I know you’re out there somewhere
Somewhere you can hear my voice
I know I’ll find you somehow
Somehow, somehow

I Know You’re Out There Somewhere by English progressive rock band The Moody Blues was released on May 23, 1988, with Miracle as the B side. The song was a single from the album Sur La Mer.

The song reached No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 52 on the UK Singles Chart. It was the band’s final Top 40 hit in the United States.

Watch the song’s music video.

So on the beach you’re strollin’ real high rollin’
Everything you have is yours and not stolen
A girl runs up with somethin’ to prove
So don’t just stand there bust a move

Bust a Move by Young MC was released on May 22, 1989, with Got More Rhymes as the B side. It was a single from the rapper’s debut album, Stone Cold Rhymin’.

Bust a Move was Young MC.’s biggest hit. It reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a No. 1 hit in Australia.

Watch the music video for the song.

Since you’ve gone I’ve been lost without a trace
I dream at night, I can only see your face

Every Breath You Take by The Police was released on May 20, 1983, with Murder by Numbers as the B side. It was the first single from the album Synchronicity.

Every Breath You Take was the biggest hit of 1983. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for eight weeks and the UK Singles chart for four weeks.

Watch the official music video for the song.

She’s got something you just can’t trust
It’s something mysterious
And now it seems I’m falling, falling for her

Invisible Touch by Genesis was released May 19, 1986, with The Last Domino as the B side. It was the first single from the album of the same name.

Invisible Touch was the band’s first and only No. 1 single in the United States. It only reached No. 15 in the United Kingdom.

Watch the music video for the song.

‘Til now I always got by on my own
I never really cared until I met you

Alone by Heart was released on May 16, 1987. It was the first single from the album Bad Animals.

The power ballad was a No. 1 hit in the United States and Canada. It reached No. 3 on the UK Singles chart.

Watch the official music video.

Wake me up before you go-go
Don’t leave me hanging on like a yo-yo

Wake Me Up Before You Go Go by Wham! was released in the United Kingdom on May 14, 1984. It was the first single from the album Make It Big.

The song was the duo’s first No. 1 hit in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Watch Wham! perform the song on Top of the Pops in 1984.

You’re the perfect one
For me and you forever will be
And I will love you so for always

Always by Atlantic Starr was released on May 13, 1987. It was the second single from the album All in the Name of Love.

The song reached No. l on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart.

Watch the official music video.

Like so many others, I became obsessed with the Purple Rain soundtrack in 1984, the year of its release. I proudly hung the poster of the album cover on my wall and spun the record over and over and over again, memorizing every beat, every lyric. I was 12 years old at the time, and music tends to shape us so profoundly at that age. Today, I hear When Doves Cry and I’m instantly a preteen, standing in front of my bedroom mirror singing into a hairbrush. I Would Die 4 U comes on and once again I’m preoccupied with mimicking the hand motions that accompany the chorus (point to self, point to head, hold up four fingers …).

I was 12 years old, and as with so many things when you’re too young to do them, I was frustrated and furious that I couldn’t get in to see the…