All Songs Considered - Were the 1980s the worst years for music? NPR listeners seem to think so, according to the results of our poll. When asked to pick the best year for music, nearly everyone skipped the '80s entirely. On this edition of All Songs Considered, host Bob Boilen looks back at the decade of synth pop, hair metal, and hardcore with Stephen Thompson, editor of Song of the Day, Robin Hilton, All Songs Considered producer and host of Second Stage, and Carrie Brownstein, writer for the Monitor Mix blog.

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Beastie Boys
Album: Licensed to Ill
Song: Fight for Your Right





Footloose [Expanded Edition]
Original Soundtrack
Album: Footloose [Expanded Edition]
Song: Let's Hear It for the Boy



Escape Club
Album: Wild Wild West
Song: Wild, Wild West



Hall & Oates
Album: Voices
Song: You Make My Dreams



Don Johnson
Album: Heartbeat
Song: Heartbeat



Bruce Springsteen
Album: Tunnel of Love
Song: Brilliant Disguise



The Replacements
Album: Let It Be
Song: I Will Dare



Starship
Album: Knee Deep in the Hoopla
Song: We Built This City



Tracy Chapman
Album: Tracy Chapman
Song: Fast Car



Guns N' Roses
Album: Appetite for Destruction
Song: Paradise City



Tears for Fears
Album: Songs from the Big Chair [Deluxe Edition]
Song: Head Over Heels



Talking Heads
Album: Speaking in Tongues [Bonus Tracks]
Song: This Must Be the Place [Naive Melody]




Minor Threat
Album: Minor Threat
Song: Straight Edge



The Bats
Album: Daddy's Highway
Song: North by North




Bush Tetras
Album: Boom in the Night
Song: Too Many Creeps




Doveman
Album: Footloose
Song: Let's Hear it For the Boy