How "old" is 80s music?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by ribonucleic, Mar 8, 2018.

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  1. ribonucleic

    ribonucleic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    SLC UT
    In the building where I work, the music piped in to the bathrooms recently switched from Classic Rock to 80s Top 40. For example, it was playing this on my last trip just now:



    As a child of the decade, this pleases me well, naturally.

    But we're a tech company, so most of the employees are in their 20s to early 30s, and to them these are oldies. (A co-worker broke my heart once by innocently asking "Who's this Debbie Gibson you mention?") "The Warrior" is as old now as Patti Page singing "The Tennessee Waltz" was when Scandal was on the charts.

    Now the thing is, IIRC, back then, you did not hear early 50s music anywhere nearly as often as you hear 80s music today. Which suggests to me that 80s music has not "aged" at the same rate as, say, Perry Como.

    Is this because the advent of rock marked a more decisive break with the music of the past than anything that has occurred since? Or - dare I hope - is the music of my youth simply better?

    (Let's please leave the video out of it. It was considered notoriously bad even at the time.)
     
  2. Zach Johnson

    Zach Johnson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    I was born in 1994, and when I hear 80s music in stores and such, it doesn't seem "old" to me. I recall hearing a lot of it as a child though, so that might be why.
     
  3. OobuJoobu

    OobuJoobu Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, UK
    We have GenericCrap.fm piped in to our work, a little while ago the DJ said "we've got a genuine old school classic coming up next".

    It was Rihanna! :cry:
     
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  4. TheSeldomSeenKid

    TheSeldomSeenKid Forum Resident

    The CURE, The Smiths and Echo & the Bunnymen are Timeless.
    If I was born in 2000, I would love their Music.
    And going back further, Talking Heads & The Police.
     
  5. driverdrummer

    driverdrummer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Irmo, SC
    Doesn't sound old to me at all. Still sounds state of the art and expensive.
     
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  6. andrewskyDE

    andrewskyDE Island Owner

    Location:
    Europe
    I always think that's 20 years ago but we already have done another 10+ years now. That's scary.
    Musically I don't think it's old. Some artists nowadays use 1980s elements in their music so that's kind of reborn.
     
    LeBon Bush likes this.
  7. dickens12@excite

    dickens12@excite Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phillipsburg, NJ
    Synthwave and all of its offshoots are extremely '80s influenced.
     
  8. Holy Diver

    Holy Diver Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
  9. BDC

    BDC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tacoma
    From the class of 83, I was always in large part retro with my taste.. I'd listen to certain music that came out before I was born, but not a lot of it... On the other hand, I spent a lot of time as a teenager and later listening to music that came out in my lifetime, but when I was too young to remember it.
    Those were the biggest years in the development of the music and sound quality..

    The thing is IMO, rock and pop music haven't advanced much (if any)as an artform since the 70s, both in writing and in sound quality. So it stands to reason 20 year olds today might listen to music that came out 20-35 years before they were born.....
     
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  10. ribonucleic

    ribonucleic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    SLC UT
    I listened to The Chronic in its entirety the other day while I was waiting for recall work to be finished on my car. And realized it was eligible for a "25th anniversary deluxe edition". (with extra "beeyotches", I suppose)
     
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  11. gregorya

    gregorya I approve of this message

    1980 is 38 years ago... I think that qualifies as oldies.

    In the 1960's, "oldies radio" featured stuff that was from the 50's (and the late fifties at that).

    To put it in forum math, 2018 is to 1980 as the Beatles' "White Album" is to 1930... ;)
     
    ARK, Scopitone, Kristofa and 8 others like this.
  12. vitorbastos123

    vitorbastos123 Forum Resident

    Doesnt seem old to me. Just a bit out dated cuz of the production styles. But much better than todays music. I love it.
     
  13. Jose Jones

    Jose Jones Outstanding Forum Member

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    It's getting older all the time. It has its own sound and niche now. There was a lot of diversity and change and the whole MTV era and its effect on music as the decade went along.
     
    Rojo, GodShifter and ribonucleic like this.
  14. AnalogJ

    AnalogJ Hearing In Stereo Since 1959

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Since everything music cool nowadays is either rap wannabe acoustic folk, the short, smart New Wave pop tunes of the '80s are somehow passé. But many sound fresh as when they were baked.
     
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  15. 131east23

    131east23 Person of Interest

    Location:
    gone
    When I was a teenager in the 70's the old music of the day was the Perry Como type stuff from the 50's. Sometime in the 80's, can't really remember when, Corporate America co-opted Rock 'n Roll so they could use my generations sentimental moments to sell products to us. Still going on today to the point that kids in their teens still get inundated with music from the 60's, 70's and 80's on a regular basis in ads and movies. I loved the 80's music scene and think it has held up very well. Lots of fun too.
     
  16. strummer101

    strummer101 The insane on occasion aren't without their charms

    Location:
    Lakewood OH
    It's nice to read 15 straight posts with no hate for 80's musics. :agree:

    It's 2018, of course it's old. In these days of disposable everything, "old" starts in about a year after something is born.
    But for me, all music is timeless in the sense that I can enjoy it now even if it was composed centuries ago.
     
    ARK, John Grimes, bru87tr and 8 others like this.
  17. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    You think that's bad? About a month ago I referenced Eddie Vedder in a conversation with a guy in his early twenties. He had never heard of him. I felt so old that I almost asked to pay half price for my bus ride home.
     
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  18. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    I never listened to much 80's music, or anything past the 70's for that matter. Old? - it's like it never existed, to me.
     
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  19. strummer101

    strummer101 The insane on occasion aren't without their charms

    Location:
    Lakewood OH
    And...there it is.:rolleyes:
     
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  20. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    And...just think, it could all be "new" music, if I only just listened to it! :laugh::sigh:
     
  21. strummer101

    strummer101 The insane on occasion aren't without their charms

    Location:
    Lakewood OH
    Go ahead, I dare you.:D
     
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  22. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    There are some things from the 80's I will go for, Police, Pretenders...
     
  23. Drew

    Drew Senior Member

    Location:
    Grand Junction, CO
    It's old... but if you were a teenager in the 1980's like I was it seems like only yesterday.
     
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  24. ribonucleic

    ribonucleic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    SLC UT
    I've got an Eddie Vedder story, sort of.

    Back in the Aughties, my wife went to a fish market here in Salt Lake City to get us ingredients for dinner. They told her that representatives from Pearl Jam - who were performing in town - had called to ask if they had any sablefish. The market had mistakenly told them: No. So now, thanks to the goof, they could sell the sablefish to her.

    As she and I are both big Seinfeld fans, I wondered if this was a case of "Jon Voight's car". But she went ahead and cooked it for us. And it turned out to be as succulent a piece of fish as I've ever had. Melt-in-your-mouth stuff. "Better luck next time, Eddie!" I crowed with satisfaction. "Maybe you can write a song about it!"

    But in my piscatorial triumph, I failed to notice one of my dogs inching up to the coffee table to steal a lick of the buttery platter. "No!" I cried in a panic. "Not the Pearl Jam fish!"
     
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  25. Django

    Django Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    As a child, early 80s pop music was the first music I liked. I'm watching top of the pops 1985 on BBC4 right now ( animotion - obsession is on) yeah its dated in one way but pop culture is so endlessly recycled that some the sounds & production almost seems current.
     
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