Early synths sounded like synths. Musicians either avoided them or used them where they wanted a synth and where they felt that sound was appropriate. A classic example is The Monkees - "Daily Nightly", one of the earliest and still one of the best (according to me). In the 80s synths could sound sort of like real musical instruments and were used and misused because they were new toys or out of laziness. There were also the abominable gated drums. Many later musicians either rebelled or else learned to used synths more effectively and appropriately. Synths don't have to sound cheesy.
Basically we went from analog to digital. The digital sounded thin, harsh and just crappy overall. The producers and engineers went way overboard with cheezy sounding reverb and gating effects. I'll never forget hearing ZZ Top's wonderful sounding records, with the most gawdawful 80's reverb tacked onto it. That being said....there's still a ton of amazing music that came out in the 80's.
I did read some book (maybe a Barney Hoskyns book) where some engineer or producer said that in the 80's they were so full of bolivian and colombian that they couldn't hear properly, especially treble, so they keep on increasing treble frequencies to death. Some collateral effect, I presume. I don't know if it's true but it made me laugh.
Me too. I fled all the music that was coming out and spent the most part of the decade collecting more and more albums from the three previous decades. I couldn't stand that shrill, squeaky clean, echo laden sound of yer typical 80s productions.
Gated drums, cheesy digital synths, horrid fashion, etc....however, who doesn't like a guilty pleasure!
I got over my dislike of much of it, but listen to Easy Meat off of FZ's Tinseltown Rebellion, and compare the awful synth horns to his band of 7-8 years earlier with the Fowlers and Napolean Murphy Brock playing actual brass and reeds. Synths shouldn't have been used to replicate (badly) the sound of other intruments. They sound great when they're used as an actual lead instrument ie. Tangerine Dream. Synthesied drums worked well in early hip hop, but sounded terrible when 60's and 70's relics were using them to sound "current."
I think the biggest problem with 80's production is that it sounds too polished and clean, sometimes you need that grit and warmth.
Sidenote: Even with 80s production flaws at times, I much preferred the creativity and diversity of that decade over the stale corporate rock of the 90s: Creed, Everclear, Nickelback, etc. Even the grunge scene for all its glory was a downer...the 80s was a party!(disclaimer: I went to college in the 80s).
Mid-late '90s high school and college student here. People forget that '90s pop radio was pretty diverse and awesome in its own right. STP, to TLC, to the Cardigans, to Meredith Brooks, to Rancid, to whatever quirky one-hot wonders were happening. That's the '90s I remember. Pretty diverse.
Electronic drums, synths, which I can get past, but what I have the most trouble with is the "arena rock" sound. In the 70's, recording studios were quiet and it was rare to hear a reverb-laden album as a result (unless the verb was placed in during post-production.) In the 80's the tide turned and producers loved to make everything sound like it was recorded in a 20,000 seat arena.
It was a new age that emerged after the Punk movement. Do it yourself, experimentalism and improvisation were all around and nobody cared about sophistication. The artists themselves were deeply active during the production and were they, who set the scenario to the producers and not the opposite. Out of curiosity the eighties paved the road to the nineties' sound, Punk, Alternative Rock, Hip Hop, World, Dance... etc. The eighties were like a child growing up and learning... after the meteorite called Punk that hit the Earth in '76. The eighties were awesome and a great experience.
Is there a general consensus that 80s music is bad? maybe on this forum. Pop (R&B, dancing music) instead of rock is the predominant form of popular music in the 80s. So if you prefer rock and guitar music, you would naturally not appreciate 80s music. But 80s music is making a big coming back lately. So it may not be as bad as some of you try to make of it.
I luv a lot of 80s stuff but there was a drum sound (thak thak attack with no bass foundation) that became prevalent right into the 90s that I dislike. You'll know when you hear it.
Nooooo, totally disagree the 80's guitar-sound was the best. Full register, screaming at you sheer power! Listen to a modern metal-album and it's mostly "Crunch, Crunch". Just a whole lot of bottom and no top. Everybody seems to use that godawful preset, eq, amp, mic position or whatever it is. Weight you get from the bass, not from the guitar.
Dio with Sabbath (plus solo Dio) Blizzard of Ozz/Ozzy solo Iron Maiden W.A.S.P. Duran Duran Kim Wilde Joy Division/New Order Echo & The Bunnymen Psychedelic Furs Gary Moore Metallica Prince The Police Pat Benatar Great stuff from Fleetwood Mac, Judas Priest, KISS, Blondie, Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Scorpions, Heart, Whitesnake, Deep Purple A fantastic decade for music.
that Fairlight synth ruined some great Gabriel tracks and enhanced some others THe Talking Heads used the pallet differently and vary sparingly live bass, drum and guitar more prophet five on top - they didn't really use much of the 80s sound Yes had their biggest hit with the cheezy synth sound
