What was going on in music in the '80s?
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Topic: What was going on in music in the '80s?
Posted By: TheGazzardian
Subject: What was going on in music in the '80s?
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 09:17
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The '80s has a generally bad reputation around here (especially compared to the 70s) but I think it is a generally underrated time in music, and I think that's because a lot of the bands that were doing interesting things at that time kind of dodged the spotlight. But I have discovered quite a few interesting bands from the 80s in my explorations over the past few years, and I don't think that the '80s was such a dead musical landscape as it is sometimes proclaimed to be. On top of the development of a new form of progressive rock in Neo-Prog, the advancement of Metal, and the existence of post-punk, there was a bubbling undercurrent of RIO/Avant bands like Art Bears, early Thinking Plague, and early 5uu's. Lately I have been discovering a bubbling undercurrent of more experimental post-punk bands as well, such as This Heat and Rip Rig and Panic. So what else was happening in the 80s that was interesting?
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Replies:
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 10:18
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I enjoy a LOT of 80s music. Be that from the new wave, post-punk, dream pop, avantguarde, hip hop or the (insert cool name) scene. Currently I've been getting back into acts like Ze Cure and Cocteau Twins - acts that were lying dormant on the shelf for a couple of years, and then suddenly I'm popping em on the stereo once again. Then there's Dead Can Dance - a "band" I never tire of - or perhaps the wonderful ferociousness of post punk band The Chameleons......Yeah, the old '80s music = crap' is a bit old by now. Sure if you're only into the classic sound of prog anno 1973, then you're bound to hate the decade.....or at least one should think. There are several of prog acts that emerged in the 80s, that sounded every bit as vibrant as the big hitters. Some of em stem from communistic countries, and were as a consequence of the iron fisted rule, slightly late to the party. Hell take Solaris' debut from 84, and tell me you don't hear an album that just as well could've been made a decade earlier. The 80s were brilliant imho  ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Sagichim
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 10:33
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I agree that a lot of great music was produced in the 80's and there's plenty for every prog fan to choose from. I can't remember all the things I have from that period but I'll name a few that are not the obvious like Marillion. However - Both albums PLJ Band - Armaggedon Anamorphose - Palimpseste Bi Kyo Ran - Both albums Eider Stellaire - S/T Gunesh Ensemble Jean Paul Prat - Masal Pablo El Enterrador - S/T Bernard Paganotti - Both albums Patrick Gauthier - Bebe Godzilla Phish Rebekka - Phoenix Serge Bringolf - Vision Shub Niggurath - Les Morts Vont Vite The Box - All The Time... This Heat - Deceit Abus Dangereux Dun - Eros Bacamarte - Depois De Fim Present Modry Efekt - 33 |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 10:40
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^Sweet list Sagi I love that you included Masal. What a fantastic album that one is. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Stool Man
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 10:55
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The 80s underground scene was great, but beneath it was something even better - The Underground Of The Underground, from whence I and my pals came ------------- rotten hound of the burnie crew |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 11:12
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I enjoyed all of the following ones....
Echo and the Bunnymen
The Church
The Cure
Ultravox
Simple Minds
Japan
New Order....
etc... ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 11:17
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ECM was the most interresting thing in the 80s. It was golden decade for that production and so many really great albums were released. Jan Garberek was recorded his best albums at that time ... from Steve Tibbets' debut for ECM, "Northern Song" the album.... ...one of the best fusion album ever recorded, and so on. Whole that decade I was listening to this beautiful music; I wasn't a lover of post-punk and new wave so at that time I had found refuge in listening to ECM production. |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 11:41
------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Svetonio wrote:Posted By: Polymorphia
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 11:52
This. Plus, The Fall, This Heat, Chrome, Killing Joke... the list goes on and on |
Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 12:04
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These upstanding citizens, of course: ------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook |
Posted By: akamaisondufromage
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 12:12
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^ oh no! ------------- Help me I'm falling! |
Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 12:14
------------- 
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Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 16:38
Do you have this one, Scenes by Micheal Galasso? Also from 80s, solo violin plays ghostly tunes.
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Posted By: Luna
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 17:04
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Underground industrial's prime time was in the 80s and I love much of what came from that. Metal started growing balls, but wouldn't become what we know it as until the early 90s. Electronic music didn't make much progress past the ambient gods in the 80s apart from the heavy use of synths in popular music. Though, the tail end of the decade saw some innovation. Basically, I see the 70s as the last decade where everything was kind of together. Starting in the 80s, everything started to spread out and genres became mixed. Not to say this hasn't happened before, but I think it's most clear in this decade. I might be talking out of my ass here. Anyone wanna tell me I'm wrong? ------------- https://aprilmaymarch.bandcamp.com/track/the-badger" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 17:16
Yes....I saw that recently and they are on my list of bands to sample on you tube. I was a big fan of Echo.
There was a nice article in Prog Mag about them, Poltergeist, and the members are fans of various prog bands. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Icarium
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 19:34
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Killing Joke, Tears for Fears, Toto, Soundgarden and early sub pop grunge, -------------  
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Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 21:25
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A, The Broadsword and the Beast, Under Wraps, Crest of a Knave, Rock Island. ------------- |
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 23:49
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I left prog for awhile in the early to mid 80's and got into the hardcore punk scene with the Dead Kennedy's, Black Flag, Minutemen, Husker Du, Suicidal Tendencies, DRI...also loved the Pretenders, REM & Christian Death. It wasn't until the 90's I discovered the holy trinity of the 80's neo prog scene - Marillion, IQ & Twelfth Night. ------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987 |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 23:58
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Despite the truly inventive music that was being made - with Pop as much as anything else - in retrospect, the '80s were more or less the vapid and disappointing period we all thought it was. |
Posted By: Luna
Date Posted: September 11 2013 at 07:45
Care to elaborate? I know that popular music back then really plummeted, but popular music has never really been good. ------------- https://aprilmaymarch.bandcamp.com/track/the-badger" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: September 11 2013 at 10:05
There have been many 'popular bands' over the years that have done some very good music......
what exactly do you mean by popular music btw.? Are you referring to the pop divas, boy bands, what...?
 ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: September 11 2013 at 20:25
There have been periods where 'Pop' was high quality, even innovative; Gershwin, the Beach Boys, Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, etc. And there absolutely were some wonderful 1980s acts, Simple Minds, Cocteau Twins, '80s King Crimson, even Yngwie Malmsteen. But if you look at what was happening, the musical movements that were most prevalent as seen on MTV or the Billboard charts, it was artist like INXS, A-ha, George Michael, Huey Lewis, Hall&Oates, and Springsteen's jingoist period that were setting the tone. I think also for music lovers and musicians, the decade represented a sort of "giving in" to the new clean, clipped & streamlined look and robotic sounds of that period. No one seemed immune, few survived, and drummers and bassists were on the verge of going extinct thanks to new technology. Luckily that never really happened but it could have. |
Posted By: Luna
Date Posted: September 11 2013 at 21:15
Chart music. Radio music. Grammy music. You get the deal. ------------- https://aprilmaymarch.bandcamp.com/track/the-badger" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: King Crimson776
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 01:31
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Pop music was actually good for a brief period in the late 60's. Avant-prog was on fire in the early 80's. Other than that, it's a mishmash of ok jazz albums and other random sh*t. After that, prog started to come back. I don't really care about 'new' genres invented after avant-prog. It's mostly really bad minimalism. You have to be extremely talented to do minimalism well. Modern electronic music is particularly abhorrent. I am not a robot, gyrating rigidly to and fro in some repetitive task (although, I suppose a lot of people now kind of are like that). I need more than a bludgeoning minimal beat or pattern.
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Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 05:36
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Out of curiosity: Which specific artists/records/composition would you use as examples of how to do minimalism the right and wrong ways? Also, modern electronic music is extremely heterogenous.
------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 06:11
I.Q., Marillion, Pendragon and Twelfth Night were going on in the 80's 
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Posted By: zappaholic
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 07:46
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Metal had its heyday during the '80s. Although it was mostly hair-metal and glam selling in large amounts, speed, thrash and death metal all got their start during that time. ------------- "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." -- H.L. Mencken |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 10:16
That's what I thought and as I mentioned there have been plenty of great 'pop' bands over the last 45-50 years...and in the 80's. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Icarium
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 10:29
Killing Joke  -------------
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Posted By: Polymorphia
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 11:13
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 12:14
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All decades are the same. There's good music, bad music and great music in all of them. While we persist in comparing the best of what we do like with the worse of what we don't, we'll forever be patting ourselves on the back for our good fortune of being blessed with great taste in music. Compare the best with the best; or compare what you like from one era with what you like from another - play fair.
The mainstream Pop of the 70s wasn't our cup of tea either, we don't go around saying how crap Brotherhood of Man or Captain & Tennille were compared to Marillion or Big Big Train. The list of great bands from the 80s is huge, just don't look to the top-40 Pop charts for them, just as you wouldn't look there now or in the 70s.
If you want a great expressive natural bassplayer from the 80s look to Mick Karn, if you want a gifted guitarist look to John McGeoch or Michael Hedges (may they both rest in peace), if you want a talented drummer who wouldn't dream of using a gated snare look to Peter Clarke (aka Budgie)... every generation has great musicians. ------------- What? |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 15:07
| Other than IQ, Marillion, Al Stewart , Simple Minds , OMD , Ultravox , Visage , Kate Bush , Tangerine Dream , Vangelis , J M Jarre, Iron Maiden , PIL , XTC , Siouxsie and The Banshees, Mike Oldfield , Eloy , Mark Isham , Stephen Caudel ,King Crimson , Peter Gabriel and Enya it was a load of rubbish really. |
Posted By: akamaisondufromage
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 15:11
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Talk Talk
David Syvian and his collaborators. ------------- Help me I'm falling! |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 16:20
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A Certain Ratio, All About Eve, Alien Sex Fiend, Altered Images, The Associates, Toni Basil, The Books, Bauhaus, Cabaret Voltaire, Colourbox, Cowboys International, Chrome, Anne Clark, Classix Nouveaux, Cocteau Twins, Comsat Angels, The Creatures, The Cure, Dalek I Love You, Dali's Car, Danielle Dax, The Dream Academy, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Europeans, The Explorers, Fad Gadget, The Fields of The Nephilim, Fiction Factory, The Fixx, John Foxx, Ultravox!, Gentlemen Without Weapons, Girls At Our Best!, Nina Hagen, Head Of David, The Icicleworks, The Immaculate Fools, Japan, The JAMM's/Timelords/KLF, Kissing the Pink, Annabel Lamb, Magazine, The Lover Speaks, Love and Rockets, Modern English, Modern Man, The Monochrome Set, New Model Army, The Passage, Peter and The Testtube Babies, The Pop Group, Pop Will Eat Itself, The Psychedelic Furs, The Punishment of Luxury, Random Hold, Rikki and The Last Days of The Earth, The Scars, Shelleyan Orphan, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Skinny Puppy, The Slits, Slow Children, The Sound, Spliff, Swans, Talk Talk, The Teardrop Explodes, This Moral Coil, Toyah, Tuxedomoon, Virgin Dance, Victorian Parents, Wire, The Waterboys, The Wonder Stuff, XTC, Xmal Deutschland and the Clan of Zymox ------------- What? |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 16:26
Oh yeah....just rekindled myself with Fields Of The Nephilim - Elizium. Quite simply an amazing album! That, and The Cure's Pornography, are getting a lot of playtime at my apartment these days ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 16:27
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Dean, You pretty much listed every band from the 80's that I never listened to with your post. Talk Talk is the only band on that whole list that I own something from, and that was a compilation that I bought a few months ago. Edit: Oh wait..I do have 2 live albums from Japan. Edit once again: And 1 album and 1 compilation from The Cure. -------------
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 16:33
------------- What? |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 17:14
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Deans list was most interesting and I would add The Police and U2 who both did some excellent lp's and songs in the 80's even though many prog rock elites would ignore them as being too mainstream. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Chris S
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 17:21
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Deans covered most of em, but also Talking Heads, The Sound, Ralph Towner and many from ECM, John Cale, Brian Eno,and all our prog artists already on PA, oh Prefab Sprout and Everything But The Girl, Portishead...the list goes on. Anyone who thinks the 80's was a disappointment should perhaps go see a shrink  ------------- ...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR] |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 17:26
------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 17:39
------------- What? |
Posted By: BrufordFreak
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 21:29
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The Re-Flex, Icehouse, Danny Wilson, Lush, Love and Money, Aztec Camera, Michael Brook, Daniel Lanois, Art of Noise, Style Council, The Moon and the Melodies, Toad the Wet Sprocket, It's Immaterial, Jesus and Mary Chain, Robert Palmer, Kip Hanrahan, Arto Linday & The Ambitious Lovers, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Material, Martha and the Muffins, The League of Gentleman, The Neville Brothers, Gang of Four, Johnny Warman, W.O.M.A.D., Adrian Belew, The Smiths, The Roches, Tom Tom Club, David & Steve Gordon, Mickey Hart, Jean-Luc Ponty, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Gene Loves Jezebel, Annette Peacock, Jane Siberry, Bruce Cockburn, Lene Lovitch, Jon Hassell, John McLaughlin, Clannad, and The Chieftans, to name a few, were also doing quite interesting things in the 80s. ------------- Drew Fisher https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/ |
Posted By: King Crimson776
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 22:05
Good (genius) minimalism is Music for 18 Musicians. That piece is, paradoxically, amazingly complex. It's lush and beautiful. Bad is minimal electronic that just bludgeons away mind-numbingly. Anything labeled "electronic" as a genre is basically minimalism, I've found.
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Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 23:58
Agreed about Music for 18 Musicians (1978), that's monumental masterpiece. But, another Mr Reich's album recorded for ECM is my fav by him. Do you heard Tehillim (1981)? If you're not heard yet, I recommend this album to you. Tehillim is one of the best LPs in '80s. |
Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 04:35
Even relatively involved stuff like later Autechre, Future Sound of London or Venetian Snares? I guess I should mention that I'm not super into 20th century classical, and it's very possible that most more "popular" electronic music (for lack of a better categorization) sounds less impressive if you're familiar with that tradition. After all, electronica came from Reich/Riley/Stockhausen/etc. through early Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze before Kraftwerk then Giorgio Moroder adapted it to a more pop-friendly format. ------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 05:04
The relationship between electronic and minimalism is mostly coincidental, the use of sequencers and loops naturally gives way to repetition, but not in the way that minimalism uses repetition. Both can be seen as Repetitive Music, but different and unrelated branches. Electronic music is far from minimalism and far from minimalistic in my experience, though of course there are electronic artists who are also minimalists, and while some of them acknowledge people like Reich and Riley, most do not. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 05:52
Pretty much sums up what I was about to post. The electronic artists, at least the early ones, did have a fair few minimalistic qualities to their output, but especially the German and French branchings explored new grounds through repetition, that perhaps mimic what most people would refer to as minimalism, yet the focus is another one altogether imho. Whereas the 'real' minimalism came from classical musicians such as Eric Satie and later got adopted by folks inside the classical sphere, most of the electronic wave of musicians came from untrained explorers of sound. Froese came from the guitar, whereas Schulze approached his music from a drummer's stool. I think this facet shines through in the music, and electronic, as in fully electronic music, became as a consequence of this, obscure and abstract in a way that the minimalistic pioneers could never do - and vice versa. To me personally, it boils down to the difference in background and what then came out at the other end. Just because both of these seemingly similar musical pathways shared a lot of likenesses, there still is a clear distinction in expression, submersible quality and 'feel'. Bear in mind, that I have absolutely no musical training whatsoever, so I'm basically talking out my ass here ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 08:32
| ^ That Berlin School is minimalistic music (more than Mr Reich's repetitive albums) - because 80% of that music is studio effects. They weren't a virtuoso on keys & composers of "baroque" electronic tunes as e.g. Vangelis, they were just great inventors on their machines and THE makers of an amazing and unique atmosphere. |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 09:18
^ no, not really.
 Not at all in fact.
 That's not what Minimalism is and that is not what The Berlin School did. Two wrongs don't make a right. ------------- What? |
Posted By: TheProgtologist
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 09:30
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The 80's gave us XTC and Talk Talk......'nuff said. -------------  |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 10:18
Screw prog rock elites, they were great bands.
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Posted By: TheGazzardian
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 10:43
| I have all the Police's albums and they are fantastic. I've never really explored U2 to be honest but I'm not so huge on their singles. |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 10:58
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I saw both bands when they were support acts, I'm surprised they got that far to be honest. There is so much in the 80s that was great and worthy of mention, U2 and Police were to 80s post punk what Styx and Aerosmith were to 70s hard rock (ie: okay if you like that kind of thing, just not my cup of darjeeling) ------------- What? |
Posted By: Smurph
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 11:11
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U2 represents everything I dislike about music.
Boring, dad rock. Boring. Boring. Boring. Boring. Even more boring than this entire post. ------------- http://pseudosentai.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - http://pseudosentai.bandcamp.com/ wtf |
Posted By: NotAProghead
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 11:18
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No argue, there was good music in the 80s too. But my overall feeling back then was that this bloody "disco" will stay forever. Fortunately everything ends, including those plastic keyboards and silly drum machines. ------------- Who are you and who am I to say we know the reason why... (D. Gilmour) |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 17:33
No, not forgetting them. But, though memorable, I'm afraid I count both The Cars and The Fixx as quintessential vacuous 80s artists. 'One Thing Leads to Another' is, at best, an energetic and catchy pop tune. But that's all it is, and therein lies the issue. Talking Heads? Sure, but I think Byrne's latest solo stuff (Love This Giant) is much more interesting. |
Posted By: AnonymousLoner
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 17:59
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The majority of the mainstream music during the time was tasteless garbage, but the underground music at the time was great. ------------- "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything." ~ Plato |
Posted By: Polymorphia
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 18:28
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Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 18:46
| There was nothing particularly 'wrong' with 80's music, it's just that much of it hasn't aged well. I recall when 'Invisible Touch' was all the rave ('86/'87) and at that point in time it had a wonderful, fresh modern sound which, sadly, sounds like muck these days. I wonder what it would've sounded like with, say, the production quality of Rush's 'Moving Pictures'....?? |
Posted By: Luna
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 19:11
Same is true for every decade. ------------- https://aprilmaymarch.bandcamp.com/track/the-badger" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: NotAProghead
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 19:23
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And in any decade there is always a lot of garbage in the undeground. ------------- Who are you and who am I to say we know the reason why... (D. Gilmour) |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 19:25
| Music sucks. |
Posted By: Chris S
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 19:33
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^ Yeah I agree music is the pits.......grow vegetables much more interesting Comments aside, every decade dated where mainstream music is concerned. The classic albums of any period never date. Noone can tell me otherwise. CTTE not dated, Reamain In Light not dated, Fugazi not dated, The Final Cut not dated. Interestingly enough Floyd's The Wall IMO has dated slightly, Invisible Touch the worst album of Genesis to suffer from sounding dated. Will be interesting when we discuss the 90's, 00's cos there became multitudes of bands and apart from mainstream music which great prog albums did not date? ------------- ...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR] |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 19:37
| ^ Spock's Beard 'The Light' was released in '95 - 18 years on, it sounds like a recent release. Yet some of the early 90's albums suffered from an 80's hangover, particularly concerning drum sounds (ELP's 'Black Moon', Hawkwind's 'Electric Tepee' etc.) |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 19:38
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Nothing dates quicker than a music fan. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Luna
Date Posted: September 13 2013 at 19:53
Yup. ------------- https://aprilmaymarch.bandcamp.com/track/the-badger" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: mongofa
Date Posted: September 14 2013 at 00:17
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Deceit! ------------- 
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Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: September 14 2013 at 00:25
I really don't belong here! You don't mentioned one and only pop band that I loved in 80s   |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: September 14 2013 at 00:51
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Dexy's Midnight Runners
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Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: September 14 2013 at 02:06
Interesting perspective. I thought Karlheinz Stockhausen was like the most importance influence outside popular music on the German prog electronic artists with Morton, Reich, Riley, Varese etc. also having a prominent role. (JM Jarre and Vangelis's stuff being based in more traditional orchestral music) I know for sure that Schulze's been heavily inspired by modern classical since the beginning, very much including Steve Reich and others, but his output is also way more overtly neoclassical than TDs or KW so I'm cautious not to use him as an example too much. Even then, it still turns out to be more complex than I imagined, again because I'm kind of under-educated about the history of both genres as well as advanced music theory. Perhaps I should mention I've met quite a few who insist that Jarre/Schulze/TD/etc. isn't "real" electronic music because it's either too closely rooted in prior musical traditions including 20th century classical and progressive/psychedelic rock, or too technologically primitive. ------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 14 2013 at 04:41
------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 14 2013 at 04:53
That's because you haven't seen the distinction between the bands I listed and "pop bands of the 80s". I didn't list Culture Club, Haircut 100, Yazoo, Fine Young Cannibals, Style Council, Big Country, U2, Police, Simple Minds, Tears For Fears, Duran Duran, OMD, Men At Work, Bananarama, Aztec Camera, Rick Astley, Aneka, Dollar, Boy Meets Girl, Thompson Twins, Howard Jones, Haysi Fantayzee, Nena, Dead Or Alive, Communards, Bronski Beat, King, Hothouse Flowers, Blow Monkeys, Blancmange or The Lotus Eaters for a reason. And it wasn't because I love all the bands on one list and not the other either (because I like several bands off both lists). If you (or anyone) likes bands from List 2 then "Whooopie! Good for you", that's not the point I was making. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: September 14 2013 at 07:37
Yeah, but now I'm feel more sad and alone.. Among the 80s bands you mentioned in your previous list there is not Material, although you mentioned Ultravox and although Material is already in Archives... I bought their first two LPs while student excursion in Paris in April 1983 at urging of my ex-girlfriend (she loved to dance) so I'm emotionally attached with them |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 14 2013 at 08:02
------------- What? |
Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: September 14 2013 at 11:18
| Recording techniques used in the 80s make SOME of the music of that time sound 'dated' (I see nothing wrong with what Martin Birch did for Iron Maiden, for instance...that music needs a big sound, it's not meant to be jazz-subtle). Otherwise, there was plenty of great music, great albums in that decade as in any other. There were boring pop acts before as well. Carpenters co-existed with Stevie Wonder and I have seen, in an old TV programme, the emcee say with a straight face that Carpenters are one of the very few bands that have their own sound. Yeah rightttttt. |
Posted By: Polymorphia
Date Posted: September 14 2013 at 11:42
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Posted By: The Pessimist
Date Posted: September 14 2013 at 11:54
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This is a great tune ------------- "Market value is irrelevant to intrinsic value." Arnold Schoenberg |
Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: September 14 2013 at 12:28
Yeah. That's why http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=77969" rel="nofollow - elsewhere on the forums I threw out a request for recommendations of books about the history of electronic music from the 1960s/1970s until now. On the proper discussion subject of this thread: It just occurred to me that Captain Beefheart released two of his best LPs, Doc at the Radar Station and Ice Cream for Crow during that decade. Not bad when it's remembered as something of a desert for progressive music. I think it helped that some of the more eccentric punk bands of the era mentioned him as an inspiration quite often. ------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: September 14 2013 at 22:32
 1981  1981  1981  1982  1983  1984  1984  1986  1988 The Eighties definitely were not just flipping post-punk and new wave as an army of junkies, self-proclaimed "musicologists" in numerous magazines of that time, were dreamed.
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Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: September 15 2013 at 04:08
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Yeah, Zappa and Beefheart were probably the original generation
avant/prog/psych-rock musicians who did best both artistically and
commercially in the 1980s. I still think the genres the decade was best for were not just punk and its derived genres like post-punk/new wave and hardcore but also metal, hip-hop and the first wave of industrial/noise as someone else mentioned. Likewise, it's the decade where electronic music really broke into the mainstream though for the most part that's the result of synthesizers becoming affordable and more user-friendly. It's probably relevant that most of the developments I mentioned above started already in the late 1970s, though, but I'm not sure exactly how. ------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook |
Posted By: Chris S
Date Posted: September 15 2013 at 04:27
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^ Evolution in technology? ------------- ...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR] |
Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: September 15 2013 at 04:37
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Not just that but also heavy metal separating itself from normal rock music in terms of riffing style with Judas Priest's late-1970s work, punk getting either more creative (hence "post-") or more extreme ("hardcore"), hip-hop coming into being etc. ------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 15 2013 at 04:53
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It is all down to demographics and generations. The demographic that liked Prog Rock in the 70s is the same demographic that followed the alternative/underground/indie music in every other generation, the demographics that liked mainstream Pop and Rock music in the 70s is the same demographics that liked mainstream Pop and Rock music in every other generation. The 70s generation of non-mainstream listeners and artists got old and moved on, they got jobs, families, mortgages and other responsibilities; they swapped the state of the surreal for real estate and the silver machine for a Toyota Camry. The next generation of fans and bands adopted and adapted the underground to their own image, like every generation before and since, they rejected the music of the previous generation and created their own that also rejected the mainstream Pop and Rock of their own era. This was not an evolution in the traditional sense but an adaption to fill a niche (like lemurs in Madagascar or marsupials in Australia). Also, generations do not run on a ten-year cycle, and they overlap, so the transition did not occur at midnight on 31st December 1979 and last until 23:59:59.99 on 31st December 1989, so of course artists, styles and traditions that started earlier do continue into the new decade, and they also adapt to, and adopt, what is currently happening in that era. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: September 15 2013 at 07:16
1980  1981  1986  1980  1980 From Serbia with love!
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: September 15 2013 at 07:23
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Please resist the urge to flood with videos, one is sufficient surely. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: September 22 2013 at 03:12
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This is imo the best song of Yugoslavian art-pop in 80's, Kao Kakao (in english As Cacao) by 80's Leb i Sol from beautiful Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia... ...and the best Serbian 80's artistic post-punk band, EKV. Although this live video is taken in 1992 , in an open-air caffe at the small town in Northern Serbia, I posted this one as not bad recorded and because this is very good example of what EKV (rip) were on stage as well. This video also perfectly shows that charmy relation between the band and their fan base. |
Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: September 22 2013 at 03:37
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On the subject of Eastern European post-punk bands, here's one from Belarus. I'm not sure if this song is technically from the 1990s, though, information about this group is somewhat difficult to come across in English. ------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: September 22 2013 at 03:52
Nice song. I love Belarus. Maybe you will like this song by Croatian band called Haustor. They were also the big stars of new wave/post-punk in ex-Yugoslavia in 80s. |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: September 22 2013 at 03:53
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Post-punk with synths a la Nik Kershaw The Riddle Nice one Mantis
------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Dayvenkirq
Date Posted: September 22 2013 at 04:17
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Eh ... somehow "Slavic" and "post-punk" don't got together well in my head. Maybe it's because I heard a lot of jangly garbage in my language.
v But that's actually not bad.
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Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: September 22 2013 at 04:18
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As Mantis like that artistic new wave from East Europe with synths, he will also like for sure this song from 1983 by Belgrade's band Kozmetika, one-album wonder who was new wave and art rock act. As a couriosity, I'd like to mention the detail that their lead singer Nebojša Krstić later, as succesful art-director of an advert company, went in politics and become an official advisor of Serbian ex-President Boris Tadić.
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Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: September 22 2013 at 06:11
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I'm a little late to this thread. My observation is that while a lot of prog artists disappointed by going commercial there was a lot of good stuff to turn to. I kept up with Yes a Genesis for a while but I quit getting new albums from them after 90210 and Invisible Fleece. I still haven't bothered to upgrade those to CD. I quit upgrading Genesis after Abacab, though I did get a really cheap used copy of Calling All Stations. But for me, I had just been heavily hooked on prog for about a couple of years before the '80's his so I had plenty of stuff to explore backwards and there was still plenty of good new stuff to explore - Frank Zappa and the ECM label as previously mentioned. So anyway from my collection - First and foremost anything by XTC. Yeah yeah, I know they will never be on this site as prog artists but I considered them to be so at the time from at least English Settlement forward so bite me. I'm dropping out albums from Zappa, XTC, Marillion, King Crimson. Honorable mentions to Joe Jackson, Psychedelic Furs, The Police, Tears For Fears, Eurythmics (for the 1984 soundtrack), Toto (for the Dune soundtrack), New Order (for Low Life, the instrumental Elegia, which got me get that album), Public Image Limited (for Compact Disc and the other formats), David + David (for Boomtown), Paul Simon (for Graceland), I've narrowed it down to a list of the top 100 albums that I got when they were new releases: Anderson, Jon Song of Seven 1980 Brand X Do They Hurt? 1980 Budd, Harold / Brian Eno Ambient 2/The Platform of Mirror 1980 Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band Doc at the Radar Station 1980 Di Meola, Al Spendido Hotel 1980 Dixie Dregs Dregs of the Earth 1980 Eno, Brian-David Byrne My Life in the Bush of Ghosts) 1980 Frith, Fred Speechless 1980 Hackett, Steve Defector (Remaster) 1980 Hampton, Co. Bruce and The Late Bronze Age Outside Looking Out 1980 Hof, Jasper Van't Live In Montreaux 1980 Laraaji Ambient 3/Day of Radience 1980 Metheny, Pat & Lyle Mays As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls 1980 Talking Heads Remain In Light 1980 Tibbetts, Steve Yr 1980 Bruninghaus, Rainer Freigeweht 1981 Byrne, David Complete Score from "The Catherine Wheel", The 1981 Dregs, The Unsung Heroes 1981 Harrison, Jerry Red and the Black, The 1981 Hassell, Jon Fourth World Volume Two: Dream Theory In Malaya 1981 Hine, Rupert Immunity 1981 Pastorius, Jaco Word of Mouth 1981 Sky Sky 2 1981 Sky Sky 3 1981 Synergy Audion 1981 Tibbetts, Steve Northern Song 1981 Belew, Adrian Lone Rhino 1982 Bush, Kate Dreaming, The 1982 Dixie Dregs, the Industry Standard 1982 Hampton, Co. Bruce and The Late Bronze Age Isles of Langerhan 1982 Manzanera, Phil Primititve Guitars 1982 Metheny Group, Pat Offramp 1982 Ponty, Jean-Luc Mystical Adventures 1982 Roxy Music Avalon 1982 Sky Sky 4 Forthcoming 1982 Summers, Andy-Robert Fripp I Advanced Masked 1982 Wyatt, Robert Nothing Can Stop Us 1982 Belew, Adrian Twang Bar King 1983 Eno, Brian Apollo Atmospheres & Soundtracks 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 Moraz - Buford Music For Piano and Drums 1983 Oregon Oregon 1983 Ponty, Jean-Luc Individual Choice 1983 Tibbetts, Steve Safe Journey 1983 Vangelis Antarctica - The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 1983 Budd, Harold/Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois Pearl, The 1984 Corea, Chick Children's Songs 1984 Eno, Brian Thursday Afternoon 1984 Hedges, Michael Aerial Boundaries 1984 L. Subramanium/Stephane Grappelli Conversations 1984 Metheny, Pat Group First Circle 1984 Shadowfax Dreams of Children, The 1984 Skeleton Crew Learn To Talk 1984 Summers, Andy-Robert Fripp Bewitched 1984 Bush, Kate Hounds of Love + 6 Bonus Tracks 1985 Goodman, Jerry On the Future of Aviation 1985 Holdsworth, Allan i.o.u. 1985 Holdsworth, Allan Metal Fatigue 1985 Jobson, Eddie Theme of Secrets 1985 Johnson, Eric Tones 1985 Sting Dream of the Blue Turtles, The 1985 Carlos, Wendy Beauty In the Beast 1986 Cluster & Brian Eno Old Land 1986 Eno, Brian Ambient 4/On Land 1986 Glass, Phillip Songs from Liquid Days 1986 Goodman, Jerry Ariel 1986 Tangerine Dream Underwater Sunlight 1986 Tibbetts, Steve Exploded View 1986 Torn, David Cloud About Mercury 1986 Bears,The Bears,The 1987 Bears,The Rise and Shine 1987 Frith, Fred Technology of Tears, The 1987 Hampton, Col. Bruce Arkansas 1987 Hassell, Jon Surgeon of the Nightsky Restores Dead Things ..., The 1987 Holdsworth, Allan Sand 1987 New Percussion Group of Amsterdam Go Between 1987 Phillips, Anthony Slow Waves, Soft Stars 1987 Summers, Andy Mysterious Barricades 1987 Tangerine Dream Tyger 1987 Van Tieghem, David Safety In Numbers 1987 Eno, Brian-Et. Al. Music for Films III 1988 Isham, Mark Grand Parade, The 1988 Kaiser, Henry Those Who Know History Are Doomed To Repeat It 1988 Mitchell, Joni Chalk Mark In a Rainstorm 1988 Reich, Steve w/ Kronos Quartet & Pat Metheny Different Trains & Electric Counterpoint 1988 Rypday, Terje Singles Collection, The 1988 Tangerine Dream Optical Race 1988 Tibbetts, Steve Big Map Idea 1988 Anderson, Laurie Strange Angels 1989 Belew, Adrian Mr. Music Head 1989 Holdsworth, Allan Secrets 1989 McLachlan, Sarah Touch 1989 Morse, Steve High Tension Wires 1989 Nirvana "Bleach" 1989 Ponty, Jean Luc Storytelling 1989 Tangerine Dream Lily On the Beach 1989 Then there are artists that put out some good stuff in the '80's I didn't discover until after the decade - Djam Karet, Primus, Ozric Tentacles, No-man, Happy Rhodes, Univers Zero... ------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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Posted By: BarryGlibb
Date Posted: September 23 2013 at 05:21
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Big Country thank you so much for making my 80s worthwhile...RIP Stuart Adamson |
Posted By: King Crimson776
Date Posted: September 24 2013 at 21:29
Basically, I don't think you can define genres by instrumentation. If an artist uses electronic sounds to make complex music, it's some form of modern classical. Autechre has some wacky rhythms, but it's generally overall repetitive and non-dynamic in structure. It doesn't really "go anywhere". Well, minimalism can technically go places, by bridging and overlapping different minimalist ideas (a la 18 Musicians and Tangerine Dream). Everything mentioned is built of those repetitive sections though. I've heard Tehillim, to the guy who recommended that. It's good but I prefer Desert Music.
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