Billie Jean
1982 · From Thriller
That bassline, mixed and remixed until it gleamed, and the four minutes that integrated MTV.
★ 9.8
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1982
Showing 40 songs from 1982
The MessageGrandmaster Flash
The Message
1982
The record that proved hip hop could report and not just party, and the edge everyone's been close to since.
★ 9.5
Beat It
1982 · From Thriller
Van Halen dropped in, played the solo for free, and Jackson made rock and pop the same building.
★ 9.2
Thriller
1982 · From Thriller
Vincent Price cackling over a disco-funk groove, and a fourteen-minute video that turned pop into event television.
★ 9.2
Planet RockAfrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force
Planet Rock
1982
Bambaataa welded Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express to a Roland 808, and Tommy Boy paid Kraftwerk a dollar per record.
★ 8.2
Sexual Healing
1982 · From Midnight Love
Gaye programmed the TR-808 himself in a Belgian studio, and it finally won him the first Grammys of his career.
★ 7.8
I Love Rock 'N Roll
1982
The Runaways passed, so Jett recorded it twice herself; the second version spent seven weeks at number one.
★ 7.5
Rock the Casbah
1982 · From Combat Rock
Topper Headon cut the drums, piano and bass himself, and Strummer finished the lyrics in the studio bathroom.
★ 7.4
Total Eclipse of the Heart
1982
Nearly seven minutes, Rory Dodd's voice answering Tyler on the refrain, and Steinman's vampire love song became number one.
★ 7.2
Should I Stay or Should I Go
1982 · From Combat Rock
Spanish backing vocals translated by the tape operator's mother over the phone, and a jeans advert made it number one.
★ 7.0
Always On My Mind
1982 · From Always on My Mind
Haggard passed on it at the Pancho and Lefty sessions, so Nelson stayed behind and cut it himself after hours.
★ 7.0
Jack and Diane
1982 · From American Fool
Mick Ronson suggested the baby rattles and sang the "let it rock" hook; the handclaps were only a guide track.
★ 6.9
Back on the Chain Gang
1982 · From Learning to Crawl
Hynde cut it weeks after Honeyman-Scott's death, with Rockpile's Bremner on guitar and a Sam Cooke chant behind her.
★ 6.9
Human Nature
1982 · From Thriller
Steve Porcaro's demo reached Quincy Jones only because a cassette auto-reversed, and it took Carousel's place on Thriller.
★ 6.7
Hungry Like the Wolf
1982 · From Rio
Rhodes had the backing track in mind before reaching the studio; the Sri Lanka video carried it to number three.
★ 6.7
Avalon
1982 · From Avalon
A swan song by Ferry's own account, with a wordless vocal from Yanick Etienne, found in the next studio.
★ 6.7
White Wedding
1982
Steve Stevens' guitar cutting through Keith Forsey's production, and Idol sneering his way through somebody else's wedding.
★ 6.6
Come On Eileen
1982
Fiddle, banjo and a tempo shifting gears, then one week at number one between Billie Jean and Beat It.
★ 6.5
More Than This
1982 · From Avalon
Ferry's voice drops out almost two minutes before the end, leaving a synthesizer to finish the thought.
★ 6.4
I Ran (So Far Away)
1982
Battery Studios, London: the echoing riffs were written for a guitarist who had just joined, and they still sound airborne.
★ 6.1
Maneater
1982
Oates started it as reggae; Hall swapped in a Motown bassline, and it sat four weeks at number one.
★ 5.9
Eye of the Tiger
1982
Stallone had cut the fight scene to Queen, couldn't clear it, so Sullivan and Peterik timed their chords to punches.
★ 5.9
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me
1982
A soft reggae beat from Mikey Craig's Caribbean instincts, Steve Levine's polish, and Boy George on Top of the Pops.
★ 5.7
Rosanna
1982
Jeff Porcaro's half-time shuffle carried it to Record of the Year, and drummers have been chasing that groove since.
★ 5.6
I Melt With You
1982
Producer Hugh Jones talked Grey out of shouting, and the nuclear-apocalypse lyric arrives as the warmest chorus of 1982.
★ 5.6
Hurts So Good
1982 · From American Fool
Sixteen weeks in the top ten, more than any other single of the eighties, and Aronoff's drums never let up.
★ 5.3
Southern Cross
1982
Stills took the Curtis Brothers' 'Seven League Boots', rewrote the words and chorus, and turned a divorce into open ocean.
★ 5.3
I'm So Excited
1982
Anita Pointer takes the lead, Richard Perry produced, and a 1984 reissue lifted a number thirty single to nine.
★ 5.2
Here I Go Again
1982
Jon Lord's Hammond organ on the 1982 original, a heartbreak song Coverdale wrote in Portugal, later a number one.
★ 5.1
Juke Box Hero
1982
Two unfinished songs Mutt Lange stitched together, and a kid outside the arena hearing one guitar through the wall.
★ 4.9
Sirius, Eye in the Sky
1982
Woolfson took the title from casino surveillance slang; Sirius became the music that introduced Michael Jordan's Bulls.
★ 4.8
She Blinded Me With ScienceThomas Dolby
She Blinded Me With Science
1982
Dolby storyboarded the video before writing a note, then had TV scientist Magnus Pyke shout the title's last word.
★ 4.5
I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
1982 · From Too Low for Zero
Cut at AIR Montserrat with the classic band reunited, and Stevie Wonder's harmonica lifting it clean off the ground.
★ 4.5
Valerie
1982
Every instrument on it is Winwood alone; the 1982 single stalled, and Tom Lord-Alge's 1987 remix reached the top ten.
★ 4.3
I Want CandyBow Wow Wow
I Want Candy
1982
Criteria Studios in Miami, Kenny Laguna producing, the Strangeloves' 1965 hook over Barbarossa's Bo Diddley drums.
★ 4.2
Hard to Say I'm Sorry
1982
Foster brought in three Toto members and saved Chicago's horns for the coda, returning the band to number one.
★ 4.0
MickeyToni Basil
Mickey
1982
A Racey album track called "Kitty" until Basil switched the gender, added the cheer chant, and directed the video herself.
★ 4.0