This week I’m featuring 80’s deep cuts on Mental Jukebox. They’re the non-charting singles. The forgotten b-sides. The unheralded album staples. While they may not be the first songs that come to mind when you think of the 80’s, they’re some of the most important musical statements of the decade.

it may seem strange to highlight an instrumental from The Smiths. But more than any other song from the band, “Oscillate Wildly” demonstrated Johnny Marr’s musical intellect and diverse palette beyond traditional guitar riffs.

It was the b-side to “How Soon is Now?” and sat quietly on the deep compilation album Louder Than Bombs. To this day, it still remains one of my favorite Smiths tracks. It was the manifestation of an anti-rock persona which they had all along, but only let out for a brief, wonderful moment in time.