Tenika’s Meme Challenge for this week is to list your top ten songs from the 80s. You get bonus points for posting a photo, and bonus points for your 80s crush.

I read this challenge right before I went down with the flu, and tossed and turned thinking of the top ten songs. While I had to expand it a bit, I scrawled this list down in my delirium.

I tried very hard to make sure they were the songs I loved in the 80s, not the ones I love now that are from the 80s.

10. Sunglasses at Night by Corey Hart – What this song is about, I have no clue. But, he looked like Harrison Ford, sang a catchy tune, and had a great video.

9. With or Without You by U2. I think the 80s were U2s ultimate decade, and their songs have true staying power (Sunday, Bloody Sunday and Bad still sound as fresh today as they did when they were released). However, for true teenage yearning, this is the song.

8. Melt With You by Modern English – A friend once told me it wasn’t even the best song on the album, which is true, but this song is still incredible. It’s romantic, it’s got a great beat, and we’ll forgive the usage of it for a burger commercial.

7. Safety Dance by Men Without Hats – the anthem of the dance generation “if your friends don’t dance, they are no friends of mine”.

6. Every Time You Go Away by Paul Young – I adored Paul Young. I saw him in concert. His duet with Alison Moyet during Live Aid was a stand-out moment. In retrospect, he did a lot of cover songs, but he made them his own.

5. Take On Me by A-ha – Three pretty boys from Norway singing a catchy tune with a video that involves going into a comic book. Pop just doesn’t get any better than this.

4. Enigma – This Band blended Gregorian Chants with a techno beat. And, somehow, it worked. Perhaps a bit of prefiguring the Orthodox journey…?

3. The Cure – They were dark, they were gothic, and their music was incredible. I still adore them. And, Eddie adores the bass lines on Disintegration . In an “awww” moment, Eddie bought me their single “Pictures of You” for our first Easter together. I saw them twice in concert.

2. They Might be Giants – their song “Birdhouse in my Soul” is probably my favorite – odd lyrics, catchy music. The favorite of college students everywhere. Also, my first exposure to the song “Istanbul not Constantinople”. Again, prefiguring my conversion…

1. Duran Duran – I can bring this list beautifully into bonus point one – who was your crush. I alternated between John Taylor and Andy Taylor, but I was completely and totally in love. I bought Bop, Tiger Beat, and any other magazine that mentioned their name. I listened to their tapes over and over, I wanted to meet them (and then be married to them – how they’d notice me out of all the bazillion girls around me, I’ll never know), I wrote stories about them, I made a scrapbook about them.

And, the music – the funky bass, the pop sounds, catchy lyrics. I am still in love. Great grooves, good dancing music, and a fabulous comeback album (with all five original members) Astronaut. I saw them on tour in March, and they are still incredible. If I strike it rich, I'm going to just follow them around on tour in my little VW bus.

And, to complete the challenge – a photo of me at 14 (the same age as Cedric today). Look at those earrings, that hair, and that grin! I am truly a child of the 80s

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