Forever Young (3:41)

On the surface, this is a hopeful song celebrating the virtues of youth, but a closer listen reveals a fear of aging and death. The song was written during the Cold War, where the singer is “hoping for the best, but expecting the worst; are you gonna drop the bomb or not?”

Alphaville was a German Synthpop/Rock music group. The song was not a big hit when it was released, but has become well known as a result of its use in movies and TV shows. Among its uses:
The TV show Passions, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (episode 103: “Underage Drinking: A National Concern”)

Queer As Folk (season 1, episode 18)
One Tree Hill (season 4, episode 16).
The movie Listen To Me
Napoleon Dynamite in the school dance scene.
commercials for Saturn ION automobiles. (thanks, Ben - Philadelphia, PA)

A year after this was released, Laura Branigan covered it for her album Hold Me and began performing it as an encore at her concerts. The Canadian dance group Temperance recorded the song in 1996.

In 2005 the Australian band Youth Group recorded this for an episode of the TV show The O.C… Their release was a hit in Australia. (thanks, Donovan Berry - El Dorado, AR, for above 2)

This song was covered in a Punk version by So They Say on the album Punk Goes ’80s. (thanks, Ricky - Memphis, TN)

Was also remade by Jay-Z featuring Mr Hudson.