In Defense of the '80s

[NashVegas]

I was late getting to the other thread - now archived:

Movies:

Room With a View
Unbearable Lightness of Being
Real Genius
Wings of Desire, Paris, Texas (+ other WW stuff)
The Gods Must Be Crazy
The Killing Fields
Matewan (+ other Sayles)
Diner (+ other Levinson)
The Princess Bride, This is Spinal Tap (+ other RR)
Robocop
Dead Ringers
A Fish Called Wanda
Birdy
Bull Durham
Batman, Beetlejuice (+ other Burton)
Blade Runner
Das Boot
My Life as a Dog (+ other Halstrom)
Witness
Brazil (+ other Gilliam)
Ran
My Beautiful Laundrette
Jean De Florette
Aliens
Blue Velvet
An American Werewolf in London
Body Heat
Taps
My Dinner with Andre
The Year of Living Dangerously
Stop Making Sense
After Hours

etc, etc,

Music:

R.E.M.
U2
Replacements
Dead Kennedys
Neighborhoods
Throwing Muses
X
Dream Syndicate
Los Lobos
Pretenders
Camper Van Beethoven
Kate Bush
Miracle Legion
Grandmaster Flash
Black Flag
Hüsker Du
Anita Baker
Soul Asylum
Sonic Youth
They Might Be Giants
OMD (pre-John Hughes)
Living Colour
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Billy Bragg
Echo & the Bunnymen
The Cure
New Order
Skinny Puppy
Big Audio Dynamite
Beastie Boys
Public Enemy
Let's Active
Translator
Romeo Void
Violent Femmes
10,000 Maniacs
Bauhaus
Love & Rockets
Jazz Butcher
Meat Puppets
Lloyd Cole & the Commotions
Paul Kelly & the Messengers
Hunters & Collectors
Crowded House
Midnight Oil
INXS
Sugarcubes
Concrete Blonde
Fetchin' Bones
Cindy Lee Berryhill
Suzanne Vega
Waterboys
Hoodoo Gurus
Jane's Addiction
Soup Dragons
Stone Roses
Happy Mondays
Bill Nelson

Publishing: the rise of alternative weeklies and fanzines.

Activism: Live Aid, Artists Against Apartheit & all the college students who forced their unis to divest in SA.

To anyone who says "the '80s sucked," I say: It's not my goddamn fault you were willing to swallow whatever swill was being hyped, and missed all the good shit.

[UrbScotty]

1. Of course, who was President?

Well, St. Reagan was better than his two Republican successors.

[ForrestGump]

2. Yep, some excellent films came out of the '80s, including many of my

favorites. Music, though, was less happy a situation -- some good stuff, as highlighted in your list, but I think that the much-dismissed '70s may have had a higher ratio of musical hits to misses. All a matter of taste, of course...for one, I;m hypersenitive to synthesizers and anything New Wave or New Romantic.

[NashVegas]

3. The Trouble with '80s Films

Is what was being marketed to the youth crowd. Mostly shit. Most of the stuff on the list is very adult. They were all great, but very little brain candy with the depth of something like Network. The last 5 years have been the best period for exciting film-making since the 1970s, IMO.

Shame you couldn't take the synth, there was some good stuff made by people who treated it as its own instrument ... reminds me, I forgot to put Philip Glass on the list.

[name not needed]

4. You left out Metallica, Megadeth, and Iron Maiden?

I know Metallica is shitty now but in the 80's they fuckin ruled.

[Droopy]

7. I agree

Metallica helped me get through high school in the 80s. I don't know if I would have made it without them, they really helped me cope with a lot of angst.

[qazplm]

5. missed one of the funniest movies ever of the 80s

Better Off Dead!

[NashVegas]

6. Yeah, I Did Miss That

That was Cusack, yes? (come to think, I missed Say Anything, too.