Music of the 80s: what did it mean to you?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Grant, May 16, 2009.

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  1. Slicing Eyeballs

    Slicing Eyeballs Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I'm sure it's been said already, and will be said again, but I think a great many music lovers do hold a special place in their hearts for the bands that first sparked that intense and unbridled joy for music.

    That's the simple explanation for me, anyway. Call it nostalgia, call it whatever you want -- these are simply the bands I've listened to and loved the longest. They'll always be special to me.

    We're all on this board for a fairly common reason: love of music. For a lot of us, the variation in taste is often -- but obviously not always -- a variation of when we fell in love with music.

    I grew up in the '80s, and for the first half of the decade, only paid passing attention to what I was hearing on pop radio, whether it was Madonna, Prince, Michael Jackson, Springsteen, etc. Around 1986, after my family moved to San Diego, I discovered 91X, and bands like the Smiths, the Cure, Simple Minds, Echo and the Bunnymen, INXS, Depeche Mode.

    For whatever reason, these were the sounds I fell for, and they launched a lifetime of record collecting (actually, first it was cassettes, then a smattering of records, then CDs, then mostly vinyl), musical devotion and fandom. I've still got all that Jesus and Mary Chain and Mission UK vinyl I bought 20 years ago.

    I think the fondness for these past eras has a lot to do with how music appreciation has changed in the past 10 years. Now, I can find the most obscure piece of music imaginable online, download it -- either illegally, or increasingly, by actually buying it -- and stick it on my iPod in minutes. There are thousands of sites with music news, reviews and recommendations; almost nothing is obscure or hard to find anymore.

    Back in the '80s, and other eras certainly, there was a certain lure, a certain cache, to a lot of these bands because you'd only hear about them from friends or read a line or two about them in the one copy of NME they had at the counter at your local record shop. And there was also the joy of the hunt, the search, say, for that Depeche Mode "Behind the Wheel" import 12-inch because it was the only place you could get their cover of "Route 66." Or driving up to Hollywood to scour the record stores there in a vain search for the Specials' "Ghost Town" 12-inch on 2 Tone.

    I'm not going to argue those days were better; I do sincerely believe that the Internet is the best thing to ever happen to music. But there's always going to be a certain fondness for times that were simpler, I think.

    And for me, that's the '80s. That's certainly not the only music I listen to; I've always listened to new music, and have just as much, if not more, music from the '90s and '00s in my collection.

    I don't think there's anything inherently bad or good about any decade of music. There's always good music to be found. I think the majority of folks who hang on to the '60s and '70s are doing so for the reasons I've given for my own fondness of the '80s. For example, I'm certainly not going to dispute the Beatles place in rock history -- amazing band, no doubt -- but so much of that is due to when they emerged and the very crucial role they played in turning rock 'n' roll into a crucial part of everyday life. And that's something that can only happen once.
     
  2. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude

    I think a lot of the music made in the 80's had great melodies. I just couldn't stand the way most of the music was recorded then. :)
     
  3. Baron Von Talbot

    Baron Von Talbot Well-Known Member

    Exactly. If you was a teen oin the 80ies you probably love it; but as someone who was a teen in the 70ies the 80ies were for the most part a nightmare. The world ahd turned upside down, First the Punks killed Prog Rock and then thePoppers killed alll good Classic Rock and the crazy Reaganomics and right wing politics cried for easy listening , melodic bland POP and you got tons of that. Everything we believd in as Hippies meant nothing and getting a rich bastard was cool. wall Street and Miami Vice are extreme proofs of fashion at an all time low....LOL...
    Prince alone saved the 80ies musically imo.
    Still I am a sucker for kitsch ballads secretely and have a weak spot for some of the 80ies better melodic songs (there were tons of melodies on the radio and a few were really good) . Having survived that dangerous times made me a stronger person , who sometimes looks back at the 80ies like a WW 2 veteran or something...

    Just listen to STING's 'Hope The Russians Love Their Children, Too' and you sense the fear of total damnation and destruction, that were present like a cloud all the time at the end of the Cold War. Of course as a kid you did not notice that. But the days of wine and roses, love and peace were gone for good like a summer turns to winter...
    Thank god at the end of the 1980ies the wall came down and the doom of total nuclear destruction was gone. Kids started smoling pot again and moved to Seattle. I was not crazy about Grunge or the new Punk Revival, but I found that easier to digest than Madonna and Michael Jackson, Europe or Foreigner....:rolleyes:
     
  4. Roninblues

    Roninblues 猿も木から落ちる。

    The 80's music brought home that I was not in tune with pop music for the most part or AM radio. I spent more money on movies than I did music. I have several discs from that era that I still like but they were the exception to what I had heard. For my younger sister it is the decade for her. If it makes you feel good it is good, for you, and it doesn't have to be for anyone else. The best we can hope for is that we are all respectful of other's musical taste.
     
  5. I'm digging this thread out because music of the '80s was a "big deal" for me because it's the music I started HS and college radio with. I would play the stuff that commercial radio wouldn't. (Or would later be embraced by those stations a year or so later.) New sounds were being explored as well as different styles of music. It was all fun to me.
    To this day...even today, I enjoy playing those songs on the radio. Although now I'm on internet radio, I find I get a lot of suggestions when I do live programs that feature '80s tunes.
    In fact, I'm doing one in just a few minutes...so if you're reading today (9/12/09), feel free to listen into my show 4-6 pm (Eastern Time) on Live365.
    www.live365.com/stations/247313

    I'll be pulling the old vinyl and other sources for a fun show featuring extended mixes, obscure stuff and what I call my "college favorites" that I played well into the '90s.

    -Bill
     
  6. Galley

    Galley Forum Resident

    If it's a day that ends in "y", then I'm probably listening to '80s music. :righton:
     
  7. ATR

    ATR Senior Member

    Location:
    Baystate
    Great decade for contemporary jazz. That's what it meant to me. And considering my experiences last week trying to buy a mono box the beginning of the end for deep catalog record stores. Not to mention all the great new wave bands that have already been mentioned.
     
  8. Modern_Mannequin

    Modern_Mannequin Active Member

    Location:
    Northeast USA
    Interesting perspective. I was just a wee one in the 80s, so I can't comment on contemporarily enjoying the scene. However, several of the band you mentioned from the 80s (actually, most of them really) are favorites of mine, and when you put it the way you do - how the scene kind of got steamrolled by the 90s - I could see why someone would look at the 90s era in such a way.

    But, since I wasn't involved, I can appreciate all of it (including grunge) in the rearview. Besides, say what you will about grunge, but it really was a sign of generational discontent.
     
  9. Lord_Gastwick

    Lord_Gastwick Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pasadena, CA, USA
    I Thoroughly Enjoyed:
    David Sylvian
    Kate Bush
    Gabriel (Security)
    Simple Minds (80-82)
    King Crimson (Discipline/Beat/Three of a Perfect Pair)
    David Bowie (Scary Monsters)
    Nick Cave
    Cocteau Twins
    Tom Waits
    Joe Jackson
    The Waterboys

    I Regard As Being Damaging to the Soul and Ruinous to the History of Recorded Sound:
    The Kylie Minogue/Stock, Aitken and Waterman digital hit machine
    Hugh Padgham's "gated snare"
    Genesis: Invisible Touch
    Phil Collins: Balladeer
    The Housemartins
    Tina Turner (praaahvat densa!)
    The Thompson Twins
    Billy Joel's An Innocent Man
    Big-haired bands trying to create wide, expansive, "passionate", digital-reverb-drenched stadium rock.
    Post Live-Aid "compassion" projects
    The emergence of Pope Bono
     
  10. everton

    everton Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Wow...And I thought The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death was one of the finest Brit pop albums. I'm a damaged soul now.



    Amen....
     
  11. manicpopthrill

    manicpopthrill Forum Resident

    Location:
    ICT, Kansas
    Yeah, I thought this was certainly an odd choice to vilify. Although I have more love for the debut. Great band.
     
  12. JayB

    JayB Senior Member

    Location:
    CT
    The 80's produced some AMAZING music...
     
  13. seg763

    seg763 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    I went from 16 to 26 so them was big years for me. The early 80's had some great stuff, from the end of punk(clash,Ramones,Buzzcocks), new wave's heyday (Cars, Police, Joe Jackson, Blondie, Costello) to the start of all the early 80's UK bands I'll lump together (U2, Echo, New Order, Simple Minds, Waterboys, Ultravox, The Cure....). By 83/84 the stuff you heard on the radio & MTV had gotten really commercial & mainstream (some quite good, Duran Duran, Springsteen, Prince) and at that point I was at the right age to experience what I think was a terrific underground scene, wonderful bands that consisted of folks my age or a tad older, plaing small venues for reasonable prices, I felt like it was my scene and the establishment barely was aware of it (the closest to 66/67 I was ever gonna get). From the 'paisley underground' scene of Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade, True West, Green on Red and dozens of other American bands on labels like Enigma, Big Time & IRS. To the beginnings of alternative (back then we called it 'indie rock' kiddies) with R.E.M. Husker Du, The Replacements, Sonic Youth, Soul Asylum, Big Black, Swans, Naked Raygun, Dinosaur Jr, Flaming Lips, Meat puppets, Minutemen and many many more. It was a great time to come of age, to paraphrase Henry Rollins & D Boon - 'Get in the Van, Our band could be your life'.
     
  14. JayB

    JayB Senior Member

    Location:
    CT
    Beautiful post. I grew up the same way at he same time listening to those same bands..
     
  15. Galley

    Galley Forum Resident

    They say that the kind of music you listened to when you were 20 years old is the kind of music you will listen to the rest of your life. 24 years later, and it still holds true for me. :)
     
  16. RadioClash

    RadioClash Senior Member

    Bad Religion started the 80's for me, and changed everything. Part of that phenomenal early '80s California punk revolution that I lived and breathed and will never forget. Nice clip here of the original four, none of them much older than me at the time.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ppn0WIEk9M
     
  17. applebonkerz

    applebonkerz Senior Member

    For new music, except for Mike Oldfield, Eric Johnson, George Harrison and Traveling Wilburys (and a few tracks here and there by other artists), I still have nothing good to say about 80's music as a whole time period.

    By far my least favorite decade for music since I've been alive.
     
  18. Karnak

    Karnak "81, 82, 83, 84..."

    From what I remember the Wrestler was devoid of a soundtrack, except for a few choice 80s songs. I especially liked the one played in Randy's van on his way home in the beginning of the film. It sets a tone.

    People criticise 80s 'hair bands' but I still find myself listening to Def Leppard, Sammy Hagar (with and without Van Halen), Cinderella, and others regularly. Note: I said listen to, not watch.

    These days I have to separate what I actually listened to in the 80s from what 80s music I discovered after the decade ended. For example, I don't remember listening to Video Killed the Radio Star during the decade, even though it was an early decade hit. I discovered it later. (And listening to it now, I prefer the slightly longer version, with the 40 sec. piano coda :). )

    Then there's the rediscovery songs, those songs I hear now and it hits me that I heard them when they first came out in my twenties. Ie. Nick Heyward's Goodbye Yesterday, Vis A Vis's Shadowplay, and Blue Peter's Don't Walk Past.

    Yeah man, I hear you :thumbsup: .
     
  19. PROG U.K.

    PROG U.K. Audiophile-Anglophile

    Location:
    New England
    Loved it and I am finding that much of it does hold up better than I imagined it would after all these years.
    Have recently re-discovered many artists who put out some decent albums at the time which went under my radar:

    Richard Thompson
    Chris Rea
    Nick Lowe
    Dave Edmunds
    The Buggles
    Pete Townshend (solo)
     
  20. Karnak

    Karnak "81, 82, 83, 84..."

    I remember seeing the video for Pete Townshend's Slit Skirts on MTV in 1985. MTV back then wasn't as pop-oriented as some think. Of course, nowadays, it's useless...but I digress...
     
  21. KenJ

    KenJ Forum Resident

    Location:
    Flower Mound, TX
    80's for me was COLLEGE RADIO. I thought it was fresh, exciting, full of energy, and personal. I think it was the glory days of college radio that birthed REM and "alternative rock". I was in college in the Boston area in the early 80's and loved the local scene. It was a great combo of up and coming local bands playing with touring international acts...all in clubs. I wish I would have taken more pictures and gotten more autographs.

    Neighborhoods
    Lyres
    'til Tuesday
    November Group
    Rubber Rodeo
    O+
    Mission of Burma
    Del Fuegos
    Boys Life
    Outlets
    Dogmatics
    Rash of Stabbings
    Scruffy the Cat
    Freeze
    Lou Miami & Kosmetix
    and more....

    ...and these are just the local bands that opened for my nationally & internationally touring favs.
     
  22. Wmacky

    Wmacky Forum Resident

    The 80's were really 2 era's. Early 80's VS Late 80's

    I detect a lot of cork sniffing going on, I was in high school in 83 and I can't recall 1 single person in my age group complaining that there was nothing to listen to. I didn't hear that statement until the 90's. Everyone seemed to have something to love. There was the metal crowd, the new wave group, the John Cougar lovers. Even the country fans where happy (Hank Williams JR). This was supplimented with some older stuff by most of my friends, The Wall, Zep, Boston, ETC. I do remeber that almost no one liked everything, but it seemed everyone did like something.

    No one was complaining at the time, 80 - 84. Does anybody from this age group remember it differently? I think the haters must be older or younger than this demographic?
     
  23. duggan

    duggan Senior Member

    Location:
    sydney
    There is an interesting podcast that devotes itself to 1980's popular culture, and music in particular, called "Stuck in the 80's". The blog, with links to the podcast is http://blogs.tampabay.com/80s/
     
  24. daverw

    daverw Forum Resident

    Location:
    Alabama
    I'll have to add my agreement with what you wrote here. Even though I'm a few years younger than you (born in '71) those are the bands I was in love with then and now. Well, throw in a good bit of metal and that'll about do it. I was listening to music that nobody else was listening to here in rural Alabama. Metal at least let me have something in common musically with a few of the kids I knew; of course stuff like Metallica and Voivod were pretty underground themselves.

    What's funny is that I got into classic rock in the '90s and listened to a pretty good bit of it back then. Thing is I really have no desire to listen to any of that stuff anymore and I still love the music and musicians I listened to in the '80s. Of course, a good many of those artists I loved back then are still making new music that I listen to and I also love seeking out music by new artists too. Most of those newer artists are at least somewhat influenced by those '80s artists I loved, although certainly not in every case.

    I guess the well known classic rock from the '60s and '70s just isn't really my thing although some artists like Neil Young still do it for me. I'm more of an alternative and indie kind of guy. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention all of the great rap music that was created during the '80s. Some of it was truly creative and groundbreaking in what it achieved and really helped to open my ears to something new. There is still some good work being done in that genre although almost all of it is more underground IMO. I know rap is taboo to many on this forum but I think it definitely has a place in the music world and the '80s were when it really first pushed boundaries, both musical and lyrical.
     
  25. Karnak

    Karnak "81, 82, 83, 84..."

    Yes, I'd put Asia in the 80s but their stuff is played more extensively on my local classic rock station than on the local 80s station. Even though their video for Don't Cry was an Indiana Jones rip off. Maybe because of the personnel of the band-or the length of the songs. Interesting.

    I think this shows that 80s music is more complicated and varied than some think.
     
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