Photo: Michael Conen / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)
Our 10 Favorite Rolling Stones Songs Of The 1980s presents a list of Stones songs that mix up the big hits with some deeper album tracks. Everyone has their favorites, but I think we can pretty much agree that the Rolling Stones have brought great joy to rock fans for over five decades now. There are a lot of fans who too often ignore the Rolling Stone’s 80s period. It’s understandable because of what the Rolling Stones released in the 1960s and 1970s. Yet, the band did release four studio album in the 1980s. There’s plenty of great material on all the albums. Here are ten of our favorites.
# 10 – Summer Romance
We thought it would be nice to open up with a track from the Rolling Stones’ first album of the decade. The album Emotional Rescue was released in 1980. The album served as the follow-up to their incredible 1978 record Some Girls. The album’s big hits were the singles “Emotional Rescue,” and the follow-up single “She’s So Cold.” However, a track that we liked instantly that we always thought would have been a great single was the rocking tune “Summer Romance.” The song was issued as the second track on the album.
# 9 – Waiting on a Friend
One of our all-time favorite Rolling Stones songs will always be this grand tribute to friendship that the Rolling Stones released on their Tatoo You albums in 1980. The song “Waiting on a Friend” stood as the closing track in the album. It was also released as the second single from the LP after “Start Me Up.” It was the perfect follow-up because it sounded nothing like “Start Me Up.” This was an old-school summertime groove that just made you feel good. It also stands as our favorite Rolling Stones video.
# 8 – Black Limousine
The great track “Black Limousine” was released on The Rolling Stones very successful 1981 album Tattoo You . The song is a blues-based number that is reminiscent of their early 1960s work when they were releasing albums full of blues covers. The songwriting credits on “Black Limousine” were credited to Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood. The Rolling Stones had been working on the songs for years but finally recorded it for release on the Tattoo You album.
# 7 – Almost Hear You Sigh
The Rolling Stones song “Almost Hear You Sigh,” is one of the few singles that the Rolling Stones released as a single that we have placed on this list. It’s just too good of a song not to mention here on this 80s Rolling Stones songs list. “Almost Hear You Sigh” was released on the Rolling Stones album Steel Wheels. It was issued as the third single from the record. The song also revived a Grammy Nomination. However, it’s one of those Rolling Stones singles that have flown under the radar for the last thirty years.
# 6 – Wanna Hold You
Many of the best Rolling Stones Songs released in the 1980s featured lead vocals by Keith Richards. Many of them were ballads but some were uptempo. This is one of the great ones. The song was released on the Rolling Stones album Undercover Of The Night. The album was released in 1983.
# 5 -Terrifying
Everything we love about the Rolling Stones is featured front and center immediately in this song. The classic Keith Richards guitar riff, the very tasty Ronnie Wood guitar licks, Charlie Watts’ incredible time and groove, and of course Mick Jagger’s iconic vocal phrasing. There is no big-time chorus on this one, it’s just all about groove and playing. A real musician’s song. Ronnie Wood’s playing really shines on this one.
# 4 – Little T & A
This is probably the most popular Rolling Stones songs on this list. However, it was never released as a single. Another great Keith Richard vocal from the great Rolling Stones album Tattoo You. This one always sounded like it belonged on Exile On Main Street.
# 3 – One Hit To The Body
The song “One Hit To The Body” is probably one of the most unheralded gems of the Rolling Stones’s 809s output. The song was released on the album Dirty Work in 1986. We wonder how many fans do not realize that a lead guitar solo on the song was played by Jimmy Page. Ronnie Wood also nailed a songwriting credit for the song along with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. “One Hit To The Body” was released as the album’s second single behind “Harlem Shuffle.”
# 2 – She’s So Cold
Ask any Rolling Stones fans to name one of the band’s iconic gems of the 1980s, and they will probably mention the rocking tune She’s So Cold. With a bit of a new wave feel but engulfed in that traditional Rolling Stones sound, the band delivered a great one here. The song She’s So Cold was released on the Emotional Rescue album. It was issued as the second single from the album behind the lead single “Emotional Rescue.”
# 1 – Start Me Up
It’s tough to put together a Rolling Stones 80s songs list and not have “Start Me Up,” at the top of the list. This was easily the band’s biggest song of the decade. It seemed like MTV played this one every five minutes at the dawn of the 80s. The song’s origins go back to the Some Girls era when the song was being worked on as a reggae number. That version never saw the light of day. The Stones had a monster hit with the song, which hit number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1981.
Feature Photo: Michael Conen, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
10 Great 1980s Rolling Stones Songs article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2023
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