Gen X in Geriatric Care
Which Songs Will You Spin at the Nursing Home?
I started junior high in 1982 and went off to college in 1988. To say the music of the ’80s shaped my character and worldview understates its impact. Iconic ’80s songs remain radio staples and rank among streaming’s most-played tracks. Is that merely nostalgia cycling back around, or is there something special about the decade’s music that made it the soundtrack for modern life?
As a teen, you could often find me lying on our big, round, red shag rug in the living room with my head positioned between the huge tower speakers of my parents’ stereo system. Without a Walkman, it was the closest I could get to mimicking headphones. And boy did I love it.
In 1986, my area of Sacramento didn’t have cable TV yet, so our 25-pound VCR was still all the rage among the neighbors (with our huge library of maybe four movies). I was media-starved, so I consumed music voraciously. I submerged myself in it for inspiration, connection, and expression; then swam out of it a relatively interesting adult with a big mouth.
Now I’ve got a kick-ass DJ set for the nursing home I’ll be trapped inside in ten or so years. Move over Glenn Miller, Gordon Lightfoot, and Elvis.
Haha — a nursing home showdown! Eh, it’ll most likely be a bunch of old, jaded Xers grumbling, “Whatever,” and going back to bed.
My tastes are varied and I left out some of the decade’s biggest hits (by artists like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bon Jovi, etc.), but here is my list of the top 10 songs from the ’80s that made me who I am today and I would demand the DJ play at the senior center prom.
I also include a bonus track released in 1978, outside the target decade, and will follow up with a long list of honorable mentions in a separate post. Those may be more interesting than my top 10.
We’ll see what you think...
My Top 10
10. Forever Young — Alphaville
We all knew when this tearjerker was released that we would pine over this song until our elderly years. What a poignant topic, even one teens could easily grasp. No other song immediately recalls my youth like this one.
9. Paul Revere — The Beastie Boys
“Before their time” barely scratches the surface of how amazing the Beastie Boys are. Their Licensed to Ill album changed the game in music. It got funkier, more rap-based, and still tongue-in-cheek. The reversed 808 groove in Paul Revere was the basis for a lifetime of loving hard hip hop.
8. How Soon Is Now? — The Smiths
There’s no way the angst of this masterpiece would escape a moody contemplative teen experience. This song and its grungy guitars sang to the emo goth in us all, making us all consider the poetic nature of lyrics and how awesome it is to name a song after a slightly different lyric: “When you say it’s gonna happen now, well, when exactly do you mean?” Absolutely brilliant.
7. Blue Monday — New Order
The influence of New Order on ’80s pop and dance music is undeniable. Blue Monday was the best-selling 12-inch single not just of the decade, but of all time. No dance party dared forget the tune. Great sleeve art on the Blue Monday release too. If you know, fill in the young’uns in the comments. Absolute trendsetters and EDM great-granddaddies.
6. Talk Talk — Talk Talk
A strangely named song by a strangely named group that had a much bigger radio hit: It’s My Life. No Doubt covered it in 2003, but I didn’t care for the original or the remake. For me, this song was their definitive jam. It has one of the greatest keyboard solos ever. I’ve listened to it hundreds of times. I still listen to it. It’s absolute ’80s techno-pop gold.
5. It’s Like That — Run-DMC
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Heard for the first time as a cheerleading accompaniment and boy did that beat make an impression on me. While their foray into pop music with Aerosmith was considered revolutionary for the industry, I always believed It’s Like That to be their best song. Honorable mention to It’s Tricky. Thankfully, Run-DMC had the beats and the rhymes to make the ’80s their decade. What would hip-hop be if not for the OGs?
Note: I linked the original but highly recommend the Jason Nevins Remix.
4. Thanksgiving — George Winston
Some of you may be scratching your heads right now but this song made such an impression on me in high school that it would be unfair to leave it off my list. Winston was an amazing pianist signed to the Windham Hill label, popular during the decade. He created the most soulful and touching composition in Thanksgiving, on his album December. Such a wonderful song that everyone should hear at least once.
3. White Lines — Melle Mel
Whenever I hear this song today, my mind goes directly to my girlfriends and me getting ready to go out to party. We’d blast songs like this and take hours to get ready, changing outfits, doing each other’s hair and trading makeup secrets. It was nice to have such a jamming song be anti-drug, but sometimes I think I loved it because it was about drugs, period, regardless of the message. It’s a fun, hell-raising tune that always makes me wanna lip-sync it in front of a mirror. Don’t do it, baby.
2. Situation — Yaz(oo)
Yaz (known as Yazoo outside North America) paired vocalist Alison Moyet with former Depeche Mode keyboardist Vince Clarke and, for me, represented the future of music in America. Their two albums are excellent listens from beginning to end — and that’s not easy to say about all albums.
So many of their songs are classics and were embedded in my psyche during my formative years, but Situation was by far the most influential. The pulsing techno intro and stuttered laugh are simply iconic. Personally, I’m more partial to Midnight but Situation is the song that moved the needle in the industry so it gets my props.
- Comfortably Numb — Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd’s 1979 conceptual masterpiece and multimedia juggernaut, The Wall, produced three singles, all released in the US in 1980. The most successful single was Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2), but Comfortably Numb would become home to one of rock’s most celebrated guitar solos. Year after year, critics and fans rank David Gilmour’s second solo among the greatest ever recorded.
After thousands of listens, I still get goosebumps when David’s Stratocaster wails. Never has there been, or will there ever be, a more emotive piece of rock perfection. This song, this album, and this movie influenced who I am as an adult and I’m grateful. This song will always be #1 on any list I make.
Note: I linked the original but highly recommend Gilmour’s solo live too.
Bonus Track
Moving in Stereo — The Cars
This song was released in 1978 (therefore outside of the decade I’m highlighting) and made famous in a little movie called Fast Times at Ridgemont High, directed by Amy Heckerling. The pulsing beat tracked a bikini-clad Phoebe Cates in slow motion, exiting her pool. Watching from the bathroom window is a boy who’s enjoying the view a little too much. Memorable scene with a memorable song.
When I would lay my head between my speakers and listen to the moving channel changes in this song, it made me feel like I was in a musical vortex. Moving in Stereo, literally.
Final Thoughts
I hope my trip down memory lane jogged a few memories of your own.
Tell me which songs you played over and over during your teenage years and which tracks you’ll fight for at the nursing home. What music made you who you are, whatever your generation?
C’mon, be brave. All the cool kids are doing it!
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Piper McKnight, 2026
