Same Name, Totally Different Song: Toto, Seger, Hall & Oates and More

Coming up with a great song title can be difficult.

Or you can simply use one that another artist already used.

That happened constantly in the 1980s, when completely unrelated songs regularly arrived carrying identical names. Sometimes one became a massive hit while the other quietly disappeared. Sometimes both found an audience. And sometimes you hear the title today and have to pause before figuring out which song your brain is already playing.

That’s the idea behind our recurring Stuck in the ’80s series, “The Song (Title) Remains the Same.”

For every installment, we pair up songs that share a title and decide how much they actually have in common. Usually, the answer is very little. One might be a glossy pop single, another a dramatic power ballad and another something wonderfully strange that could only have escaped from the ’80s.

This week’s musical identity crisis brings together Toto, Bob Seger, Hall & Oates, Bonnie Tyler, Go West and Oingo Boingo.

That lineup alone takes us through several different neighborhoods of the decade. Toto delivers the studio-polished musicianship. Seger brings the road-worn sincerity. Hall & Oates arrive with hooks for days. Bonnie Tyler supplies the glorious drama. Go West gives us sleek mid-’80s pop, while Oingo Boingo can always be trusted to make things a little more eccentric.

The songs may have matching names, but that doesn’t mean they sound alike, tell the same story or inspire the same reaction. That’s where the fun begins.

Which song owns the title? Which version have you forgotten? And which one deserves another spin after all these years?

Join us for another round of duplicate titles, musical debates and the kind of ’80s trivia that will occupy valuable space in your brain for the rest of the week.

Take Your ’80s Obsession Out to Sea

Listening to Stuck in the ’80s is fun. Living inside an ’80s soundtrack for an entire week is even better.

Join us aboard The ’80s Cruise for live music, celebrity guests, theme nights, trivia, podcasts and thousands of fellow fans who understand why the opening seconds of the right song can instantly transport you back 40 years.

Book your cabin using promo code STUCK and receive $250 in onboard cabin credit.

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