“1983” by Neon Trees

Neon Trees took "1983" off Habits, their debut album, as the record's second single in 2010, with Tim Pagnotta producing. Tyler Glenn named it after the year he was born and made no secret of the '80s influence: he set out to write a throwback, and he thought the lo-fi VHS-tape look that went with it was clever.

Still, the nostalgia isn't really about the calendar. Glenn called it a song about getting back to innocence in love and relationships, and bassist Branden Campbell said much the same, describing a longing for a time when relationships came easier and families stayed together. Pagnotta engineered it too, with Mark Rains adding extra engineering and Ian Kirkpatrick mixing. By January 2011 it had climbed to No. 13 on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart and No. 28 on its Rock Songs chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.