80's music

[TyTe`EyEs]

You were still swimming in your Dad's nutsac when good music died. You have no reference for being in this thread.

You weren't alive when Beethoven was around, but you can still have an opinion on the man's music. The 60's, 70's and 90's were all better decades for music in my opinion.

 

[cant think of a user name]

80's music was not bad (though gets a bad wrap for the abundance of synthesisers and dodgy drum machines), but 60's and 70's is where it's at!

 

[Bonhomme]

LOL @ Wolf's Mozart comment.

Every era, including now, has good and lousy music. There are some eras and styles that appeal to me more than others, but there's always something worthwhile going on, whether or not it's in the charts.

Some 80s highlights for me were Echo & the Bunnymen, Midnight Oil, REM, Black Uhuru, The Jam, and Husker Du. None of which really fit the stereotypes a lot of people have of "80s music" (cheesy synths, hair metal, etc.). Some great songs there. And I also liked the rap of Run-DMC, Grandmaster Flash, and other rappers who actually had something to say a lot better than most of today's rap, much of which is pretty mindless.

 

[Rollo Tomassi]

Oh man,...take it from a hard rock guitarist who played in Hollywood the late 80s and early 90s; there hasn't been a decent band in the last 17 years. The sound is coming back, but if you live in the U.S. you're spoon fed anything and everything that Sony wants you to think is cool. I travel to Europe about 3-4 times a year and music in Europe is another world compared to the U.S. There is such overwhelming corporate control of music here. They own the artists, the recording, the label, the touring, the endorsements, the media, the radio stations and the actual radios (or the means of listening).

People I know always laughed at bands like Iron Maiden or Poison or any of the "hair metal" bands I was always into, but I'd challenge anyone to name a band in the last 17 years that has put out as many albums, with as many hits, with as strong a fan base as those bands. These bands came up in a time when A&R people developed acts and stuck with the band throughout it's run. No one does this now. Bands are disposable now, and after one or two albums they're discarded for the next piece of gum. Corporations manufacture celebrity now.

 

[Desdinova]

the 80's were pretty awesome even though I was sperm for half of it.

Christ you guys make me feel old.

The 80s had their good bands and 5hit. I dare any of you who have never heard the song "Making Plans For Nigel" to sit through that piece of crap. Or how about "She Blinded Me With Science"? Completely unlistenable IMO.

The rock and metal bands held the best music in the 80s. Bands like Motley Crue, Cinderella, Guns N Roses, INXS, Skid Row all had some fantastic music. Even the lesser-known bands were good.

The rap music was really cool as well. Sir Mix-A-Lot, Young MC, Tone Loc, Salt N Pepa, Public Enemy, and a whole slew of one-hit wonders made rap music new, exciting, fun, interesting, and catchy.

I can pinpoint the moment in the 90s when music all went for 5hit. The year 1994 and afterward. Kurt Cobain suddenly became the new leader of rock music, and then he allegedly offed himself leaving us with an incredibly 5hit studio album (In Utero) as his last hoorah. Everyone who was influenced by Kurt's music were suddenly lost.

The leaders of the whole 80s metal scene were nowhere to be found. Guns & Roses haven't put out a new album since 1993, and Motley Crue had lost Vince Neil as their lead singer, replaced him with John Corabi, and made a horrible flop of an album. Metallica were also nowhere to be found until they made the album Load (and we all know how good that album is).

1994 was also the year that Gangsta Rap went mainstream caused solely by Snoop Doggy Dogg's debut album.

BTW, Rollo's comment about the British Music Scene was dead on. If you want good current music, look over there for it.

 

[Eccentric]

I LOVE 80's music, and stuff from the 70's. The music just seemed more "fun" back then.

Journey, Def Leppard, CCR, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Bob Seger, Guns n Roses, Rolling Stones, Kiss, Motley Crue, George Thorogood, AC/DC, Billy Idol, Cutting Crew, Metallica, The Cars, ZZ Top, Van Halen, Skid Row, hell even Billy Ocean, not to mention all those 1 hit wonders.

 

[Bonhomme]

Ahh, how could I forget about XTC? Thanks in a weird way, Desdinova. "Senses Working Overtime," "Ball and Chain," ... hell, several great albums.

"Making Plans for Nigel" ain't XTC's best IMNSHO, and it was released in 1979, not the 80s, but it's still a cool twisted pop song, for those of us who are into that sort of thing: I love the jittery rhythm guitar work. I found most of the metal bands of the 80s boring and unimaginative, like so many "hard rock" guitar solos ("Baby's on Fire," NFW!). Of course there were notable exceptions, such as Motorhead, who really rocked. But if someone likes hair metal or 80s syth pop, or whatever, who am I to say it's invalid? I don't like some "avant-garde" stuff, either, but perhaps it just doesn't fire up my circuitry. Everyone has different aspects of music that move (or overwhelm) them.

Each to their own, I suppose.

********

I actually played guitar in a band (Weatherhead) that beat Nirvana for "best new band" in a Flipside poll. One of our fans did one helluva ballot stuffing job... lol

 

[Yotsuya-san]

anybody else remember Kitaro? I love his stuff.

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

... And I also liked the rap of Run-DMC, Grandmaster Flash, and other rappers who actually had something to say a lot better than most of today's rap, much of which is pretty mindless.

Remember when LL Cool J was just a rapper? Kool Moe D, The Fat Boys, Tone Loc and MC Lyte? That was entertainment. I think the genre made a turn when 2 Live Crew was in and out of court for various reasons in 1990; it opened the door for really angry rap like Ice-T's "Cop Killer" phase. Funny that for the last few years he's been playing a cop on a successful television crime drama.

 

[Nexus Polaris]

The 80s were hit and miss like every other decade. Most of the quality stuff was more under the radar compared to what was all over the radio and MTV at the time. Most of the mainstream stuff was rather cheesy and is really only enjoyable to me for nostalgic reasons. That being said, when I'm in the mood for it, I still like it.

The golden era of music was the early 90s. From 91 - 94. I agree with whoever said music pretty much died in 94, though. The quality bands from the 80s were still relevant and in some cases reaching all time heights in popularity and music quality (i.e. Metallica / Guns N Roses), and there were swarms of all kinds of new bands coming out. It was a giant technicolor musical orgy. It was beautiful.

Like somebody else said, there were still actual genres.

 

[Bonhomme]

Like I said, everyone has their tastes ... I happened to really get into the whole trip-hop / chill thing that happened in the late 90s (Portishead, Hooverphonic, Delerium, etc.).

********

Yeah, I remember all that stuff with 2 Live Crew and such. There were also rappers like the Disposable Heroes, etc. Bit of a different ballgame now. There's still some rap I like that crosses my ears every now & then, but I haven't been keeping track of it for ages.

 

[ThunderMaverick]

but I'd challenge anyone to name a band in the last 17 years that has put out as many albums, with as many hits, with as strong a fan base as those bands.

Foo Fighters? Green Day?

 

[Capt.Jack Sparrow]

theres a great 80's club in so cal, in the city of azusa.
Also theres a 80's club in hollywood called Beat it

heres there websites

http://www.clubrockit.net/
http://clubbeatit.net/

video of rock it:
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=368109

 

[ready123]

Depeche Mode fan, that's an 80's gem right there

I'm also a big rap fan. Good rap has always been all around. Just not on the radio. I've always liked Kanye West though

I remember XTC, that band which never performed because the lead singer had stage fright