Skip To Content
  • Rad badge

55 Essential '80s Songs Alt-Rock And New Wave Tracks You Need At Your Party

These classic songs will get you on the dance floor.

1. The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"

2. Dexys Midnight Runners "Come On Eileen"

3. OMD “If You Leave”

4. Modern English “I Melt With You”

5. 4.The Go-Go’s “Our Lips Our Sealed”

6. Simple Minds “Don’t You Forget About Me”

7. Madness “Our House”

View this video on YouTube

8. Peter Schilling "Major Tom"

9. Eurythmics "Love Is A Stranger"

10. Yaz “Situation”

11. Pet Shop Boys “West End Girls”

12. Soft Cell “Tainted Love”

13. Animotion “Obsession”

14. New Order “ Blue Monday”

15. B-Movie “Nowhere Girl”

16. Siouxsie and the Banshees “Peek-A-Boo”

17. Dramarama “Anything, Anything”

18. Living Colour "Glamour Boys"

View this video on YouTube

19. David Bowie “Let’s Dance”

20. Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy "Kiss Me"

21. Icicle Works “Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)”

22. Simple Minds "Promised You a Miracle"

View this video on YouTube

23. Yaz “Don’t Go”

24. Erasure “Oh L’amour”

25. Blondie “Rapture”

26. Tom Tom Club “Genius of Love”

27. Eddy Grant “Electric Avenue”

28. Romeo Void “Never Say Never”

29. The B-52’s “Channel Z”

30. Fishbone “Party At Ground Zero”

31. Oingo Boingo “Dead Man’s Party”

32. Pixies “Here Comes Your Man”

33. The Cars “Hello Again”

34. Duran Duran “Hungry Like the Wolf”

35. Wang Chung “Dance Hall Days”

36. The Plimsouls “A Million Miles Away”

37. a-Ha “Take On Me”

38. INXS “Don't Change"

39. Billy Idol “Dancing With Myself”

40. Echo & The Bunnymen “Lips Like Sugar”

41. Big Audio Dynamite “The Bottom Line”

42. The Smiths “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before"

43. The Human League “Don’t You Want Me?”

44. David Bowie “Modern Love”

45. Depeche Mode “Just Can’t Get Enough”

46. The Sugarcubes “Motorcrash”

47. XTC “Mayor of Simpleton”

48. The Replacements "Alex Chilton"

49. Squeeze “Hourglass”

50. The Kinks “Come Dancing”

51. Musical Youth “Pass The Dutchie”

52. Berlin “No More Words”

53. Iggy Pop “Cry for Love”

54. The Cure “Just Like Heaven

55. New Order “Age of Consent”