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July 6, 2025 54 mins

We count down the 20 most terrible songs that somehow hit number one in the 1980s, exploring what made these synthesizer-heavy, often cringe-worthy tracks so commercially successful despite their questionable quality.

• Starting with "We Built This City" by Starship, a song universally acknowledged as terrible despite the band's pedigree
• Discussing Falco's "Amadeus" and the horror of its Mozart-inspired synthesizer nightmare
• Examining how even legendary artists like Stevie Wonder produced questionable hits like "I Just Called to Say I Love You"
• Exploring the UK vs US chart differences with songs like Europe's "The Final Countdown"
• Debating why some songs like Christopher Cross's "Arthur's Theme" spent weeks at number one
• Analyzing the cultural factors that propelled songs like John Lennon's "Starting Over" to chart success
• Defending certain entries like Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" that we feel don't deserve to be on the worst list
• Looking at which 80s artists are still actively touring and making music today

I apologize for the sound quality on the previous 2 shows. It is summer here and we have the a/c running in the Humble Backyard Studio and I did not properly adjust the microphones for it. That problem is fixed and we will keep right on rollin along.

Check out our new website at almostfamousradiopodcast.com where you can listen to all our episodes and learn more about the show. You can also join our email list. Contact Jeffy at JeffyMcJ@almostfamousradiopodcast.com.


We love fan mail here but Buzzsprout will not let us reply. You can send an email jeffymcj@almostfamousradiopodcast.com and we can reply there. We love you all!

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