Prog musicians who DIDN'T go mainstream in the 80s

Edited by siLLy puPPy - January 04 2025 at 22:21

I don't think So is THAT mainstream. Millgram's 37? This Is the Picture? Even the groove on Big Time. A-Ha and Madonna weren't doing that kind of stuff, to my knowledge.

Awesoreno wrote: I don't think So is THAT mainstream. Millgram's 37? This Is the Picture? Even the groove on Big Time. A-Ha and Madonna weren't doing that kind of stuff, to my knowledge.

I, for one, went totally anti-mainstream in the 1980s! 

Edited by cstack3 - January 05 2025 at 04:17

Hammill, Camel, lot of Zeuhl and RIO bands/artists of course

PG has become mainstream wth his first personal hit single Solsburry Hill from 1976 on.

Pink Floyd's "The Final Cut"  was far from mainstream, but after that <makes sad face>

siLLy puPPy wrote: Sure the 80s music industry was aiming for the lowest common denominator but the 80s was AMAZINGLY rich in bizarre indie artists lurking in the shadows. For anyone interested i compiled this follow up 80s version of the Nurse With Wound list and i found well over 2000 weird and freaky artists including prog https://rateyourmusic.com/list/siLLy_puPPy/nurse-with-wound-wave-strange-beyond-tubular-music-of-the-1980s/

Faul_McCartney wrote: Many of our beloved musicians turned to pop in the 80s

you mean people who knew how to write a good song adapted their craft to the formulas of the new decade? Yep, the most talented did (KC, PF, JT, Genesis, Rush, Camel, etc), while some of the others rejected the progress

I think the real issue for many listeners on this site is what I would call (for lack of a better term) "1980s Production Values". By 1983, recording studios had become VERY high-tech and fully digital, while the analog synths of the 1970s were traded in for instruments like the Fairlight or Synclavier. Guitarists started dabbling in guitar-synths and extensive pedal-boards, and drummers added Simmons drums and other electronic percussion to the sounds at their disposal.

richardh wrote: Steve Wyzard wrote: I think the real issue for many listeners on this site is what I would call (for lack of a better term) "1980s Production Values". By 1983, recording studios had become VERY high-tech and fully digital, while the analog synths of the 1970s were traded in for instruments like the Fairlight or Synclavier. Guitarists started dabbling in guitar-synths and extensive pedal-boards, and drummers added Simmons drums and other electronic percussion to the sounds at their disposal. What this led to were albums that no longer sounded like the albums recorded in the 1960s/1970s. To this day, many prog listeners dismiss 1980s material simply because it sounds "computerized" or "plastic", unlike the analog albums from earlier days. Someone above mentioned the Emerson, Lake, and Powell album from 1986. While the album did have a single ("Touch and Go") that did receive a lot of airplay, I remain convinced that many older ELP listeners who hated the album were less offended by Carl Palmer's absence than by the simple fact that the album sounds nothing like Tarkus. And after 15 years of technological advancements, why should it? Good point regarding Emerson, Lake and Powell not sounding like classic era ELP (1970-74). Certainly I felt at the time that Emerson had dumped the Hammond Organ in favour of inferior sounding keyboards. However the musical ideas mostly were not bad, although personally I think the album would have been a zillion times better if they recruited Terry Bozzio or Simon Phillips instead of 'hard rocker' Cozy Powell.

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