What are the chances that the Nissan Juke in your driveway will ever claim that status? We have decades of popular music behind us now, but what bands, styles, or movements in the biz will have staying power? One era that still rules the airwaves and live venues today: the s.
Why does that material have so much staying power, drowning out the decades on either end? The burgeoning global music scene and wild imagination we all enjoyed during the Reagan years were driven, in part, by three factors: the political environment, the assimilation of divergent musical styles into the mainstream, and the rapid growth of technology in music.
Meanwhile, the era also benefited from established trends that would soon end: strong record labels that carefully vetted their artists and an unspoken but clear emphasis on talent and quality. This decade featured a convergence of several powerful cultural fronts, bringing about a storm of creativity.
Groups like Pink Floyd played around with electronica in the early '70s, but in the '80s, this tech became readily available. For the first time, any teenager with babysitting money could go to the mall and buy a sampling keyboard with an onboard drum machine.
Just like that, a huge barrier in the music business was removed, and anybody could track a hit. At the same time, recording technology was improving, making larger orchestrations in pop more practical for moderate-budget records and allowing artists to realize any weird sound they could hear in their heads.
When it came to singing, however, artists were on their own. The best option was still to do take after take until you got a good one. Furthermore, as computers and sequencers became standard equipment in studios, the benefits of electronic instrumentation were felt. They were almost exactly the same age but can all three really have hit their straps in the same decade? Ambassador, you are spoiling us…. There was a commitment to all music genres across all the terrestrial channels. The burgeoning Channel Four has to take a lot of credit and had a lot to prove — The Tube was a brilliant statement of intent and later in the decade Sounds of Surprise and The Late Shift showcased superb jazz and blues documentaries.
Imagine turning on the TV at 6. New Romantics, Goths, Soulboys, Ravers, Casuals, Psychobillies, Brosettes, Durannies, metal kids — they all had an instantly-recognisable uniform and ethos. The DIY punk spirit had came to the fore again, but this time with added musical spice.
And this time there was so much to go around that no-one could be accused of being a fashion victim. Blues, soul, funk, jazz, electro, go-go, house and hip-hop were setting the agenda. Like Like. The singer from the Associates was clearly taking his style cues from that Resistance lady from Allo Allo. Very good points but the one you missed out was that the 80s was also the golden age of heavy metal with bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, Dio, Motley Crue, Ratt, etc.
One great independent label that ruled in the mid 80s was Combat Records. Like Liked by 1 person. The music of film during the era was revolutionary and truly changed the way movies are made. When people judge a decade, they often do so years afterward. Feb 13 Arts and Life. In the eternally white world of country music, remarkable changes were also afoot. The smooth countrypolitan flavor was nearing its end, leading to the so-called hard country resurgence that let George Strait , Randy Travis and Dwight Yoakam in the door.
Reba McEntire, not yet uni-monikered, represented an aw-shucks brand of fresh Nashville feminism — a folksy but fierce bridge between the variety-show era and the sisters-doing-it-for-themselves age.
Which finally brings us — as all discussions of 80s music must — to synth-pop. The kids who grew up with the 80s as their wonder years have been conditioned to think of their entire upbringing as a guilty pleasure at best. But survivors of the post-Me Decade carry a lot of it. Their heroes did regrettable things, like introduce too many synths into the sound and dance with a teenaged Courtney Cox.
The Linn drum and the advent of the sampler blinded everyone with science. Esteemed artists from Paul McCartney to T Bone Burnett have remixed and even substantially re-recorded albums from their 80s catalogues, allowing fans to re-evaluate the material free from the production techniques that define most 80s music.
But we should resist the temptation to see synth-pop itself as a mistake. The one-, two- and three-hit wonders that did it as their native artform did it wonderfully.
That is not just a less Human League 80s but a less human version of the decade. The songs are what matter, one keeper at a time.
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