'80s Songs that Don't Sound Like the '80s

Technically only his first album is from the 80s but that's right, Lenny was good at duplicating different vintage production sounds and very panned mixes on his first four albums.



No mono versions of his albums though

 

On this forum, if you weren't the right age, it seems like the 80s are considered the worst period of music history. I was aged 13-23 during that decade, so I'm kind of fond of it, actually.

 

From 1989.

 

King crimson.....indiscipline

 

Released in 1983.

 

Okay, this is 1992 but this track captures how good Lenny Kravitz was with this type of sound (he wrote everything on this album and it's obvious).

 

On the radio, it sounded like a much older track than it was I think.

Well-crafted song!

 

I was 14-24, and am generally not fond of it.

 

What did you like from that decade?

 

At the time, I listened to and enjoyed a lot of it. But the stuff I return to is pretty minimal. The stuff I liked then and still like today, like say Prefab Sprout, never really caught on.

 

I'm going to give two bands who (musically) were out of time in the 80's:
R.E.M.
The Smiths


Both bands had a jangly 60's Byrds feel to their music. However, their respective vocalists put them squarely in the post-punk camp.

 

Those songs from both of above mentioned Bruce Springsteen's 1980s albums (River and Nebraska) were previously unreleased so they can only be considered as his songs from the Eighties.

Born in the USA the album has no sound of the Eighties.

 

well it does until you get to "Dancing in the Dark".

 

It sounded like the other garage revival stuff of the 80s

 

Oh, please. There's gated reverb all over that record. None more 80s.

I don't understand the basic premise of the question, honestly. Does the OP genuinely think that the vast majority of records made in the 80s have an identifiable "80s sound"? Even if we're all in agreement that "80s sound" means "sounds kind of like 'Take On Me'," well, that's still not really what *all* records sounded like then.

 

Better to Remain Silent and Be Thought a Fool than to Speak and Remove All Doubt