Wuss You or Wouldn't You?

5
Wussy 80s songs that I like despite their wussiness -- I listen to XM's 80s station fairly often, even though it was overall a wretched decade for mainstream pop music.
Here are 5 80s songs that are synth-drenched and wussy, yet I like them just the same. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list -- there's at least a few other wussy 80s songs I like. Nor does it include such borderline candidates as Devo's Whip It or Gary Numan's Cars. These two songs are synth-based and arguably wussy. Still, I consider them quality tunes; not just for 80s nostalgia kitsch reasons. They were self-consciously mechanized-sounding, progenitors of techno, industrial, trance, and any number of club genres that I'm clueless about.
But hey, enougha my yakkin'. Guitarists, bassists and drummers of the world, you are all expendable for the moment. Fire up the synth, and let's boogie:

• Safety Dance, Men Without Hats - This one falls just on the wrong side of the borderline. You can definitely groove to this song, but have you ever heard "Pop Goes the World" ? That wussified every other song Men Without Hats ever performed. (Did they perform anything else?) I think of this video every time I frolic about a Maypole at a renaissance festival, which, now that I think about it, I've never done.
  
• Dance Hall Days, Wang Chung - Dig the "Wizard of Oz" effect in this video; B&W streetscape, vibrant colors as the dancers get their groove on. And if you really want to Wang Chung tonight, check out this 21st-century-sounding (ok, 90s-sounding) Dance Hall Days remix.
  
• Things Can Only Get Better, Howard Jones - HoJo was almost my first rock concert. He was coming to the Worcester (appropriately, pronounced "WUSS-tah") Centrum circa 1986, and one of my friends asked if I'd go. Our parents discussed it, reached a tentative approval. Somehow negotiations fell through, and it was not until late 1987 that I debuted on the rock-concert scene when I saw The Cars (not wussy, dammit!) at the Old Boston Garden.
  
• Love Plus One, Haircut 100 - The most embarrassing inclusion on this list. What can I say? I'm in touch with my inner wuss.
  
• Blue Monday, New Order - Upon re-listen, this song's coolness conquers its ample wussiness (some Depeche Mode songs are in the same ballpark). I ain't really ashamed of this one. And the video is mind-blowing. "How does it feel? Tell me, how does it feel?"