I love rock and '80s heavy metal specifically guitar solos and for the most part, during that decade, every hard-rockin metal band had at least one per song (nowadays, forget it).  But I got to thinking of other types of music that didn't usually feature guitar solos, you know, the more synthetic, pop and dance-based stuff (which by the way did often feature guitars, just not solos and they were often muted under the drum machine beats and keyboards.)

Alisha - Baby Talk.  Dance/freestyle classic from the mid-80s, absolutely my all-time favorite guitar solo mid-way through the song. 

A Split Second - Mambo Witch.  Industrial-dance number from the late '80s, another very memorable, sweet guiatar solo.

Also, while I'm at it, I love the guitar riffs in Madonna's "Burning Up" and Debbie Gibson's "Electric Youth." 

Deborah Gibson's "Electric Youth."   


;)

Though I llike the riff from "We Could Be Together"

we were just talking about the cars and ric ocasek. does that count? definitely just what i needed and shake em up are class A guitar solos.

Black Cat.....Janet Jackson

Prince usually has great guitar solo's in his songs.

A Split Second - Mambo Witch.  Industrial-dance number from the late '80s, another very memorable, sweet guiatar solo.

Neat idea for a thread. 

I'm a big Split Second fan, but no list of 80s pop/dance "guitar" awards would be complete without just about everything Sigue Sigue Sputnik ever wrote on 1986's "Flaunt it", and 1989's "Dress for Excess" albums.

www.sputnikworld.com

Sputnik has kept up with synthy guitar-based wackiness -- 2001's "Piratespace" and 2002's "Blak Elvis" are as comfortable on a dance/techno floor in the 2000s as they would have been in the 80s.  The sound is up to date, but unmistakably Sputnik.

If I can sneak in a 1990 track or two, I'll go with the Sisters of Mercy's "Vision Thing".  I claim exemption from a strict 1980-1989 rule on the grounds that the bass guitarist in question was none other than Sputnik's Tony James.

And if we're allowing sampled guitars, I'm going to have to include the guitar riff from Slayer's "Angel of Death" that's been featured in everything from Public Enemy's "She Watch Channel Zero" (1988) to KMFDM's "Godlike" (1990), to obscure German act "Some More Crime" (aka A.C. Leuchter)'s "10.6.5", off their "Another Domestic Drama in a Suburban Hell" (1993) album.  Rap, old-school industrial, newer-school industrial.  And as long as we're talking KFMDM, we might as well mention Sigue Sigue Sputnik's 2001 cover of KFMDM's 1989 hit "Virus". 

Which is a long and roundabout way of saying that just about all roads to 80s non-metallic guitar lead to, or through, Sputnik.

Black Cat.....Janet Jackson

Prince usaually has great guitar solo's in his songs.
i was obsessed with that distortion/phaser shred prince does at the end of 1999. one of the things that came out when i was really young and first starting to play that inspired me to keep with it.

downloading some sputnik now!

there is also, of course, the solo from thriller. i mention that mostly to get it out of the way, eddie van being pretty reliable in the solo department.

"The Night Owls" by Little River Band
"Take A Chance With Me" by Roxy Music
"That's When I Think of You" by 1927
"The More You Live, The More You Love" by Flock of Seagulls

Not that it was planned, but the 4 songs I just mentioned all begin with the letter T :D

"The More You Live, The More You Love" by Flock of Seagulls




Listening to that right now.

Yeah, the '80s had guitar solos in almost every song ( :) ), I really think that enhanced the feel of it, especially "non-hard rock" songs and made the genres kinda blend more with each other.

Offhand, I like:

Beat It
All Right - Christopher Cross (I really like this song, so maybe I'm biased)
Easy Lover - Phil Collins
Heart and Soul - Huey Lewis
Oh Sherrie - Steve Perry
several Corey Hart songs
On the Darkside - John Cafferty
Magic - The Cars
I Can Dream About You - Phil Hartman
Running With the Night - Lionel Richie (this was sort of a "Beat It" influence, I think)

I guess those are sorta "arena rocky" solos.

The guitar riff from INXS "Need You Tonight" was good

Neat idea for a thread. 

I'm a big Split Second fan, but no list of 80s pop/dance "guitar" awards would be complete without just about everything Sigue Sigue Sputnik ever wrote on 1986's "Flaunt it", and 1989's "Dress for Excess" albums.

www.sputnikworld.com

Sputnik has kept up with synthy guitar-based wackiness -- 2001's "Piratespace" and 2002's "Blak Elvis" are as comfortable on a dance/techno floor in the 2000s as they would have been in the 80s.  The sound is up to date, but unmistakably Sputnik.

If I can sneak in a 1990 track or two, I'll go with the Sisters of Mercy's "Vision Thing".  I claim exemption from a strict 1980-1989 rule on the grounds that the bass guitarist in question was none other than Sputnik's Tony James.

And if we're allowing sampled guitars, I'm going to have to include the guitar riff from Slayer's "Angel of Death" that's been featured in everything from Public Enemy's "She Watch Channel Zero" (1988) to KMFDM's "Godlike" (1990), to obscure German act "Some More Crime" (aka A.C. Leuchter)'s "10.6.5", off their "Another Domestic Drama in a Suburban Hell" (1993) album.  Rap, old-school industrial, newer-school industrial.   And as long as we're talking KFMDM, we might as well mention Sigue Sigue Sputnik's 2001 cover of KFMDM's 1989 hit "Virus". 

Which is a long and roundabout way of saying that just about all roads to 80s non-metallic guitar lead to, or through, Sputnik.


Nice post, man.  Very informative  ;)

Here's a few:

"Point Of No Return" (1987 remix) - Expos

I got it.

My Sharona- The Knack