[bubbamc119]

No.
Guns 'n' Roses appeared in the 80's.
I rest my case.

 

[lollercheese]

The only redeemable factors of 80s music are the pixies and tom waits.

The rest was terrible

 

[wakeride74]

WHAT?!@$
80's music is still cool! Probably one of the most unique decades for music and movies as well (before quality writing took a backseat to the computer FX). The reason I bring up movies is because of all the great 80's soundtracks!
Better Off Dead
Breakfast Club
Weird Science
Pretty in Pink
Sixteen Candles
Can't Buy Me Love
Footloose
Ferris Buellers Day Off
The Lost Boys
... just to name a few!

I'd say 70's would be the worst, I can count the songs I liked from that decade on one hand!

 

[fewtch]

Agreed with the positive posts. A ton of very creative/innovative stuff came out of the 80's (much of it from Europe).

If anything, I think it was a much better decade than the 90's (I liked the alternative & some of the grunge that came out early to mid decade, but otherwise most of those years were lost to me musically).

 

[erix]

Absolutely NOT the worst decade!

It's easy to judge the quality and content of music from twenty years ago (gadzooks - am I that old already...) when your memory is filled with the top-40 of the era.

The beauty of the eighties was that record companies were willing to put a microphone in front of just about anybody. Lot's of good came out of their attempts at catching the next big "New Wave".

Also, the technology of making music was exploding. Sounds and effects that were never possible were now available to anyone. We tend to dismiss eighties music for it's synths and electronic drums but at the time that was the ****! Cutting Edge!

Eighties music was about possibilities.
Current music is about royalties.

totally,
erix

 

[terrymx]

death metal.

and metallica.

saved my life.

 

[tangent]

Don't forget, the filter of time hasn't worked on the 80s as much as the 60s. The reason we don't see so much junk from the 60s is that it's been solidly forgotten by now. 20 years hence, people will be saying, oh, the naught-ies were pretty good, but the eighties had the best music!

 

[Beatl?Maniac]

Thanks for your opinions, im going to try and listen to some of the bands everyones mentioned (except the hip hop ones lol). I should have said before i started the thread, i'm only 17 and so i dont remember the 80s, but i listen to a lot of music from the 1950's, 60's, 70s 90s and 00's. I guess i just hate that "80s sound": i cant be convinced that synthesisers and electronic drums sound good. I mean, its not the instruments that are bad but the way they are applied. For example synthesiser's are used cleverly in "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles and it sounds great and inventive but when its used heavily its awful. Having said that however, Focus use a lot of synth but in a very inventive way. I just think that a lot of bands in the 80s hid behind such weird sounding instruments to make up for a lack of musical inventivness.

 

[viator122]

What everyone's been pointing out though is that 80s music does not equal synthesizer. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bruce Springsteen and U2 broke out in the 1980s. Young people now (and, although I was born in 1980, I have to include myself in this group) see the 80s through brat pack movies, Revenge of the Nerds and VH1s I Love the 80s. The VH1 series capitalizes on the worst, most "out there" elements of the 80s: "Gosh remember leg warmers? And the makeup on the guys from Poison? Haha, I can't believe we thought that was cool." Although it's not my favorite musical decade at all, there's a lot more to the 80s than Flock of Seagulls.

 

[catachresis]

I'd like to throw out a theory:

I'd like to propose that most people know the 'music of a decade' by its representative genres - especially as they are retrospectively revived or rehabilitated in new music.

I remember when everybody hated the 70s: "Ooh, narsty cheezy pop music, electronic muzak and disco - DISCO! who the hell can listen to disco!' Then all of that got rediscovered in the late 90s, early noughties. We're just rediscovering prog rock: 'My god, Roxy Music was so advanced!'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/frida...487397,00.html

I believe that Rap and modern soul will rehabilitate 80s styles faster than anything else (probably already have - don't keep up with those genres). The Smiths and Duran Duran and other New-Romantics are getting rediscovered, so all of that will go utterly mainstream in a few years. 80s metal is a safe bet. Madonna doesn't look a day over 30 (Hnnnf- fnarr!)

The great mystery is that Punk and Post-punk haven't had their true revivals yet. I think this is because they're still too 'socially' threatening for the American mainstream music industry (mebbe UK/Ireland as well). Gangsta rap, heavy metal, industrial all deal with hardcore sex, drugs, violence but most mainstream forms implicitly embrace the status quo. Sure it's tough on the streets, but when I shoot you and take your money and hos, the day will be brighter. I'm alienated and in highschool. My parents are existentially desperate hypocrites. A corporation owns my town. But when Mom lets me take my 12-gauge outside and I'm wearing my leather trench, I look just like Neo.

Watch-out. One of these days those really furious punk songs are going to sound totally fresh and mainstream: "God, how did we forget about The Clash/Black Flag/Husker Du/ The DKs? They're so relevant!" Unfortunately, when Denis Miller starts quoting Sid Vicious, we're all going to be really angry about a bunch of other things (the economy, civil unrest, wearing breathing apparati when we walk outside, etc.).

 

[lollercheese]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wakeride74 WHAT?!@$ 80's music is still cool! Probably one of the most unique decades for music and movies as well (before quality writing took a backseat to the computer FX). The reason I bring up movies is because of all the great 80's soundtracks! Better Off Dead Breakfast Club Weird Science Pretty in Pink Sixteen Candles Can't Buy Me Love Footloose Ferris Buellers Day Off The Lost Boys ... just to name a few! I'd say 70's would be the worst, I can count the songs I liked from that decade on one hand!

You forgot the greatest movie soundtrack ever: Blues Brothers

 

[Enverxis]

Im with Jahn, all decades have their ups and downs.

Although I cant say I enjoy listening to pretty much anything before 1970, Not my age, not my style(s).

The Mainstream Industry is always in trouble though (quality wise

)

 

[nickchen]

To me, the 70's rather suck. Brainless Hippie crap ! Think of stuff like Bay City Rollers, Susy Quadro, Status Quo, Little River Band, Urriah Heep... [

garp ] I guess I have the right to judge, I was 14 at the end of that decade.

Even "highclassed" musicians like Bob Dylan or Emerson Lake Palmer have their ridiculus moments when audited nowadays.

80's were first decade with higher diversity of styles.

Well, I give in that mainstream has been bad in any decade. But for me, 80's mainstream isn't as painful as 70's. Interesting, I quite like early 60's stuff.

 

[DarkAngel]

The mainstream top 40 of any decade will always be rather bland "safe" choices that appeal to broadest cross section of public........but what was happening below the shiny polished veneer, in the trenches, in the underground?

The 1980's had incrediblely creative, diverse and extreme underground that in many ways is unmatched even today. You must seek it out, it is not in top 40 or greatest hits of 1980's collections, these bands do not have videos on MTV, VH1 etc but they pushed the limits of music like never before.......I am constantly searching out previously unknown groups from the 1980's that are much better than any current darlings of the music/video industry.

 

[fewtch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickchen To me, the 70's rather suck. Brainless Hippie crap ! Think of stuff like Bay City Rollers, Susy Quadro, Status Quo, Little River Band, Urriah Heep... [ garp ] I guess I have the right to judge, I was 14 at the end of that decade.

I agree, there was a lot of bad stuff in the 70s. It's like things had to shake out musically after the incredible 60's. And IMO they did exactly that in the 80's... things got good again (except 'good' in a very different way).

Not that the 70s were all bad... there's always talent out there at any given time. I just think far too little of it made it into the mainstream during the 70s. As always, blame the recording industry.

IMO the 90s were very mixed... if you think of "alternative" music as really being mainstream (alternative music for the mainstream that is) they were pretty good, at least the first half of the decade.