There Is An ’80s Radio Station That Is The Ultimate Nostalgia Trip

Often, elements of years past become saturated with nostalgia without us even realizing it until we encounter them again. Then comes the shocking jolt of poignant fondness. That’s exactly what one music lover of the ’80s encountered when she discovered a radio channel called 80s Chillpill.

Linda Holmes with NPR‘s “Pop Culture Happy Hour” recalled needing some tunes to listen to during a day of cleaning up. It was through this quest for just the right rhythm and mood that she found 80s Chillpill and learned something about the full scope of nostalgic music, how limited our music libraries could be, and the way time changes our view of things we never knew we could love.

The radio station ’80s Chillpill’ is a surprisingly effective blend of nostalgic sounds

SiriusXM has a radio station appropriately called 80s Chillpill that is a shockingly effective blend of popular favorites and surprise successes. The latter category came up for Holmes when she heard songs she used to hear plenty of times during her upbringing in the ’80s and didn’t have any real love for – but they still gave that rush of nostalgia when they came up on the radio because that was the sound of the ’80s.

“It’s a consequence of radio listening, I think,” Holmes theorized, “at that time, I certainly spent some time listening to music that I owned, but that was a very limited library, so the rest of the time, I listened to the radio.”

What to expect on this nostalgic trip down musical memory lane

She describes the lineup on 80s Chillpill as “slow songs for an eighth-grade dance.” Some hits she’s encountered include Peter Cetera’s “Glory of Love,” featured in The Karate Kid Part II, Dolly Parton’s “Islands in the Stream,” “Careless Whisper” by Wham! and “Can’t Fight This Feeling” by REO Speedwagon.

Holmes notes that because, growing up, her options to listen to music were limited to cassettes, CDs, and whatever was on a much smaller selection of radio stations, there was some degree of settling, listening to whatever was on because that was on the menu – though all the while, those songs because the sound of a beloved time gone by. Now, radio stations like 80s Chillpill and so many others expanded that musical library and provided the perfect stage to embrace a newfound appreciation for those songs.

Part of what makes this station so effective is the unique power of music. What other force on Earth can get a person’s foot tapping, their eyes tearing up, or their blood pumping the way music can? Music is already in a special position to elicit emotional responses in people. Couple that with nostalgia – a kind of wistful, joyful pain in its own right – and it’s a perfect, catchy storm for revisiting the past, appreciating old favorites, and finding new musical friends.

What is your comfort playlist rooted in nostalgia?