The 1980s style/music: Something to celebrate vs. something to avoid

[fraroc]

I make it no secret I love the 1980s despite not being alive in that time period. I love the style, I love the music and I love the overall attitude of "just be you, don't worry about other people judging you." Everything was just very loose, nothing was wound too tight, which is why it confuses me on why people shit on this decade so much. Anyway, I'd like to see what this forum's opinion on the 1980s is and your reasoning behind your choice.

[djflex]

I loved all kinds of stuff in the 80's. Was in college through the middle part of it so it was a great time foe music and fun

[djflex]

I miss big hair girls!

 

Plus most women wore nylons then , which i love.

[goose]

So much creativity and fearlessness. There's a lot of great music from the eighties.

[goose]

I miss big hair girls!

 

 

[Segue Myles]

The eighties were a mixed bag. I love plenty of that decade, but I do think Grunge was needed to help get rock back to basics, away from all that excessive cheese and glam metal bombast.

 

I love what I love, but good grief I am glad it came to end when it did!

[djflex]

A couple off the top of my head

 

Skinny puppy

Joy division/ new order

 

 

[Segue Myles]

Aside from Rush, arguably all my favourite seventies artists lost a little of their edge in the seventies:

 

Yes

Kansas

Styx

Bruce Springsteen

Fleetwood Mac (only towards the end though)

 

Bands like Toto and Foreigner started late in the seventies, and peaked during this decade. ABBA broke up early on in the decade, but ended in top form, right at the peak of their powers (sadly, but forgivable considering we didn't have to witness a painful deterioration of quality, ala Styx).

[Segue Myles]

Not sure what my favourite album of the eighties was, but if I had to do a top list it would feature mostly these:

 

Toto-

Fahrenheit

Isolation

IV

The Seventh One

 

Fleetwood Mac-

Mirage

 

Foreigner-

4

Inside Information

 

ABBA-

Super Trouper

The Visitors

 

Rush-

Permanent Waves (would argue this for the seventies as well so shut up)

Moving Pictures

Grace Under Pressure

Hold Your Fire

 

Strangeways-

Native Sons

Walk In The Fire

 

Bon Jovi-

Bon Jovi

7800 Fahrenheit

Slippery When Wet

New Jersey

 

Bruce Springsteen-

The River

Nebraska

 

Styx-

Paradise Theater

 

All of Madonna's work (special mention goes to Like A Prayer)

 

A lot of heavy metal (too much to mention).

[Ancient Ways]

I make it no secret I love the 1980s despite not being alive in that time period. I love the style, I love the music and I love the overall attitude of "just be you, don't worry about other people judging you." Everything was just very loose, nothing was wound too tight, which is why it confuses me on why people shit on this decade so much. Anyway, I'd like to see what this forum's opinion on the 1980s is and your reasoning behind your choice.

Living through it I have to disagree with the way you think it was. A friend from work once said the 80s must have been awesome for music and I laughed. It was difficult to find out about non-mainstream music. You had to know people who could make suggestions. The radio was terrible with only a few exceptions. Music was so overplayed that certain years automatically bring certain songs to mind like born in the USA, purple rain, like a Virgin, that Tina turner song, etc.... Asa listener this is the best time since you have unlimited access and can easily search out new things. Hell, every where you turn you're being told "if you like this, you'll love that." Purely in music terms, I think the 80s are mixed. Probably the best thing to come out for me was hip hop, metal, and freestyle. Hip hop existed in the 70s but became huge in 80s. Metal exploded into all sorts of genres as well. Freestyle was a ton of fun at parties and clubs.

[Rutlefan]

Hard to know what someone means when they "'80s" music; Poison, Black Flag, The Smiths, Def Leopard, Madonna, U2, Skinny Puppy, New Order, The Gun Club, Wall of Voodoo, Cyndi Lauper, Bauhaus, Duran Duran, REM, Killing Joke, Human League, Ultravox, The Minutemen, Motley Crue, etc. etc. etc.

 

'80s are my favorite decade of music (and I pretty much like them all), not just because that was when I was in high school and college, but it was so varied. It's stereotyped as being about hair and glitz, but that's the superficial part of it. I thought it was really, even more than the '60s (granted, I can only look back on the '60s), the most creative decade. It kind of ran out of steam at the close of the decade, hence the grunge reboot (a reboot of punk/post-punk, but a commercially appealing version; Cobain just thought of Nirvana as a punk band, right?).

 

I can still go back and listen to so many bands -- New Order (the early stuff for me), Echo and the Bunnymen, REM, U2 (before their Messiah phase), The Smiths, Big Country, Mission of Burma, Psychedelic Furs, The Clash, etc. -- and still be so impressed. I didn't think it was great because I was young and knew no better; it was just really great, and there was a lot of it.

 

Edit: every decade has its obscure/weird sh*t, but the thing about the '80s is that there was a ton of obscure/weird sh*t, and it was the kind of weird sh*t that hadn't been done before. It seems like most obscure music today, at least that I've been exposed to, isn't really treading new ground, it's just being arranged and presented differently. Not bad, but not all that new/different. The '80s was the New Frontier, similar to the way the '60s had been.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Rutlefan

[Segue Myles]

Hard to know what someone means when they "'80s" music; Poison, Black Flag, The Smiths, Def Leopard, Madonna, U2, Skinny Puppy, New Order, The Gun Club, Wall of Voodoo, Cyndi Lauper, Bauhaus, Duran Duran, REM, Killing Joke, etc. etc. etc.

 

'80s are my favorite decade of music (and I pretty much like them all), not just because that was when I was in high school and college, but it was so varied. It's stereotyped as being about hair and glitz, but that's the superficial part of it. I though it was really, even more than the '60s (granted, I can only look back on the '60s), the most creative decade. It kind of ran out of steam at the close of the decade, hence the grunge reboot (a reboot of punk/post-punk, but a commercially appealing version; Cobain just thought of Nirvana as a punk band, right?).

 

I can still go back and listen to so many bands -- New Order (the early stuff for me), Echo and the Bunnymen, REM, U2 (before their Messiah phase), The Smiths, Big Country, Mission of Burma, Psychedelic Furs, The Clash, etc. -- and still be so impressed. I didn't think it was great because I was young and knew no better; it was just really great, and there was a lot of it.

 

Edit: every decade has its obscure/weird sh*t, but the thing about the '80s is that there was a ton of obscure/weird sh*t, and it was the kind of weird sh*t that hadn't been done before. It seems like most obscure music today, at least that I've been exposed to, isn't really treading new ground, it's just being arranged and presented differently. Not bad, but not all that new/different. The '80s was the New Frontier, similar to the way the '60s had been.

 

I don't have a favourite decade, and if I did it would probably be the seventies, but the eighties was so diverse, creative and just...crazy exciting (and I wasn't there), that I just adore it!

 

Not just music, but for movies and books as well!

[ReRushed]

It was my decade, my high school and college years. I went to so many great concerts. Hours spent in record stores spending my meager paycheck on vinyl and cds. It's the decade I discovered MY music and MY bands.

[Ancient Ways]

In the 80s my favorite bands all started in the 60s and 70s. Beatles, Hendrix, Clapton, cream, Zep, maiden, priest, Van Halen, rush.

[fraroc]

Aside from Rush, arguably all my favourite seventies artists lost a little of their edge in the seventies:

 

 

Kansas

 

 

People tend to forget that Audio-Visions is an 1980s album and was very 70s sounding. Anyway, I do feel like they were drifting away from prog with Vinyl Confessions and completely abandoned it for Drastic Measures.

Edited November 1, 2015 by fraroc

[goose]

I make it no secret I love the 1980s despite not being alive in that time period. I love the style, I love the music and I love the overall attitude of "just be you, don't worry about other people judging you." Everything was just very loose, nothing was wound too tight, which is why it confuses me on why people shit on this decade so much. Anyway, I'd like to see what this forum's opinion on the 1980s is and your reasoning behind your choice.

Living through it I have to disagree with the way you think it was. A friend from work once said the 80s must have been awesome for music and I laughed. It was difficult to find out about non-mainstream music. You had to know people who could make suggestions. The radio was terrible with only a few exceptions. Music was so overplayed that certain years automatically bring certain songs to mind like born in the USA, purple rain, like a Virgin, that Tina turner song, etc.... Asa listener this is the best time since you have unlimited access and can easily search out new things. Hell, every where you turn you're being told "if you like this, you'll love that." Purely in music terms, I think the 80s are mixed. Probably the best thing to come out for me was hip hop, metal, and freestyle. Hip hop existed in the 70s but became huge in 80s. Metal exploded into all sorts of genres as well. Freestyle was a ton of fun at parties and clubs.

My experience in Washington was very different. We had great radio, and Seattle/Olympia was a Mecca for indie bands.

[goose]

It was my decade, my high school and college years. I went to so many great concerts. Hours spent in record stores spending my meager paycheck on vinyl and cds. It's the decade I discovered MY music and MY bands.

This. As you mentioned, the recod stores were amazing. I would spend hours pouring over the racks, finding bands like X, Maiden, Violent Femmes, Talk Talk. There were so many great mainstream acts, like the Police, U2, Men at Work, plus monster releases by 70s icons like Bowie, Gabriel, Plant, Springsteen, Yes, and Genesis. All this plus the ridiculous fun of hair metal and the nostalgia of still lingering classic rock.

[Segue Myles]

Aside from Rush, arguably all my favourite seventies artists lost a little of their edge in the seventies:

 

 

Kansas

 

 

People tend to forget that Audio-Visions is an 1980s album and was very 70s sounding. Anyway, I do feel like they were drifting away from prog with Vinyl Confessions and completely abandoned it for Drastic Measures.

 

After Monolith (itself an album I find disappointing), I skip two albums and I find myself really enjoying Drastic Measures. But even then, its more because I like a good AOR album, and not because it is vintage Kansas.

[Ancient Ways]

I make it no secret I love the 1980s despite not being alive in that time period. I love the style, I love the music and I love the overall attitude of "just be you, don't worry about other people judging you." Everything was just very loose, nothing was wound too tight, which is why it confuses me on why people shit on this decade so much. Anyway, I'd like to see what this forum's opinion on the 1980s is and your reasoning behind your choice.

Living through it I have to disagree with the way you think it was. A friend from work once said the 80s must have been awesome for music and I laughed. It was difficult to find out about non-mainstream music. You had to know people who could make suggestions. The radio was terrible with only a few exceptions. Music was so overplayed that certain years automatically bring certain songs to mind like born in the USA, purple rain, like a Virgin, that Tina turner song, etc.... Asa listener this is the best time since you have unlimited access and can easily search out new things. Hell, every where you turn you're being told "if you like this, you'll love that." Purely in music terms, I think the 80s are mixed. Probably the best thing to come out for me was hip hop, metal, and freestyle. Hip hop existed in the 70s but became huge in 80s. Metal exploded into all sorts of genres as well. Freestyle was a ton of fun at parties and clubs.

My experience in Washington was very different. We had great radio, and Seattle/Olympia was a Mecca for indie bands.

We did have a nice underground music scene but nothing like Seattle. Mainly bands like savatage, morbid angel, and other mostly heavy acts. Only really cool radio show was a hip hop show in mid to late 80s on a local independent wmnf called the Kenny K show. It was the only way to hear anything from Miami or New York without going there.

[Turbine Freight]

I LOVED the 80s. It was a great time to be young.

[goose]

I make it no secret I love the 1980s despite not being alive in that time period. I love the style, I love the music and I love the overall attitude of "just be you, don't worry about other people judging you." Everything was just very loose, nothing was wound too tight, which is why it confuses me on why people shit on this decade so much. Anyway, I'd like to see what this forum's opinion on the 1980s is and your reasoning behind your choice.

Living through it I have to disagree with the way you think it was. A friend from work once said the 80s must have been awesome for music and I laughed. It was difficult to find out about non-mainstream music. You had to know people who could make suggestions. The radio was terrible with only a few exceptions. Music was so overplayed that certain years automatically bring certain songs to mind like born in the USA, purple rain, like a Virgin, that Tina turner song, etc.... Asa listener this is the best time since you have unlimited access and can easily search out new things. Hell, every where you turn you're being told "if you like this, you'll love that." Purely in music terms, I think the 80s are mixed. Probably the best thing to come out for me was hip hop, metal, and freestyle. Hip hop existed in the 70s but became huge in 80s. Metal exploded into all sorts of genres as well. Freestyle was a ton of fun at parties and clubs.

My experience in Washington was very different. We had great radio, and Seattle/Olympia was a Mecca for indie bands.

We did have a nice underground music scene but nothing like Seattle. Mainly bands like savatage, morbid angel, and other mostly heavy acts. Only really cool radio show was a hip hop show in mid to late 80s on a local independent wmnf called the Kenny K show. It was the only way to hear anything from Miami or New York without going there.

I was living just outside of Olympia in the early 80's so we had the benefit of the K-Records movement. They ran radio KAOS out of Evergreen State College and helped spawn acts like Sleater Kinney (named after Sleater Kinney Road), and later Beck, Modest Mouse. Seattle had metal acts like Queensryche and punk acts like Green River (which spawned Mudhoney and Mother Love Bone). And there were tons of similar bands that played the clubs.

[Digital Dad]

I LOVED the 80s. It was a great time to be young.

 

I agree. Lots of fun music. So many great fun movies. Before everything got so bloody serious. I remember going on a school trip and having the music cranked on the way back from it. We were comng back at night and the songs I rememeber blasting on the radio were Boy in the Box by Corey Hart, the CITY by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band and She Bop by Chndi Lauper. We laughed and sang at the top of our lungs all the way home on that ride. I don't remember where we went I just remember the bus ride home and the songs. I remember telling my mom how I wanted to get a cropped haircut with frosted tips like Simon LeBon. She looked at me like I was nuts. Cap guns, baseball games and having my mom drop us off at the mall movie theater to see Beverly Hills Cop and Romancing the Stone.

[Ancient Ways]

I make it no secret I love the 1980s despite not being alive in that time period. I love the style, I love the music and I love the overall attitude of "just be you, don't worry about other people judging you." Everything was just very loose, nothing was wound too tight, which is why it confuses me on why people shit on this decade so much. Anyway, I'd like to see what this forum's opinion on the 1980s is and your reasoning behind your choice.

Living through it I have to disagree with the way you think it was. A friend from work once said the 80s must have been awesome for music and I laughed. It was difficult to find out about non-mainstream music. You had to know people who could make suggestions. The radio was terrible with only a few exceptions. Music was so overplayed that certain years automatically bring certain songs to mind like born in the USA, purple rain, like a Virgin, that Tina turner song, etc.... Asa listener this is the best time since you have unlimited access and can easily search out new things. Hell, every where you turn you're being told "if you like this, you'll love that." Purely in music terms, I think the 80s are mixed. Probably the best thing to come out for me was hip hop, metal, and freestyle. Hip hop existed in the 70s but became huge in 80s. Metal exploded into all sorts of genres as well. Freestyle was a ton of fun at parties and clubs.

My experience in Washington was very different. We had great radio, and Seattle/Olympia was a Mecca for indie bands.

We did have a nice underground music scene but nothing like Seattle. Mainly bands like savatage, morbid angel, and other mostly heavy acts. Only really cool radio show was a hip hop show in mid to late 80s on a local independent wmnf called the Kenny K show. It was the only way to hear anything from Miami or New York without going there.

I was living just outside of Olympia in the early 80's so we had the benefit of the K-Records movement. They ran radio KAOS out of Evergreen State College and helped spawn acts like Sleater Kinney (named after Sleater Kinney Road), and later Beck, Modest Mouse. Seattle had metal acts like Queensryche and punk acts like Green River (which spawned Mudhoney and Mother Love Bone). And there were tons of similar bands that played the clubs.

You got to see the birth of one of the biggest music scenes ever. Definitely a cool time.

[Ancient Ways]

Which brings us full circle. My favorite music decade is the 90s. After being into metal in the 80s but despising what we now call the hair metal scene bands like Alice in chains, STP, Live, Silverchair, Smashing Pumpkins, Bush, Blind Melon, Weezer, Stabbing Westward, NIN, Powerman 5000, The Prodigy really spoke to me. I'm leaving out a ton of acts a lot which were one hit wonders probably. Even pop was better with Alannis morrisette, hootie and the blowfish, or matchbox 20 making listenable music.

[Segue Myles]

Which brings us full circle. My favorite music decade is the 90s. After being into metal in the 80s but despising what we now call the hair metal scene bands like Alice in chains, STP, Live, Silverchair, Smashing Pumpkins, Bush, Blind Melon, Weezer, Stabbing Westward, NIN, Powerman 5000, The Prodigy really spoke to me. I'm leaving out a ton of acts a lot which were one hit wonders probably. Even pop was better with Alannis morrisette, hootie and the blowfish, or matchbox 20 making listenable music.

 

I agree so much with this! I enjoy the eighties, but the more I research and learn about the mainstream of that time, the more exciting and vital the whole Grunge explosion becomes.

 

I think, had I lived through the eighties, the explosion of grunge would have been right up my alley (I came to hard rock via Nirvana back in 2004).