[jwong]

People are always ripping on 80's music because much of the pop was, of course, dreadful and some of the producing was terrible. But some of my favorite albums I still listen to are from the 80s...

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms, Kate Bush - Hounds of Love, Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Sessions. Also U2's best stuff, Ozzy's best stuff, Def Leppard, Peter Gabriel, Big Country, Suzanne Vega, Talking Heads. So much good stuff in there. But I'm probably just showing how old I've gotten.

 

[Spareribs]

Well the 80s was the cheesiest decade in the 20th century. You had mullet hair styles, hair metal bands with guys wearing spandex pants, the rise of artificial sounding drums in pop music, the decline of tubes, etc....

But despite all that, I think it was probably one of the most fun decades. People were wild and crazy at concerts. Women would throw their panties on stage and rock stars were like gods.

 

[moriez]

''Flash, trash and too much cash''. The 80s: The Decade That Made Us is a NGC series from American perspective filled with fun facts, insight and memories. Worth a watch IMO

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6t3wbi

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Sure, I hated Reagan, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and a sinister new movement in music called 'Rap', but were they really that bad?

When I first started to listen to music in the late 70's and all my older friends were listening to what is now known as 'Classic Rock' (only it was new then - I remember when 'The Wall' came out.. ) I used to think I was so much more evolved than them by listening to jazz fusion and this new kind of rock music that was being played on KUNV, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Jazz from noon til 8 pm, Rock Avenue till10 the next morning.

Then Madonna came along. And Culture Club. And, Oh God, Dexy's Midnight Runners. Commercial radio turned to crap! Yet my friends still listened to the same songs they were listening to 20 years earlier and I was laughing at them for doing it.

KUNV held fast on a quirky, always wavering path towards music left of center and I listened all the way. Remember where you were when you first heard Talking Heads? B-52's? Black Flag? The Sugarcubes? Those were the days, my friends, I thought they'd never end.

Of course they did. Right after an 'Alternative Rock' station came to town. The publicly funded KUNV, forced to compete for pledge money, turned to the only listeners who actually pledged real money - the old time jazzers. (You must remember - a lot of the old be-boppers and hep cats moved to LV to play in the shows. There were jams at the local musicians union hall that would bring tears to your eyes. Never recorded)

So now, at 36, with wife, kid, mortgage, what do I want to listen to? The music of 20 years ago - I've turned into one of them!!!

What are your memories of the Eighties? Favorite radio station? But most importantly - what are you listening to now, online, when you want to hear eighties music like it was played back then - not just the hits.

ok,
erix

The eighties were the beginning of the end. I'm mostly not interested in anything made after 1975 except for chicks.

Music, cars, syndicated radio putting local stations to death, life, it's all pretty much over.