Just as New Wave completes its mutation into New Pop (more on that next year), 1983 reveals just how much the former could evolve before being superseded by the latter. Across this spectrum, you have post-punk stalwarts such as The Cure, XTC and Siouxsie Sioux at their most accessible to-date and old souls like Tom Waits and Joan Armatrading at their spikiest and also most contemporary sounding.

And yet, much of what’s included here comes from artists making their debuts/breakthroughs: Violent Femmes and R.E.M. representing new regional Americana, Billy Bragg reinventing electric folk for the post-Dylan era, Heaven 17 and The Blue Nile respectively adding soul and atmosphere to synth-pop, The Smiths and to a lesser extent The Three O’Clock and The Go-Betweens kicking off the ‘60s revival through slightly askew lenses and of course, Madonna basically (and rather shrewdly) updating what would’ve been called disco a few years previously (now under the safer guise of “Dance Music”);  Melle Mel’s “White Lines (Don’t Do It)” does essentially the same trick only as Hip-hop.

In many cases, I chose the less obvious hits: “Your Silent Face” instead of “Blue Monday”, “Church of the Poison Mind” but not “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me”, “Love Is A Stranger” over “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”, “This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)” proving more timeless than “Burning Down The House”, etc. While there’s nothing by The Police, Michael Jackson or one-hit wonders Nena, Taco and Kajagoogoo, I still made room for Chaka Khan and Rufus’ enduring “Ain’t Nobody”, the deathless “Electric Avenue” (its original hit version finally on Spotify as of 2024!) and sole number-one-hit “Total Eclipse of the Heart” which you’d want in a time capsule for future generations to effusively understand what the year sounded like at its loudest and most expensive.

As for 1983 at its weirdest, look no further than “Shiny Shiny”, which asks the question, “What’s more inexplicable, the band’s name or the song?” (Answer: its music video.) For those seeking a little extra substance with their style, you can’t go wrong with The The’s “This Is The Day”, which grafts jubilant fiddle and accordion onto an electro-exoskeleton and sports a melody that blooms and resounds with each passing minute—an anthem both melancholy and bright that feels neither faceless nor cheap.

1983: When Things Fall Into Place

1. Joan Armatrading, “Drop The Pilot”
2. Culture Club, “Church Of The Poison Mind”
3. The Go-Betweens, “Cattle and Cane”
4. Heaven 17, “Temptation”
5. Was (Not Was), “Knocked Down, Made Small”
6. Eurythmics, “Love Is A Stranger”
7. Peter Schilling, “Major Tom (Coming Home)”
8. XTC, “Great Fire”
9. The Cure, “The Lovecats”
10. Marshall Crenshaw, “Whenever You’re On My Mind”
11. Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Dear Prudence”
12. Talking Heads, “This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)
13. Billy Bragg, “The Milkman of Human Kindness”
14. Yaz, “Nobody’s Diary”
15. Tom Waits, “16 Shells From A 30.6”
16. Melle Mel, “White Lines (Don’t Do It)”
17. Chaka Khan & Rufus, “Ain’t Nobody”
18. Violent Femmes, “Prove My Love”
19. Haysi Fantayzee, “Shiny Shiny”
20. The B-52’s, “Legal Tender”
21. R.E.M., “Perfect Circle”
22. New Order, “Your Silent Face”
23. The Smiths, “This Charming Man”
24. Madonna, “Burning Up”
25. Bonnie Tyler, “Total Eclipse of the Heart”
26. David Bowie, “Modern Love”
27. Eddy Grant, “Electric Avenue”
28. The The, “This Is The Day”
29. Echo & The Bunnymen, “The Cutter”
30. The Blue Nile, “Stay”
31. Brian Eno, “Always Returning”
32. The Three O’Clock, “Jet Fighter”
33. Funy Boy Three, “Our Lips Are Sealed”