There is life after—and before—the Eighties. On her 2008 debut, Ladyhawke (New Zealander Phillipa Brown) was a flaming Reagan-era synth-pop revivalist, but on Anxiety, she has cranked up her guitars and given her keyboards a jittery New Wave makeover. The result is a buzzsaw-sharp pop-rock album, full of hard-charging hooks, with one foot toe-tapping in 1978 and the other planted firmly in 2012. 

Listen to 'Anxiety':

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• Photos: Random Notes

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.