Sure, it is still tempting to look back on the ‘80s for more than those songs’ undying hooks, to look back and figure them as simpler times. Those are the years where pop music sounded like the future, but also preceded the real arrival of the future in the true mainstream introduction of the internet era in the ‘90s, a turning point with complete and still-evolving societal ramifications. Those are the years of proms in John Hughes films, and our own proms, and childhood, and all that shit. That was the decade they looked back on as their innocence, the same way we look back on the ‘80s as ours.

It’s an interesting paradox: We often remember the decade and its pop music in fond, neon hues, the same decade that was shot through with apocalyptic darkness and in turn had a nostalgic bent towards the ‘50s. Nostalgia for that decade and its pop culture has both seemed to move in cycles and be ever-present for something like the last 15 years.