I'm not, generally speaking, a fan of 80's music but...

Jack-Flash-Jr · 2011-05-31T15:01:00+00:00

... this looks pretty cool (and David Byrne is pretty cool): Al Green cover:

DonovanB

I remember seein an Adam and the ants album cover and thinking,"sheesh those guys look heavy."

Then they go and make this...

There was some epic nonsense that came out of the 80's but one has to remember a large part of the music listening public want something new and different all the time. It still happens today, listen to some of the bands that come out now, The XX are a good example of something new, pretty much as new as the pixies tried.

IceCreamMan

Hammeron wrote Been going thru my Dad's old shit:

The Vapors - Turning Japanese
The Beat - Mirror in the bathroom
The Monks - Nice legs shame about her face

Mirror in the bathroom ....what a classic .....The Beat were a good band ,if i recall the singer started fine young cannibals after the Beat (if i got it right)

Turning japanese was a euphism for wanking btw .... i think ...

never heard the monks but like the title ?

Squonk

The Monks were a band formed by members of Strawbs basically as a fun stab at music at the time.
Bad Habits released in 1979, had some good numbers but very much tongue in cheeck. Lot's of "Police Type" songs

"Met her on a blind date, helping out an old mate
Waiting at the corner, she’s be dressed in black
There was I expecting a really tasty bird
He said she was good looking, I should have doubt his word
When I saw her there she was a real disgrace
I thought nice legs shame about the face"

Squonk

IceCreamMan wrote Mirror in the bathroom ....what a classic .....The Beat were a good band ,if i recall the singer started fine young cannibals after the Beat (if i got it right)

The bassist and Guitarist formed FYC with Singer Roland Gift, What a great band, good songs, lots of energy

Twist and Crawl
Hands off she's mine

I enjoyed some of that late 70's early 80's ska music

Dingwall

Sorry guys I just can't forgive the 80s from a music point of view! Yes there was talent, like there would always be if you measured any 10 year period in popular history, but poor bastards for having to apply their trade over the plastic backdrop that for me is the 80s!

If I had God like powers I would quite happily do a cut and paste from 31/12/79 to 01/01/90. I am not saying the 90s was so great, but imagine if bands like Queen, Police etc had been steered towards the darkness of the 90s grunge movement (would we have still got 'Its a kind of magic' and "do do do da da da"). Yes I know my argument is flawed and very black & white but this is how I feel. I was 13 in 1985 for gods sake!! What a slice of bad luck for this guitar loving person!

And finally to me 80s recorded music even sounds more 'dated' than 60s recorded music from a musical relevance point of view ! (Although I heard a 'new' song on the radio the other day and it had a very 80s production - not sure if that is this weeks 'fad'!)

Squonk

Dingwall wrote Sorry guys I just can't forgive the 80s from a music point of view! Yes there was talent, like there would always be if you measured any 10 year period in popular history, but poor bastards for having to apply their trade over the plastic backdrop that for me is the 80s!

If I had God like powers I would quite happily do a cut and paste from 31/12/79 to 01/01/90. I am not saying the 90s was so great, but imagine if bands like Queen, Police etc had been steered towards the darkness of the 90s grunge movement (would we have still got 'Its a kind of magic' and "do do do da da da"). Yes I know my argument is flawed and very black & white but this is how I feel. I was 13 in 1985 for gods sake!! What a slice of bad luck for this guitar loving person!

And finally to me 80s recorded music even sounds more 'dated' than 60s recorded music from a musical relevance point of view ! (Although I heard a 'new' song on the radio the other day and it had a very 80s production - not sure if that is this weeks 'fad'!)

But you did get a lot of influence from 80's guitarists, even if they were in the wrong Decade. Edge, Ritchie Kotzen, Jason Becker, Yngwie Malmsteen etc.

But I do hear you, we had to live through the 80's, with all the horrible fashions, Apartheid at it's worst with so many sanctions and the only acts like Smokie and Modern Talking visiting our shores. The worlds best cricket and rugby teams, but couldn't prove it!

G-Man

I was a huge Dead Kennedys fan for many years, I have all of their albums and the 2004 Live at the Deaf Club (it's actually pretty good, a few of the songs from that show were on several albums that they released, quite weird.) I also have the Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables LP now that I think about it.

My opinion of 80's music has changed a lot. I have a few friends that are a lot older than me and they all were very influenced by the 80's music scene (one was a goth back in the 80's, before black clothes were compulsory - apparently they just moaned about life and how it sucked, like emos o.O) But bands like stiff little fingers, joy division , the cure etc aren't bad, I can listen to it now and again. (Joy Division depresses the hell out of me though lol)

I think the 90's kinda went anti technical on the guitar, because the 80's saw a hell of a lot of shred and whammy abuse etc, I think bands like Nirvana were a natural shift away from that . I've noticed a few songs on the radio recently where all of a sudden a huge guitar solo suddenly pops in, which is weired because the feeling I always got from radio music was that that kind of thing was a no no.

Hammeron

My favourite music genre ever, was born in the 80's.
Thrash Metal!
Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Testament, Flotsam and Jetsam et/al.

Jack-Flash-Jr

Hammeron wrote My favourite music genre ever, was born in the 80's.
Thrash Metal!
Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Testament, Flotsam and Jetsam et/al.

Don't forget the kings of them all: Suicidal Tendencies! One of my top 10 albums of all time is Art of Rebellion (that said, it is one of the less thrashy ones)...

Hammeron

Yea!!
Ozzy launched his post-Sabbath career in the 80's!
Altho shallow, electronic commercial 'pop' was fashionable and all the rage thru the 80's, clearly beneath this veneer, there was a very powerfull movement being born, somewhat hidden and out of sight. A movement that would grow beyond the 80's leaving the commercial behind to become the mainstay of 'modern rock'. Which is, today, more powerfull than it has ever been, regarding Metal anyway.
And we thank the Good Lord for this! ?

Bob-Dubery

Bootsy was pretty active in the 80s

AND

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain played their first gig in '85.

'Nuff said.

Warren

Ha! They've been mentioned, but not with enough reverence: The Cure.

Pornography and Disintegration were both released during the 80s.

To quote Kyle Broflovski - "Disintegration is the best album ever!"

Hammeron

Jack Flash Jr wrote
Hammeron wrote My favourite music genre ever, was born in the 80's.
Thrash Metal!
Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Testament, Flotsam and Jetsam et/al.
Don't forget the kings of them all: Suicidal Tendencies! One of my top 10 albums of all time is Art of Rebellion (that said, it is one of the less thrashy ones)...

Jack, I'm not familiar with the band beyond having seen a few video clips.
Was Trujillo playing for them on the album you refer to?
I remember hearing a song called 'These freaks are here to party' was that Suicidal or the vocalists side project?

Jack-Flash-Jr

Hammeron wrote
Jack Flash Jr wrote
Hammeron wrote My favourite music genre ever, was born in the 80's.
Thrash Metal!
Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Testament, Flotsam and Jetsam et/al.
Don't forget the kings of them all: Suicidal Tendencies! One of my top 10 albums of all time is Art of Rebellion (that said, it is one of the less thrashy ones)...
Jack, I'm not familiar with the band beyond having seen a few video clips.
Was Trujillo playing for them on the album you refer to?
I remember hearing a song called 'These freaks are here to party' was that Suicidal or the vocalists side project?

Stop and acquire the following albums NOW:

Art of Rebellion
Lights Camera Revolution

Best Trujillo you'll ever hear. The "freaks" comes from Infectious Grooves, I also have all their albums - an offshoot of ST that also includes Trujillo... very cool and heavy um groove focus.

IceCreamMan

for me . the early 70's to mid 80's were the golden age of music ... much innovation

Averatu

Jack Flash Jr wrote
make and do wrote Haven't seen the whole Stop Making Sense. Looks cool.
And what do you mean you're not a fan of the 80's!?! 8)

Sigue sigue sputnik
There are times when one must acknowledge greatness, despite its origins and manifestations... ?

Edit: I can't believe I'm posting this twice in one decade:

Its because they rule, ok.

Averatu

Squonk wrote I hated the 80's but did enjoy some of the music

Joy Division, New Order, The Cure, The Teardrop Explodes, The Waterboys, Bauhaus, Dalis Car, The First Spandau Ballet Album
Siouxsie and the Banshees, sisters of mercy, Some Echo and the Bunnymen, The Fixx, FGTH, Thomas Dolby, Big Country, U2 pre Joshua Tree, The Smiths, XTC
The Pogues

There were some cute songs : Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance

Enjoyed some spillover from the 70's Ian Dury and the Blockheads, The Cars, Devo, Gary Numan, Joe Jackson, Japan, The Jam, The Specials

I am sure there are lots more, my hierarchal storage manager can only do so much delving into the past ?

Its like you cribed my tape collection as a teen, just ad Swans, Fields of the Nephilim, Ministry and Pantera.

Bob-Dubery

IceCreamMan wrote for me . the early 70's to mid 80's were the golden age of music ... much innovation

There's always innovation. Any era (however you choose to define it) has the wheat and the chaff.

I like reading Wilson and Alroy (www.warr.org). I don't always agree with them, but they're a good read. They make a case that the mid 80s had a very high proportion of chaff to wheat as regards popular music (soul, rock, the then new hip-hop) but that might be just looking at what penetrated the mass consciousness.

I've been following this thread with interest because my instinct is always to reach for the barf bag when somebody says "80s". I start thinking of the fashions and some of the hit records that really haven't aged that well.... and the hair! But if I think a little more there was plenty of good music released as well. A major problem, I think, was that MTV started influencing things. There was music that got made or given a presentation so that it would be suited to MTV. I think that forced some artistic decisions and it may have enlarged the gap between "mainstream" and "niche".

singemonkey

Also, I think that western teenage culture had been fragmenting since the '50s. The branches kept spreading out and the twigs got more numerous. I think this became really obvious in the '80s. In the '70s I think the major differences were between rock and punk. Rockers listened to Sabbath and Motorhead too - so even rock and metal hadn't really split. The little variations began to become distinct species that could no longer inter-breed in the '80s.

Bob-Dubery

singemonkey wrote Also, I think that western teenage culture had been fragmenting since the '50s. The branches kept spreading out and the twigs got more numerous. I think this became really obvious in the '80s. In the '70s I think the major differences were between rock and punk. Rockers listened to Sabbath and Motorhead too - so even rock and metal hadn't really split. The little variations began to become distinct species that could no longer inter-breed in the '80s.

The major schism or division or mutation or whatever in the 80s was hip-hop. The first Run DMC release now seems to have been a moment of great historical significance.

When did we start seeing "file under rock" etc stickers?

I much preferred the good old days when everything was just filed alphbetically (and "Celine Dion" was under "D") rather than divided by genre. The categorisations are pretty arbitrary and artifical (not to mention changeable) anyway. Richard Thompson and Neil Young were both filed under "Folk" at my local Look and Listen - along with people like Martin Carthy, Loudon Wainwright III, Doc Watson, Paul Simon and Emmy Lou Harris. Now they don't have "Folk" section any more and Neil has magically become "Rock" (even his acoustic country albums). I haven't figured out what's happened to Wainwright yet (though record stores all over the world do such awful things to his name that it's a wonder you can ever find any of his stuff).

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