Old Playlist

" Spirits in the Material World " is a song by rock trio The Police, written by Sting. It is the opening track for their 1981 album Ghost in the Machine . The song features bass, guitar, synthesizer, drums, saxophone, and vocals. It has a Jamaican Ska beat which changes to a swaggering rock beat in the chorus. It was released as a single in 1981 and reached No. 12 in the United Kingdom and No. 11 in the US in early 1982. Read more about the song

" Dead Ringer for Love " is a rock song performed by American rock singer Meat Loaf and American singer-actress Cher from Meat Loaf's third studio album, Dead Ringer. The song was written by Jim Steinman and one of only two tracks on the album produced by Steinman and Jimmy Iovine. Read more about the song

" Physical " is a song by Australian recording artist Olivia Newton-John for her twelfth studio album Physical . It was released in September 1981, by MCA Records as the lead single from the project. The song was written by Steve Kipner and Terry Shaddick, who originally intended to offer it to British singer-songwriter Rod Stewart, while production was handled by John Farrar. Read more about the song

"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" is a song by British rock group The Police from their fourth album Ghost in the Machine . The song, notable for featuring a pianist (uncommon for most Police songs), dates back to a demo recorded in 1977. It was also a hit single that reached the top of the charts in the United Kingdom (topping its predecessor, " Invisible Sun ") in November 1981 and hit number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart that same year. Read more about the song

" Just Can't Get Enough " is a song by English musical group Depeche Mode. It was released in September 1981 as the third single from their debut album, Speak and Spell (1981). It was recorded during the summer of that year at Blackwing Studios, and was the band's first single to be released in the United States, on 18 February 1982. A riff-driven synthpop song, " Just Can't Get Enough " was the final single to be written by founding member Vince Clarke, who left the band in November 1981. Read more about the song

"Endless Love" is a song written by Lionel Richie and originally recorded as a duet between Richie and fellow soul singer Diana Ross. In this ballad, the singers declare their "endless love" for one another. It was covered by soul singer Luther Vandross with R&B singer Mariah Carey and also by country music singer Kenny Rogers. Billboard has named it the greatest song duet of all time. Read more about the song

" Souvenir " is a song written by Paul Humphreys and Martin Cooper of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and released as the first single from their 1981 album Architecture & Morality . It is sung by Humphreys, who ordinarily functions as keyboard player and backing vocalist. The track has minimal lyrical content and is characterised by slowed-down choir sounds offset by pulsing major key piano chords. Its "gentle, sparkling" synthesizer hook substitutes for a vocal chorus, as with other OMD compositions. Read more about the song

" Start Me Up " is a song by the Rolling Stones featured on the 1981 album Tattoo You . Released as the album's lead single, it reached #1 on Australian Kent Music Report, #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #7 on the UK Singles Chart. Read more about the song

English vocal-and-synth duo Soft Cell became aware of the song through its status as a UK " Northern Soul " hit, and recorded a drastically different arrangement in 1981. The Soft Cell recording featured a slower tempo than Jones' version, and was in the key of G rather than the original C to match Marc Almond's lower voice. Synthesizers and rhythm machines replaced the original's guitars, bass, drums, and horns. Soft Cell's version was recorded in a day and a half with Almond's first vocal take being used on the record. Read more about the song

" Girls on Film " is the third single by Duran Duran, released on 13 July 1981. The single became Duran Duran's Top 10 breakthrough in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at Number 5 in July 1981. The band personally selected the song for release following the failure of its predecessor, " Careless Memories ", which had been chosen by their record company, EMI. Its popularity provided a major boost to sales of the band's eponymous debut album, Duran Duran, which had been released a month earlier. Read more about the song

" Lay All Your Love on Me ", is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA in 1980 for their Super Trouper album. It was released only as a 12-inch single in 1981 in limited territories, rather than as a standard 7-inch record. At the time, it was the highest selling 12-inch record in UK chart history, where it peaked at number 7. " Lay All Your Love on Me" appears on the group's ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits collection. Read more about the song

" The River " is a song written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen, accompanied by the E Street Band. It was the title track of his fifth album, The River , and was a hit single in parts of Europe. It reached #25 in the Netherlands, and reached the top 10 in both Sweden and Norway. Its B-side was either " Independence Day " or " Ramrod ", depending on the country. Read more about the song

" Memory ", often incorrectly referred to as " Memories ", is a show tune from the 1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats sung by the character Grizabella, a one-time glamour cat who is now a shell of her former self. The song is a nostalgic remembrance of her glorious past and a declaration of her wishes to start a new life. Sung briefly in the first act and in full near the end of the show, " Memory " is the climax of the musical, and by far its most popular and well-known song. Writers, Lloyd Webber and Nunn received the 1981 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. Read more about the song

Body Talk is the debut album by British soul/dance group Imagination, produced by Steve Jolley and Tony Swain and released in 1981 . It is one of the earliest albums of its genre to have a distinctive 'British' sound as opposed to being an attempt to recreate contemporary American styles. Read more about the album

Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police station—"blues" being a slang term for police officers—in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim, and its production innovations influenced many subsequent dramatic television series produced in North America. Its debut season was rewarded with eight Emmy Awards, a debut season record surpassed only by The West Wing , and the show received a total of 98 Emmy nominations during its run. Read more about the TV Show

" Chariots of Fire " is an instrumental theme written and recorded by Vangelis for the soundtrack of the 1981 film of the same name. The recording has since been covered by numerous performers and used as theme music for various television programmes and sporting events. Read more about the song

" Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) " is a song performed and co-written by American singer-songwriter Christopher Cross, which was the main theme for the 1981 film Arthur starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli. In the US, it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and on the Hot Adult Contemporary charts during October 1981, remaining at the top on the Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks. Overseas, it also went to number one on the VG-lista chart in Norway, and was a top ten hit all around the world. The song became the second and last American number one hit by Christopher Cross. Read more about the song

" Keep On Loving You " is a hard rock power ballad written by Kevin Cronin and performed by American rock band REO Speedwagon. It features the lead guitar work of Gary Richrath. It was the first REO Speedwagon single to break the top 50 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, reaching the number-one spot for one week in March 1981 and becoming the 500th song to do so in the process. The single was certified Platinum for U.S. sales of over 2 million copies. It peaked at number seven in the UK Singles Chart. Read more about the song

" Das Model " (spelling on album: " Das Modell "; English version title: " The Model ") is a song recorded by the German group Kraftwerk in 1978, written by musicians Ralf Hütter and Karl Bartos, with artist Emil Schult collaborating on the lyrics. It is featured on the album, Die Mensch-Maschine (English version title: The Man-Machine ). First released as a 7" single in Germany (B-side: " Neonlicht "), under its English translation the song was eventually included on the B-side of the " Computer Love " single released in July 1981, which reached no. 36 in the UK charts. Read more about the song

" Kids in America " is a 1981 song by British singer Kim Wilde, released in the UK as her debut single in January 1981, and in the USA in 1982. It has been covered by many artists from different genres.The song peaked at number 2 in the United Kingdom. The following year it became a Billboard Hot 100 Top 30 hit in the United States and ranked as the 91st most successful song of 1982 on the Hot 100 year-end chart. In the summer of 1981, the track appeared on Wilde's self-titled debut album. Read more about the song