Underrated 80s & 90s songs please! I primarily listen to these eras of music anyway, but I love learning about more songs I haven’t yet discovered!

Question

amy hagedorn · Answer

Fuck and Run by Liz Phair: a banger and a mantra <3

Sealligator · Answer

Anything Ralph Tresvant touched: (and now I wanna make a new jack swing collection)

BORSCHT BABY · Answer

Accuse by Alaska: this album <3

south africa, 1999

BORSCHT BABY · Answer

Untotooku by Chiemi Manabe: 1982 ♡ Japan

Tim Sondrup · Answer

Bed of Nails by The Cavedogs: Recent discovery. 1990.

Tim Sondrup · Answer

Unforgetful You by Jars of Clay: From the movie Drive Me Crazy (1999)

Eric · Answer

2nd song recommendation-> Sinaed O’Connor’s “Mandinka”: The beat & her voice… so raw!

Eric · Answer

I have a couple, but will limit it, otherwise I’ll hijack this post.. I love Tears for Fears, “Mad World”: Everything about this song moves me…

Karen · Answer

Dancing in Heaven (Orbital Be-Bop): Okay what do Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt have in common? “I just love… to dance.” Girls Just Want to Have Fun soundtrack 4eva

Karen · Answer

Heart And Soul: By T’Pau/ 1987

There are just so many parts to this song. It starts with a rhythmic chant. Then lyrical lull. Then a full blown anthem. And it swings back and forth between all of these.

BORSCHT BABY · Answer

Woman Of The Snow Down Mountain by Hermastache: A perfect song.

UK, 1984

JRecsThis · Answer

Molly by Sponge 1995: As the song says, don’t ask why!

Rish · Answer

Dead Man Walking: A certified 90s banger

Jonathan · Answer

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea: Great song. Maybe not the most underrated per se since they have a bit of a cult fanbase, but I think most people haven’t heard of them.

Shellie Gossling · Answer

All my Life by Kci & Jojo: Ok, maybe it isn’t underrated but OMG i blasted it at full volume in my car and it’s the absolute best.  So cheesy and amazing.

kim · Answer

December - Exposé: i would decide that i must play this song when december comes around when i found it. that's how much i like it.

ellie jones · Answer

naked eyes (1983): 80s synthpop, catchy, fun, and such a well-rounded album. they had two major hits you may know, but the album as a whole is so underrated in my opinion.

no skips, gonna be my top album & artist of the year for sure!

Eric F · Answer

Moments In Love - The Art Of Noise 🎭: You’ve probably heard a sample somewhere.

BORSCHT BABY · Answer

Y U 4 Me by M'Du: South Africa, 1995

Alyssa · Answer

City Pop (the genre): Incredibly underrated. Jazzy, great vocals, joyful…what more could you want? The Weeknd even sampled one of the best city pop tracks by Tomoko Aran titled “Midnight Pretenders” in his title track “Out of Time”. Definitely give it a listen and you’ll feel transported to a simpler time. Enjoy!

BORSCHT BABY · Answer

When I Sleep by Hoi Polloi: 1980s

wait for the chorus <3

Rook · Answer

Total Control - The Motels: It just barely misses your criteria for 80’s-90’s music (it’s from 1979), but it is such a cool song. Definitely recommend it.

Haley James · Answer

Have You Ever — Brandy: This is the first song I remember falling in love with on repeat (not me in elementary school singing "have you ever loved somebody so much it makes you cry?").

Haley James · Answer

Sailing — Christopher Cross: Admittedly not around when this song first came out but he recently played it on Kimmel and I was hypnotized.

Lorzs · Answer

Coolio - C U When U Get There (feat. 40 Thevz): RIP Coolio (1997)

Everyone knows Gangsta’s Paradise, but this track is special.

Abby Phoenix · Answer

Look Away - Chicago (1988): This was certainly a popular radio song of its time (or I wouldn’t have heard it!), but whenever it comes on now, I realize I’m the only person I know who still knows every melodramatic word, so.

You maybe had to have been a child when it first came out, but it was my first intro to songs that tell a story, and where the story was YEARNING. I fell completely for the emotion in it, and as a child still many steps away from puberty, basically felt the sting of unrequited love over and over again for four minutes at a time.

Sarah · Answer

Late 1900s country playlist: Maybe you also were a kid on a farm in the 1990s and would enjoy blasting this playlist with the windows down and unearthing the lyrics from the deepest part of your lizard brain? Bonus rec getting your kids into it and hearing your kid singing boot scootin boogie around the house.

LCD · Answer

I wanna hear it from your lips by Eric Carmen: It’s just perfection.

Carly · Answer

Sex and candy: Perfect forgotten grunge era song

Analisa Burns · Answer

Self Control by Laura Branigan: banger

Ksteg · Answer

Knock On Wood (Prefab Sprout): Sexy, groovy, wistful wall to wall carpet

Maddy M · Answer

69 Love Songs: Tender, funny, strange, perfect

B. A. Griffin · Answer

Blind Melon - Walk: In the spring of ‘96 I was 17, riding in a coach bus with 2 friends. We were venturing from Toronto to Daytona Beach. I had my Walkman and a half dozen cassettes to pass the time. This was one of them. This entire album is underrated in my opinion.

This song. Will break your heart.

Rook · Answer

Here Comes Your Man - Pixies: Honestly, their whole album titled “Doolittle” is amazing, but “Here Comes Your Man” is an all-time great song.

Julianne Casper · Answer

sound track to High Fidelity

Anniebraves · Answer

Sweetest Decline (Beth Orton) [1996]: Beth Orton's "Sweetest Decline". The lyrics are masterful. I frequently quote "What are regrets?
They're just lessons we haven't learned yet" (which is such a truth nugget).