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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsNo wonder most 80's music sucked. It mostly sounded alike!
I figured this.
http://www.cracked.com/article_22576_the-13-most-insane-things-happening-right-now-519.html
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Mnpaul
(3,655 posts)sums it up for me
seveneyes
(4,631 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)was some of the best music ever made. By comparison the 90s seemed bland to me.
I absolutely love the new alternative music being made now, like Interpol, etc.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)In the space of three months in the summer of 1984 I saw Laurie Anderson, REM, King Crimson and The Pretenders in concert.
There was plenty of good music but not on the radio or MTV.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)I will never in a million years know why I never saw REM live. I LOVED them in the 80s.
I agree, you really had to seek out music back then because otherwise you were fed Top 40 over and over. I was lucky we had an alternative station in the Bay Area when I was in college in the 80s.
BTW, you are awesome, hifiguy. You're a cat guy, an atheist, and an 80s-alternative music fan. I like you.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)And the weird thing is I came out of very heavy Seventies Prog (Yes, ELP, Genesis and German geniuses Can) but wasn't afraid atall of of the new music. Didn't care all that much for punk per se, but the artsier and post-punk stuff (Patti Smith, Ian Dury, Siouxsie, Magazine, Joy Division/New Order, Psych Furs, etc.) grabbed me right away. Those bands just got mixed in with the prog in my listening sessions, especially King Crimson.
ETA - the first time I saw a pic of Chrissie Hynde in the British music weeklies I was in love. Then I heard her - swoon - when I bought their first import single and had SUCH a crush on her for ages. Coolest "cool chick" of her generation. Saw their first US tour in '80 or '81 when they played First Avenue in Mpls. Place was jammed to the rafters and they blew the roof off.
progressoid
(49,990 posts)LynneSin
(95,337 posts)so that pretty much tossed your theory out the window
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)and was actually humming "President Gas" to myself just a few days ago.
That tune always seemed to be about Raygun and Thatcher.
Iggo
(47,552 posts)It was pretty fun.
I don't know where it was, but I'll see if I can find it...
FOUND IT!!!
Throd
(7,208 posts)So much total crap had heavy rotation on MTV, especially the bland 80's pop like "Flock Of Seagulls" or Billy Idol.
Avalux
(35,015 posts)REM for one - no one sounded like them in 1981. And then there's Galaxy 500, Joy Division/New Order, Uncle Tupelo, firehose, Meat Puppets....and on and on.
Billboard isn't exactly an accurate barometer for good music since all it gauges is popularity.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Can't imagine any other band losing a talent like Ian Curtis and not only surviving but thriving.
Avalux
(35,015 posts)It wasn't released until they were Joy Division, later on. It's incredible and still one of my favorite albums. Their time with Ian was short-lived, and I think the band, with Bernard stepping up on vocals, tried to continue his legacy the best they could.
If you're interested, the full album is on youtube:
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)"Closer" is one of the most difficult and most beautiful records I have ever heard. Especially that virtual suite of songs comprising the second side. Chilling and magnificent.
Closer is amazing...everything they did was amazing; raw and emotional.
progressoid
(49,990 posts)But these sounds and styles of the Reagan era flooded the music scene, pushing out genres like country and folk to the point that mid-to-late 1980s became most homogenous period in music over the last 50 years, based on the teams computer analysis.
This theme doesnt mean music from this era was bad, but rather it suggests a small number of styles were very catchy and therefore dominated, Pagel said. This catchiness may linger to this day and explain why themes from the 1980s have bounced back over the last decade.
more at the link
And here's the study...http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/5/150081
Response to Archae (Original post)
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Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)bands, but mainstream music sucked. It sucked really hard.
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)Music is about personal taste, not pushing social memes like diversity.
I dislike country, folk, hip-hop and rap.
Yeah, the 80s gave us lots of cheesy, overly commercial poppy crap.
I remember the 80s as the birthplace to some of the best rock ever to date.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Much like the standard formulas used by the Tin Pan Alley composers dominating the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries-- i.e., the standard A,A,B,A format (also known as the 32-bar form) used from Irving Berlin's 'Harlem on my Mind' to the more contemporary, Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin.
But no doubt, many people probably believe Gershwin too, is boring due to that.