Here's what I ended up with:

Side One

• "Take On Me," a-ha. It's important to start a tape like this off with a bang, and there are few songs more spectacularly Eighties in nature than this, the synth-driven falsetto pinnacle of the Video Music Era.

• "Come On Eileen," Dexy's Midnight Runners. There was a ska-punk cover of this a few years ago by a band called Save Ferris. It's amazing how much the song is harmed by being able to understand the lyrics. The original is unbeatable.

• "Who Can It Be Now?," Men at Work. I always liked "Land Down Under" better, but it wasn't on the tape.

• "Good Girls Don't," the Knack. The other song by the guys who did "My Sharona." I always liked this one better, anyway.

• "Karma Chameleon," Culture Club. What can you say about this one, really?

• "In a Big Country," Big Country. Exhibit A in the argument that naming your band in your first single is the kiss of death.

• "Everybody Have Fun," Wang Chung. A song that is forever defined for me by hearing Kelsey Grammer as Frasier on Cheers recite the lyrics.

• "Jesse's Girl," by Rick Springfield. Kate was foolish enough to doubt that Lara Beaton and I could know all the words to this, this past weekend. And she paid the price for her lack of faith...

• "Always Something There to Remind Me," Naked Eyes. On Googling to check my memory of the band name, I was astonished to find this attributed to Burt Bacharach. I'm not sure why.

• "Missing You," John Waite. A song that always seemed to be on when I drove home late at night in the late 80's. A good one to sing along with in those circumstances...

• "Secret Separation," the Fixx. This was a filler track on a CD I bought in order to obtain some other tune ("Come On Eileen," I think), and I was surprised to discover that I knew and liked it.

• "Be My Yoko Ono," Barenaked Ladies. Not actually an 80's song, but goofy enough to fit, and short enough to fit in the gap at the end of the tape, which none of the actual 80's material I had on hand would do.
  

Side Two:

• "What I Like About You," the Romantics. One of the decade's most recognizable opening riffs. These guys never did cocaine. Nope, no way.

• "Centerfold," J. Geils Band. I actually got really sick of this song back when it was popular, but I recovered nicely.
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