Top 10 Hardest '80s Songs to Sing

MsMojo

Don't stop trying to master these 80s songs. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at those 80s tracks that are harder to master than a Rubik's Cube.

Transcript

00:00 "Learning you makes life worth living."

00:05 Welcome to Ms Mojo, and today we're looking at those 80s tracks that are harder to master

00:12 than a Rubik's Cube.

00:13 "I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark."

00:17 Number 10, Don't Stop Believing, Journey.

00:20 "Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world."

00:26 But trust us, we get it. That piano intro starts, the excitement builds, and it's hard

00:33 not to want to belt this one out. The problem is that belting isn't as easy as you may remember

00:40 it being from your childhood days in the 80s.

00:43 "Flying down, way up there, looking down the long river."

00:51 Sonny lead singer Steve Perry has a great and often underappreciated voice that is able

00:57 to deliver this fairly wide range of notes with power and precision.

01:02 "Head in and pin the roll of the dice, just one more time."

01:09 Most of you might sound okay singing about the small town girl, but when it's time to

01:14 belt out the chorus, well, that's when we kinda have to stop believing.

01:21 "Don't stop, believe, hold on, you stick to your feeling."

01:27 Number 9, Take On Me, A-ha.

01:29 "Talking away, I don't know what to say."

01:35 When most of us think of this song, the first thing that comes to mind is the iconic music

01:40 video about a girl pulled into the world of a comic book. And at over 1.8 billion views

01:48 on YouTube, we obviously aren't alone.

01:50 "Stay up for me, it's not fair to take me safe and sound."

01:56 But what might be getting lost in all that pencil-drawn awesomeness is just how impressive

02:02 the Take On Me vocals are. The range throughout the song is deceiving, and even just in the

02:09 chorus, lead singer Morton Harkett starts off pretty low and hits some higher-than-average

02:15 notes as well.

02:23 One reviewer called the song "emotionally resonant" thanks to Morton Harkett's touching

02:28 vocal delicacy. Is your voice touching and delicate?

02:32 "I'll be gone, and I'll be gone."

02:39 Number 8, Back In Black, AC/DC.

02:43 "Back in black, I hit the sack. I've been too long, I'm glad to be back."

02:49 Because of the hard-hitting guitar chords and Angus Young's shorts, many of us may have

02:54 forgotten just how hard the vocals are in this classic AC/DC track.

03:05 The Back In Black album was the first one featuring Brian Johnson as the lead singer,

03:11 having taken over from Bon Scott, who had passed away earlier in the year. And Johnson

03:16 wasted no time showing off his impressive pipes in this song, hitting some high notes

03:23 that may have tripped up many who may have tried to sing this one.

03:34 You'll find many who just scream their way through "Back In Black," but it takes a really

03:40 talented vocalist to sing it properly.

03:48 Number 7, Livin' On A Prayer, Bon Jovi.

03:51 "Time I used to work on the blocks."

03:55 We'll assume you don't have a talk box to recreate those iconic "wow, wow, whoa, whoa"

04:03 sounds, but they aren't why this song made the list.

04:07 "She says we gotta hold on to what we've got."

04:12 Sometimes with rock songs, one thinks they can just scream their way through it, but

04:17 that is generally not going to work, and it definitely won't work here. Jon Bon Jovi has

04:23 an underrated voice, and the notes he hits cleanly in the chorus aren't as easy as many

04:30 aspiring rock singers might think.

04:35 Basically, if you think you're going to breeze through this track, then you're living on

04:43 a prayer. Yeah, we said it.

04:49 Number 6, Alone, Heart.

04:53 "I hear the ticking of the clock."

04:57 One of the great 80s power ballads, Alone, reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100

05:04 in 1987, and held onto that top spot for three weeks.

05:08 This is one of those tracks that might seem doable at first, as Ann Wilson takes a calm,

05:14 relatable approach to the opening verses with just a piano accompaniment.

05:19 "And the night goes by so very slow."

05:24 But then, when it's chorus time, the guitar kicks in, and so does Wilson's, as one reviewer

05:30 put it, "signature, billowing, riveting vocals."

05:35 "I always got my eye on my heart."

05:40 We don't know about you, but no one would ever call our vocal abilities billowing or

05:47 riveting.

05:48 "How long am I gonna have to alone?"

05:53 Number 5, Purple Rain, Prince.

05:56 "I never meant to cause you any sorrow."

06:00 Great singing isn't just about hitting the right musical notes, but about hitting the

06:05 right emotional notes as well.

06:08 And that's exactly what you're going to have to achieve if you have any chance of

06:12 doing justice to Prince's 1984 hit, Purple Rain.

06:17 From the get-go, Prince is feeling this one with a depth that comes through even if you

06:22 aren't watching the accompanying music video/scene from his similarly titled film.

06:36 Then while you're scouring the depths of your soul, now you also have to hit those

06:42 notes.

06:43 Enjoy.

06:44 And if you managed that one, give When Doves Cry a try next.

06:54 "This is what it sounds like when the doves cry."

07:00 Number 4, Running Up That Hill, Kate Bush.

07:03 "It doesn't hurt me, yeah, yeah, yeah.

07:06 But you wanna feel how it feels."

07:09 Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill tells the story of a man and a woman who make a

07:14 deal with God to switch places with each other.

07:23 And if you want to try and sing this song, you might have to make your own deal with

07:27 the man upstairs in order to have the vocal talent to do it justice.

07:32 Bush has such a wonderful and distinctive voice, it can be intimidating just trying

07:39 to sing one of her songs.

07:45 But this one is especially difficult, given the emotional resonance and some of the quick

07:54 lyrical runs.

08:01 Number 3, Total Eclipse of the Heart, Bonnie Tyler.

08:12 Total Eclipse of the Heart was written by Jim Steinman, who, as some of you may know,

08:17 is the man who collaborated with Meatloaf on his Bat Out of Hell albums.

08:23 And just like many songs on those albums, Total Eclipse of the Heart is a big, dramatic,

08:29 operatic power ballad that requires you to really put on a vocal show emotionally and

08:35 range-wise as well.

08:40 Bonnie Tyler pulls it off perfectly, and we have a feeling Meatloaf would have rocked

08:45 it also.

08:52 But the real question is, can you?

08:59 Number 2, Didn't We Almost Have It All, Whitney Houston.

09:09 It's Whitney Houston.

09:12 We probably don't have to say any more than that, but we will.

09:17 It should come as no surprise to anyone that a Whitney Houston song is sitting high on

09:22 this list, given that she has one of the greatest voices of all time.

09:34 The only question is, what song was it going to be?

09:38 Certainly, one moment in time was worthy of the spot, and so was the amazing range displayed

09:44 on Saving All My Love For You, but in the end, it was Didn't We Almost Have It All

09:49 that stood out as the hardest of the hard from Houston's 80s discography.

10:00 The vocal range, the runs, the emotional force.

10:05 Houston was one of a kind.

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10:29 Number 1, And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going, Jennifer Holliday.

10:41 When it comes to this entry, we need to add a caveat to the title of our list and change

10:47 it to "The Hardest Songs to Sing Unless You're Jennifer Hudson."

10:56 Because as we all witnessed in 2006's Dreamgirls, Hudson can not only sing And I'm Telling

11:03 You I'm Not Going, but she can sing it better than almost anyone who's ever tried.

11:10 Sign up there with Jennifer Holliday, who made the song famous in the original production

11:15 of Dreamgirls on Broadway in the 80s.

11:25 As for all of us non-Jennifers, this song is a vocal and emotional tour de force that

11:31 is doable only in our dreams.

11:41 Which of these 80s tracks would you not touch with a 10-foot microphone pole?

11:51 Do you agree with our picks?

11:52 Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.

11:55 And be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.

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