Let's Pretend '80s Rock Radio Never Died...

You don't just have to imagine an alternate universe where AOR and melodic rock still exist. There's an insane amount of it being made all the time.

For as much of a music obsessive as I am today, it hasn’t always been such. There’s a very distinct point when I started really paying attention to music, and like many individuals my age, that point occurred when our house got cable and - in turn - got MTV.

Actually, no, that’s not entirely true. You can probably backdate it a little bit more, to when I was visiting my aunt Rose Marie, found MTV on her cable setup, and watched the video for The Human League’s “(Keep Feeling) Fascination.” If I saw any music video prior to that, it doesn’t really matter, because that’s what I remember most distinctly as the moment that made me say, “Hey, videos are cool!” And then when we got MTV at our house, it became somewhat of an obsession, watching it as often as my parents were willing to tolerate it and pointedly tuning in at the top of the hour to either hear what was coming up in the next hour or seeing whatever World Premiere Video might be making its debut.

The Human League was only one of the artists that was in regular rotation at the time, of course. You also had their British brethren like Duran Duran, Thomas Dolby, Naked Eyes, Madness, and so forth. But in addition to the up-and-coming artists, you also had the artists who’d already been around the block a few times and were trying to make their mark in the music-video era, including some folks who’d been in bands in the ‘70s and were reinventing themselves as members of new bands…like, say, Asia.

Goodness gracious, was I a sucker for a rock band that blended harmonies, synthesizers, and melodic guitar riffs and knew how to write pop hooks and killer choruses…and I’m not embarrassed to say that I’m still a sucker for that stuff!

Which is what brings me to today’s post.

God knows there are enough artists making music nowadays that there’s a subgenre for just about everything…but I still remain surprised - if pleasantly so - that there’s one that one I like to call Songs That Could Be Used for Training Montages in ‘80s Action Movies. And, yes, I realize you wouldn’t think there’d actually be a need for such a specific subgenre as that, but I’m here to tell you that there is.

Okay, sure, you might not need to listen to every single one of the hundred songs that I’ve included in this playlist, all of which were - believe it or not - recorded in the 2000s, many as recently as the 2020s. But I’m telling you, if you want some music to get you pumped up and ready to work or drive or exercise, this is a playlist that will do it for you.

And I also realize that many of you are already convinced that there’s no need for you to even press “play” on this playlist, but I implore you to at least do that much, if only just to share in my continued incredulity that there are still so many artists around the world who continue to write, record, perform, and kick ass in this very specific subgenre of music. It’s amazing. I seriously cannot believe that some of these songs weren’t released in the ‘80s.

Like this one, for instance, which came out THIS YEAR!

It’s amazing, and I love it so damned much.

If you’ve got a soft spot for this stuff, seriously, give it a spin, and please feel free to subscribe to this playlist, because I plan to add to it as I discover more music along these lines.