What were white male jocks listening to in Minnesota, summer 1980?

It would be interesting to see what the results of a similar poll taken at the same time in a small British town would be.

 

Fwiw, I'm the OP and the album I listened to the most in the summer of '80 was probably London Calling.

 

Tell me about it. I was that one kid who didn’t care - proudly wore my Dynasty t-shirt to school and had notebooks with the covers of the solo albums.
On a side note, I really felt like the only Kiss fan in the world from about 1980 to the time they came to Worcester in January of 83. It’s like all the fans came out of hiding for the Creatures album. And their fan base started to build again after that.

 

No, Sabbath was off the radar for the most part amongst cool teenagers in 1980. I met one other kid in my high school who liked them (I had a Heaven and Hell t-shirt that I wore) and we had some interesting conversations about the band, but that’s about it.
And fwiw, I lived in New England and was not a jock.

 

The Jam

 

In the back of our high school graduation year book every student got a small block of space to put anything they wanted to, like a mini personal time capsule of text. I no longer have my year book but it would be interesing to see what what was noted by classmates. Incidently, I, along with my circle of friends put "Mich" as an inside joke. referring to Michelob beer which we consumed voraciously. I remember seeing a lot of AC/DC and Zep too!

 

I graduated from high school in 1980. I remember a cluster of guys from the rough part of town were really into AC/DC. In the school parking lot, I'd hear a lot of Styx, Supertramp, Kansas and Genesis. I was feeling lonely in my bedroom reading Trouser Press and listening to Talking Heads.

 

Apparently rocking out to Bay City Rollers

 

Coward of the County played big around that time in some corners

 

So, people in Minnesota in 1980 didn't listen to their greatest ever musical genius……… ???? Born in Hibbing………...

 

Wow - I just remembered writing out the lyrics to Costello's "Mystery Dance" in a classmate's yearbook. Forgot all about that until just now.

 

A couple of years later I was a junior high kid with a Trouser Press subscription and a half-dozen AC/DC albums.

AC/DC were kind of a cross-cutting band where I grew up in southern Alberta, both the jocks and skids were into them. Nobody seemed to actively dislike them, at least among the guys.

 

Wasn't Elliott Smith himself kind of a jock in HS, before Heatmiser? Or do I have that wrong?

 

Van Halen
AC/DC

 

Possible that one of the kids was Baha'i.

 

Pilot, Melissa Manchester, and the Carpenters? Something seems fishy here.... Maybe they were putting down names they thought the judges would like.

 

Near the end of That 70s Show's run there's an episode where Eric wants to go see a Styx concert (1979) and his friends all dismiss him only to find out they all actually like Styx.

 

Don’t think so, I vaguely remember something about football though. “After graduation, Smith began calling himself "Elliott", saying that he thought "Steve" sounded too much like a "jock" name...”

 

Styx was the band a lot of highschool guys listened to in the early 80's. "Blue Collar Man" was still popular from two years earlier and then "Too Much Time On My Hands" was huge my senior year.

I wasnt a jock, but hung around a lot that were. I remember clearly sitting in the highschool parking lot with "Too Much Time On My Hands" blasting from a friends white Cougar with uncapped headers. That song seemed very unusual for the time. "Turn Me Loose" and "Working For The Weekend" by Loverboy were also blasted. "Urgent" and "Waiting For A Girl Like You" by Foreigner were giant songs that the jock crowd with their cheerleading gf's would definitely be listening to also. "Journey" was everyones favorite in the 80s. Never considered them one time as fluff. And, in defense of this stance, Steve Perry was one of the greatest tenors ever to pick up a microphone.

Point is, I cant recall anyone making fun of a jock or otherwise that listened to these bands. Never entered our minds that it was fluff. Thise songs and bands were "our" bands. Just like The Beatles, Elvis etc were the 60s and 50s generations bands and artists.

Bruce? In my area of Texas he might as well have been from another planet in the early 80's. Barry Manillow? Believe it or not he was considered a respected writer and pianist. Maybe in the same way Billy Joel was around that time. "Mandy" was loved by everyone. To the point of making fun of the song. Kind of like "Beth" by Kiss. Then, of course, the Manillow songs became the brunt of jokes.

For some reason those love ballads by REO Speedwagon were never considered fluff by anyone in highschool that I recall. Everyone loved those songs. Simpler times and a youthful mindset. Even jocks fell in love for the first time. I think the tough name "REO Speedwagon" sounded like a rock bands name. I thnk the name carried a lot of the songs, weirdly enough.

I cant recall the time that I last listened to Loverboy, REO, Styx or Journey. My tastes have changed. Sometimes going way back and then sometimes current.

But I dont think its a headscratcher that a midwest school in the 80s was listening to 80s popular music.

 

One of my absolute favorite moments of the show, thank you for reminding me of this!

 

No Minnesota love for Prince?

 

No Grateful Dead? very different from my HS in the NYC suburbs.

 

Oh, hello

 

None of them were into PiL or Gang of Four? Unthinkable

 

coolest jock in town