"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. Biograph ...

, 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 Ronald Reagan, ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs, two M ...

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Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

, '' The Terminator'' (in the original Danish release of the song), the Commodore 64, ''

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'', ''

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'',

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Mr. T Mr. T (born Laurence Tureaud, May 21, 1952), is an American actor. He is known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series ''The A-Team'' and as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film ''Rocky III''. He is also known for his ...

Twisted Sister Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include " We're Not Gonna Take It" and " I Wanna Rock", both of which were associated with ...

, MTV,

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

7 Up 7 Up (stylized as 7up outside North America) is an American brand of lemon-lime-flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo. 7 Up co ...

Bananarama Bananarama are an English pop duo from London, formed as a trio in 1980 by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo. T ...

, ''

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'', Huey Lewis and the News, '' Top Gun,''

David Hasselhoff David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He has set a Guinness World Record as the most watched man on TV. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on ''The You ...

, ''

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'', the Rubik's Cube, ''

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'', Moon Boots, Devo,

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, '' Poltergeist'' and ''

Ferris Bueller's Day Off ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' is a 1986 American teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes and co-produced by Tom Jacobson. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck with supporting roles by Jennifer ...

''. 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 Arnold Schwarzenegger). 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

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

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 limit ...

: 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 Deru ...

, 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 Co ...

* 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