The article highlights three 1980s rock songs chosen for their unsettling, atmospheric qualities:

– The Cure’s “A Forest” is praised as a moody gothic-rock track inspired by Robert Smith’s childhood dream of being lost in woods.
– The Smiths’ “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” uses sounds associated with the British miners’ strike and became a cult favourite despite weak sales.
– Kate Bush’s “Breathing” imagines a fetus experiencing nuclear war from the womb; Bush called it her best song at the time.