“Forever Young” by Alphaville

A synth-pop gem turns 40.

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Welcome to a new edition of the Best Music of All Time newsletter!

Today’s music pick celebrates the 40th anniversary of a forgotten 80s synth-pop gem.

Genre: Synth-Pop, New Wave

Label: Warner

Release Date: September 27, 1984

Vibe: 😍😍😍

Sometimes, a pop song can attain incredible pop culture staying power without first being a No. 1 hit.

Alphaville’s “Forever Young,” the second single released in support of the album of the same name, peaked at 93 on the Hot 100. Its predecessor, “Big in Japan,” was the bigger hit, but still only topped out at No. 66. Not gaudy numbers by any stretch, which makes the former’s ubiquity at high school proms and on the nostalgia circuit a bit of a head-scratcher. How has it transcended the typical one-hit-wonder timeline?

I’d start with the universal message found at the center of the song’s lyrics. It’s not a song about youth in a perfunctory, rose-colored glasses sense. It’s more of a song about the purity of youth and how, try as you might, you can’t really get back to that same headspace as you get older and, let’s face it, more cynical. Written by Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd, and Frank Mertens, the track is in constant contradiction with itself over its themes. It wants humanity to bask in some sort of everlasting glow, but can’t decide whether that should come through immortality or the afterlife.

Consider the famous section from the second verse: "Let us die young or let us live forever/We don't have the power but we never say never.” The group delivers an ultimatum to the universe—pick one or the other—but immediately acknowledge they have no control over the outcome and, as a result, shouldn’t necessarily favor one or the other. Better to live in the moment and forge whatever emotional connections while you can. While you’re still young. As the lyrics proclaim later on: “It's so hard to get old without a cause/I don't want to perish like a fading horse/Youth's like diamonds in the sun/And diamonds are forever.”

There’s also allusions to Cold War-era fear over whether the US was “going to drop the bomb or not.” Following the death of Leonid Berzhnev and growing tensions around the Berlin Wall, there were whispers across Europe that then-President Roland Reagan could potentially trigger nuclear war. Still five years out from the fall of the Berlin Wall via the Peaceful Revolution, existential uncertainty maintains a tight grip on this entire LP. Forever Young may not be about staying young in perpetuity, but it’s almost certainly about treasuring the moments you have growing up before that sense of purpose and vitality are snuffed out without warning.

Another throughline that makes this mid-80s synth-pop classic so compelling is the theatricality. Songs often begin in an unassuming fashion, with gentle vocals and instrumentation. Then, there’s a build, pushing you inch by inch to a massive-sounding sonic revelation that hurtles you forward towards a rapturous conclusion. From the sun-kissed “Summer in Berlin” to the urgent-sounding “To Germany With Love” or “Lies,” you hang on every moment. Buoyed by Gold’s exceptional vocal performances, everything pulsates with energy and life.

The album’s best track is “Fallen Angel,” which pulls you in with frigid chords before hitting a stride that’s absolutely undeniable. Despite lyrics that are downright hokey at times, there’s an unassuming emotional depth at work here. Like music from the Cure and Cyndi Lauper, the overblown 80s stylistics are a feature, not a bug, especially when you consider what the chart-topping synth-pop material was back in the day. Of all the 80s albums I’ve covered in this newsletter, Forever Young may have the highest number of should-have-been-a-hit moments.

According to Gold, the band was lucky to attain the level of fame they did back in the day. “There was no a master plan behind our success,” he explained. “It was not a planned and aimed success […] ‘Big in Japan’ was actually one of our oldest songs. After writing it in 1978, I had considered it 'a terrible song' and hated it. But, we became famous with it. You see, it was not planned, it's just that the timing was very good." As humble and self-deprecating as that statement is, I’m not convinced it tells the entire story. I don’t think it’s luck or timing that makes “Forever Young” memorable enough to be, among many other things, a Jay-Z sample 25 years after the fact.

But that’s the nature of one-hit wonders—the calculus behind their staying power is much more challenging to work out. Groups like Alphaville enjoy brief moments in the mainstream spotlight, only to be somewhat forgotten over time, unless you hear their statement song out of the blue and think, “Wow, I haven’t heard this in YEARS. I forgot how good it was.” That sentiment is the primary reason why I wanted to highlight this Forever Young. Its artistry shouldn’t be overlooked by any C-list pop standards. This record deserves to rank up with the best of synth-pop’s golden age.

👉 Don’t forget to click the album image to stream the album on your favorite platform 👈