{"id":306472,"date":"2026-07-27T12:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T12:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/306472\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T12:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T12:48:11","slug":"4-songs-from-the-1980s-that-made-you-want-to-live-in-new-york-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/306472\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Songs From the 1980s That Made You Want To Live in New York City"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Living in New York City requires a certain level of confidence and grit, and this was especially true during the 1980s, when drug use and crime were at an all-time high. This was a decade full of pain and struggle\u2014certainly not the city\u2019s most shining era. But there was still joy and opportunity waiting in the Big Apple, and we used music to celebrate these silver linings.<\/p>\n<p>If you didn\u2019t already consider yourself a New Yorker in the 1980s, then these four songs about New York City would make you wish you did.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tVideos by American Songwriter\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmpire State\u201d by Fleetwood Mac<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785156490_826_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Play\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmpire State\u201d is a Lindsey Buckingham and Richard Dashut co-write that opens the B-side to the <a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/the-making-of-fleetwood-macs-mirage-1982\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">1982 Fleetwood Mac album Mirage<\/a>. The song is almost like a prayer to New York City, asking it to treat the narrator well and afford them the opportunity and success they crave. \u201cNew York, open your eyes to me \/ let me be what I want to be \/ Tell me, tell me it\u2019s not too late.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Zoo\u201d by Scorpions<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785156490_900_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Play\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Before Guns N\u2019 Roses was comparing Hollywood to a jungle, Scorpions was comparing New York City to a zoo with the early 1980s song, \u201cThe Zoo\u201d. Vocalist Klaus Meine wrote the song after touring in the Big Apple in the late 1970s. \u201cThe Zoo\u201d makes any non-New Yorker wish that their after-work hours could be spent prowling the city streets, too. \u201cWe eat the night, we drink the time \/ Make our dreams come true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo Sleep Till Brooklyn\u201d by Beastie Boys<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785156490_456_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Play\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Even those who have never crossed the Brooklyn Bridge felt some sort of kindred connection to the New York City borough after listening to <a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/top-10-beastie-boys-songs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Beastie Boys\u2019 classic track<\/a>, \u201cNo Sleep Till Brooklyn\u201d. It\u2019s a brash, loud, unapologetic blend of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll and rap that The Beastie Boys did so well, matching the brash, loud, unapologetic nature of the city itself. \u201cI\u2019ll be rocking this party eight days a week \/ No sleep till Brooklyn.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNew York, New York\u201d by Frank Sinatra<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785156491_385_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Play\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Finally, how can we round up a list of 1980s songs about New York City and not include the de facto citywide anthem, Frank Sinatra\u2019s \u201cNew York, New York\u201d, released, surprisingly, in 1980. While the big band accompaniment takes you right back to the glamorous 1950s, this song ushered in the 1980s in the spring, giving New Yorkers (both in reality and in spirit) a new, timeless song to celebrate their beloved city.<\/p>\n<p>Photo by Aaron Rapoport\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Living in New York City requires a certain level of confidence and grit, and this was especially true&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[27179,9,24,55,54,56,13465,1572],"class_list":["post-306472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-1980s","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-pop-music","tag-rock-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}