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.