Vintage Moments From The '80s Rock Scene That Will Never Go Out Of Style

Rock music in the 1980s was richer and more varied than ever before, with the genre blending with funk, soul, and pop to create new sounds that reflected the changing use of technology. Digital synthesizers seemed to be almost ubiquitous, while in terms of music reaching wider audiences, the dawn of MTV saw music videos becoming crucial for turning rock songs into commercial hits. The arrival of the compact disc was also transformative, as it forever altered how music was consumed and made rock an adult pursuit, as buyers rebought many of the classics of previous eras, allowing legacy acts to maintain audiences for tours even in the absence of new material.

Meanwhile, rock was looking back at its own history and drawing inspiration like it always had done, as evidenced by the rebirth of hard rock towards the end of the decade, such as the arrival of Guns 'n Roses, which also took inspiration from the glam rockers of the 1970s. While much of what was popular in the 1980s undoubtedly sounds dated to modern ears, a surprising amount has stood the test of time, and there are countless vintage moments from 1980s rock that still have the power to stop people in their tracks. Here are just five seismic moments from the decade that will never go out of style.

AC/DC is one of those bands that have never ridden the waves of fashion; instead, it exists apart from music trends, a reliable law unto itself that has managed to keep rocking for 50 years straight. Not that it hasn't had its low moments. In February 1980, the band's formidable front man, Bon Scott, was found dead in his car after a night of heavy drinking. He was just 33, and his death seemed likely to throw the Australian band into a tailspin.

But AC/DC soon showed its resilience. Just as fans were worrying that things could never be as good as they were in the 1970s, AC/DC released "Back in Black," a 1980 comeback of sorts featuring a new singer, U.K.-born Brian Johnson. With Johnson at the helm, AC/DC experienced an astonishing renaissance with "Back in Black," a rock party record that celebrates sex, alcohol, and rock 'n' roll, and which pays homage to Bon Scott with an arresting sense of joie de vivre.

Despite the tragedy that preceded it, "Back to Black" proved to be an enormous hit, selling more than 50 million copies, going platinum 27 times in the U.S., and being officially listed as the third-best-selling album of all time. It remains a must-listen for any new convert to rock music and is as timeless as the band itself.

There are iconic moments, and then there are iconic moments, and in the pantheon of rock performances there are few that match the masterful show that Queen put on for a crowd of 72,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium, as part of the Live Aid concert on July 13, 1985. Just 21 minutes long in total, it remains utterly captivating to audiences today.

Queen had been through a shaky patch prior to its Live Aid performance. Front man Freddie Mercury had been hounded by the press with rumors about his sexuality, and the band had also attracted negative press for touring in apartheid South Africa. Keen to turn things around, the band saw the charity performance as a chance to reset the narrative and draw attention back to the power of its music and live shows.

Previously known for its theatrics, Queen delivered a stripped-back set, with Mercury wearing a simple white vest and armband and, apart from one 30-second call-and-response with the audience, wasting no time in blasting through the band's biggest hits. Beginning with "Bohemian Rhapsody" and ending with "We Will Rock You" — during which every fist in the stadium seemed to be pumping the air in unison — and "We Are The Champions," the set is considered perhaps the finest rock show ever delivered. And for many, this show demonstrates that Mercury was the ultimate rock performer: his swaggering use of his mic-stand as a prop has been widely imitated, with generations of musicians still looking to this performance for inspiration.

Known today as one of the greatest concert films ever made, "Stop Making Sense" hit movie theaters in 1984 with a simple premise. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was to show the pioneering new wave band Talking Heads performing 16 of its biggest songs on the final three nights of its ambitious tour of the same name. Opening with front man David Byrne performing solo on an acoustic guitar, the group joins him on stage and grows slowly through the early songs of the setlist, until Byrne is accompanied not only by his other three band members, but five additional supporting musicians. Eventually, this creates a huge wall of sound amid other on-stage antics, such as Byrne dancing with a standing lamp and wearing his famous grey suit, which inexplicably expands as the show goes on.

Once seen, the unique atmosphere created by "Stop Making Sense" is not easily forgotten. As the title suggests, there is a sense of narrative meaning running throughout, but it is difficult to grasp, which may be part of the reason why it continues to enthrall audiences over 40 years later. The 2023 rerelease of the film was met with a wave of critical acclaim.

There were many musical acts that had incredible moments in the sun during the 1980s, from the Eurythmics and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, which made international synth-pop breakthroughs in 1983, to the return of hard rock with the arrival of Guns 'n Roses at the end of the decade. But arguably no artist was as ubiquitous as the Minneapolis maestro Prince, who hit the high point of his career in 1984 with the release of his magnum opus, "Purple Rain."

A multi-instrumentalist of vast talent, with incredible charisma and stage presence as well as production chops, Prince had been steadily making waves since the release of his debut album "For You" in 1978. With 1980's "Dirty Mind," 1981's "Controversy," and 1983's "1999," his star steadily rose throughout the early 1980s, but nothing compared to what was to come next. "Purple Rain" was both a blockbuster movie telling the semi-fictional tale of Prince's rise to fame, and an accompanying soundtrack album that contained some of the finest music of the Purple One's career.

Both the film and album were enormous commercial hits, and the album also generated four hit singles, the first of which, "When Doves Cry," reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the "Purple Rain" movie and soundtrack album topped their respective charts. Prince's music of this period is unarguably some of the most influential of the entire decade, and his seamless blending of the worlds of rock, funk, soul, R&B, and pop presaged the genre-bending sound of the biggest commercial artists today.

Kate Bush's single "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" has gone down in history as an art rock classic, laying the groundwork for generations of baroque superstars across a variety of genres. The British songwriter and performer had been a star in the U.K. since 1978 and the release of her single "Wuthering Heights," which she wrote when she was just 19, announcing her as a prodigious and singular talent.

But it took until 1985 for Bush to get her breakthrough into the American market, with "Running Up That Hill" peaking at No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also sending the accompanying studio album, "Hounds of Love," high into the album charts. Though not as high a placing as the single deserved, it did create a sizable international cult following for Bush that has reacted positively to her new releases ever since, however sporadic her release cycles may be. But despite ongoing critical acclaim, nothing would again reach the heights of "Running Up That Hill," the classic status of which seems to grow each passing year.

The timelessness of the song and the performance was made amply clear in 2022, when a resurgence of "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" occurred due to it being featured prominently in the Netflix show "Stranger Things." The single was met with a wave of appreciation from new fans, many of whom likely weren't born when it was first released. The fresh exposure saw the song top the charts in several countries, and prompted renewed interest in her discography as a whole.

There is no hard-and-fast rule for when something is considered out of style. Tastes vary, and what makes one music fan cringe with the benefit of hindsight might pique the interest of a younger music fan exploring the rock landscape of the 1980s for the first time. But while there is certainly no accounting for taste, there are a few things that can help us identify a work of art or a particular cultural moment as "timeless."

All five moments on our list continue to find fresh audiences, despite most of them having taken place over four decades ago. The fact that fashions have changed so much since then — indeed, hip-hop has long surpassed rock as the single largest music genre on the planet — these vintage rock moments have somehow kept their cool, their critical acclaim, and their commercial power. Rock stars may not live forever, but in some cases, it seems their music is likely to do so.