Music of the '80's--the last distinctive decade of music

[Brewman_Jax]

The last decade of music additions, like new wave, techno, hair band hard rock and heavy metal, rap and hip-hop, R&B freestyle, house, indie rock, reggae and reggaeton, british top 40, even contempory christian, to name a few. I mention CCM because some of their artists "saw the light" (pun intended) and crossed into mainstream, like Amy Grant and Kathy Tricolli. (didn't know about Kathy).

The lists are partial. To get near a complete list would probably earn me elad's wrath for over-loading the system.

The famed artists: Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Duran Duran, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Run-DMC, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen...

Even the one-hit wonders can't be forgotten (in some cases, can't be forgiven), like The Buggles with "Video killed the Radio Star", Pseudo Echo with "Funkytown", The Vapors with "Turning Japanese", even Vanilla Ice.

Has there ever been such a wide variety of music styles debuting or expanding in the same decade?

Looking on the music sites and stores, 80's compilations are recycled as classics. Listen on the radio--even if you don't know the song, you can tell the decade it came from.

I DJ'd New Year's 2001 as the local bar/restaurant and had a stack of 80's music, and the dance floor stayed busy.

Now that music has been corporatized and crammed into its cookie-cutter cookbook mass produced recipe, those days are over. I doubt they'll return. That's sad.

Love it, hate it, but you can't ignore it. I loved it!

[Brewman_Jax]

1. Shameless kick

gotta go vote! :hi:

[kwassa]

2. Do you think these styles originated in the '80s?

Some did, many did not.

Most of it was EXTREMELY corporate. Producer, not artist-driven.

One sound; the synthetic drums, which were everywhere and now have thankfully disappeared. Most of the rockers started their careers before the 80s, and there was nothing stylistically new with them in the 80s.

There was both very good and very forgetable music in this decade.

[Brewman_Jax]

9. True, all have precedents from the past

and I qualified that with "debuting or expanding" into the '80's.

Severely corporate, quite right in a lot of cases. I was shocked at how much after watching a few "VH1: Behind the Scenes" articles.

[datasuspect]

3. you're joking right?

the only distinctive music from that decade was hardcore and the burgeoning speed metal scene. and even those had their precedents in the prior decade.

[Coventina]

4. Coventina's top 10 artists of the 80's

A personal list:

1. Madonna
2. Orchestral Manoevers in the Dark (OMD)
3. B-52's
4. Depeche Mode
5. U2
6. The Clash
7. Guadalcanal Diary
8. The Cure
9. Eurythmics
10. The Go-Go's

Flame Away!!!

:hide:

[datasuspect]

5. my top 2

1. dead kennedys
2. slayer

[bedpanartist]

15. once again

great minds think alike.

I saw Slayer four times during the 1980s - once in the mosh pit of the fabled Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio.

My hearing still has not recovered.

[Arugula Latte]

14. Oh yeah -- Guadalcanal Diary!

I defy anyone to find a catchier tune than "Watusi Rodeo." :woohoo:

[SKKY]

18. Hello!!??

R.E.M???
Duran Duran???
The Smiths???
The Violent Femmes???
Psychedelic Furs???
The Fix???
The Police???
Culture Club???
INXS???
New Order???

[ceile]

6. I miss the 80s

Every single year of it.....
My best 80s list (in no particular order)

Duran Duran
The Police
Tears for Fears
The Cult
Depeche Mode
New Order
Joy Division
Ministry
U2
REM
Violent Femmes
Sonic Youth
The Church
The Cure
Psychedelic Furs

I could go on and on.....

[Xithras]

7. Disagree. Grunge was the last gasp for distinctive music.

It didn't last, and before long it was corporatized, pablumated, and spoon fed in a tamer form to the teeming masses. For a while, however, there was a brief burst of musical originality that somehow made it by the mass market censors. Whether you liked or hated them, groups like Soundgarden, Nirvana, and even Alice in Chains represented what may have been the last gasp of "original" music to hit the popular market.

[Brewman_Jax]

12. Agreed

but short lived. Articles have its lifespan range roughly 1990-1994.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

8. I miss the '20s through the '70s, music-wise.

The '80s?

Mehhhhh.

:P

[Montauk6]

10. My fave 80s album list

Joe Jackson - Body & Soul
The The - Soul Mining
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Stevie Wonder - In Square Circle
Culture Club - Colour By Numbers
Men At Work - Cargo
Rick James - Street Songs
Madonna - True Blue
The Police - Ghost In The Machine
Sting - Dream Of The Blue Turtles
Genesis - Invisible Touch

[johnnie]

11. Wasn't big on the 80s

The music, the clothes, the people, the air.. it all sucked.

[taterguy]

17. Ever wish the human race didn't exist, then realize you're one too

That's from an 80s album. I guess it sucked
:evilgrin:

[taterguy]

13. I think it's a generational thing

The 80s are my favorite music decade but that's because I was 13-23 then. It was the time in my life to experience new things and be old enough to appreciate them later. There's not much new music I like. I don't know if it's because good new music isn't being made or because I just don't seek it out as much. I have other priorities now. I remember watching the Big Chill in the 80s and seething contempt when a character claimed there wasn't any good music. Now I know exactly how he feels. Pardon me while I go crank up my old Minutemen and Replacements cassettes

[Arugula Latte]

16. Great bands of the 80s:

The Smiths, Joy Division, Roxy Music, World Party, The Jam, Violent Femmes, The Specials, The Talking Heads, REM, Echo and the Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Squeeze, The Pretenders, The English Beat, The Pixies, The Replacements, The Plimsouls, U2 (I liked them best in the early 80s), New Order, Bauhaus, Billy Bragg, The Church, The Charlatans, INXS (Shabooh Shabah or however it's spelled -- fabulous collection of songs), Dramarama, The Waterboys, and many more. Great, great music.

[CanuckAmok]

19. It was certainly the last technological advance in music...

poly synths, drum machines (for good or for bad), digital effects, etc.

I found the 90s and this decade to date to be really derivitive of the 70s, to date. And a plethora of really mediocre so-called R&B acts and wishy-washy hip-hop acts. I think another musical revolution is way overdue.

[bluedogyellowdog]

20. early 80s vs late 80s

I thought the early 80s was the most adventerous, experimental time in popular music since the heyday of psychedelic and progressive rock in the late 60s/early 70s.

And the late 80s was almost entirely commercial, corporate, synthetic crap. It was either hair metal, or synthetic pop aimed at the 14 year old teen market. The Poison and Cinderella, Milli Vanilli and Paula Abdul axis. :puke:

Just my take on the 80s. Grunge in the early 90s had to happen, and the late 80s was the reason. But the early 80s were great: The Clash, Iron City Houserockers, Black Flag, X, early U2 and REM, Mellencamp and Springsteens' best work, the beginnings of hip hop before it turned into a corporate boondoggle, etc.

[Blue_Tires]

21. i have great memories of the era as a kid

[lildreamer316]

22. Are you kidding? Husband is a dj too, btw..

we are always trying to one-up each other remembering obscure 80s hits. I'll post a small list later...

[grace0418]

23. Crowded House, The Smiths. Nuf said, IMHO.

My two favorite bands of all time.

[Locrian]

24. great!

I think Chris Rock said it best .... "ANY music you were listening to when you first got laid you're gonna remember and love for the rest of your life!" Or something like that.