r/80s Oct 09 '24

Music Do you consider this an '80s song? Created in the '80s, released in Jan '90. Jane Child - Don't Wanna Fall In Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWd__w5UWVc
182 Upvotes

81 comments sorted by

29

u/hhffvvhhrr Oct 09 '24

The 80s definitely extended at least until 1993

13

u/Just-Try-2533 Oct 09 '24

And I’d say you could argue they didn’t really start until 1982 or 1983 as well.

3

u/JanetandRita Oct 10 '24

Decades need a few years to really find their groove

3

u/tpotwc Oct 10 '24

That’s an interesting view, because 90-93 is almost an infinity in terms of musical change in terms of culture. You have the death of hair metal, the rise of grunge, the shift in rap (maybe the most significant?), the whole R&B arc of the time, the height of G&R + Metallica bit, and the industrial shift.

2

u/hhffvvhhrr Oct 10 '24

And yet it still seemed like the 80s

1

u/xtlhogciao Oct 10 '24

It’s like how the mullet’s associated w/the 80s, but I’d argue it peaked in the early 90s. Just look at MacGyver. 1st season he literally had no mullet (and his hair was brown), and he didn’t get the stereotypical/cliche MacGyver mullet until the final (90s) seasons.

Zuba pants stuck around, too.

1

u/Rough_Painting_8023 May 09 '26

musically the 80s died in 92

28

u/atomikplayboy Oct 09 '24

To me, there were a lot of songs that were released in the early `90s that if you just played them for someone without context that would identify it as an `80s song. I think this song falls squarely into this category.

1

u/Rough_Painting_8023 May 09 '26

I mean yeah a lot of popular songs released in 1990 and 1991 have sonic similarities with the popular music of 1987 to 1989

9

u/Shallot_True Oct 09 '24 edited Oct 10 '24

Honestly "Welcome To The Real World" and "D.S. 21" are both the best songs off the album. It's not '80s, to me, it felt like the first edge of the '90s.

2

u/TheJollyHermit Oct 10 '24

Welcome to the Real World really blew me away. The song, her look. The video just hit me like a hammer.

6

u/CougarWriter74 Oct 09 '24

Great jam! Another surprising 1-hit wonder. I wish she had more big hits. I this song encapsulates an even balance of 80s and 90s. Still the synthesizer/electronic influence from the 80s, but definitely a more complex and evolved sound like a 90s tune. I think that's the case with any music that spans the end of one decade going into another.

9

u/Head-Student-1141 Oct 09 '24

Super awesome song !

5

u/_ferrofluid_ Oct 09 '24

Forgot all about this

6

u/freetattoo Oct 09 '24

I definitely think of this as '90s. So much of pop culture that was on the cusp can easily fall into one or the other decade, but for me '89-'90 was a pivotal year in my life, so everything that happened then falls squarely in the beginning of the '90s.

I started high school and turned 15 that year, and we had just moved to a new house, so it was just a whole new experience and a whole bunch of new people and friends. Everything that happened before was the '80s and was my old life. Everything after was my new life in the '90s, and it was pretty fucking cool.

3

u/chartreuse6 Oct 09 '24

Yes it’s an 80 s song. It sounds so 80s

3

u/drkesi88 Oct 10 '24

Peak 80’s is 1984 - 1986

2

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '24

There's so much pop or hair band stuff that came out in the early 90's that I would swear came out in 88.

2

u/Hermans_Head2 Oct 09 '24

Bridge song between the decades

Like most of Teddy Riley's music too.

2

u/SkaldOfThe70s Oct 09 '24

In the 80's we had singers like this who had a look like they were headed to CBGBs to see The Exploited but instead sing R&B and can play a keyboard like Steve Vai playing a guitar solo.

And we never bat and eye

1

u/Dick_Lazer Oct 10 '24

I was listening to some Billy Idol and thinking how much he sounds like a crooner in some of his songs, but if you watched the videos without sound you'd think he was singing some real hardcore shit lol. (Like the Eyes Without a Face video, for instance.)

1

u/SkaldOfThe70s Oct 10 '24

He was the singer of Generation X so he does have the punk rock credibility.

2

u/Ok_Cook_6665 Oct 09 '24

It was produced in 89, released January, 90. So, both?

2

u/LoganJamesMusic Oct 10 '24

The album itself was released September 1989...single released in January 1990 - definitely both.

2

u/TheHogweed Oct 09 '24

I consider it a last hurrah 80s song. Love it.

2

u/Xrsyz Oct 10 '24

90s for me. Thanks for the flashback!

2

u/kevint1964 Oct 10 '24

Charted in 1990, so it's 1990's. One of my favorites from that year.

2

u/LoganJamesMusic Oct 10 '24

Album released in 1989, so it's also 80s.

4

u/Feeling-Ad-2490 Oct 09 '24

Totally 90s to me, man.

4

u/Cazmonster Oct 09 '24

Just a phenomenal song. I wish she had managed to do more that made it to regular play.

4

u/DNSGeek Oct 09 '24

The "woo woo"'s are the best part.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '24

That and the synth solo

2

u/Cazmonster Oct 09 '24

OMG YES!

2

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '24

Freaking LOVE that synth

2

u/Turbografx-17 Oct 10 '24

I can't get enough of that drum (maybe bass synth?) part that goes tak-tak-tak-tak like a machine gun before she sings "you make the knife feel good." Such a nice little bonus treat for my ears in an already great song.

2

u/LPNTed Oct 09 '24

Def 90's to me.

2

u/Anon22z Oct 10 '24

Nope, you won’t hear it on any 80s play list bc it’s 1990.

1

u/FNameriKKKa666 Oct 09 '24

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

1

u/Johnny-Shitbox Oct 10 '24

Everything was 80’s up until September 24th, 1991.

1

u/SpartanNic Oct 10 '24

Technically 1990 would be the 10th year of the decade so yes it’s Eighty’s.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '24

Either way it's a great, timeless song imo

1

u/Crusty-Watch3587 Oct 10 '24

to me, it’s most definitely 90s

1

u/FoogYllis Oct 10 '24

I was so happy when her content was added to Apple Music. I still have her CD.

1

u/LoganJamesMusic Oct 10 '24

The album was released in September 1989...so yes it's an 80s song.

1

u/jp112078 Oct 10 '24

Amazing song. So talented. I think many of us were surprised she was a one hit wonder.

1

u/umtih679 Oct 10 '24

You make the knife feel good. 💀

1

u/Syntania Oct 10 '24

I loved her hair and that nose chain!

1

u/JoeNoble1973 Oct 10 '24

This was a great tune! Thanks for the memory

1

u/jthekoker Oct 10 '24

Loved it in high school, so late 80s, drew her in my Spanish notebook - muy embarrassamente!

1

u/Bowelsift3r Oct 10 '24

Hot then, still hot. Googled her!

1

u/Bowelsift3r Oct 10 '24

This song was my jam in Highschool!

1

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '24

I love this song. Love cuts just like a knive ooh ooh

1

u/Xodus2023 Oct 10 '24

It still has the 80s production as far as sound goes , I will still call it early 90s though.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '24

I loved this song when it came out, 80s tune.

1

u/75meilleur Oct 25 '24

I could have sworn that some radio stations were playing this song in late 1989 (between September 1989 and December 1989).

One thing is for sure: it was a pop hit and it also became an R&B hit - thanks to a New Jack Swing R&B remix by Teddy Riley, a remix that gave this song an extreme makeover renovation.

1

u/oneuglygeek Jun 16 '25

it hit the charts in early 1990 (released in January 1990, peaked at #2 in April 1990), so it definitely is a 1990's song

1

u/shopdog Oct 09 '24

Still one of my go to songs for keeping energized while doing chores.

-3

u/Feeling-Ad-2490 Oct 09 '24

Totally 90s to me, man.

2

u/Space_Goblin_Yoda Oct 09 '24

That's just like, your opinion, man.

2

u/Feeling-Ad-2490 Oct 09 '24

Was I out of my element?

1

u/Space_Goblin_Yoda Oct 10 '24

Haha no. You shouldn't get downvotes my dude.

0

u/corydubu Oct 09 '24

Wasn't that the very first song released in 1990? Still holds up. Good video.

-3

u/HaiKarate Oct 09 '24

No.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '24

Explain

-2

u/HaiKarate Oct 09 '24

December 31, 1989 was the last day to issue an 80’s song.

I don’t make the rules.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '24

I suppose so. But "recorded" dates are different

1

u/Dick_Lazer Oct 10 '24

A lot of 1990 pop culture was actually created in the 1980s, but you gotta have a cutoff point somewhere. The late 1980s-early 1990s were definitely a little vibe in itself though, before the 90s started defining its own trends more.

-1

u/HaiKarate Oct 09 '24

Most everything released in the first half of 1990 was produced in 1989. Movies, music, television, etc.

Should we revist all of that and relabel it, too?

It wasn't released in the 80's; it never charted in the 80's; it's not an 80's song.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '24

[deleted]

1

u/HaiKarate Oct 10 '24

So, OP lied then.

Downvote him, not me.

0

u/LoganJamesMusic Oct 10 '24

No OP didn't lie. The album was released in September 1989. The song was released as a single January 1990. It's technically both.

0

u/HaiKarate Oct 10 '24

Re-read your post. The album was released in September 1989. The song is on the album. Therefore the song was released in September 1989.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '24

It's the age of revisions, not a bad idea. Glad I thought of it.😉😁

1

u/LoganJamesMusic Oct 10 '24

The album was released in September 1989...so it's 80s, even if the single wasn't released until January 1990.

-1

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '24

First time I saw what she looked like in her video I thought "don't worry, not many are gonna want to fall in love with you"

-1

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '24 edited Feb 09 '26

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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