Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Video Killed The Radio Star - The Buggles
2. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? - Culture Club
3. Steppin' Out - Joe Jackson
4. 867-5309 / Jenny - Tommy Tutone
5. Rapture - Blondie
6. You Dropped A Bomb On Me - Gap Band
7. Let It Whip - Dazz Band
8. Harden My Heart - Quarterflash
9. Poison Arrow - ABC
10. The Heat Of The Moment - Asia
11. Mickey - Toni Basil
12. Celebration - Kool & The Gang
13. Tempted - Squeeze
14. Tainted Love - Soft Cell

Disc 2:

1. Love Is A Battlefield - Pat Benatar
2. Cuts Like A Knife - Bryan Adams
3. Sweet Dreams - Eurythmics
4. Take On Me - A-Ha
5. Relax - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
6. One Thing Leads To Another - The Fixx
7. In A Big Country - Big Country
8. Come On Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners
9. Our House - Madness
10. Weird Science - Oingo Boingo
11. Suddenly Last Summer - The Motels
12. Sister Christian - Night Ranger
13. Hold Me Now - Thompson Twins
14. Missing You - John Waite

Disc 3:

1. Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears For Fears
2. Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
3. She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals
4. Everybody Have Fun Tonight - Wang Chung
5. Walk This Way - Run DMC
6. Addicted To Love - Robert Palmer
7. Looking For A New Love - Jody Watley
8. Oh Yeah - Yello
9. Luka - Suzanne Vega
10. Lady In Red - Chris De Burgh
11. I Think We're Alone Now - Tiffany
12. Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
13. My Prerogative - Bobby Brown
14. Higher Love - Steve Winwood

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24210 in Music
• Brand: Dig
• Released on: 2001-07-17
• Number of discs: 3
• Format: Box set
• Dimensions: .42 pounds

Amazon.com
God bless punk and new wave. Without them, '80s pop music might well have ended up as vapid and ghettoized as, well, pop music of the '90s. Those late '70s movements were frankly reactionary at heart (seeking to counter what was perceived as the overwrought tendencies of rock's prog and hard-rock elite and calling for a return to the diverse energy of '60s Top 40), but their influences can be felt on nearly every cut of this triple-disc hits anthology, from the Buggles' all-too-prophetic "Video Killed the Radio Star" to the nouveau funk of Kool and the Gang, the Dazz Band, and the Gap Band, to the nascent big-hairdom of Night Ranger ("Sister Christian") and Whitesnake. If you're looking for the roots of alternative rock or obscure college playlist fodder, look elsewhere; this is prime-time '80s pop chart glory, as seen on MTV (over and over and over). Though the songs here cover a breadth of style and genre (if not necessarily substance), there's a remarkable unity of purpose and hook-laden musical accomplishment that's sorely missed. If this collection woefully shortchanges hip-hop, it still underscores a distinctly irony-free era where style admittedly triumphed over substance, as opposed to the '90s, where style caricatured substance. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

essential
I mix 80s dance music and the number of times when mixing that I find myself reaching for either this compilation or its companion, "Hit Me With Your 80s Box," is extraordinary. These are two outstanding collections. They are pricey, but worth every penny. For many people, owning these two will be all the 80s music you'll ever need.

Fidelity is outstanding, the tracks are well organized more or less chronologically, and the sequences in which tracks are placed is excellent. The "box" itself in which the 3 CDs come is sturdy, it is easily folded out in part or in whole to access any of the CDs quickly and easily (unlike many multi-CD offerings). Liner notes are extensive and interesting.

This offering is a class act all the way. Highly, highly recommended. 7 stars.

Overpriced overview
Goodness knows there are enough 80's compilation CD's out there, and many cover exactly the same territory.

ROLE CALL! Culture Club, present. Blondie, present. Tears For Fears, present. Michael Jackson, absent. Soft Cell, present. Duran Duran, absent. Eurythmics, present. Frankie Goes to Hollywood, present. Cyndi Lauper, absent. Thomas Dolby, absent. Peter Gabriel, present. Madonna, absent. Kool & the Gang, present. Bryan Adams, present. New Kids on the Block, absent, but who cares? Not a bad turn out.

Given that there's under 50 tracks, there's a pretty good representation of the hits of the day, and even a few misses (Tempted, Oh Yeah, Weird Science) that have aged better than several high charted songs.

If somehow, by this point in your life, you've avoided buying these tracks separately, this is a good way to get them together for your next retro party. But you probably already have more than half of them or you wouldn't be reading this far. As such this may be more than you want to spend.

Check out Rhino's New Wave Dance Hits (Just Can't Get Enough) series for a lot more depth and a lot less repetition with your current collection.

Wonder who'll be included on the first 3-CD review of this decade...

Music I grew up with...
There is not a bad song in this set. It is full of wonderful, classic music from the 80's and not to be missed. Ahh, the 80's. How I miss that time. At least now I can relive some of it with this music!