{"id":694911,"date":"2026-06-10T04:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T04:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/694911\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T04:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T04:25:11","slug":"3-of-the-best-nostalgic-rock-songs-from-1981-that-i-still-listen-to-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/694911\/","title":{"rendered":"3 of the Best Nostalgic Rock Songs From 1981 That I Still Listen to Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who doesn\u2019t love the music of the 1980s? Especially in the early part of the decade, some of the songs that came out back then are still on some of our favorite playlists today. These are three of the best nostalgic rock songs from 1981, which I still keep on repeat today.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo This Is Love?\u201d by Van Halen<\/p>\n

On Van Halen\u2019s Fair Warning record is \u201cSo This Is Love?\u201d The song is written by Van Halen<\/a>\u2019s own Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen, and Edward Van Halen.<\/p>\n

A song about finally falling in love, \u201cSo This Is Love?\u201d says, \u201cI\u2019m in love \/ Once over \/ I\u2019m overdone \/ So this is love? \/ Ooh, I need your lovin\u2019 \/ Come on baby, take me home \/ So this is love? \/ Ooh, I need your lovin\u2019 \/ I\u2019m just skin and bones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTake It On The Run\u201d by REO Speedwagon<\/p>\n

On REO Speedwagon\u2019s Hi Infidelity album is \u201cTake It On The Run<\/a>\u201d. Written by band member Gary Richrath, \u201cTake It On The Run\u201d became a Top 5 single for REO Speedwagon.<\/p>\n

A song about questioning a partner\u2019s faithfulness in a relationship, \u201cTake It On The Run\u201d says, \u201cYou take it on the run baby \/ If that\u2019s the way you want it baby \/ Then I don\u2019t want you around \/ I don\u2019t believe it \/ Not for a minute \/ You\u2019re under the gun \/ So you take it on the run.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHold On Loosely\u201d by .38 Special<\/p>\n

.38 Special\u2019s first Top 5 single, \u201cHold On Loosely\u201d appears on their Wild-Eyed Southern Boys album. The song is written by band member Don Barnes, plus Jeff Carlisi and Jim Peterik.<\/p>\n

\u201cHold On Loosely\u2019 is a song about not getting too close in a relationship. It says, \u201cIt\u2019s so damn easy \/ When your feelings are such \/ To overprotect her \/ To love her too much \/ And my mind goes back to a girl I left \/ Long years ago who told me \/ Just hold on loosely \/ But don\u2019t let go \/ If you cling too tightly \/ You\u2019re gonna lose control.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Barnes who had the title \u201cHold On Loosely\u201d. But it\u2019s Peterik who drew on his own life experience to craft the song.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife of 32 years now, this is what broke us apart when we were teenagers,\u201d Peterik tells Songfacts<\/a>. \u201cI was getting too close. I was getting too serious for her. She didn\u2019t say, \u2018Hold On Loosely,\u2019 but that\u2019s what was in her heart. So when Don said \u2018Hold On Loosely,\u2019 I immediately knew what he was talking about. He wasn\u2019t even talking about that exactly, he told me later. He just thought it was a cool title. I immediately saw a story, and it was really my own story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo by Lynn Goldsmith\/Corbis\/VCG via Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who doesn\u2019t love the music of the 1980s? Especially in the early part of the decade, some of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[20278,2617,88,216],"class_list":["post-694911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-1980s","tag-classic-rock","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}