{"id":701703,"date":"2026-06-13T12:36:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T12:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/701703\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T12:36:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T12:36:28","slug":"younger-listeners-dont-remember-these-3-rock-radio-staples-from-1981","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/701703\/","title":{"rendered":"Younger Listeners Don\u2019t Remember These 3 Rock Radio Staples From 1981"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rock radio had some massive hits that made repeat visits to the airwaves in <a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/tag\/1980s\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">1981<\/a>. But that was a long time ago; more than 40 years ago, really. Younger enjoyers of classic rock nowadays might not know about some of the more niche hits of that particular year, even though the old heads know them like the back of their hands. Let\u2019s take a look at a few rock radio hits from 1981 that any young fan of classic rock should hear at least once.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStart Me Up\u201d by The Rolling Stones from \u2018Tattoo You\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStart Me Up\u201d wasn\u2019t as big a hit as some of The Rolling Stones\u2019 other earlier hits, like \u201cAngie\u201d or \u201cBrown Sugar\u201d, but it has since become a certified anthem among sports events. It\u2019s also a crowd pleaser of sorts, one that made it to The Stones\u2019 live concerts on plenty of occasions. And, naturally, it was a rock radio smash, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart in the US. If you were an MTV fan back in 1981, you probably remember the music video for this classic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRock This Town\u201d by Stray Cats from \u2018Stray Cats\u2019<\/p>\n<p>This rockabilly classic from Stray Cats was major radio fodder back in 1981 in the UK. The following year, it similarly took over American airwaves. \u201cRock This Town\u201d peaked at No. 9 on the UK Singles chart and No. 9 on the Hot 100, and it comes as no surprise. This is such a good song, one that has since become an iconic entry in many a list of the best new wave songs of the 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDown Under\u201d by Men At Work from \u2018Business As Usual\u2019<\/p>\n<p>I love this song. It\u2019s a classic. It\u2019s also one of Australia\u2019s finest rock songs of the era. But younger crowds might not know about \u201cDown Under\u201d by Men At Work, and that\u2019s a shame. This is one of rock radio\u2019s finest songs from 1981, a pub rock tune for the ages that still has appeal decades later. Back in 1981, this song peaked at No. 1 in Australia, the US, and the UK, among other territories.<\/p>\n<p>Photo by Ron Pownall\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rock radio had some massive hits that made repeat visits to the airwaves in 1981. But that was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[20278,88,216,2156],"class_list":["post-701703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-1980s","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-rock-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701703","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=701703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}