groucutt, and piano player Richard Tandy of the rock and roll band "Electric Light Orchestra" perform onstage in August 1977 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Richard Creamer/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
CIRCA 1975: Pop Singer Elton John plays piano as he performs onstage in a bowler cap and a striped red and black scarf in circa 1975. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
Kenny Rogers performing at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey on August 19, 1982. (Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns) -
1976: British audio engineer, musician and producer Alan Parsons . (Photo by BSR Agency/Gentle Look via Getty Images) -
Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac performs on stage, New York, 1977. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)