Footloose was a throwback to '50s rock & roll movies, with a silly plot about a town where it was illegal to dance. It was a major hit, as was its soundtrack, which spent a grand total of ten weeks at number one and sold over seven million copies. It's easy to see why – the album delivers its mainstream pop, anthemic rock, and light dance-pop with style and an abundance of hooks. Six of the nine tracks became Top 40 hits, and three – Kenny Loggins' bouncy title song, the excellent power ballad "Almost Paradise" (a duet between Loverboy's Mike Reno and Heart's Ann Wilson), and Deniece Williams' frothy, charming "Let's Hear It for the Boy" – shot into the Top Ten. The sound and production of Footloose has dated badly – there is a reliance on synthesizers and drum machines that instantly announces that the record was made in 1984 – but that isn't necessarily a weakness. Not only does it function as a time capsule of a certain moment in pop music history, but many of the songs are catchy enough to transcend their production. There's nothing of substance on the Footloose soundtrack, but it's a light, entertaining listen. Sometimes, that can be better than something substantial.

There are a few movie and soundtrack pairings that represent the wild 1980s. None more so than Top Gun (Footloose and Pretty in Pink are also strong contenders.) A whirlwind romance set in the U.S. Air Force during the Cold War, Top Gun featured wild aerial acrobatics, steamy sexual tension, and macho competition. And the soundtrack had the songs to match. Featuring the huge hits "Danger Zone," "Take My Breath Away," as well as "Playing with the Boys," "Mighty Wings," and a handful of classic soul tracks, the Top Gun soundtrack may be the perfect example of the outrageous '80s. This version expands on the original, including a number of songs not featured on the initial release, such as "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" and "Great Balls of Fire" .

Slade may have never truly caught on with American audiences (often narrow-mindedly deemed "too British-sounding"), but the group became a sensation in their homeland with their anthemic brand of glam rock in the early '70s, as they scored a staggering 11 Top Five hits in a four-year span from 1971 to 1974 (five of which topped the charts)…

Susan Kay Quatro is an American rock singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and actress. She was the first female bass player to become a major rock star, breaking a barrier to women's participation in rock music. In the 1970s, Quatro scored a string of hit singles that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland.

100 tracks. Status Quo, Uriah Heep, Slade, The Allman Brothers Band, Thin Lizzy, The Guess Who, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Atomic Rooster, The Moody Blues, Steppenwolf, Blue Oyster Cult, Santana, Rainbow, Lou Reed, Kiss, Toto, Ted Nugent, Electric Light Orchestra, Iggy Pop, Rush, Motorhead, Cheap Trick, Judas Priest, REO Speedwagon, Yngwie Malmsteen, Soundgarden, Accept, Alice Cooper, Dio and more, and more…

John Lennon would have turned 67 in 2007. If alive, he could well be at the forefront of bringing peace to Darfur, where more than half a million have died from violence and disease during four years of rebel discord. So to create awareness of the ongoing conflict, Amnesty International (with permission from Yoko Ono) has mined Lennon's solo work and rounded up nearly two dozen current artists to reinterpret the music, which spans the ex-Beatle's entire post-band catalog (plus a pair from while the Fab Four were still in business). As with any attempt to cover Beatles-related music, results are hit and miss, with kudos going to Snow Patrol and the Postal Service for capturing the starkness of "Isolation" and "Grow Old with Me," respectively, Mexican rock band Jaguares for uncovering the fear and fury in "Gimme Some Truth," and (surprise!) Christina Aguilera for nailing the complex composition and mood of "Mother." Other highlights include Jackson Browne's piano-led "Oh My Love," Green Day's louder straight take on "Working Class Hero," and the Black Eyed Peas turning "Power to the People" into a gospelly protest. Will resurrecting 30-to-40-year-old messages of peace and love be enough to help end the brutalities in Darfur? That remains to be seen. But selecting John Lennon as the author of those messages will make people listen and, with this collection, may keep them listening.

2000 2-CD set featuring 39 classic timeless hits from the millennium including Queen, The Rolling Stones, Peter Gabriel, John Lennon, Paul McCartney & Wings, David Bowie, The Who, Elton John, The Beach Boys, Simon And Garfunkel, Derek & The Dominoes, Prince, U2, Bon Jovi, Blondie, Oasis, Lenny Kravitz, Simple Minds, Supertramp, Dire Straits, Tina Turner, Bob Marley, UB40, Kate Bush, Phil Collins, Roxy Music, Rod Stewart, Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, Abba, Janet Jackson, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Barry White, Pet Shop Boys, George Michael, Massive Attack, Texas.

"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" is the 7th studio album by Elton John, released in 1973. The album sold over 12 million copies worldwide, and is regarded as one of John's best. It was recorded at the Château d'Hérouville in France after problems recording at the intended location of Jamaica. Among the 17 tracks, the album contains the hits "Candle in the Wind", "Bennie and the Jets", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" plus "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Harmony".

Despite the success of Bad, it was hard not to view it as a bit of a letdown, since it presented a cleaner, colder, calculated version of Thriller – something that delivered what it should on the surface, but wound up offering less in the long run. So, it was time for a change-up, something even a superstar as huge as Michael Jackson realized, so he left Quincy Jones behind, hired Guy mastermind Teddy Riley as the main producer, and worked with a variety of other producers, arrangers, and writers, most notably Bruce Swedien and Bill Bottrell…

Live In Concert Denmark 1976 is an official 2010 live compact disc by British glam rock band The Sweet, who were also known as Sweet. This was released by ZYX Music.

Hanoi Rocks was a Finnish hard rock band formed in 1979, whose most successful period came in the early 1980s. The band broke up in 1985 after their drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley died in a car accident a year earlier. Original members vocalist Michael Monroe and guitarist Andy McCoy reunited in 2001 and were active with the new line-up of Hanoi Rocks until 2009. In the 80s, Hanoi Rocks were the most successful Finnish band internationally and are still popular in the United States, Japan, and the UK. They were also one of the first rock bands to tour in Asia, and were the first western rock band to play in Delhi.

Caribou is the eighth studio album by English singer Elton John, released in 1974. It was his fourth chart-topping album in the United States and his third in the United Kingdom. The album contains the singles, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", which reached number 16 in the UK Singles Chart and number two in the US, and "The Bitch Is Back", which reached number 15 in the UK and number four in the US. Both these singles reached number one in Canada on the RPM 100 national Top Singles Chart (as did the album itself). The album met with lukewarm reviews on its release and legacy reviews do not consider the record to be among John's best work from his early 1970s peak period. However, the album was a commercial success and has been certified double-platinum in the US as well as receiving a gold certification in the UK. The album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 17th Annual Grammy Awards.

Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the new wave of British heavy metal movement. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitars, backing vocals), and Vivian Campbell (guitars, backing vocals), which has been the band’s longest running line-up.

Returning to action after a decade-long hiatus, Roxette don’t skip a beat on 2011’s Charm School. Roxette were never in the thick of things, never setting the pace, but they did reflect their times during their 1988-1991 peak. They still reflect those times 20 years later, still favoring the brightly colored productions of the late ‘80s, still relying on cavernous drums and squealing fuzz guitars skipping over tightly wound guitar riffs, piling on synth after synth, every element accentuating their enormous hooks. Roxette may be a band out of time on Charm School but, well, that’s their charm: they’re still unapologetically big pop, they still celebrate melody over everything else.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the seventh studio album by Elton John, first released in 1973 as a double LP. It was the second of his two studio albums released in the same year of 1973 (first one was Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player released 9 months earlier). The album has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and is widely regarded as John's best. Among the 17 tracks, the album contains the hits "Candle in the Wind", "Bennie and the Jets", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" plus live favorites "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Harmony". In 2003, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The album was ranked number 91 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and number 59 in Channel 4's 2009 list of 100 Greatest Albums. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.