There have been quite a few songs in the past couple years which are either remakes of or heavily inspired by stuff from the early 80s. Off the top of my head:

“Talk” by Coldplay, a remake of “Computer Love” by Kraftwerk. This is my favorite of the new remakes, and Partyben’s mashup of the two songs is just plain brilliant.

“SOS” by Rihanna, a remake of “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell. I think Soft Cell’s version was actually a remake of an even earlier version, though I don’t know who offhand. Now, as long as Rihanna doesn’t decide to continue taking riffs off of Soft Cell, she’ll be fine. I think Soft Cell’s use of chainsaws and naked dwarves in the video for their followup single “Sex Dwarf” was the quickest torpedoing of a career the early 80s had seen- and you gotta remember this was the age of Nena and A Flock of Seagulls.

“Cupid’s Chokehold” by Gym Class Heroes, a remake of “Breakfast in America” by Supertramp. I gotta admit that I prefer the original for Roger Hodgson’s vocals, though Gym Class Heroes didn’t do a bad job and the video is hilarious.

“Maneater” by Nelly Furtado, heavily inspired by “Maneater” by Hall and Oates. I first heard this at a dance at Nerd Camp a year and a half ago, and it blew my mind how many of the RAs(i.e. camp counselors) didn’t realize it was a sort of sequel to the Hall and Oates song; the same song from the other perspective. Sheesh, I know that I would’ve been booked for a trip to the Carousel by now, but those pups just don’t know where things come from. I mean, I asked people who did “I Want Candy” and pretty much everybody answered Aaron Carter. I know Bow Wow Wow’s version was also a cover, but ouch. It’s weird being a GenXer in the land of Millennials.

“One Word” by Kelly Osbourne, ripped off of “Fade to Grey” by Visage. I posted about this awhile back- the songwriter blatantly ripped off one of the iconic New Wave songs, right down to the girl speaking in French between verses. Fortunately, since then, the threat of a lawsuit has gotten Midge Ure and Billy Currie their just royalties. If taken on its on merits, One Word would’ve been a pretty good song with a pretty good Jean-Luc Godard homage video, but as it stands, it just doesn’t compare well to the original.

These are the ones I can think of- I’m not counting straight remakes like Youth Group’s cover of “Forever Young” by Alphaville. Got any others?