This was all acceptable in the 80s (Smash Hits - The 80s)

Member Name: lakeyboy

Product:	Smash Hits - The 80s
Date:	14/04/09 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Incredible value for money, nice 80s feel to the packaging

Disadvantages: Some real stinkers on board, though that's typical of the genre

It's hard to find too many faults with this album. Even if you pay absolute top dollar for it, you're still only likely to be parting with 15 or 16 quid, and that's for an enormous 57 tracks, a broad selection of 1980s pop music that really does cover all the bases.

Even if you'd bought all the seven-inch singles when they first came out (and they hadn't warped because they'd been within five feet of a radiator, and you managed to get the fluff of the stylus of the last working turntable in the civilised world without lacerating your fingertip), you'd still be well up on the deal.

Disc one kicks off with a couple of standards from the era, Wham's dancefloor-filling classic "I'm Your Man" and the equally memorable "Take On Me" by a-Ha.

For 80s nostalgists like myself, the fact that neither of things songs has ever been considered cool doesn't matter. I was about five when they came out, so things like cool were very much secondary to pure unfettered enjoyment.
Some of the first disc isn't for everyone, though. I've never liked "Walking On Sunshine" by Katrina & The Waves and I can live without never having to hear "Frankie" by Sister Sledge.

But if you want three CDs of nailed-on classic 1980s music, this is for you. Probably a third of it won't make the Gracenote transition from CD tray to generic mp3 player, but the vast bulk of it will.

Summary: A good source of 80s music and you won't get better value