80s hits that don't sound like they were produced in the 80s

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by sgtmono, Mar 6, 2014.

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  1. sgtmono

    sgtmono Seasoned Member Thread Starter

    How many big eighties hits don't have typical "80s sounding" production? It seems easier to think of some from the early 80s, harder for the late 80s. Can you name one for every year? We're talking mainstream radio hits here.
     
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  2. Dandelion1967

    Dandelion1967 My Favourite Parks Are Car Parks

    "Dear Jessie" by Madonna or "Manic Monday" by The Bangles, sound more like 60s than 80s.
     
  3. tkl7

    tkl7 Agent Provocateur

    Location:
    Lewis Center, OH
    Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World charted in 1988.
     
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  4. Au contraire IMHO, at least with respect to "Manic Monday" - I don't think you'll find a song with such thick, glossy pop production before the '80s, or at least the advent of serious multitrack recording.
     
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  5. Platterpus

    Platterpus Senior Member

    Slade - Run Runaway
     
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  6. Manly Moose

    Manly Moose Active Member

    Location:
    Virginia
    Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen.
     
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  7. ampmods

    ampmods Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    Roman Holiday - Stand By (barely a hit I suppose... but still)
    Stray Cats - various

    Hard to think of many pop tunes that didn't have 80s production though. Even popular blues songs sound like the 80s just because of the drums and sometimes the guitar processing.
     
  8. skisdlimit

    skisdlimit Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bellevue, WA
    1980: "Time" - Alan Parsons Project (timeless)
    1981: "Ah, Leah!" - Donnie Iris (sounds like a cross between 70s Boston and ELO)
    1982: "I Love Rock 'n Roll" - Joan Jett (could have been recorded in any decade)
    1983: "Church of the Poisoned Mind" - Culture Club (channeling 60s Stevie Wonder; specifically "Uptight")
    1984: "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" - Wham! (channeling 60s Motown girl groups)
    1985: "Life in a Northern Town" - The Dream Academy (sounds more like the Moody Blues than they did in the 80s)
    1986: "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" - The Georgia Satellites (sounds more like the Stones than they did by the mid-80s)
    1987: "Paper In Fire" - John Cougar Mellencamp (most of his oeuvre has a 70s vibe to it)
    1988: "Fast Car" - Tracy Chapman (arguably one of the first 90s songs with its stripped down production)
    1989: "Love Shack" - B-52s (sort of a 60s throwback)
     
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  9. Evan L

    Evan L Beatologist

    Location:
    Vermont
    With Or Without You-U2
     
  10. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Everything posted so far all sound very much like 80s productions to me. "Kokomo" by The Beach Boys is the only song I can think of that sounds like it could have been made in the 60s or 70s.
     
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  11. Jackson

    Jackson Senior Member

    Location:
    MA, USA
    Ever single John Mellencamp hit, 16 of them.
     
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  12. majorlance

    majorlance Forum Resident

    Location:
    PATCO Speedline
    Bonnie Raitt's "Thing Called Love" (1989).

    OTOH, the other hits from her Nick of Time album (the title track & "Have a Heart") most definitely sound like 80s tracks — in a good way.
     
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  13. sgtmono

    sgtmono Seasoned Member Thread Starter

    Some of these I agree with, but "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", while it could have been written in the 60s, has quintessentially 80s production in the final recording.
     
  14. T'mershi Duween

    T'mershi Duween Forum Resident

    Location:
    Y'allywood
    Dear God by XTC.

    In fact, the entire output of Dukes Of Stratosphear is decidedly non "80's" sounding. Of course, none of these songs constitutes "hits".
     
  15. peteneatneat

    peteneatneat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Liverpool UK
    No hits on this album, but it sounds like it was recorded in 1964.

    [​IMG]
     
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  16. sgtmono

    sgtmono Seasoned Member Thread Starter

    Not with that big synthetic percussion sound.
     
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  17. violarules

    violarules Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    Erm, no. With all the synths and cheesy digital reverb on that track, it couldn't have been made in any decade other than the 80s.

    I would say Nick Lowe's Cruel to Be Kind, but I see that was released in '79, so...
     
  18. raveoned

    raveoned Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ambler, PA
    "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen. Sounds like it could have come out of Sun Studios or somewhere like that.
     
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  19. Witch Hazel

    Witch Hazel Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Louis, Mo. USA
    I'm glad the 80's sound existed. The 60's and 70's; too prototypical and archaic. The 90's; too mundane. The 80's, the best.
     
  20. ralph7109

    ralph7109 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Franklin, TN
    Robert Plant's Honeydrippers EP - not sure what decade it sounds like.

    And maybe George Michael's "Faith".
     
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  21. skisdlimit

    skisdlimit Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bellevue, WA
    Yeah, it's pretty tough to ignore George Michael's quintessentially 80s voice (and hair, and shorts, and...)! :D;):p:pleased:
     
  22. Cassiel

    Cassiel Sonic Reducer

    Location:
    NYC, USA
    Not only does that song's production (and that of the album it was on) SCREAM "late '80's," there were literally dozens of hit songs that followed it that threw in sonic elements cloned from the same template in their attempts to replicate U2's success.
     
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  23. Grunherz54

    Grunherz54 Forum Resident

    'The One I Love' - R.E.M.
     
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  24. NaturalD

    NaturalD The King of Pop

    Location:
    Boston, Mass., USA
    Rock This Town and Stray Cat Strut
     
  25. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    70s, then.
     
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