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

There was definitely some great stuff in the 80's. I just think the ratio of rubbish to great stuff was a little suspect compared to most other decades :)

Early 70's and mid 90's for me. Born in '74.
 
I depends on what you were listening to, For me the 70's ended with pop crap, the 80's started with synthpop and the NWOBHM, and I graduated to listening to John Peel and Anne Nightingales shows as well as the Friday Rock Show and it opened my eyes to the incredible range of music coming out throughout the whole decade.

It seemed to stall in the 90's, I like dance music and I like hip-hop but, apart from the advent of D&B, the music scene didn't seem to advance as much. 80's decade is best decade.
 
SickAsAParrot said:
80's decade is best decade.
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Absolutely, if I had to listen to music from only one decade, it would be the 80s.

As much as I love 90s music, there would be too many awesome albums from bands I would miss like WASP, Coroner, Savatage, Realm, Riot and Watchtower. And dark ambient was just coming into its own.
 
Maybe I'm biased, as the eighties was my era as a young teen getting into music, but I think it has produced some amazing stuff [there is always going to be rubbish too]

It seems to me that it was the last truly distinct era, with a clear image of its own. I can't see people being so daring again, in terms of fashion or sound [hideous though some of it was]... we're simply all way to uptight and dull now.
 
zoptaa said:
Maybe it's just me, but I think a lot of bands and artist wrote some their best stuff in that decade.

For example.
Van Halen, Metallica, Rush, Iron Maiden, Dio, Ozzy Osbourne, Guns n Roses, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Traveling Wilburys, AC/DC, David Lee Roth, Pink Floyd, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Megadeth, Slayer, Aerosmith along with others that I just can't think of.
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It's all on taste really im sure. IMO from the list above i would only listen to a 2 or 3.

Also, 70s was awesome for music and think by the 80s, it was so easy to make music and get into the industry now that A LOT of rubbish got through.
 
Rossi~ said:
It's all on taste really im sure. IMO from the list above i would only listen to a 2 or 3.

Also, 70s was awesome for music and think by the 80s, it was so easy to make music and get into the industry now that A LOT of rubbish got through.
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I don't think it's any easier to get into music then that it was now. In fact I think it was difficult in the 80s and now it's harder than ever. It's just that the pop machines in the 80s and onwards were so well-oiled, they knew exactly what they were looking for so it's harder to make the cut. They don't care about 'music', they care about dosh, and they're very good at making it.

Take Nicki Minaj, for instance. She is nothing but an airheaded, bubble-gum-pop diva'd, tarted-up, slutty black cliché. But there are millions of people who love that, so she and her bosses do well.
 
The peak years of music, of all time, come across approximately 30-36 months between mid 1985 and early 1988. What made it happen was a unique blend of cooperative spirit and friendly competition that never repeated again. Majority of artists actively performing and recording at the time reached their magnum opus and most successful records within those months. In no particular order, based on sales in a complete mix of genres this is what those years gave us:

Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms" 1985
The Cult "Love" 1985
Kate Bush "Hounds Of Love" 1985
Tom Waits "Rain Dogs" 1985
The Jesus and Mary Chain "Psychocandy" 1985
Tears For Fears "Songs From The Big Chair" 1985
Metallica "Master Of Puppets" 1986 (magnum opus of Cliff era) "And Justice For All" 1988 (Jason is in)
Peter Gabriel "So" 1986
The Smiths "Queen Is Dead" 1986
Talk Talk "The Colour Of Spring" 1986
This Mortal Coil "Filigree & Shadow" 1986
Chris Rea "On The Beach" 1986
Bad Brains "I Against I" 1986
Clan of Xymox "Medusa" 1986
Paul Simon "Graceland" 1986
Beastie Boys "License To Ill" 1986
Bon Jovi "Slippery When Wet" 1986
New Model Army "The Ghost of Cain" 1986
Slayer "Reign In Blood" 1986
Genesis "Invisible Touch" 1986
Cyndi Lauper "True Colours" 1986
Van Halen "5150" 1986
Bruce Hornsby & The Range "The Way It Is" 1986
Europe "The Final Countdown" 1986
Alphaville "Afternoons in Utopia" 1986
Billy Idol "Whiplash Smile" 1986
U2 "Joshua Tree" 1987
Prince "Parade" 1986 "Sign 'o' the Times" 1987
The Cure "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" 1987
Marillion "Misplaced Childhood" 1985 and "Clutching At Straws" 1987
Guns And Roses "Appetite for Destruction" 1987
INXS "Kick" 1987
Sting "Nothing Like The Sun" 1987
Halloween "Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 1" 1987
David Sylvian "Secrets Of The Beehive" 1987
Whitesnake "Whitesnake" 1987
The Mission "Gods Own Medicine" 1987
Dead Can Dance "Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun" 1987
Def Leppard "Hysteria" 1987
Whitney Houston "Whitney Houston" 1985 "Whitney" 1987
Laibach "Opus Dei" 1987
George Michael "Faith" 1987
Suzanne Vega "Solitude Standing" 1987
Michael Jackson "Bad" 1987
Aerosmith "Permanent Vacation" 1987
Pet Shop Boys "Actually" 1987
Jane's Addiction "Jane's Addiction" 1987
Depeche Mode "Black Celebration" 1986 (best of European era) "Music For The Masses" 1987 (beginning of US era)
Sinéad O'Connor "The Lion And The Cobra" 1987
a-ha "Hunting High And Low" 1985 and "Scoundrel Days" 1987
The Sisters Of Mercy "Floodland" 1987
Sonic Youth "Daydream Nation" 1988
Tracy Chapman "Tracy Chapman" 1988
Enya "Watermark" 1988
Pixies "Surfer Rosa & Come On Pilgrim" (two albums from 1987/1988)
Fields Of The Nephilim "The Nephilim" 1988

There is another one of those booms, in 1992, mostly thanks to Seattle and San Francisco scene, but that's more rock thing, 1985-1988 was across genres.
 
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Interesting list, v0n. From those I'd choose the following as personal favourites.

v0n said:
The Cult "Love" 1985
This Mortal Coil "Filigree & Shadow" 1986
Guns And Roses "Appetite for Destruction" 1987
Halloween "Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 1" 1987
The Mission "Gods Own Medicine" 1987
Dead Can Dance "Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun" 1987
Depeche Mode "Black Celebration" 1986 (best of European era) "Music For
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I would also add the following as being extremely relevant and important metal albums from that period:

Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
Slayer - South of Heaven
Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Mellicus
Candlemass - Nightfall
King Diamond - Abigail
Bathory - Blood Fire Death
Testament - The Legacy
Riot - Thundersteel
Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King
Anthrax - Among the Living
Death - Leprosy
Crimson Glory - Transcendence
Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian
Sortilege - Larmes des Heroes
Possessed - Seven Churches
WASP - The Last Command
Metal Church - The Dark
Voivod - Killing Technology
Forbidden - Forbidden Evil
Vio-Lence - Eternal Nightmare
Sadus - Illusions
Coroner - RIP

As for Appetite for Destruction.... there will never be a better hard rock album. Ever.
 
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Bubo said:
The Macc Lads
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Dimple said:
About 5 years ago I invited the bass player and guitarist on stage with us in a pub in Macc, they did one song Sweaty Betty and got off before the pub got trashed.
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:D

Them memories. Such meaningful lyrics too:

She wore big knickers and worked down the sewage farm,
I got my hands down her jeans and nearly lost half my arm.
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Ideal Valentine's Day tune methinks.
 
A lot of my favorite music/bands from the 80's have already been named, but I'd like to mention Prefab Sprout.

IMO, their Steve McQueen album is one of the best ever written.

 
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Redz said:
:D

Them memories. Such meaningful lyrics too:

Ideal Valentine's Day tune methinks.
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About 2 years ago my mate was after Macc Lads vinyl so rang up hectic House (Macc Lads shop) and spoke to Muttley (real name Tristan).
He asked if he'd got some vinyl left and Muttley said they are no longer able to sell Macc Lads material anymore because of a European Directive. My mate asked what the directive was and Muttley said all all the albums say Lads on them and we aren't lads anymore :D
Anyway, he sent my mate 3 vinyl albums free of charge.
 
For me it's because to be a musician in those days it was an effort, and to put that much effort into something chances were high the end product was going to be of quite good quality.
The generation before covered a lot of ground that the 80's generation stood on. That continued late 50's through till 90's then there were three main branches that music took:

Rock/Grunge, Nirvana - Self imploded (Ill explain later on).
Rap/Dance - For quick money.
Pop - Dissolved into entertainment for the TV masses (looking at you Kylie and Jason).

Much of the effort was minimised, there were always bands that put effort in but the size of the scene versus what was just broadcast as "hoping it's the next big thing" by major labels ruined quite a bit and it turned into the nonsense we have these days.

Another side to this is that music has tracked social aspects quite closely, more closely than any news broadcaster. 50's through 80's there were some quite significant social issues on different continents that helped shape the music/thoughts/effort put in. By the late 90's most people only cared about the Millennium Bug (imploded from above), the social aspect of music was more or less lifted. So if anything the 80's seems most relevant to the older crowd since the social aspects are pretty similar right now. Lets hope the effort gets put in :p.


Nod to Clawfinger too, Recently split up :/.
 
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