Here is how you can participate:

• Create a post: Click the + Post button to share your favorite song or album from the 70s, 80s, or 90s + your interpretation of the music

• No minimum or maximum per post: You can choose to keep it to just one song or album per post or compile some favs into one. You can post as many times as you like!

• Share your thoughts: Tell us why it's your favourite, what the music means to you, and how you interpret the music/lyrics.

Feel free to also include:

• Links to the music on streaming platforms so others can listen.

• Personal stories or memories tied to your choice.

• Your first name, age, and country.

I hope to use the data provided from our music community to inform visual responses to music as part of my University Final Major Project. Looking forward to seeing your selections, and thank you for visiting!

Super Tramp - Live 88

Depeche Mode -

Simply Red - Hits

Sade - Hits

Annie Lennox - Medusa

Duran Duran - Ordinary World Album

Pearl Jam

STP

Sound Garden

Aerosmith

Van Halen

Jamiroquai

G3

Simple Minds

Tears for Fears

SRV

Joe Satriani

Everything But The Girl

Sting

Erasure

Another reason why this album is special to me is because this was my first concert, Def Leppard with Tesla opening, in 1988! Me and my friend were in the very last row up near the ceiling and the band looked like ants but we were hooked and never stopped going to concerts ever since!

This album had seven hit singles which is quite a feat especially for a rock band.

This album took 3 years to record due to Rick Allen losing his arm in a car accident and subsequently learning how to play drums with one of his feet. This album almost didn't happen and ended up being one of the most successful albums in history!

My top three songs from this album are Women, Love and Affection, and Gods of War.

• I've only really listened to this because of my parents during my childhood. I did add it to my playlist like last year but kind of just for the vibes. After searching about the song and actually paying attention to the lyrics, I found out it's very political (as is all art) and I think it's sad that it's a song still applicable to current times :<

Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley

• I know it's a meme now but it's genuinely such a bop. It's honestly such a sweet song too. I just think it's fun!

OMD- Enola Gay, Souvenir

Phil Collins- Another day in paradise, Invisible touch

Van Halen- Jump

Don Henley- Boys of summer

Hall & Oates- You make my dreams come true

The Cars- Drive

Mr. Mister- Broken wings

New Order- Blue Monday

Paul Simon- You can call me Al

Huey Lewis & The News- The power of love

My goodness I could have gone on for ages I'm so sorry! I couldn't decide on an album, and to be honest I don't really know them by album names. They are all quite a mixture, by they mainly mean a lot to me because its the music I grew up listening to around my dad, and we use it to connect whenever we see each other these days. These songs feel like home to me. I feel like even though I was born in 1996 I could have fit better into the 80's era.

• Beth Warren, 30. UK.

1980s: Cue Fanfare by Prefab Sprout or Take Your Time (Do It Right) by The S.O.S. Band

1990s: Fresh by Draft Punk

So hard to choose! Lots of music here from films - like The Big Lebowski & Everybody Wants Some!

From Abbie, UK.

He admits he got drunk the night before, full of bravado, raised his hand in anger and hurt her. He continues trying to wake her up, but further into the song he realizes he killed her.

Very dark song I know, but the music is really beautiful, which creates the weirdest contrast.

Just as a clue to what professor types found worthy of discussion.

All of these songs hold emotion, provoking thought, during a time when a person was establishing individual perspective on how to respect humanity of all races, making sense of expected contribution to society, and how to balance taking care of themself after leaving the nest.

It was something else and it exploded at the same time as MTV so the big hair, leather/ spandex clothes, makeup on everyone blew up in LA and spread east across the country. And as quickly as it blew up across the US, it died almost as quickly with the emergence of Nirvana and the Seattle scene/“grunge”.

Not sure what you’re actually researching/writing about but something I’ve always found fascinating is that even though some of these guys looked like a made up clown, there was an emergence of some true guitar virtuosos (i.e. George Lynch, Warren DiMartini, Vitto Bratta, etc. ) but their genius and skills on the guitar was often overlooked due to the nature and subject of the songs and their looks. It was all about fast cars, fast women and partying until the sun came up.

It was a fun time to be a teenager/young man.

Elton John - "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" - I saw a documentary about the making of the album and was very touched by the video of "Candle In the Wind" (before it became over used). That turned me into a huge Elton fan. Part of my high school years.

Annie Lennox - "Bare" - Just amazing music and astounding voice. Every song has something special. The harmonies on "Honestly", her voice going "around" on "Wonderful" and "Loneliness" just speaks to my heart.

Ann - USA- 68

In the Chicago performance, at the end of the song, he changes the lyrics. He says, “I didn’t see you before, but I see you now.” Obviously, he loved her, but he only truly saw everything that she was and meant to him when it was too late. This change in the lyrics altered the beginning of the song for me. "Looking out the door, I see the rain fall upon the funeral mourners..."

He's grieving the end of the relationship. But the funeral isn't only for the relationship; it's also for the version of himself that existed within it. The person who was "much too blind to see the damage he's done" is gone, too. Grief has transformed him into someone capable of understanding what he lost.

The lines: "Sometimes a man gets carried away, when he feels like he should be having his fun... Much too blind to see the damage he's done." It doesn’t feel like he is making excuses; it feels more like he is confessing that he had misplaced his priorities. The phrase "much too blind" suggests he wasn't malicious, just incapable of seeing clearly until hindsight forced him to. "She's the tear that hangs inside my soul forever." I interpret this as she got away because he couldn’t recognize her worth until it was too late, thus becoming a permanent part of him. Not as an idealized fantasy, but as the person who taught him, through losing her, what loving someone requires.

My kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder

 It's never over, all my riches for her smiles

When I slept so soft against her

It's never over,

All my blood for the sweetness of her laughter

It's never over. 

He isn’t asking for a dramatic reunion or a passionate declaration. He would trade everything he has for something small and ordinary, like a kiss on her shoulder. The physical closeness became a memory engraved in his soul. It's the intimacy of everyday love that he misses most. When he repeats “it’s never over”, not only does it sound like a plea, but it also sounds like a desperate attempt to convince himself that there is still hope. 

Overall, this song, and the album titled Grace, has got to be one of my all-time favourites. I think that Buckley's talent and style are something we rarely see in today's music, which is why I am so passionate about his work. He has this tone when he sings that is full of soul, and it creates such a strong emotional feeling within me whenever I hear his music.    

Kid Creole – "https://youtu.be/rdRLBhogCe4?si=n2cxxEvRGtqlcMCt&t=15". Annie, I´m not your daddy . Pulsating exotic pop at a high tempo. I loved this so much! Kid Creole became my favorite artist for many years to come... Such a great big band! Swings like crazy...

Clash – "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ9r8LMU9bQ&list=RDbJ9r8LMU9bQ&start_radio=1" Rock the casbah. So catchy, high status band among music writers. Hit in Australia.

Dorothée - "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8m5fjtM7Ww&list=RDQ8m5fjtM7Ww&start_radio=1" La valise. Caribbean-sounding fast happy pop, big surprise for me! Hit in France. "The Suitcase"

Lime – "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihi7FtIRBE0&list=RDihi7FtIRBE0&start_radio=1" Babe, we're gonna love tonite. Beeping high tempo light pop, high intensity, edgy, duet, female voice strikingly shrill, peculiar, Canadian couple; hit in Spain.

Nena – "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGjZaiOPnAA&list=RDDGjZaiOPnAA&start_radio=1" Nur geträumt. A bit like a German Kim Wilde, fast synthpop with a catchy chorus.

Donna Summer – "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYW2o4uf504&list=RDaYW2o4uf504&start_radio=1". State of independence. Reinterpretation of the suggestive Jon & Vangelis song, sophisticated, much gospel feel, celebrity chorus ... although the original (which never hit the charts) is at least as good.

Attack - "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsIiyDpUI-4&list=RDJsIiyDpUI-4&start_radio=1" Dag och natt. Joyful and beloved, makes me happy, fast pop. Hit in Sweden.

... just one month of 360...

Lars, 61, Sverige

The Promise

Most people see it as a collection of stories and while I agree there’s a few stories I think one sticks out as a joined story

Script for a jesters tear (song)- I personally see it as a young man preparing for war where he has to say goodbye to his fiancé while “performing the script” of a brave soldier which puts strain on his relationships

Garden party- that’s the continuation after the next few songs where it’s his goodbye party and he’s starting to see everyone playing their part, children being outshone by their parents professions, similar young men expected to play their part as brave soldiers, people trying to gain favour ect

Forgetten sons- that soldier being on the front lines witnessing the brutality of war while his previous life (the script) is being slowly destroyed and taken away. Him accepting death as a friend and questioning those behind power

Market square hero- him returning full of anger and rage but seen as a hero, he unknowingly starts his own script as someone who causes rebellion for others, some see a man grabbing power by being loud and angry (the jester) he’s performing/ playing the script for others (the script) and nobody sees his pain deep down (the tear)

Honestly one of the best albums in my opinion, up their with the wall and dark side of the moon and there’s dozens of interpretations so I’m happy to hear others interpretations

"Part 1" is pretty ugly and abrasive, with a plodding music line, Bowie's voice wavering through the verses, belting out a hoarse wail before the chorus, and hitting odd falsetto notes in the chorus. In contrast, "Part 2" roughly keeps the same music line and chorus, but ups the tempo and smoothes out his voice in every way. It's a very pleasant song, unlike Part 1.

My interpretation of Part 1 is that this album is his first release since the Berlin trilogy, which employed an often ugly art rock style that I'm not a fan of, and this album started to switch to a more contemporaneous sound, which he would continue with the fully-80s Let's Dance album afterward. This album is the bridge between those sounds. Accordingly, I read the ugly Part 1 as telling the audience "I'm getting this art rock sound out of my system, and we're moving beyond that now," which is reinforced by the very "normal sounding" Part 2 in contrast. Without the Part 2 to reinforce this message of "this is what we're doing now," Part 1 wouldn't make any real sense musically or thematically on the album.

I've not heard or read anything to confirm this interpretation, but I like it myself.

If you're interested in varying interpretations, I'd also recommend listening to the album 16mm by Dog Versus Shadows & Nicholas Langley, which released a couple of months ago. It's really experimental, making use of a lot of sound clips to create audio landscapes, but it's absolutely fascinating and engaging to me. I'm not a terribly creative person, but listening to these tracks, my mind creates vivid visual narratives for what I'm hearing, and I also suspect that each listener could come up with their own interpretation for what they hear

One of my favourite songs is Another Day in Paradise by Phil Collins (1989). The lyrics are quite interesting, and so is how they came to be written.

It is a song about the homeless, and the lyrics came to Phil Collins quite spontaneously as he was behind the piano. He wrote down what he improvised and then filled in the holes for the song to make sense.

Phil Collins gives the meaning quite explicitly in an interview - that we’ve become so accustomed to homelessness around us that we barely notice it anymore. That there’s a lack of help. His goal was to bring attention to that with this song. But since the lyrics were, we could say, “revealed” to him as he wrote them, they could take on other meanings as well depending on how each individual listener interprets them. For example, we could see the song as being entirely about a single person. We are all the man (passerby), and the woman who calls out for help is the side that we choose to neglect, because the man in the song chooses deliberately to ignore the woman calling for help. We always choose our comfort zone - our “paradise” - over coming to terms with some sides/aspects of ourselves, which may be uncomfortable to face.

Good luck with your university final project!

-Jean, Canada, 24 years old

The music felt personal, so I thought it was a weird coincidence that it was written the year I was born.

The music -borrowing from Salieri: “almost comic” at some points… Rising from a crescendo of strings, then a single piano note, sustained, followed by answering octaves of itself, cadence building, and then… Harmonica. A fkn harmonica, why?! Hold, why does it work?! It resolves the tension, as if mocking it, only to evolve into a full-on gold rush piano saloon trip, followed by sax interventions, organs, and full on orchestral intervals, not to mention drumming so melodic that acts as a preface to every chapter of the song.

Altogether, the music weaves a tale that, superficially, sounds lighthearted, but underneath… Such longing. Such need for answers, answers to questions you don’t yet have, at least not in words. And that’s just the music.

I was 18yo, driving home at night, dreading the feeling of arriving, so I pulled over, turned off the car, reclined the seat, Supertramp BIA CD in. I desperately needed a break. The song came up, played once, I repeated it, again, and again, no idea how many times, I arrived home very late, got in trouble, worth it.

Always loved Supertramps’ music, though I never really paid attention to lyrics, this time I decided to LISTEN. I remember clearly, feeling like maybe the answers to the unknown questions the music hides may be there?

Well, no. I realised I had questions that felt heard by the music, understood by it.

At that point in my life I needed answers, I reeeeeaaaaally needed answers. I was ruthlessly questioning life, judging god, justice, the sacred, the mundane, questioning the mathematical probabilities within randomness and life’s outcomes, love, pain, lessons, purpose, raison d'être and ultimately… Why, why of it all? Tragedy, romance, despair, joy, a like a stupid comedy. Then it hit me, attention… The music,  the playful overlay on such deep, powerful orchestral tale, like, a theatre play? Could it? OH man wait a sec… the lyrics: “so you think you’re a Romeo”, “when you’re up on stage”, “Forever playing to the gallery”. As in “the world's a stage, men and women, merely actors” Shakespeare indeed. I felt shivers, life in 7 acts.

In this song they speak of a life not yet lived, a married life not to be had, leading an unfulfilling life and ending up never finding yourself and your true potential. Success, dreams, fulfilment, and a bifurcation I could not possibly understand then. But, it was there, they knew. Take the long way home, the blessing and the curse, “does it feel like life has become a catastrophe? It has to be, for you to grow, boy.” The long way home IS the journey.

The music told me I’m heard, the lyrics focused my eyes to the horizon. Told me to live at life going forward-in-retrospect, not to wait to look back, and regret.

Taught me not to take life too seriously, and that decisions shouldn’t be taken lightly. The long way home IS the way, so long as the long way home is not avoidance.

They wrote the song when they were 18, btw, 18. Deep concepts for a bunch of 18 year olds, one separated by 18yrs and just listening.

I always thought it said “Never see what you want to see” which stayed with me as a warning to always be objective and avoid self deception… Ironic, is not quite what the lyrics say. -Perhaps what I needed to warn myself about. Ironic indeed.

“And when you look through the years and see what you could have been Oh, what you might have been If you would have more time”.

In my 40s, this bit checks me harder now.

Still blows my mind how profound, particularly for a song with a harmonica lead. Still love how the song reaches in a deep way, lightly… The gravity, the comedy, like the masks of theatre, this time art imitating life.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5gbIN7R7ztU&ra=m

I believe it is a song about coming to terms with living in a state of not feeling whole, whether that be grief, depression, self-doubt, or mental struggles (I find the latter two most likely). It’s about understanding and becoming aware of the wasted potential of not living life to its fullest, of staying within your comfort zone, pretty much just making by with “one headlight” - just existing, not really living. You’re halfway there.

The lines “I turned the engine but the engine doesn’t turn”, “she ran until there’s nothing left, she hit the end, it’s just her window ledge”, and “we can drive it home with one headlight” all support the idea of being stuck within your comfort zone and aware of it, even wanting to get out of it but not actually putting the effort or actually getting that step out - further reinforced by the lines “this place is always such a mess, sometimes I think I’d like to watch it burn”. He wants to step out, but never acts upon it.

“We can drive it home, with one headlight” and that’s him trying to justify staying within his comfort zone, as it is just enough to get by through life.

The album also was released during a time of major cultural change, as the world experienced economic uncertainty, shifting technology, and a new era of music shaped by television and popular culture. Despite these changes, Toto IV focused on timeless human experiences such as love, heartbreak, loneliness, hope, and the search for purpose something that gravitates to young adults going through constant changes in their lives, the enchanting beats help as well with driving individuals to the music. "Rosanna" explores the pain of missing someone and the complicated emotions that come after a relationship changes, something many people still experience in modern relationships. “Africa” represents curiosity, adventure, and the desire to escape the ordinary, reflecting today’s continued search for connection and meaning in a fast-changing world. “I Won’t Hold You Back” captures the vulnerability of accepting loss while still valuing memories and love.

It represents the freedom to create and connect through music without boundaries. In today’s digital world, where technology influences how people communicate and express themselves, the album feels even more meaningful. Its raw production and experimental sound remind listeners of a time when electronic music was about discovery and shared experiences. The album remains nostalgic because it brings people back to the excitement of late-night dance floors and cultural change, while still inspiring new generations of artists and listeners.