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In defence of the eighties..............

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" or "Standing on the shoulders of giants"?
Both are valid as one builds upon the selected works of others be they from the 12th C or the 1980s.
 
MichaelC said:
Time to wade back in.

The various threads I have created kicked off following the re-installation of my system (in particular the vinyl side) after a couple of years of hibernation. I see it as a fun way of sharing with everyone certain highlights of re-discovering some of my favourites.

I guess it is pretty obvious I have a love of classic rock and prog rock and consequently I have been seeking to maintain a theme. In so doing, and looking at these genre, hence my comment about the eighties.

Before commenting further about the music of the eighties I will make it clear that I started going to concerts in 1980 (when I was fourteen) and in those days the majority of what I went to see would definitely have fallen into the heavy metal/rock category. Not necessarily relevant to the threads I have started.

Don't get me wrong, there was much good music from the eighties, but would it be prog in nature? Possibly, and also likely not.

Looking at the posts above I would concur with many of the bands mentioned as having made good music eg Dinosaur Jr, Julian Cope, Pulp, The Cure, The The, Japan to name but a few and I would certainly add others. Perhaps another time I will start off a few threads on, what are in my view, albums from the eighties which have passed the test of time, but are not necessarily prog (in my view).

There are still many good and/or interesting (well, who knows) albums I wish to share but I am already thinking of a fair few from the nineties and the current millennia. It's just, for me, the prog scene wasn't as strong in the eighties.
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Thankfully:)

Chris
 
Of course there were lots of great, then new music in the 80ies. Most of the relevant stuff has been mentioned. Among them US hardcore and hiphop are the most important to me. But all of this was kind of 'underground' while the mainstream was utter crap. Some argue that this would always have been the case. Really? Take a look of the US Top Ten from May 1966:
01. When A Man Loves A Woman Percy Sledge
02. Monday Monday Mamas & Papas
03. Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35 Bob Dylan
04. A Groovy Kind Of Love Mindbenders
05. Paint It Black Rolling Stones
06. It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World James Brown
07. Message To Michael Dionne Warwick
08. I Am A Rock Simon & Garfunkel
09. Did You Ever Have To Make ... Lovin' Spoonful
10. Let's Start All Over Again Ronnie Dove
 
For anyone knocking the 80s, get yourself a copy of Simon Reynolds' excellent book, Rip It Up And Start Again, to get a grasp on why the early eighties was such an important time for music.
Like Tony, it was the era that I really got into music, went to a ridiculous amount of gigs (mostly great), and was thrilled and baffled by music in equal measures.
 
I've returned out of curiosity to many 80s bands and albums that I had at the time, Simple Minds, Talk Talk, Bauhaus, Sisters Of Mercy, etc, and sadly found them all embarrassing.

What kills 80s music for me, even with established artists that had to endure the era as part of their career (Miles Davis being a perfect example) was the trend towards that over-produced 'studio' sound soaked in reverb with some tit doing funky slap bass. As soon as I hear those opening bars of anything with copious amounts of reverb I have to immediately switch it off. Showy-Offy bass players were the worst by far and any bass player putting out a solo album during the 80s was a totally predictable turd of a record and only fit for the Linn demo room at the local hi-fi show.

There may have been some good things during the 80s, but the overwhelming quantity of dire (oh God, yes, them too) twatish muzak produced by idiots with aluminium briefcases and sunglasses in a darkened studio make me want to forget the whole era, and if there are innocent casualties along the way, then so be it. (Did you see OMD on Later? That was one of the most embarrassing things I have ever seen on TV).

The 80s for me is a total write-off. I detest the music and if I see on a label that something was made in the 80s, chances are I won't put it on. The only survivor would be David Sylvian's work. Even 4AD stuff sounds ridiculous now.

However, the following decade more than made up for that and how Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr. (if you say they are 80s, you are being picky), STP etc came out of that 80s childhood is totally beyond me, but the 90s were magnificent enough to wipe the horror away, and eradicate it for good from my nightmare.
 
FranzD said:
But all of this was kind of 'underground' while the mainstream was utter crap. Some argue that this would always have been the case. Really? Take a look of the US Top Ten from May 1966:
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Yes, that is an impressive top 10, but I'm sure there were weeks when Jim Reeves, James Last and their MOR codefendants were there too. It's tempting to see the past as a Golden Age, but the good stuff is remembered, and the duff stuff just gets forgotten. I grew up inthe 70s, but when I see a TOTP repeat there'a always a load of old tosh on there that I'd forgotten about, and it's painful to be reminded of Pussycat's "Mississipi".
 
Lets not forget my personal favourite 80's star, the late, the great Soulman - Rick James!
(and his stone city band) Get up the funk!

Louballoo
 
Rasher said:
However, the following decade more than made up for that and how Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr. (if you say they are 80s, you are being picky), STP etc came out of that 80s childhood is totally beyond me, but the 90s were magnificent enough to wipe the horror away, and eradicate it for good from my nightmare.
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It's not being picky! All the 'proper' Dinosaur Jr records (i.e. the ones with both Murph and Lou on them) were made in the 80s. The 90s ones were pretty much J Mascis records. 'Green Mind' is a solo record in all but name. 'Where You Been' is still pretty good though.
 
louballoo said:
Lets not forget my personal favourite 80's star, the late, the great Soulman - Rick James!
(and his stone city band) Get up the funk!

Louballoo
Click to expand...

Lou, you got the wrong Rick.

 
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Now this is where the 21st century begins, such a grrrrrrrrrrrreat track, off of a cool L.P.


the only Human League I listen to is pre-Dare L.P. They were crap as soon as Dare came along.
 
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I think 80s music was good. Main problem was the format. Vinyl was thin and shite, cassette tapes were everywhere and shite and CDs were underdeveloped and shite, as were the players. Then your best mate would ring you up and ask you to come over his house to w@nk off over his new Mission purchase....very shite.
 
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