91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn

Through The Decades: The Eighties

Prince performs live at the Fabulous Forum in February 1985 in Inglewood, California.
Michael Ochs Archives

When it comes to the music of the '80s, there's many genres that flourished throughout the decade. Coming out of punk, New Wave and the early days of hip-hop, musicians like Prince, Talking Heads, The Smiths, The Cure, Madonna, Public Enemy, Whitney Houston and more delivered some timeless classics. Our "Through The Decades: The Eighties" playlist is best enjoyed on shuffle — to experience the full range of musical diversity:

Copyright 2022 XPN

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Bruce Warren is assistant general manager for programming of WXPN in Philadelphia. Besides serving as executive producer of World Café, Warren also contributes to Paste magazine and writes for two blogs: Some Velvet Blog and WXPN's All About The Music Blog.
More Stories
  1. Madonna will perform at Rio's Copacabana beach to close out her tour
  2. Jeff Beal's new collection of solo piano work speaks to living with multiple sclerosis
  3. On 'Here in the Pitch,' Jessica Pratt's pop seduces listeners into a Los Angeles noir
  4. Tiny Desk Premiere: Otoboke Beaver
  5. Composers reimagined some of the most iconic 'Final Fantasy' songs in 'Rebirth'