The 80s..the worst era for prog.

Of course there were great albums made in the 80's, but it's uncompareable to the 70's.
It just wasn't the time for prog anymore.

sagichim wrote: , but it's uncompareable to the 70's.

And what is? 60s and 70s saw the inception and expansion of rock music as we know it, so it will hold a pride of place in the history of rock music.

Well, it marked the death of Gentle Giant and several of our revered bands catching commecialitis. 

If you think the '80's sucked, here's what you might have missed (hell even I missed some of these when they first came out.  I narrowed the list down a bit):
Bowie, David    Scary Monsters    1980 - Bowie made some of his best stuff when he worked with prog musicians.
Brand X    Do They Hurt?    1980 - the X does some really heavy stuff.
Budd, Harold / Brian Eno    Ambient 2/The Platform of Mirror    1980 - ambient doesn't get better than this.
Bush, Kate    Never for Ever    1980 - Kate ascending.
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band    Doc at the Radar Station    1980 - no Trout Mask but that's a good thing.
Di Meola, Al    Spendido Hotel    1980 - Al's sprawling experiment.  Roller Jubilee actually got used in a Minute Rice commercial.
Di Meola, Al/John McLaughlin/Paco de Lucia    Friday Night In San Francisco    1980 - one of the great acoustic guitar trio albums.
Dixie Dregs    Dregs of the Earth    1980 - the Dregs were still going strong.
Eno, Brian-David Byrne    My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (Remaster)    1980 - can't say enough about this one.  An experimental album that worked really well.
Frith, Fred    Speechless    1980 - Fred's music is definitely a highlight of the '80's
Gabriel, Peter    III    1980 - Peter continues to evolve in mysterious ways.
Gentle Giant    Civilian    1980 - people seem to hate this one.  Major improvement over you know what.
Hackett, Steve    Defector (Remaster)    1980 - Steve would fizzle later but not here.
Hall, Daryl    Sacred Songs    1980 - Daryl Hall?  Prog?  You better believe it.
Hampton, Co. Bruce and The Late Bronze Age    Outside Looking Out    1980 - no point in talking about this guy and crew because I have yet to hear anyone say they've ever heard the stuff around here.  Your loss.
Hof, Jasper Van't    Live In Montreaux    1980 - great fusion from a guy that I was informed once was just a jazz guy.
Johnson, David Earle with Jan Hammer    Hip Address    1980 - DEJ is one of those buried treasures.
League of Gentlemen, The    Thrang Thrang Gozinbulx    1980 - I wouldn't have given a rat's ass about this band if Fripp weren't in it.
Metheny, Pat & Lyle Mays    As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls    1980 - not much in Metheny land of the '80's that I didn't like.

I'm going to stop now but...

Police, The    Zenyatta Mondatta    1980 -
Psychedelic Furs, The    Psychedelic Furs, The    1980
Rutherford, Mike    Smallcreep's Day    1980
Talking Heads    Remain In Light (Remaster)    1980
Tibbetts, Steve    Yr    1980
XTC    Black Sea    1980
Bruninghaus, Rainer    Freigeweht    1981
Budd, Harold    Serpent (In Quicksilver/Abandoned Cities, The    1981
Byrne, David    Complete Score from "The Catherine Wheel", The    1981
Hine, Rupert    Immunity    1981
King Crimson    Discipline    1981
Pastorius, Jaco    Word of Mouth    1981
Phillips, Anthony    Private Parts & Pieces III    1981
Police, The    Ghost In The Machine    1981
Psychedelic Furs, The    Talk Talk Talk    1981
Sky    Sky 2    1981
Sky    Sky 3    1981
Soft Machine    Land of Cockayne    1981
Synergy    Audion    1981
Tibbetts, Steve    Northern Song    1981
Zappa, Frank    You Are What You Is    1981
Belew, Adrian    Lone Rhino    1982
Bush, Kate    Dreaming, The    1982
Free Flight    Jazz/Classical Union, The    1982
Gabriel, Peter    Security    1982
Glass, Phillip    Glassworks    1982
Hampton, Co. Bruce and The Late Bronze Age    Isles of Langerhan    1982
Jackson, Joe    Night and Day (Deluxe Edition)    1982
King Crimson    Beat    1982
Manzanera, Phil    Primititve Guitars    1982
Metheny Group, Pat    Offramp    1982
Ponty, Jean-Luc    Mystical Adventures    1982
Psychedelic Furs, The    Forever Now    1982
Roxy Music    Avalon    1982
Shadowfax    Shadowfax    1982
Sky    Sky 4 Forthcoming    1982
Summers, Andy-Robert Fripp    I Advanced Masked    1982
Talking Heads    The Name of This Band is Talking Heads    1982
XTC    English Settlement (Remaster)    1982
Belew, Adrian    Twang Bar King    1983
Brunninghaus, Rainer    Continuum    1983
Eno, Brian    Apollo Atmospheres & Soundtracks    1983
Eno, Brian    More Music For Films    1983
Frith, Fred    Cheap At Half the Price    1983
Hine, Rupert    Wildest Wish To Fly    1983
Holdsworth, Allan    Road Games    1983
Isham, Mark    Vapor Drawings    1983
Jobson, Eddie/Zinc    The Green Album, The    1983
Marillion    Script For A Jester's Tear (Remaster)    1983
Moraz - Buford    Music For Piano and Drums    1983
Police, The    Synchronicity    1983
Tears for Fears    Hurting, The    1983
Vangelis    Antarctica - The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack    1983
Anderson, Laurie    Mister Heartbreak    1984
Anderson, Laurie    United States Live (Disc Four)    1984
Anderson, Laurie    United States Live (Disc One)    1984
Anderson, Laurie    United States Live (Disc Three)    1984
Anderson, Laurie    United States Live (Disc Two)    1984
Budd, Harold/Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois    Pearl, The    1984
Corea, Chick    Children's Songs    1984
Eurythmics    1984 for the love of big brother    1984
Free Flight    Beyond the Clouds    1984
Hedges, Michael    Aerial Boundaries    1984
Jackson, Joe    Body and Soul    1984
King Crimson    Three of a Perfect Pair    1984
L. Subramanium/Stephane Grappelli    Conversations    1984
Marillion    Fugazi    1984
Metheny, Pat Group    First Circle    1984
Shadowfax    Dreams of Children, The    1984
Skeleton Crew    Learn To Talk/The Country of Blinds    1984
Summers, Andy-Robert Fripp    Bewitched    1984
Toto    Dune Sountrack    1984
Univers Zero    Uzed    1984
XTC    Big Express, The    1984
Brook, Michael with Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois    Hybrid    1985
Bush, Kate    Hounds of Love + 6 Bonus Tracks    1985
Holdsworth, Allan    i.o.u.    1985
Holdsworth, Allan    Metal Fatigue    1985
Jobson, Eddie    Theme of Secrets    1985
Johnson, Eric    Tones    1985
Marillion    Misplaced Childhood    1985
Public Image Ltd.    Compact Disc    1985
Reich, Steve    Desert Music, The    1985
Sting    Dream of the Blue Turtles, The    1985
Tears for Fears    Songs From The Big Chair    1985
Anderson, Laurie    Home of the Brave    1986
Budd, Harold    Lovely Thunder    1986
Budd, Harold, Simon Raymonde, Robin Guthrie, Elizabeth Fraser    Moon and the Melodies, The    1986
Carlos, Wendy    Beauty In the Beast    1986
Cluster & Brian Eno    Old Land    1986
David + David    Boomtown    1986
Eno, Brian    Ambient 4/On Land    1986
Gabriel, Peter    So    1986
Glass, Phillip    Songs from Liquid Days    1986
Jackson, Joe    Big World    1986
Simon, Paul    Graceland    1986
Tangerine Dream    Canyon Dreams    1986
Tangerine Dream    Underwater Sunlight    1986
Torn, David    Cloud About Mercury    1986
Wyatt, Robert    Old Rottenhat    1986
XTC    Skylarking    1986
Zappa, Frank    Jazz From Hell    1986
Bears,The    Bears,The    1987
Bears,The    Rise and Shine    1987
Budd, Harold    White Arcades, The    1987
Dukes of Stratosphear, The    Chips from the Chocolate Fireball    1987
Frech Frith Kaiser Thompson    Live, Love, Larf & Loaf    1987
Frith, Fred    Technology of Tears, The    1987
Hampton, Col. Bruce    Arkansas    1987
Isham, Mark/Arte Lande    We Begin    1987
New Percussion Group of Amsterdam    Go Between    1987
Summers, Andy    Mysterious Barricades    1987
Tangerine Dream    Tyger    1987
Van Tieghem, David    Safety In Numbers    1987
XTC    Mummer    1987
Eno, Brian-Et. Al.    Music for Films III    1988
Isham, Mark    Grand Parade, The    1988
Jackson, Joe    Blaze of Glory    1988
Kaiser, Henry    Those Who Know History Are Doomed To Repeat It    1988
Mitchell, Joni    Chalk Mark In a Rainstorm    1988
Pere Ubu    Cloudland    1988
Reich, Steve w/ Kronos Quartet & Pat Metheny    Different Trains & Electric Counterpoint    1988
Rypday, Terje    Singles Collection, The    1988
Tangerine Dream    Optical Race    1988
Zappa, Frank    Broadway the Hardway    1988
Anderson, Laurie    Strange Angels    1989
Badalamenti, Angelo    Soundtrack from Twin Peaks    1989
Belew, Adrian    Mr. Music Head    1989
Budd, Harold    Agua    1989
Bush, Kate    Sensual World, The    1989
Djam Karet    Reflections from the Firepool    1989
Finn, Tim    Tim Fin    1989
Frith, Fred    Allies    1989
Johnson, Eric    Ah Via Musicom    1989
McLachlan, Sarah    Touch    1989
Morse, Steve    High Tension Wires    1989
no-man    speak    1989
Ozric Tentacles    Pungent Effulgent    1989
Ponty, Jean Luc    Storytelling    1989
Primus    Frizzle Fry    1989
Tangerine Dream    Lily On the Beach    1989
XTC    Oranges & Lemons    1989

Trimmed the list down a little bit.



Edited by Slartibartfast - March 03 2012 at 06:53

Aww man, they came to Atlanta on that tour, the only time I've seen them live in person.  Nostalgia is a beautiful thing.


Edited by Slartibartfast - March 03 2012 at 06:27

Uhhhmm I love me some Cocteaus Cure Siouxsie. Going to pop on Juju right about now
Prog is fortunately not everything.

Guldbamsen wrote: Prog is fortunately not everything.

harmonium.ro wrote: Guldbamsen wrote: Prog is fortunately not everything.

Unbeliever!!!

Get him!!!!

We'll infest you with long hair (guys) and you'll be sorry.


Edited by Slartibartfast - March 03 2012 at 16:02

One must also remember that the 80's saw the apparition of a second wave of RIO bands: Thinking Plague, 5UU's, Motor Totemist Guid... In France, some small bands perpetuated the traditions: Asia Minor, Eskaton, Minimum Vital...

One of my favorite band, Etron Fou Leloublan, released two albums in the 70's and the four other LPs in the 80's.

And if we are to talk about the Japanese bands: from Gerard to Ruins, including After Dinner, the eccentrics seemed to run in the streets!

^ actually Big Generator is awesome AOR, hardly anything to do with prog, but I'll agree with the general idea. Where's Walter when you need someone to squash the '80s haters...

Gone to a better place...