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Unsung Forum » The 80s sucked. Discuss. |
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Fitter Stoke 2611 posts |
Edited Feb 21, 2020, 21:42
Feb 21, 2020, 21:34
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As I look back at nearly 50 years of active listening to the wide gamut of genres falling under the generic category of “popular” music, I can’t help but wonder at how low things fell in the 1980s or, at least, the years from 1982 to 1989. Nearly every artist I dug in the 70s or before (if they survived) somehow seemed to go on to suck big logs in the following decade. Those that immediately come to mind are names as diverse as Bowie, Hammill, Tull, Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd, Dylan, John Lydon and Neil Young, though to be fair many of those went on to make fine music again at the end of the 80s or later. There are of course exceptions: our beloved Drude for example, and the very small number of decent acts (The Smiths, the Weddoes, or The Stone Roses) that actually managed to break though the dreck of an otherwise horrible era of big hair, big drums and polyphonic synths. But overall the 1980s were utter bollocks from a rock and roll perspective. In fact, so disillusioned was I with the musical zeitgeist of the time that I immersed myself in classical and jazz, areas which still dominate much of my listening to this day. All my own opinion of course. Am I alone?
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Zariadris 286 posts |
Edited Feb 22, 2020, 13:32
Feb 22, 2020, 12:19
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You know, I wouldn't be here today - for better or worse - if it hadn't been for the NWOBHM - Maiden, Saxon, Tygers of Pan Tang, Diamond Head, mid-period Judas Priest, Raven, Venom, Dio, etc, that culminated in the rise of Metallica, Slayer, Trouble, Anthrax, and a host of other acts across the pond. Add to that more idiosyncratic bands like AC/DC and Motorhead - two of the quintessential rock and roll acts of all time, and I'd have to say from a spotty headbangers perspective the 80s were fucking amazing for rock (notwithstanding the L.A. hair metal scene that gave it all a bad name.) Thin Lizzy had a few late period successes too (love Chinatown and Renegade). I dug punk acts like the Dead Kennedys, The Exploited, The Cramps, Meat Puppets, etc., too. And then, as I grew up a little, I became a Goth - The Cure, Sisters of Mercy, and my beloved Fields of the Nephilim. Not a bad decade for Dub either, with some great releases by Prince Far I before he died in '83, Dub Factor by Black Uhuru, Aswad's A New Chapter in Dub, etc I waxed lyrical about post-punk 'British Isles Invasion' acts like the Alarm and Big Country some months ago on these boards! Guilty pleasures die hard man. I rest my (hopeless) case! EDIT: And WTF would we all be without Spinal Tap?
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Fitter Stoke 2611 posts |
Edited Feb 22, 2020, 14:21
Feb 22, 2020, 14:19
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Fair points all, though for me a lot of the NWOBHM bands had turned to shit after the early 80s, and I never really got into the goth scene, Sisters Of Mercy excepted. I loved many of the second wave punk bands like The Exploited and (especially) Discharge, but they too went stale for me as the decade wore on. But hey, each to his/her own. On reflection, I think much of my prejudice evolved from the production techniques of the era, which to my ears have dated far more than my favourite 60s and 70s sounds. IMHO of course...
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Zariadris 286 posts |
Edited Feb 22, 2020, 15:27
Feb 22, 2020, 14:42
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I hear you. Truth be told, for ages my mantra was: the '80s sucked'. All the canned beats and soulless commercialism obscured the really vital stuff that was going on. By the late 80's I was - like so many - looking back to the 60s and 70s as lost Halcyon days, when men were men, and rock was rock. These days, of course, I'm nostalgic and constantly rediscovering all the scenes I was into - and not into - in the 80s. Above all, being a Leftie, I miss the protest culture in that age of Reagan and Thatcher. I miss picking up the NME and reading writers like Stephen Wells tearing reactionary bands a new a-hole (will never forget his scathing indictment of Bowie's Tin Machine covering Working Class Hero. Can only imagine what he'd have made of Green Day's desecration.) Remember Billy Bragg, New Model Army, The The? Real protest and social commentary. In fact, more than the 70s, the 80s really taught me - as Julian often reminds us - of rock and roll's sacred duty to give a voice to the powerless. I still get chills remembering the movement against Apartheid and for Mandela - no matter what you might think of Little Steven or Simple Minds - or on a more underground tip, Robert Calvert's brilliant and totally unsung Freq, which championed the labour movement and the strikers under Thatcher. Anyway, just another perspective. Thanks for the fun and thought-provoking thread.
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Zariadris 286 posts |
Edited Feb 22, 2020, 15:22
Feb 22, 2020, 15:13
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Another thing...though I know this discussion has to do with rawk 'n' roll, as I share your love of classical music, I should note that the 80s was a stellar decade in that respect. I was going to a music boarding school outside of London in the middle of the decade, studying guitar, and man, London in the 80s was a golden age in classical guitar, with some of the greatest practitioners like the new generation of David Russell, a very young Paul Galbraith, Sharon Isbin, Hubert Kappel, Kazuhito Yamashita (whose incredible solo guitar transcription of Pictures at an Exhibition I witnessed live at the Barbican), etc. rubbing shoulders with the older generation at the height of their powers - Bream, Williams, the Romeros, even a still concertizing Segovia in his 90s. The Wigmore Hall was like the CBGBs of that scene, and especially of the lute revival, with the magical work of Baroque composers like Sylvius Leopold Weiss celebrated after centuries of obscurity. Never will forget a concert there of an orchestra of twenty lutenists: like listening to the sound of something very loud heard very quietly; the din of a distant waterfall.
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Fitter Stoke 2611 posts |
Feb 22, 2020, 15:43
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Oh yes, yes, yes. The classical scene of the 80s was something to behold: indeed, it was the Ravel/Varese Festival of 83/84 that turned me back to the classical stuff I’d been indoctrinated with as a child and onto much the much more radical works of the 20th century. I’m still reaping the benefits!
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tk421 121 posts |
Feb 22, 2020, 17:34
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‘the din of a distant waterfall’. Oh man, I love that phrase [/quote]
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tk421 121 posts |
Feb 22, 2020, 18:06
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I know what you’re saying but I think the decade gets a bit of an unfair kicking. There was good music, it’s just that wasn’t necessarily bothering or dominating the charts. I think you can rhyme of lots of bands that have substantial back catalogues. Weighed against that, there’s a perceived 80s sound that we would probably agree hasn’t aged well.
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Chesterwick 64 posts |
Feb 22, 2020, 18:06
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Easy. It was the decade that the fucking fashionistas ended up in charge.
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Glam Descendant 1539 posts |
Feb 23, 2020, 01:51
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This reads as a very Brit-centric impression. In the U.S. we had: R.E.M. Meat Puppets The Replacements The B-52s Talking fucking Heads Laurie Anderson And didn't the UK give us New Order? And arguably XTC at their peak?
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