Ten Rad Ballads From the 1980s

Do not ask where “Lady in Red” is, please

Kathy Copeland Padden
5 min readJan 29, 2023
Thanks to Daniele Sansone @danielesx for making this photo available on Unsplash 🎁 https://unsplash.com/photos/JXvWhMD0ioo

Let's just get this outta the way — this is a no “Lady in Red” zone. “True” can kiss my ass as well. If anyone has a problem with this, please direct your concerns to yonder brick wall. It’s guaranteed to be more flexible than I am on the subject.

The 1980s spawned a shit ton of now-classic (god we’re old) ballads. It was so hard to choose. I pretty much took the first ones I have on my Cyber Valium playlist. I didn’t want to mentally masturbate over it.

Clearly, this is a subject I'll be returning to in the future. Numerous times, even. So don’t gnash your teeth if your fave isn’t here, but feel free to drop suggestions in the comments. And I know you will.

Love Will Lead You Back

Taylor Dane

One day you will find me again, it won’t be long
One of these days our love will lead you back”

Taylor Dane’s voice was savage as fuck. That girl could belt outta tune like nobody’s business.

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Kathy Copeland Padden

is a music fanatic, classic film aficionado, and history buff surfing the End Times wave like a boss. Come along!