More happy songs ... from unhappy people

The list of 80 Happiest Songs of the '80s had the opposite effect on some people, particularly the hard-to-please crowd over at USA Today's immensely popular Pop Candy blog, penned by my web-crush Whitney Matheson. (I keep sending her jewelry and plane tickets to Vegas every Valentine's Day; she keeps sending restraining orders. She'll come around.)

Aside from showing contempt for "We Built This City," a lot of her readers also were baffled by "Wouldn't It Be Good" and "New Song" -- the top 2 songs on our list. Some had never even heard them! Maybe they're confusing Howard Jones with Howard Johnson?

Actually, they had some fantastic suggestions. Here are some of the songs the Pop Candy readers feel need to be added to the list of happiest songs of the 80s:

Never Gonna Give You Up (Rick Astley): [video]

I Want Candy (Bow Wow Wow): [video]

Modern Love (David Bowie): [video]

Goody Two Shoes (Adam Ant): [video]

Punk Rock Girl (The Dead Milkmen): [video]

Come on Eileen (Dexy's Midnight Runners): [video]

Always Something There To Remind Me (Naked Eyes): [video]

What I Like about You (The Romantics): [video]

You Can Still Rock in America (Night Ranger): [video]

Love Shack (B-52s): [video]

Don't Stop Believin' (Journey): [live performance]

Just Can't Get Enough (Depeche Mode): [video]

Jungle Love (Morris Day and The Time): [video]

Shout to the Top (Style Council): [video]

My thoughts: Yeah, in retrospect, I'd have added "Just Can't Get Enough," "Jungle Love," "I Want Candy," "Don't Stop Believin'," and "Never Gonna Give You Up" for sure.

Where were all you Pop Candy readers when we were compiling the list? Stick around and help us out with our next list: "Top 20 ways for Steve to woo Whitney Matheson." (No. 5: Hire Matt Dylan to break into her place and spell out her name on the counter in rose petals. No. 4: Stand outside her house with a boom box playing "Never Gonna Give You Up.")

Comments

[Spears]

Thanks, Jenne!

As for "It's My Life," I think that song made the list because the melody is so happy, even if the lyrics aren't.

Good call on the Musical Youth. See, I needed you Pop Candy people here from the start!

[Liam]

The Lover In Me by Sheena Easton
Twist of Fate by Olivia Newton-John

[Liam]

The Locomotion by Kylie Minogue is very peppy!

[Whirley]

Romancing the Stone, 84', might work if you want to add an Eddie Grant song

[RZ]

You can't have a list of the happiest 80s songs without one or two by the Pointer Sisters! "I'm So Excited" and "Jump" are two of the happiest songs around! On another note, how is "It's My Life" by Talk Talk a "happy" song? As much as I love that song, I've always found it rather melancholy.

[jenne]

i was VERY happy with your list!! the top two were PERFECT and i commented so at Pop Candy. :) i love this blog too. YOU ROCK!

[Bassnote]

Mike I saw Asia in July of last year, and it was great. they even hung around afterward and signed autographs.

[Mike in Austin]

Killer-Blue, you had to go there with Eddy Grant but you are correct. Heck, it just has a funky beat and who was really listening to the lyrics in the 80's, I think I was just lip syncing and hearing the music.

Thanks for your 2 cents Chad, I think I'm going to buckle down and take my son to the Asia show.

MinA

[Bassnote]

Electric Avenue sounds like a happy song, but if you listen to the lyrics, it's about people being killed in the streets.

[chad]

mike
i got mine for $25 plus ticketmaster fees. ive heard samples from the new cd, and they sound great. im really looking forward to the show.

[Mike in Austin]

I did a quick scan of the list, so don't pelt me if a repeat:

Think I'm in Love, Eddie Money
Electric Avenue, Eddy Grant
Pass the Dutchie, The Musical Youth

Anyone see Asia on their current tour?
Tickets for the show in Dallas are going for 130.00 and up.

MinA

[Jeff in Cuba]

While I'm tempted to heap snark on the unwashed masses of the Pop Candy blogosphere, following a Pop Candy link is what first brought me to SIT80's almost a year ago.

And the rest, dare I say, is history...

[Bassnote]

I don't know about that Steve. I'm a big fan of HoJo, and he has some serious downers in his catalogue.

Elegy, Hunger For The Flesh, Hide And Seek, Equality, What Is Love, Don't Always Look At The Rain, Little Bit Of Snow, The Prisoner, Assault and Battery... just to name a few.

[Spears]

We could do a whole "Happiest Howard Jones" list if we wanted. Aside from "No One Is To Blame," that'd encompass his entire discography.

[Bassnote]

I still say Come On Eileen should NOT be on the list. I hate that song with a passion. In fact it should never be on any 'best of' list, unless it is 'Best Songs to Induce Vomiting.'

Mike In Austin, good to see you chiming in again! We've missed you.

I would definitely put Modern Love, I Want Candy and Just Can't get Enough on the list.

[jane]

Another great suggestion, Walter. Although I need to either clean my reader glasses or get my mind out of the gutter, for I read 'sax-laden' as, yes, 'sex-laden.'

Which would also totally add to the happy factor.

[Walter Cox]

Good song, jane, but I was also thinking of "Hourglass". Nice, jaunty, sax-laden tune.

[jane]

"Jungle Love." Check.
"What I Like About You." Check.
"Don't Stop Believin'." Check.

And for Walter: "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)". Which actually would have also been a great spring break song selection as well.

"But behind the chalet
my holiday's complete
And I feel like William Tell
Maid Marion on her tiptoed feet
Pulling mussels from the shell..."

[Rock_Vbrg]

I'm sorry but "Always Something There To Remind Me" by Naked Eyes is a sad song. I don't care what the tune is like, if you actually listen to the lyrics you'll want to slit your wrists.

[malibu]

I only scanned the lists, but did I miss "Things Can Only Get Better" by HoJo? Can't get much more positive than that song...

[Mike in Austin]

Hi my dawlin' Marissa!
Thanks for the love.
Indeed, I've been traveling for work from the last week of Feb through yesterday!!!
I know, I know, there is computer access at every damn Hotel. Just not the same when I'm home!

Hope all is well!

All the love,

MinA

[Marissa]

Mike in Austin! Whoa! How are ya? You rarely write, ya never call. Sheesh! Seriously, it's good to see you.

[Mike in Austin]

Steve,

The top 2 songs were awesome. To the gallows with the naysayers.

MinA

[Walter Cox]

I, too, crush on Whitney, 'tho she be married. I want her voice to come out of my alarm clock.

Did we have Squeeze on here? "Tempted" is a downer tune, but the rest of their stuff on the hits disk I have is pretty upbeat.

[Marissa]

::shaking head:: Steve, there is a difference between stalking and wooing. Keep perspective. If you do the boombox stunt with NGGYU blaring, you better have the Rick Astley patented white man shuffle down. Sean might help you in that area. He's been teaching you "the hover" and I'm sure DOTSB will soon follow.