Fifty Favorite 80s Pop Songs with Saxophone Solos
(This started with ten songs but got away from me. It’s by request, and in order of sax solo preference.)
Modern Love by David Bowie
Never Tear Us Apart by INXS
A Night Like This by The Cure
Super Freak by Rick James
Smooth Operator by Sade
Rio by Duran Duran
Will You? by Hazel O’Connor
On the Dark Side by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band
Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) by Haircut 100
Urgent by Foreigner
Don’t Answer Me by The Alan Parsons Project
Mirror in the Bathroom by The English Beat
Could Be by Naked Eyes
The One You Love by Glenn Frey
Heartbeat by The Psychedelic Furs
Who Can It Be Now? by Men at Work
When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going by Billy Ocean
Thorn In My Side by Eurythmics
I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) by Daryl Hall and John Oates
The Working Hour by Tears for Fears
I Still Believe by Tim Cappello
Methods of Dance by Japan
Freeway of Love by Aretha Franklin
It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me by Billy Joel
Careless Whisper by George Michael [indelible, but you know it too well already, don’t you?]
Fireplace by R.E.M.
Dominion/Mother Russia by The Sisters of Mercy
Same Old Scene by Roxy Music
It’s Raining Again by Supertramp
T.V. Age by Joe Jackson
Harden My Heart by Quarterflash
Killing Time by The Creatures
Lie Still, Little Bottle by They Might Be Giants
Don’t Walk Away by Rick Springfield
Brass Monkey by Beastie Boys
Torch by Soft Cell
Funkytown by Lipps Inc.
A Girl Called Johnny by The Waterboys
Going Back to Cali by LL Cool J
It Must Be Love by Madness
Cherish by Kool and the Gang
Only the Lonely by The Motels
Love Is Not a Ghost by The Sound
Square Pegs by The Waitresses
True by Spandau Ballet [see George Michael and “Careless Whisper”]
Admit It by Ambitious Lovers
Leisure by XTC
I Want a New Drug by Huey Lewis and the News
She Works Hard for the Money by Donna Summer
A Girl in Trouble (Is a Temporary Thing) by Romeo Void
— January 4, 2026