Hmmm, I've never really related it to 80's rock, but I suppose it was (although I see no comparison whatsoever to Hall & Oates, Toto, or Quarterflash and I like all three of those bands a lot).

I always thought of it as a song that would have been perfect for Ringo or even a comparison to 'The Ballad Of John and Yoko' except this song was good.

Quoted from Buttmunker

For the name of good conversation (that's a first), I'd consider "Nobody Told Me" the pinnacle of 80's rock.  It blended seamlessly with the likes of Hall & Oates, Toto, and Quarterflash.

Bless. Personally, I'd put Paul's "Arrow Through Me" as much closer to Hall and Oates than Lennon ever got, but there you go. And Toto - ????
The pinnacle of eighties rock?? Surely you jest. In a competion with acts like   REM, The Smiths, The Pixies, The Cure, Husker Du.......???? Or are we talking the pinnacle of bland easy-on-the-ears FM rock, in which case you may have a point. But even then he's got to fight off The Police, U2, Simple Minds, Bowie....

I now realise that my headphone jack was faulty, so I couldn't hear the vocals. Still sounds like a Springsteen song in the making though!

Quoted from BlueMeanie

Still sounds like a Springsteen song in the making though!

That's exactly what I thought. And there was no rocker more successful than Springsteen during the 80s.

A good example of Lennon's songwriting
and "playing with words":

Everybody's smoking and no one's getting high

Everybody's flying and never touch the sky
Everybody's talking and no one says a word
Everybody's making love and no one really cares
Always something happening and nothing going on
There's always something happening cooking and nothing in the pot
Everyone's a winner
and no one seems to lose.
Everybody's flying and no one leaves the ground
Everybody's crying and no one makes a sound.
Everybody's smoking and no one's getting high
Everybody's flying and never touch the sky
There's Ufo's over New York and I ain't too surprised.
Nobody told me there'd be days like these

I reckon this one was unfinished,when listening to it again last night i noticed that john didnt have his distinctive vocal 'effect' while singing(the usual double track/heavy reverb etc),but still its sounds really fresh.I also noticed(being a studio geek) a fault in the guitar track around 1.17,it misses a beat.
But apart from that,i love the track.Id love to know the whole story of how much John got finished before he died.I feel the bit where he shouts 'roll' is missing something,id imagine he would have had a killer lick in there somewhere instead of a more strum-like guitar track on there.......anyway