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.
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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.
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