80s Music: Define It. Love it. Hate it.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I just moved all of the relevant posts from the RMN thread.

Carry on!

[Northwestcoug]

Agree that U2 was bigger in the 90s, but their roots were solidly in the 80s. They don't have a lot in common with the sounds many think of as the 90s (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Metallica, etc.). As for, "They probably released albums in the 80s", um, yeah, only a bunch of all-timers:

Boy (Still raw but two or three excellent songs)
October
War (I would say this is their first great album)
The Unforgettable Fire
The Joshua Tree (My favorite album, slightly ahead of Achtung Baby)
Rattle and Hum

I will also agree that we all like the music that we grew up with . But a lot of my defense of the 80s is that there was such a huge diversity of music.

People think of the 80s of heavy synthesizers, "A Flock of Seagulls type stuff. And there was a lot of great stuff in that genre (with a lot of crap). The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Smiths (sometimes), Yaz, New Order, Roxy Music, Ultravox, etc

You also had a lot of great alternative, or new wave, or post-punk, or whatever you want to call it. Talking Heads are my favorite, but also B-52s, Oingo Boingo, The Cars, The Police, Peter Gabriel/Genesis, Elvis Costello, XTC, R.E.M., The Replacements, They Might be Giants, Tears for Fears, etc.

Punk was still alive and kicking and going in various directions. The Clash, Blondie, Violent Femmes, The Dead Kennedys, The Dead Milkmen, etc.

If you don't like synthesizers, rock was definitely going strong. I know heartland rock isn't everyone's cup of tea, but this was its heyday, and with Springsteen, Bob Seger, Tom Petty, John Mellencamp, etc. there were a lot of great songs. And if you don't like heartland rock, Appetite for Destruction came out in 1987 and Van Halen were at their peak.

I'm obviously biased, but this is just scratching the surface. I don't think there was another period where so much was happening in so many different parts of pop/rock/hip-hop music, with so much crossover between them.

I cannot love Clark more than I do today

You 90's music people rail all you want, but the 80's was way more significant than later eras. You had the birth of electronic music, metal in all it's forms (hair, speed, fake devil worshipping), the continuation of punk, progression of rap, and solid rock like Clark said. The 90's had....grunge and the popification of U2.

I can't find the link but there's great schematic posters on the birth of particular genres. Just one, electronic, is fascinating. One person, Vince Clark, had his hand in 3 of some of the best new wave music in the 80's; Depeche Mode, Yaz, and Erasure. Just one example of the explosion of innovation in music.

The 80's were my decade no doubt. But the 50's through the 70's had similar explosions. The 90's were meh.

[Bo Diddley]

I cannot love Clark more than I do today

You 90's music people rail all you want, but the 80's was way more significant than later eras. You had the birth of electronic music, metal in all it's forms (hair, speed, fake devil worshipping), the continuation of punk, progression of rap, and solid rock like Clark said. The 90's had....grunge and the popification of U2.

I can't find the link but there's great schematic posters on the birth of particular genres. Just one, electronic, is fascinating. One person, Vince Clark, had his hand in 3 of some of the best new wave music in the 80's; Depeche Mode, Yaz, and Erasure. Just one example of the explosion of innovation in music.

The 80's were my decade no doubt. But the 50's through the 70's had similar explosions. The 90's were meh.

At the risk of hijacking this thread, I have to ask if that is a real word.

[Northwestcoug]

At the risk of hijacking this thread, I have to ask if that is a real word.

It is in my head! It perfectly describes what happened to U2 in the 90's. Not all bad, but certainly different and not as good as their 80's stuff.

[Bo Diddley]

It is in my head! It perfectly describes what happened to U2 in the 90's. Not all bad, but certainly different and not as good as their 80's stuff.

I'm not so much a fan of their 90's music, but their music 2000+ has some great music.

[USUC]

Note that I said that 80s is a mixed bag.



This is somewhat silly, because musical taste is subjective. To be candid: of MJ, Prince, REM, Eurythmics, Duran Duran, INXS and the Thomson Twins (Who TF is that?), only REM resonates with me even a little. I was born in the early 80s, though (my guess is that you were born in the early 70s), so taste is simply guided by what was popular when we are coming of age. Glaring exception: USUC. He likes bands no one has heard of, in any era.

Ha! If Mark Grace was still around he'd know those bands!

I have a soft spot for a lot of 80s music from all over the spectrum. I was born in the late 70s so the stuff on the radio was background music to my childhood. Older cousins listed to a lot of the post punk stuff, but I was really too young to get it. In high school is when I went back and discovered all the really good indie and underground bands of the 80s. I certainly didn't discover it in real time. I grew up on a farm so I got a heavy dose of 70s and 80s country music. I still have a soft spot for a little bit of it.

[jay santos]

I stand corrected. I can name two songs that I've heard of on the pre-Joshua Tree albums, although I probably became aware of them in the 90s.

Please get famliar with Bad. My favorite song of all time. The Band Aid live version is amazing.

[Bo Diddley]

Please get famliar with Bad. My favorite song of all time. The Band Aid live version is amazing.

Love that song. IIRC, you posted a link to a video of this performance.

[Northwestcoug]

Please get famliar with Bad. My favorite song of all time. The Band Aid live version is amazing.

That song perfectly encapsulates The Edge's guitar style. I do think he relies on a lot of echoing and effects, but in a handful of songs like this one it's beautiful.

[Clark Addison]

Honest question: were Violent Femmes really punk? I really only know their one album that had "blister in the sun" on it, and it struck me as sort of soft-alternative rock.

I am far from a punk expert, but I would answer that in a couple of ways.

First, right now, 40-50 years after it was all happening, people tend to think of "punk" as three thrashing chords, yelled vocals, and songs that last two minutes. And if you go to groups like The Sex Pistols or Dead Kennedys, you get a lot of that. But back in the early days, it was more around an attitude, stripped-down production, and stuff like that. If you listen to "London Calling", which is always talked about as one of the most influential punk albums, there is very little of what is now considered the quintessential "punk" sound. Instead you had stuff like this (which I like a lot) or "Lost in the Supermarket".

You also had bands like Blondie, who were considered a punk band in the day. You listen to them now, and you don't get that same vibe. So the Femmes were stripped down, just a guitar, bass, and a guy who stood at a drum set with like two drums and a cymbal. Also, if you listen to the bass lines, there is a lot of punk in them.

Second, by the 80s, Punk was influential enough that bands started taking it and mixing it up with other stuff. The Femmes have this Americana or Folk bent (they were a bunch of kids from Milwaukee). You can especially here it on some later albums, but it is there from the beginning, and it softens the punk a bit.

But if you want some Femmes with a little more of a classic punk sound, here are some examples:

Add it Up (Language Warning)

Promise

Old Mother Reagan (especially this one)

[Bo Diddley]

I am far from a punk expert, but I would answer that in a couple of ways.

First, right now, 40-50 years after it was all happening, people tend to think of "punk" as three thrashing chords, yelled vocals, and songs that last two minutes. And if you go to groups like The Sex Pistols or Dead Kennedys, you get a lot of that. But back in the early days, it was more around an attitude, stripped-down production, and stuff like that. If you listen to "London Calling", which is always talked about as one of the most influential punk albums, there is very little of what is now considered the quintessential "punk" sound. Instead you had stuff like this (which I like a lot) or "Lost in the Supermarket".

Great album.

[tooblue]

I am far from a punk expert, but I would answer that in a couple of ways.

First, right now, 40-50 years after it was all happening, people tend to think of "punk" as three thrashing chords, yelled vocals, and songs that last two minutes. And if you go to groups like The Sex Pistols or Dead Kennedys, you get a lot of that. But back in the early days, it was more around an attitude, stripped-down production, and stuff like that. If you listen to "London Calling", which is always talked about as one of the most influential punk albums, there is very little of what is now considered the quintessential "punk" sound. Instead you had stuff like this (which I like a lot) or "Lost in the Supermarket".

You also had bands like Blondie, who were considered a punk band in the day. You listen to them now, and you don't get that same vibe. So the Femmes were stripped down, just a guitar, bass, and a guy who stood at a drum set with like two drums and a cymbal. Also, if you listen to the bass lines, there is a lot of punk in them.

Second, by the 80s, Punk was influential enough that bands started taking it and mixing it up with other stuff. The Femmes have this Americana or Folk bent (they were a bunch of kids from Milwaukee). You can especially here it on some later albums, but it is there from the beginning, and it softens the punk a bit.

But if you want some Femmes with a little more of a classic punk sound, here are some examples:

Add it Up (Language Warning)

Promise

Old Mother Reagan (especially this one)

The Violent Femmes are iconic. Just consider the music of 1983. Nothing in the 90's can compare:

The 100 Best Songs of 1983, the Year Pop Went Crazy

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...15-1234681771/

[Pelado]

The Violent Femmes are iconic. Just consider the music of 1983. Nothing in the 90's can compare:

The 100 Best Songs of 1983, the Year Pop Went Crazy

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...15-1234681771/

I recognized very few of those titles.

[RC Vikings]

Please get famliar with Bad. My favorite song of all time. The Band Aid live version is amazing.

I actually like the one off of "Wide Awake in America" better. It's a top three song all time for me. I've been listening to the new remakes and I'm a little disappointed in them. Watch the BBC special of U2 and you can see how songs like "With or Without You" have evolved some over the years and I was hoping for some of that, more of a live feel to some of the songs.

[Non Sequitur]

I had a bad first impression with 80's music. Two weeks before I left for my mission in 1979, I went to a Stones concert in the Oakland Coliseum. The warm-up bands were Santana, Eddie Money and Peter Tosh. When I got home and returned to BYU, people were sitting around watching MTV, and the rage was something they called New Wave. My immediate impression was that the music was shit. It was heartbreaking. I recall that the music didn't get much better as the decade wore on.