It Was the Heat of the Moment: My Favorite Songs the Year I Turned 16

1982 was a hell of a year for music

I love a good writing prompt, even when it shows up unexpectedly and completely derails what I’m working on at the time. I’m starting to think that Pierce McIntyre over at Plethora of Pop has set up a lawn chair in my head, given the number of times he’s thrown out a challenge that made me forget everything else until I finished it. It helps that we are the same age and thus he knows which buttons to push, which is exactly what he did with his latest challenge: what were your favorite songs when you were 16 years old? You can read the prompt (and his answer to it) below:

When I read the subtitle, I thought this was going to be a slam dunk: at 16 my favorite songs would include classics like “Born to Run” (duh), “Even the Losers,” “Shoot to Thrill,” “Kashmir,” and any number of 70s hits. But then he threw us a curveball. It had to be songs that were released the year you turned 16, which for both me and him was 1982. That changed the list completely; I couldn’t include anything from Born to Run or The River or Back in Black or Led Zeppelin IV or even Beauty and the Beat (that GoGos masterpiece came out in 1981).

How in the hell, I thought to myself, am I going to find 16 favorites from Ronald Reagan’s second year in the White House? As it turns out, the problem wasn’t finding enough songs, it was in deciding which ones I had to leave off; 1982 was a far better year musically than I had remembered, though in my defense it was 40 years ago.

I culled it down though, reluctantly leaving off songs that were ubiquitous in 1982 like the Scorpions “No One Like You,” The Clash’s “Rock the Casbah,” and Willie Nelson’s “Always on My Mind.” What remains gives you a fairly accurate view of who I was at 16, at least with all the earlier classic rock removed.

Normally for a prompt like this I will include one or two videos and then a full playlist at the end, but in reading Pierce’s article I realized something. With every one of the 16 songs he listed, the first thing I saw in my mind was the video for the song; MTV had launched in August of 1981, and less than a year later was a cultural phenomenon. For this piece only, I will be including a video with each song. Let’s get rolling.

“Crimson and Clover” by Joan Jett. I thought long and hard about which song to start off with; these are not ranked by preference, but your leadoff batter is always important. As fate would have it, I am starting off with one of two songs that also made Pierce’s list and I put Joan Jett first because she deserves to be. Joan Jett is a national treasure, and the next person who calls her one of the greatest female guitarists ever gets punched square in the face. She is one of the greatest guitarists ever, full stop. We knew it in 1982 and we know it now.

“Straight into Darkness” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Petty’s 1982 album Long After Dark was a little bit of a letdown after Damn the Torpedoes and Hard Promises, but “Straight into Darkness” was awesome. It especially sounded great blasting from my buddy’s fully restored 1966 Mustang.

“You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” by Judas Priest. I was just starting to really get into metal at 16, in no small part because of a girl (isn’t that the reason we do everything in high school?). It didn’t work out with the girl, but it always worked out with the Priest. This is a song I still play every time I write a rant.

“Angel in Blue” by the J. Geils Band. The classic J. Geils album Freeze Frame came out in 1981, but the single for this song didn’t drop until 1982, so I’m including it. “Centerfold” and “Freeze-Frame” got all the attention, but this was my favorite by far. And no, I don’t know why “freeze frame” has a hyphen for the song but none for the album title. I just know it was a great song to slow dance to at school dances, wedged in between “Rock Lobster” and my next pick.

“Hurts So Good” by John Cougar (now Mellencamp). In retrospect it’s not the greatest song, but it was fun and for a 16-year-old in a Catholic school in Reagan’s America, it was kinda dirty. That’s always a win.

“Working Girl” by The Members. Of all the songs here, this one is the biggest proof of the impact MTV had, because if they had not put this video into regular rotation, it’s unlikely that many in America would have ever heard of these boys from the U.K. That would have been a shame, because they showed us the slacker ethos long before slackers were cool.

“Heat of the Moment” by Asia. The second song here that also made Pierce’s list, and for good reason. This song was inescapable in 1982, and with 11 million views since Asia’s YouTube account posted the video in 2018, apparently people still love it today.

“Subdivisions” by Rush. Leave it to the Canadian prog rockers to come up with a concept video that perfectly matched the song. That’s standard fare now, but one year into MTV’s existence it was groundbreaking, and we loved the video as much as the song. And dear lord, what was Alex Lifeson thinking with that haircut?

“Amarillo by Morning” by George Strait. I still listened to country and western music then because it had not yet turned into the shit it is today. I may have left Willie Nelson out in the cold, but there is no way I could exclude the man who is still revered as a god in Texas by even the most hardcore punk rockers. Plus, I needed a Texan with no ZZ Top releases in 1982.

“Run to the Hills” by Iron Maiden. As I did back when I was a youngster running the streets of Fort Worth, I follow country with metal. There is nothing I can say about this song that hasn’t been said a million times already. I will say, however, that if you had told me at 16 that four decades later Carole King would be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Iron Maiden would not, I’d have told you to put down the bong. #FuckTheHall

“Goodbye to You” by Scandal. Of course I listened to silly bubblegum pop at 16, especially when the lead singer looked like Patty Smyth (did I mention I was 16?). Besides, it’s not just a fun song, it’s a fun video.

“Stone Cold” by Rainbow. Is it metal? Is it a power ballad? At 16 I was not concerned with such trivialities. All I knew was that the song was great, as were guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, bassist Roger Glover, and sadly underrated lead vocalist Joe Lynn Turner. (Note: the thumbnail for the video below comes up wonky, but the video is fine).

“A Million Miles Away” by The Plimsouls. Though it appeared on their excellent Everywhere at Once album in 1983 and most people didn’t hear it until it featured in a key scene in the film Valley Girl that same year, “A Million Miles Away” was actually released twice, the first time as a single for their old label, Shaky City Records, in 1982. I was lucky enough to hear it a year before it showed up in my favorite ’80s teen movie ever.

“Telegraph Road” by Dire Straits. When most people think of Dire Straits in the 1980s, they naturally think of the mega-selling Brothers in Arms album from 1985 (with songs like “Money for Nothing” and “Walk of Life”). But Mark Knopfler and the boys were around long before that, and in 1982 they released this classic that takes up half of side one of the album Love Over Gold. I’m deviating a bit here and going with the live version from the Alchemy: Dire Straits Live album rather than the studio version because, well, you’ll understand when you hear it.

“Shadows of the Night” by Pat Benatar. No one who didn’t live through the early 1980s will ever be able to fully grasp just how massive a star Pat Benatar was then. The Grammy’s typically suck, but they got it right with Benatar, awarding her Best Female Rock Vocal Performance four years in a row, from 1981 to 1984. One of those wins was for “Shadows of the Night,” and how could it not have been. Just listen to that voice.

“Johnny 99” by Bruce Springsteen. If Pierce hoped to hit me with a challenge that would involve no Springsteen as part of the response, he should have gone with 17 years old; Bruce had no new music in 1983. In ’82, however, he released Nebraska, and the song I played the most was “Johnny 99.” The sheer hopelessness of the thing was exactly what I needed as I waited for the Smiths to finally come along in 1984.

That’s my 16 songs from 16 years old. Leave yours in the comments or better yet join in and write an article of your own; tag me so I can find it. And in keeping with Pierce’s original article, I am tagging 16 writers who should definitely take up this challenge. Even if they don’t, you should check out their excellent work: Eric Pierce, Simon Dillon, Arpad Nagy, Mark Holburn, Danielle Loewen, Rob Janicke, Rui Alves 🇺🇦, Judy Walker, PJ Jackelman, Patrick Metzger, Paul Thomas Zenki, Paul Mansfield, Sarah Paris, Terry Barr, Alex Markham, Jessie Waddell.

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