"Back to the 80s" is a song by Norwegian-Danish band

Aqua Aqua is the Latin word for water. It is used in many words which relate to water, such as aquatic life. In English, it may also refer to: Arts * Aqua (color), a greenish-blue color Business * Aqua (skyscraper), an 82-story residential skysc ...

. The song was written by members

Søren Rasted Søren Nystrøm Rasted (born Søren Rasted on 13 June 1969) is a Danish musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He plays keyboards, guitar and sings backing vocals. He is a member of the Danish-Norwegian Eurodance group Aqua. Musical ...

Claus Norreen Claus Norreen (born 5 June 1970) is a Danish musician, songwriter and record producer known for being a part of the band Aqua, which sold around 33 million records. He left the band in September 2016 to take on other musical ventures. Biography ...

, and produced by Rasted, for their second

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

album (2009). "Back to the 80s" was Aqua's first single in eight years, following the release of the 2001 single " We Belong to the Sea". "Back to the 80s" was released on 25 May 2009 as the lead single from ''Greatest Hits'' and topped the

Danish Singles Chart Hitlisten, also known as Tracklisten, is a Danish top 40 record chart that is updated every Thursday midnight on the website hitlisten.nu. The weekly Danish singles chart Track Top-40 combines the 40 best-selling tracks from legal music downloads ...

for six weeks.

Background and composition

The song details a large number of celebrities and artifacts from the 1980s, such as

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'' (in the original Danish release of the song), the

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''. Upon international release of the single, the group decided to change the line "When M&M was just a snack and Michael Jackson's skin was black" from the original Danish release to "When M&M was just a snack and Arnie told us I'll be back" (in reference to

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). They decided on this out of respect for Jackson, who died only a month after the single was released. The song was released as a

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in France on 9 November 2009. France is the only country receiving a CD release of "Back to the 80s", including the original song and two additional remixes.

Chart performance

"Back to the 80s" debuted on 5 June 2009 at number one on both the

and Airplay Chart. It claimed the mark for most weekly plays on Danish radio with 585. The single spent six weeks at No. 1 in Denmark and peaked at No. 3 in Norway and at No. 25 in Sweden.

Music video

In mid-May, it was announced that a video was being made. Due to a lengthy post-production process, the video didn't hit the internet until 10 June 2009. The video features the group in front of a variety of green screen created backgrounds, dressed in 1980s rocker fashions. The video is presented in "Aquascope", returning to the Aquarium-era tradition.

Track listings

Credits and personnel

* Lyrics:

* Music: Søren Rasted * Producer: Søren Rasted in Elektron Studio *

Engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

: Nicolaj Rasted * Guitars: Peter Düring * Drums:

Thomas Troelsen Thomas Troelsen (born 6 October 1981) is a Danish singer, songwriter, and producer from Skive. Troelsen has written and produced songs for Pitbull, Flo Rida, Justin Bieber, David Guetta, Lil Wayne, Drengene fra Angora, Nile Rodgers, Jason Derulo ...

, Søren Rasted * Keyboards: Claus Norreen, Søren Rasted * Lead vocals:

Lene Nystrøm Lene Grawford Nystrøm (born 2 October 1973) is a Norwegian musician and singer-songwriter who is the female lead vocalist of the Danish-Norwegian Eurodance group Aqua. Life and career 1973–1994: Early life Nystrøm was born in Tønsber ...

René Dif René Dif (born 17 October 1967) is a Danish musician, singer-songwriter, DJ and actor, best known as the male lead vocalist of the Danish-Norwegian eurodance group Aqua. Biography 1967–1994: Early years and private life Dif was born in Cop ...

* Backing vocals: Søren Rasted * Mixing: Lars Overgaard at Audio Mix * Mastering: Jan Eliasson at Audio Planet

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2009 singles 2009 songs Aqua (band) songs List songs Number-one singles in Denmark Songs about nostalgia Songs written by Claus Norreen Songs written by Søren Rasted Universal Records singles