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100 1980s Advice Songs: Life Lessons, Warnings and Words to Live By

1980s advice songs turned life lessons into pop hooks, rock choruses, dance-floor slogans, and the occasional synth-powered warning label. Some gave clear encouragement. Some told people to stop, think, fight, believe, relax, express themselves, or please stop making questionable choices near sidewalks.

Advice songs work because they sound like a friend, a coach, a parent, a rebel, or the voice in your head that shows up five minutes after you needed it. The 1980s gave us a wide range of musical guidance, from Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry, Be Happy to Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’, Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror, and Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel’s White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It).

Some songs on this list are uplifting. Some are cautionary. Some ask questions rather than giving answers. A few sound like advice shouted across a dance floor by someone wearing too much neon, which still counts in the 1980s.

Advice means an opinion or recommendation meant to guide action. To ponder means to think deeply before acting. The best 1980s advice songs often do both: they offer a memorable line, then leave enough room for listeners to figure out what it means in their own lives.

Best 1980s Advice Songs

The strongest 1980s advice songs usually have a direct message. They tell listeners to keep going, change themselves, avoid trouble, speak up, think twice, or stop worrying long enough to breathe.

  • Don’t Worry, Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin
  • Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
  • Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson
  • If You Love Somebody Set Them Free – Sting
  • Don’t Give Up – Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush
  • You’re Only Human (Second Wind) – Billy Joel
  • Never Surrender – Corey Hart
  • Express Yourself – Madonna
  • People Are People – Depeche Mode
  • White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It) – Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel

100 1980s Advice Songs Chart

  1. Don’t Worry, Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin
  2. Don’t Talk to Strangers – Rick Springfield
  3. If You Love Somebody Set Them Free – Sting
  4. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
  5. Put a Little Love in Your Heart – Al Green and Annie Lennox
  6. Girls Just Want to Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper
  7. Shout – Tears for Fears
  8. (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!) – Beastie Boys
  9. Whip It – Devo
  10. Keep Your Hands to Yourself – Georgia Satellites
  11. Forever Young – Rod Stewart
  12. How Will I Know – Whitney Houston
  13. Finish What Ya Started – Van Halen
  14. Let’s Go Crazy – Prince and the Revolution
  15. Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger) – Donna Summer
  16. You Give Love a Bad Name – Bon Jovi
  17. Relax – Frankie Goes to Hollywood
  18. I Can’t Tell You Why – Eagles
  19. Under Pressure – Queen and David Bowie
  20. One Thing Leads to Another – The Fixx
  21. Don’t Eat Stuff Off the Sidewalk – The Cramps
  22. Let My Love Open the Door – Pete Townshend
  23. Keep the Fire Burnin’ – REO Speedwagon
  24. Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson
  25. That’s Life – David Lee Roth
  26. Parents Just Don’t Understand – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
  27. Keep On Movin’ – Soul II Soul
  28. My Prerogative – Bobby Brown
  29. Land of Confusion – Genesis
  30. Seasons Change – Exposé
  31. Can’t Get There from Here – R.E.M.
  32. Everybody Wants to Rule the World – Tears for Fears
  33. If You Don’t Know Me by Now – Simply Red
  34. White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It) – Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel
  35. Trouble Me – 10,000 Maniacs
  36. Don’t Give Up – Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush
  37. When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going – Billy Ocean
  38. Jump – Van Halen
  39. The Message – Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
  40. Love Is a Battlefield – Pat Benatar
  41. Freewill – Rush
  42. You Can’t Hurry Love – Phil Collins
  43. You Be Illin’ – Run-D.M.C.
  44. Express Yourself – Madonna
  45. Controversy – Prince
  46. Don’t Pay the Ferryman – Chris de Burgh
  47. One Hundred Ways – Quincy Jones featuring James Ingram
  48. You Belong to the City – Glenn Frey
  49. Catch Me I’m Falling – Real Life
  50. Hard to Say I’m Sorry – Chicago
  51. New World Man – Rush
  52. Only Time Will Tell – Asia
  53. Once Bitten, Twice Shy – Great White
  54. People Are People – Depeche Mode
  55. Bang Your Head (Metal Health) – Quiet Riot
  56. Authority Song – John Cougar Mellencamp
  57. Eye in the Sky – The Alan Parsons Project
  58. Love Will Lead You Back – Taylor Dayne
  59. My Ever Changing Moods – The Style Council
  60. You’re Only Human (Second Wind) – Billy Joel
  61. The Way It Is – Bruce Hornsby and the Range
  62. Time (Clock of the Heart) – Culture Club
  63. Love Stinks – The J. Geils Band
  64. If She Knew What She Wants – The Bangles
  65. You May Be Right – Billy Joel
  66. Don’t Dream It’s Over – Crowded House
  67. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da – The Police
  68. The Winner Takes It All – ABBA
  69. Faith – George Michael
  70. Sign Your Name – Terence Trent D’Arby
  71. Self Control – Laura Branigan
  72. The Rain – Oran “Juice” Jones
  73. Papa Don’t Preach – Madonna
  74. Some Guys Have All the Luck – Rod Stewart
  75. I’m Alright – Kenny Loggins
  76. Silent Lucidity – Queensrÿche
  77. Nobody Told Me – John Lennon
  78. Things Can Only Get Better – Howard Jones
  79. Money Changes Everything – Cyndi Lauper
  80. Be Good to Yourself – Journey
  81. Beatin’ the Odds – Molly Hatchet
  82. Should I Stay or Should I Go – The Clash
  83. I’m Still Standing – Elton John
  84. Human Nature – Michael Jackson
  85. Everything Works If You Let It – Cheap Trick
  86. Don’t Shed a Tear – Paul Carrack
  87. Don’t Wait for Heroes – Dennis DeYoung
  88. Don’t Fall in Love with a Dreamer – Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes
  89. Never Surrender – Corey Hart
  90. Tough All Over – John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band
  91. Dirty Laundry – Don Henley
  92. Right on Track – Breakfast Club
  93. Control – Janet Jackson
  94. We Are the World – USA for Africa
  95. I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do) – Daryl Hall & John Oates
  96. Pleasure and Pain – Divinyls
  97. Tuff Enuff – The Fabulous Thunderbirds
  98. Never Give Up on a Good Thing – George Benson
  99. Freedom of Choice – Devo
  100. All I Need Is a Miracle – Mike + The Mechanics

Don’t Worry, Be Happy and the Friendly Advice Song

Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry, Be Happy is the obvious starting point for 1980s advice songs because the message is right there in the title. It is simple, musical, and almost impossible to say without hearing the melody.

The song did not promise that life would be easy. It suggested that worrying could make the trouble feel heavier. That is the sort of advice people understand immediately and then forget five minutes later when the printer jams, which is why the song keeps coming back.

Motivational 1980s Songs About Keeping Going

Some 1980s songs gave direct encouragement. They told listeners to keep believing, stand tall, stay young in spirit, survive the hard parts, and not surrender too soon.

  • Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
  • Don’t Give Up – Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush
  • You’re Only Human (Second Wind) – Billy Joel
  • Never Surrender – Corey Hart
  • I’m Still Standing – Elton John
  • Be Good to Yourself – Journey
  • Things Can Only Get Better – Howard Jones
  • Keep the Fire Burnin’ – REO Speedwagon
  • When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going – Billy Ocean
  • All I Need Is a Miracle – Mike + The Mechanics

1980s Warning Songs: Don’t Do That, Seriously

Warnings are advice with sharper elbows. The 1980s had plenty of songs that warned about strangers, drugs, bad romance, dangerous choices, power, pressure, and the general foolishness of being human.

  • Don’t Talk to Strangers – Rick Springfield
  • White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It) – Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel
  • Don’t Pay the Ferryman – Chris de Burgh
  • Don’t Fall in Love with a Dreamer – Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes
  • Love Is a Battlefield – Pat Benatar
  • Once Bitten, Twice Shy – Great White
  • You Give Love a Bad Name – Bon Jovi
  • The Rain – Oran “Juice” Jones
  • Dirty Laundry – Don Henley
  • Don’t Eat Stuff Off the Sidewalk – The Cramps

Advice Songs About Love, Dating and Emotional Damage

Love advice songs are rarely neat because love is rarely neat. These 1980s songs offered questions, boundaries, warnings, apologies, lessons in heartbreak, and the occasional reminder that love may stink.

  • If You Love Somebody Set Them Free – Sting
  • How Will I Know – Whitney Houston
  • You Can’t Hurry Love – Phil Collins
  • If You Don’t Know Me by Now – Simply Red
  • Hard to Say I’m Sorry – Chicago
  • Love Will Lead You Back – Taylor Dayne
  • If She Knew What She Wants – The Bangles
  • Love Stinks – The J. Geils Band
  • The Winner Takes It All – ABBA
  • Sign Your Name – Terence Trent D’Arby

1980s Songs About Self-Control and Personal Choice

Some advice songs are about taking ownership. The 1980s gave listeners plenty of songs about independence, identity, control, freedom, and choosing a path before someone else chooses it for you.

  • My Prerogative – Bobby Brown
  • Control – Janet Jackson
  • Express Yourself – Madonna
  • Freedom of Choice – Devo
  • Freewill – Rush
  • You May Be Right – Billy Joel
  • Self Control – Laura Branigan
  • Faith – George Michael
  • I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do) – Daryl Hall & John Oates
  • Finish What Ya Started – Van Halen

Social Advice and Big-Picture 1980s Songs

The 1980s also gave us advice songs that looked beyond one person’s love life or bad decision. These tracks asked listeners to think about society, pressure, compassion, race, class, media, and the world they were helping create.

  • Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson
  • The Message – Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
  • People Are People – Depeche Mode
  • Land of Confusion – Genesis
  • The Way It Is – Bruce Hornsby and the Range
  • Under Pressure – Queen and David Bowie
  • Everybody Wants to Rule the World – Tears for Fears
  • We Are the World – USA for Africa
  • Controversy – Prince
  • Nobody Told Me – John Lennon

Funny, Odd and Very 1980s Advice Songs

Not all advice arrives with solemn piano chords. Some of it comes with new wave weirdness, comedy rap, punk attitude, or lyrics that sound like they were written after someone made a very specific mistake.

  • Whip It – Devo
  • Parents Just Don’t Understand – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
  • You Be Illin’ – Run-D.M.C.
  • Don’t Eat Stuff Off the Sidewalk – The Cramps
  • (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!) – Beastie Boys
  • Bang Your Head (Metal Health) – Quiet Riot
  • Relax – Frankie Goes to Hollywood
  • De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da – The Police
  • One Thing Leads to Another – The Fixx
  • Should I Stay or Should I Go – The Clash

1980s Advice Song Trivia

  • Don’t Worry, Be Happy became a rare advice song with massive pop success. Bobby McFerrin’s 1988 hit reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Grammy awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
  • Man in the Mirror turned self-improvement into a stadium-sized pop message. The song’s advice is simple: start with yourself before trying to fix the world.
  • White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It) is one of the clearest warning songs of the decade. It brought an anti-drug message into a club-friendly, hip-hop-influenced record.
  • The Message changed the tone of early hip-hop. Rather than focusing only on party energy, it brought social observation and street-level frustration into the center of the record.
  • You Can’t Hurry Love was originally a 1960s Supremes hit. Phil Collins brought the advice back to 1980s radio with his version.
  • We Are the World turned pop-star unity into a humanitarian message. The song asked listeners to think beyond themselves, which is advice the 1980s delivered with a very crowded recording studio.
  • Should I Stay or Should I Go is advice in question form. Sometimes the lesson is not the answer. Sometimes it is finally admitting you need one.

Why Advice Songs Worked So Well in the 1980s

The 1980s were full of big sounds, big personalities, big videos, and big emotions. Advice songs fit that world because they could be simple enough for a chorus and dramatic enough for MTV.

Some songs gave comfort. Some gave warnings. Some gave permission to be yourself. Others gave listeners a reason to question authority, fix their behavior, rethink love, or just stop worrying for three minutes and fifty seconds.

That range is what makes 1980s advice songs fun. The decade could deliver wisdom through pop, rock, rap, new wave, soul, country, metal, and dance music. It was not always subtle, but subtle rarely fills an arena.

Sources and Further Reading

When 1980s Songs Gave Good Advice

Advice songs do not need to solve everything. Sometimes they just give listeners a phrase to carry around: don’t stop believing, don’t give up, express yourself, never surrender, be good to yourself, or don’t worry, be happy.

The best 1980s advice songs still work because they turn common human problems into memorable hooks. They remind us that everyone needs guidance sometimes, and occasionally that guidance arrives with a synthesizer, a guitar solo, or a rapper explaining exactly why parents just do not understand.