Why does 80's music get such a bad rap?

[88keys]

There was some good music from the 80s. But there was also lots and lots of terrible music from the 80s. I mean LOTS. So much. "Got Hair? Here's a mic, lets make an album." Tons and tons of bad music.

Yeah, I've been thinking that maybe the 80s were like the best and worst of times for music. Although my tastes are broad, my core preferences are hard rock and heavy metal and the 80s were a great decade in that respect. I was very young in the 80's so I don't have the best memory of what was on the radio back in those days except for what I heard my neighbors blasting on weekends which was usually Van Halen and AC/DC type stuff.
I'm a classic rock fan who never got to experience the decades from which my favorite songs/bands are from (the 70's & 80's). So in a way I only got to experience the best of what those decades have to offer and was spared all of the garbage which probably isn't entirely bad. I don't even dislike the more pop oriented bands like Bon Jovi, U2, and Journey. I'll admit that I even like some of their songs to an extent. But I just don't think they're THAT good. And in a way I kinda feel that way about the Rolling Stones. [flamesuit] Not that I hate them. But I just think they pale in comparison to the other great British Bands of the 60's and 70's like Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, Queen and of course, The Beatles.

Either way, I think you would be hard pressed to find anything from any er that's as bad as the Nickelbackesque garbage on rock radio today. Sure there are a few gems like System of a Down and Avenged Sevenfold. Nickelback is literally the embodiment of everything that I despise about the music industry personified into four vacuous, vile and talentless creatures. When I think of all of the great musicians who died in accidents and drug overdoses, it just brings my blood to a boil to know that it hasn't happened to Nickelback.

That is probably my least favorite Pink Floyd album. The Wall was released in 1979, therefore it is part of their 70s music. The Wall is probably my one of my favorite albums of all time. Wish You Were Hear was great, Animals was great and Dark Side of the Moon was great. The 70s was the highlight of their career, nothing they've done since is even close.

I own all these albums on vinyl including Momentary Lapse of Reason. Couple decent songs on that album but nothing spectacular that I would go back and listen to again and again and again.

Ironically, It was that album along with the Wall that got me into Floyd. How can you not love "Learning to Fly"? Still one of my favorite songs.
Although more recently my favorite Floyd songs are the ones that get no radio play. Like "Dogs" which is my favorite song from Pink Floyd. The lyrics, the composition, everything is just perfect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtI249jwPpM

was gonna post this, Metallica G&R Megadeth and such were all staples on MTV. same with Crue, poision,.. all those big hair bands of questionable quality. headbangers ball often played Slayer and Anthrax

also i would not classify Pantera as a 80s band. Cowboys from hell came out in 1990 and thats when they strated to get popular

Well... as someone said before, that depends on how you look at it lol.

 

[Gibsons]

van halen was very aggressive in their use of electronics, and people barely noticed, never mind complained.

Well, I complained. Not that anyone cared. Thought they jumped the shark with 1984.

 

[88keys]

Maybe I should have titled this thread "Why do synthesizers get such a bad rap?"

I guess some people instantly dislike a song for the instruments being played.

 

[Via]

You want synthesizers? I got some synthesizers for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNqATBMH6IM

EPIC double keyboard. The pain in Greg's face, when he see's his buddy on the phone, it inspires him to 80s greatness.

If anyone trashes this song I'll be on your doorstep by morning to have words in person.

 

[HeXen]

Too many high pitched screaming men were singers in the 80's, so that didn't age well. Overuse of electronics in some cases though some of it sounds pretty good. I love that song "eyes without a face" by Billy Idol, I think songs like that still hold up today but not so much bands like Europe for example.
I don't mind most 80's music in general but it's also hard to listen to at times, especially the heavy metal bands...Vinny Vincent...*shutters*

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Which is why I said "Depending on how you look at it".

As far as music is concerned, I would consider it more of an overlap as opposed to a lag. You can hear 80's sounding music beginning to surface in music in the late 70's. Just as you can hear the 90's alternative sound beginning to surface in the late 80s with bands like REM.

R.E.M. - Orange Crush

Considering that REM's first album was released in 1983, along with rough contemporaries like The Replacements, Husker Du, and others right around the same time, it shows how arbitrary the lines between various decades are drawn. That stuff is an 80's sound; not the one that everyone immediately thinks of, but it's weird how that decade gets such a reputation for synth-laden pop yet no one would be taken seriously if they said "Oh, the 70's? Worthless decade man, fuck disco".

 

[Leyawiin]

SHIT! I forgot The 'Mats. Thank you for reminding me. I need to listen to some now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtcVmEAUqRA
You're welcome.

I almost moved to Minneapolis to go to college over the music scene there at the time. I shit you not.

 

[88keys]

Considering that REM's first album was released in 1983, along with rough contemporaries like The Replacements, Husker Du, and others right around the same time, it shows how arbitrary the lines between various decades are drawn. That stuff is an 80's sound; not the one that everyone immediately thinks of, but it's weird how that decade gets such a reputation for synth-laden pop yet no one would be taken seriously if they said "Oh, the 70's? Worthless decade man, fuck disco".

REM's material from the late 80s sounds alot more like the alternative 90's than 80's rock. There is a reason they are widely regarded as one of the bands who pioneered Alternative in the first place.

And it's not like there sound changed much between 1987-1993.

I've always thought this song from "Out of Time" sounds very similar to Orange Crush.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpP4gGYuZSU

Which is why I refer to music cultures as more of an overlap. Van Halen's material from the 70's doesn't sound at all different from anything else they did with David Lee Roth. Rock critics initially scoffed at Van Halen's debut album in unison and predicted that they world be forgotten in a few years. Now that same album is regarded as one of the best debut albums of all time. Led Zeppelin was also met with a similar reception.

You can always find traces of musical styles of an upcoming decade emerging in the previous decade just as traces of the previous decade will linger several years into the next.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

REM's material from the late 80s sounds alot more like the alternative 90's than 80's rock. There is a reason they are widely regarded as one of the bands who pioneered Alternative in the first place.

And it's not like there sound changed much between 1987-1993.

I've always thought this song from "Out of Time" sounds very similar to Orange Crush.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpP4gGYuZSU

Assuming you consider REM to be a rock band of some form, how is their material from 198x not therefore "80's rock"? 90's alternative sounds like them, not the other way around. It's like people are so afraid to admit to liking music from the 80's that they have to compare it to similar stuff from either adjacent decade.

 

[88keys]

Assuming you consider REM to be a rock band of some form, how is their material from 198x not therefore "80's rock"? 90's alternative sounds like them, not the other way around. It's like people are so afraid to admit to liking music from the 80's that they have to compare it to similar stuff from either adjacent decade.

Did I say that it wasn't 80's rock?

You're completely missing the point. I brought that up in response to another post about how the musical sound of a decade tends to linger into another, and my rebuttal is that it is more of an overlap between generations and "Orange Crush" is an example of that. The song came out in 1988, but it has a 90's alternative sound and regardless of whether they sound like 90's they are still viewed as key figures who ushered that style of music.



Strictly speaking, Songs that were released between January 1st 1980 all the way up until December 31st 1989 are technically 80's music regardless of what they sound like. But thats not how it works nor is it how people tend to think of it as pointed out by myself and others.

Here are two songs that came out in exactly the same year (1978), but if you ask most people, they will think the Van Halen song is an 80's song because it's Van Halen and it sounds just like any other Van Halen song with DLR. And the icing on the cake is that the former is the song without synthesizers.


Van Halen - Ain't Talkin Bout Love

The Who - Who are You

 

[John Connor]

I also think U2 did some of their best work in the 80s. War and Joshua Tree were their best albums by far.

I own both albums. Real good shit! Use to listen to those two albums with my bro and play Goldeneye on the N64 all the time. Memories.

 

[John Connor]

You want synthesizers? I got some synthesizers for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNqATBMH6IM

EPIC double keyboard. The pain in Greg's face, when he see's his buddy on the phone, it inspires him to 80s greatness.

If anyone trashes this song I'll be on your doorstep by morning to have words in person.

I tried to play the video in two damn browsers! YouTube just sucks dick!

 

[John Connor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQDU-2qMre0

/thread

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Did I say that it wasn't 80's rock?

You're completely missing the point. I brought that up in response to another post about how the musical sound of a decade tends to linger into another, and my rebuttal is that it is more of an overlap between generations and "Orange Crush" is an example of that. The song came out in 1988, but it has a 90's alternative sound and regardless of whether they sound like 90's they are still viewed as key figures who ushered that style of music.



Strictly speaking, Songs that were released between January 1st 1980 all the way up until December 31st 1989 are technically 80's music regardless of what they sound like. But thats not how it works nor is it how people tend to think of it as pointed out by myself and others.

Here are two songs that came out in exactly the same year (1978), but if you ask most people, they will think the Van Halen song is an 80's song because it's Van Halen and it sounds just like any other Van Halen song with DLR. And the icing on the cake is that the former is the song without synthesizers.


Van Halen - Ain't Talkin Bout Love

The Who - Who are You

You said that it sounds more like 90's alternative than 80's rock. If you considered that song to be 80's rock, it seems reasonable that you would therefore not have posted the previous sentiment. I agree that they were highly influential on the 90's wave of bands, but my point is that people only do this when the 80's are involved. People that only have listened to Jump may have a thinking process that goes "Jump is quintessential 80's music -> this is the band that made that song -> must be 80's", but VH I doesn't sound much that much like 1984 (and not just because of the synths either). If anything people will point to them as a band that was influential in the late 70's and then suffered the same fate that other synth-touched rock bands did (which I don't agree with fwiw; 5150 is one of my favorites, in fact). However, even that is still a borderline case; while the earliest REM didn't sound exactly like their late 80's/early 90's material either, that something like this can cover the basis of their sound in the first half of the 80's, and still be lumped in with bands that came a decade later is indicative of this irrational 80'sphobia.

 

[twinrider1]

The absolute over-saturation brought on by MTv and it's ilk. Heavy rotation was hitting you in the ears, and now in the eyes. Deep cuts just didn't exist on tv.
I think that's what separates the 80's from the likes/dislikes of other decades.

I graduated HS in '85. It wasn't just the synth pop stuff. Even Tom Petty. I love Tom Petty, but they drove that Alice In Wonderland video for Don't Come Around Here No More into the ground.
I like a lot of the stuff I despised back then. Duran Duran was(is) pretty darn talented. But you can only hear Hungry Like The Wolf so many times per hour before you wanted to go to the mall and shoot up a Musicland (and a Chess King while you were there).

Also, a lot of good songs were clouded behind really bad videos. Good musicians having to come up with a video in order to get airplay. Anything beyond just clips of concert footage was a new thing for everyone, and it showed. There was a lot of cheese back then.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Also, a lot of good songs were clouded behind really bad videos. Good musicians having to come up with a video in order to get airplay. Anything beyond just clips of concert footage was a new thing for everyone, and it showed. There was a lot of cheese back then.

you want a good song with a hilariously bad video? here ya go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LatorN4P9aA

 

[bradley]

The Brown sound....

VAN HALEN - "Running With The Devil" Guitar Track ISOLATED!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3E_m7IhSfY

Van Halen "Unchained" Isolated Guitar Track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-S-9-CpjWo&list=RDNvBsPN75i4Y

EVH Eddie Van Halen - Little Guitars *GUITAR TRACK*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvBsPN75i4Y

EVH Eddie Van Halen - Panama *GUITAR TRACK*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxA4WgIZmO8&list=RDNvBsPN75i4Y

 

[bradley]

At his peak... might take a while to load, but worth it

Guitar Solo Eddie Van Halen Stompin 8H
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzU3MzE0NA==.html

 

[Sheep221]

I think we are only supposed to listen to what we specifically like, otherwise:

pre-60s music - shit
70/80/90 - shit
2000s/2010s - shit

mkay?

 

[_Rick_]

Why am I the first to point out, that a bad rap in 80s music would literally be a bad rap on a hip-hop track?
While a bad rep would be the apparent reputation the music of the decade has earned.

It's a great pun, but not a one picked it up. Some even re-used the same incorrect phrase!

I'm disappointed ATOT.

Have some bad 80s rap as punishment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RWRX2f4jpo

 

[Via]

Rap had to be spoon-fed to white America in tiny little doses:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEUX-HYRtUA

No, really - we're not scary guys. You can like us!

 

[MrSquished]

so much good music in the 80's. a lot depends on how old you were in the 80's, or even born yet.

tons of good tunes from a variety of styles.

 

[Ichinisan]

I love synthesized music. No lie.

...or anything sequenced.

 

[BUTCH1]

Name 1 song Pink Floyd wrote in the 80s that was better than their worst music of the 70s.

"The final cut" released in '83 is an awesome album, not anywhere near as popular or ground-breaking as "The dark side of the moon" but certainly more to offer than "Meddle"..

 

[BUTCH1]

you want a good song with a hilariously bad video? here ya go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LatorN4P9aA

Yea, that's a horrible vid but an awesome song, damm, Perry had unbelievable chops back then. I remember it fondly as I blew out a speaker in my boss's new S-10 truck while listening to it on 11, he was pissed even though it was replaced under warranty LOL..