10 Most Disturbing 80s Songs Because of What We Know Now

10 Most Disturbing ‘80s Songs Because of What We Know Now

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at 1980s hit songs that have come to be associated with tragic events, scandals and coincidences.

“(Just Like) Starting Over” (1980)

John Lennon

Beatle-turned-revolutionary solo artist John Lennon was a master of mixing the sentimental with the eerie. It sadly wasn’t long before “(Just Like) Starting Over” became more eerie. Lennon’s chart-topping breakout for the ‘80s is a lively, ambient expression of love for wife and creative partner Yoko Ono through hardship. Not two months after the single’s release, he was murdered right in front of her outside of their New York home. The swan song that opened the couple’s final album in Lennon’s lifetime thus inspired an interpretation of renewal for Ono after this unthinkable tragedy. Whether that’s reassuring or melancholy, “(Just Like) Starting Over” holds a bittersweet place in fans’ hearts no matter what.

“In the Air Tonight” (1981)

Phil Collins

The dreamy electro-pop triumph “In the Air Tonight” has always had a chill running through it. Phil Collins’s meditation on remorse and despair was so intense that some people randomly theorized it as eyewitness testimony. Over time, there developed this urban legend that the song was inspired by the singer-drummer’s failure to intervene in a murder at a resort. Of course, Collins has gone on record as saying that he really wrote it as a response to the divorce from his first wife Andrea Bertorelli. That personal touch does admittedly make the soft ballad’s lyric feel more acrimonious. But after hearing the bogus rumor about “In the Air Tonight,” it’s hard to unhear it.

“Tainted Love” (1981)

Soft Cell

The hopping heartbreak anthem “Tainted Love” was originally performed by Gloria Jones in 1965. Sixteen years later, Soft Cell turned it into a synth-pop staple. The club scene which particularly embraced the foreboding jam was then gripped by fear after the AIDS crisis began the same year. “Tainted Love” became so entwined with this that Coil, a band led by a same-sex couple, released their own cover in ‘85 to benefit AIDS research. This even resonated with Soft Cell frontman Marc Almond, who came out as gay two years later. He may not have had the allegory in mind when he first did “Tainted Love,” but in a 2022 interview with Vulture, he called it “a soundtrack” for that scary time.

“Summer of ‘69” (1985)

Bryan Adams

Sweeping nostalgia turned “Summer of ‘69” into a signature song for Bryan Adams. Of course, there were those creeps who had a seedier take on the title… including Adams himself. In a 2008 interview with CBS’s “The Early Show,” he claimed the song really does allude to a sex act. But co-writer Jim Vallance asserted that he envisioned an innocently sentimental anthem, with his drafts of “Best Days of My Life” mentioning the year 1969 only once. Adams retitled the track and made “Summer of ‘69” the refrain, deliberately to promote the innuendo. The classic may still evoke fond memories for those who grew up between the ‘60s and ‘80s, but others may not want them to explain why.

“Hungry Like the Wolf” (1982)

Duran Duran

Honestly, a lot of Duran Duran’s steamy hits have aged poorly as the mainstream social climate has evolved. Their international breakout “Hungry Like the Wolf” sounds particularly predatory just from the title. A 2007 cover by ska punk band Reel Big Fish even opened with a spoken word analysis of the lyric’s violent implications. As they’ve gotten older, Duran Duran have opened up in interviews and writing about their scandalous heyday of hard partying. Frontman Simon Le Bon has, however, denied a 2018 allegation of sexual assault back in 1995. Duran Duran really haven’t faced many serious scandals, but neither have they made any apology for the crass machismo once romanticized in songs like “Hungry Like the Wolf.”

“Leave Me Alone” (1987)

Michael Jackson

Media scrutiny followed Michael Jackson throughout his life. Finally, he wrote “Leave Me Alone” in response to public ridicule about his plastic surgery and such eccentric acts as adopting a pet chimpanzee. The headlines got much darker after the ‘80s. Jackson has been accused of serious sex crimes since 1993, leading to a 2005 trial that ruled him not guilty on 10 counts. All the while, his reckless parenting style and medical issues horrified fans. The relatively light scandals that inspired “Leave Me Alone” were eclipsed by rumors and realities that only escalated tabloid harassment. They have haunted the Prince of Pop’s overall legacy, to say nothing of his catchy plea for privacy.

“Every Breath You Take” (1983)

The Police

The world initially swooned with “Every Breath You Take” as a somewhat excessively intimate love song. There were surely some cynical listeners who thought the lyrics warranted contacting the real police. Well, despite the melody, the romantic interpretation was actually incorrect. In 1993, The Police singer and bassist Sting told The Independent that the chart-topping, Grammy-winning ballad is about a cruelly possessive lover. He actually wrote it as an allegory for the growth of media intrusion and surveillance in the 1980s. The song is still widely accepted as uplifting, so maybe people aren’t watching Sting all that closely after all. The fact remains that he doesn’t even hear much romance in “Every Breath You Take.”

“Let's Go Crazy” (1984)

Prince and The Revolution

His Purple Badness has been firing up partiers ever since “Let’s Go Crazy” hit the scene. The party ended for those who really paid attention to the lyrics and Prince’s shocking death in 2016. The song describes not letting “de-elevator bring you down,” which was chilling enough after Prince told Musician magazine in ‘97 that this was a metaphor for the Devil. Never mind that he died in an elevator of a prescription overdose almost 20 years later. Note how the song’s last verse also speaks of resisting the temptation of pills. While we should respect Prince’s wish to not let these coincidences and religious allegories bring us down, they do spoil the spirit of “Let’s Go Crazy.”

“Cold Blooded” (1983)

Rick James

It was a hot story when the always scandalous Rick James and Linda Blair dated. Everyone knew that the actress was the inspiration for the spicy title track of the album “Cold Blooded.” What they didn’t know about was the pain behind this tale of attraction and anger toward a girlfriend. James’s 2014 posthumous autobiography “Glow” opened up about Blair terminating a pregnancy in 1983 without consulting him. After finding out, he wrote “Cold Blooded” as a way to process his complicated emotions. Blair and James continued dating until ‘84, having inspired a hit that listeners later learned was more cathartic than passionate.

“What Your Mama Don't See (Your Mama Don't Know)” (1980)

Gary Glitter

A number of Gary Glitter’s scintillating anthems are distressing in retrospect. To be sure, “What Your Mama Don’t See (Your Mama Don’t Know)” sounded pretty creepy when it was first released as a standalone single in 1980. It sounded very different 19 years later, when Glitter was first convicted of possession of disturbing material involving minors. He faced many more charges of abuse and inappropriate relationships after that, before being sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2015. The whole world now knows the truth about the man behind “What Your Mama Don’t See,” another one-time classic that has been distorted by Glitter’s terrible crimes. Perhaps it’s for the best that this particular one has been largely forgotten.

What are some other ‘80s classics that haven’t held up under scandal?