Glam Descendant
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Re: The 80s sucked. Discuss.
Feb 23, 2020, 01:53
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I'll add I have been listening to SANDINISTA! in my car this week and it still sounds fantastic!
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Fitter Stoke
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Re: The 80s sucked. Discuss.
Feb 23, 2020, 10:43
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Like I say, there were/are exceptions, and I dig most of those artists you name, even if my own preference is for the early, late 70s releases of XTC and Talking Heads. It’s also worth pointing out that those artists managed to steer clear of the tired, big drum sound that dominated the decade, and good on them for that.
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ricky nadir
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Re: The 80s sucked. Discuss.
Feb 23, 2020, 10:54
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The golden age of „rock’n’roll“ went on from 1966 to 1981. Surely there was good music for young people before and after but this timeframe set the benchmark.
There are several reasons for the decline of popular music after 1981:
Countercultural movements collapsed worldwide. Hedonism took over.
MTV appeared. Looks and image were suddenly more important than music.
Technical progress brought us cheap synthesizers and drum machines and new production methods.
Howard Jones, Kajagoogoo, Thompson Twins, Wham!, Nik Kershaw, Wang Chung and to a lesser degree Eurythmics, Culture Club, Adam Ant, Duran Duran are examples of what went wrong with popular music in the early eighties.
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Captain Starlet
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Re: The 80s sucked. Discuss.
Feb 23, 2020, 15:39
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There was some great music and films from the 80s but apart from that it sucked! The decade of thatcher and white towelling socks can't seriously try to reach the pinnacle of other decades which saw such innovation.
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garerama
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Edited Feb 23, 2020, 23:29
Re: The 80s sucked. Discuss.
Feb 23, 2020, 23:17
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Let us not forget the birth of 4-track portastudios and some of the DIY cassette releases from that era (now the "lo-fi" genre). Turned into a great culture which I relished in and became part of. Some wonderful unsung classics from that whole scene (Cleaners From Venus, Howl In The Typewriter, The Apostles, then towards the end of the decade From Nursery To Nursery to name back a few ...)
Probably an anti-dote for the polished sound that was the main stream was churning out.
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keith a
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Edited Feb 24, 2020, 13:30
Re: The 80s sucked. Discuss.
Feb 24, 2020, 13:29
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1982 was a bit of an end of era year...
By this time Curtis had died, TX and Magazine had split, Wire hiatus, etc. PiL had released their last album in their original spirit. Etc.
And it was probably about 1986-87 when things *really* took off for me again (early Happy Mondays, Loop, MBV, etc).
But still lots of great stuff - early solo Cope, Dexys, JAMC, Smiths, etc.
Sure the 80's production has dated but sometimes it comes full circle. Dare would have sounded date at one time but like early 60's stuff you see it it for what it was after a while. It's great! I wish the drums weren't so big on some of Iggy's Blah Blah Blah though!!
Edit: Great period for singles though. Word Up. Cloudbusting. The Message. Kiss. Millions of the little buggers!!
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Fitter Stoke
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Edited Feb 24, 2020, 20:06
Re: The 80s sucked. Discuss.
Feb 24, 2020, 19:42
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'Dare' is from 1981, when things were still relatively ticketty-boo. And I've absolutely no problems with the production on that. Like you say, it was probably '82 which was the watershed year, after which things largely went downhill for a while (and I'd agree that Magazine's split was a decisive element in that, for me anyway).
I never really got into the Mondays, JAMC or MBV until later on, and the C86 scene just left me cold. Loved Loop, mind.
I take your point about there being some great 45s in the decade, but it was kack like 5 Star and Whitney Houston that dominated the airwaves and, sadly, my memory of those times!
If any one name typifies what I'm thinking here, it's David Bowie who, after a magnificent 70's, went artistically AWOL for me after 'Scary Monsters'. I still find it hard to believe that the man who wrote 'The Bewlay Brothers' went on to write 'Blue Jean'!
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machineryelf
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Re: The 80s sucked. Discuss.
Feb 26, 2020, 16:53
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Any decade that has Kate Bush, Nick Cave and Prince in it can't be all bad
Saw some wonderful gigs from Springsteen making Wembley Stadium seem like a pub in Camden to The Violent Femmes make a pub in Camden seem like Wembley
Stadium
The The, Slayer, Waterboys, Metallica, Virgin Prunes, Faith No More, Run DMC, The Blue Nile, Sinead O'Connor, Marillion , Husker Du, Black Flag, Hanoi Rocks, Soft Cell, The Gun Club,Pet Shop Boys, the list goes on, sure there was some dross around, there always is but no more than usual
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Fitter Stoke
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Edited Feb 26, 2020, 18:52
Re: The 80s sucked. Discuss.
Feb 26, 2020, 18:48
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machineryelf wrote: Any decade that has Kate Bush, Nick Cave and Prince in it can't be all bad
Saw some wonderful gigs from Springsteen making Wembley Stadium seem like a pub in Camden to The Violent Femmes make a pub in Camden seem like Wembley
Stadium
The The, Slayer, Waterboys, Metallica, Virgin Prunes, Faith No More, Run DMC, The Blue Nile, Sinead O'Connor, Marillion , Husker Du, Black Flag, Hanoi Rocks, Soft Cell, The Gun Club,Pet Shop Boys, the list goes on, sure there was some dross around, there always is but no more than usual
I forgot about the impact the first wave of thrash bands (Metallica, Slayer and, in my case, Anthrax) had on me from '87 onwards: thanks for reminding me. Sadly, I never shared your admiration for many of the other names you mention. Prince, for example, always left me a bit meh, and I've never understood the acclaim the Pet Shop Boys have held. I do like Marillion, but mostly from the post-80s Hogarth era onwards. Springsteen was indeed great live in the 80s (he still is) but his recorded output for most of that decade epitomises the decline in standards I referenced in my original post, as did that of (and I know many won't agree with this) Kate Bush, whose first three albums remained her best work for me until '50 Words For Snow'. I could, but won't, go on. But hey, horses for courses and all that!
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Pursued By Trees
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Re: The 80s sucked. Discuss.
Mar 01, 2020, 01:04
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In terms of what was happening politically/socially and the mainstream soundtrack that accompanied, normalised and celebrated all that ... oh yeah. The music business really morphed into the music industry through the decade.
Then there were the scenes that grew up reacting against those values; goth, grunge and the more political agit-punk that's already been mentioned. A smattering of socialist mainstream pop with the likes of Billy Bragg, the Housemartins, The Style Council etc and a clutch of 'we mean it, man' bands, most of whom were ultimately corroded by their own commercial success or failure.
And then there was music that seemed to come from outside of all that and to be happening more for it's own sake ... Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, Pixies, and the re-direction of Tom Waits. An avant-garde resurgence.
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