Siouxsie and The Banshees, Joy Division, Durutti Column, The Fall, Crass, Dead Kennedys, The Cure (mostly mid-80's for me), The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, The Pogues, Sonic Youth, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Tom Waits, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five (The Message ftw), plus USSR had an underground rock scene of its own. Yep, I definitely wish I hit my 20's around say 1979.
richg101
the reason that 80's music was so happy and uplifting is because things were generally more happy. the cold war is a lot less worrying than the war between the west and the muslim extremists. and thecold war was only for the first section of the 80's, where music wasnt as good as after 83. at least back in the 80's we were fighting people with vaguely similar morals. the 80's was the hay-day of the west. back when dreams really came true, films were developing to something really special, music technology was being taken advantage of to the max. the western world was at its richest. now the western world is working for one thing... 'to support those less fortunate than ourselves'. therefore we have less money because it is going to those who cannot provide for themselves.
PETRAN
quote:
Originally posted by richg101
the reason that 80's music was so happy and uplifting is because things were generally more happy. the cold war is a lot less worrying than the war between the west and the muslim extremists. and thecold war was only for the first section of the 80's, where music wasnt as good as after 83. at least back in the 80's we were fighting people with vaguely similar morals. the 80's was the hay-day of the west. back when dreams really came true, films were developing to something really special, music technology was being taken advantage of to the max. the western world was at its richest. now the western world is working for one thing... 'to support those less fortunate than ourselves'. therefore we have less money because it is going to those who cannot provide for themselves.
I can't understand the "80s had happier music thing". The 80s gave birth to some very dark genres of music such as post-punk/gothic-rock, darkwave, industrial, EBM (and not to mention death metal and te birth of black metal). The 80s had some very dark and bleak music indeed which makes today's emo bands look like the smurfs, seriously.
Its just that the 80s had more emotional and expressive music in general. So, pop music and ballads which received airplay were very "moving", "happy" etc. giving the impression of happyness. Plus if you compare current pop music with that from ANY past decade, you'll most probably conclude that all mainsteam music of the past was more emotional/happy etc. due to the fact that the bloody stupid r'n'b, cheesy pop, boring samey-same pretentious indie and a lot of house today which often represent the top-10 ultimately FAIL to evoke any emotional response or whatsoever.
So, IMO its more likely that hard times give birth to more emotional/interesting/expressive music in general whereas boring times in which most people's problems are comprised by things such as "which new mobile phone i should buy" on the majority of times give rise to boring, maybe pretentious and uninteresting music.
Lebezniatnikov
PETRAN
quote:
Originally posted by ibizzzaaa
And let the name-dropping begin!
Siouxsie and The Banshees, Joy Division, Durutti Column, The Fall, Crass, Dead Kennedys, The Cure (mostly mid-80's for me), The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, The Pogues, Sonic Youth, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Tom Waits, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five (The Message ftw), plus USSR had an underground rock scene of its own. Yep, I definitely wish I hit my 20's around say 1979.
All these bands are great man! Great taste!
Too bad that many forget more underground 80s post-punk bands such as The Sound, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Comsat Angels and The Chameleons (U.K.). Oh yeah and the Sisters of Mercy. Together with the Cure, Joy Division, Cocteau Twins, Clan of Xymox, Siouxsie etc. these bands were my favorites.
The Sound - "Winning"
(Yeah, "From The Lions Mouth", a superb album. R.I.P. Adrian Borland).
The Chameleons U.K.- "Tears"
(The Chameleons were like the first and best shoegaze band before Shoegaze existed).
Swans - "Love of Life"
(the genious post-apocalyptic avant-gatde "No-Wave" music of the paranoid genious M.Gira. the Swans, one of the best, experimental but harsh bands of the 80s.)
Comsat Angels- "After The Rain" and "What Else?"
(these two songs are from the third album- "Fiction". The best one is their second one though "Sleep No More". Possibly my favorite record from the 80s)
Clan of Xymox- "Medusa"
(Amazing darkwave, electro-goth band from the 80s. Pure emotiona through synths and heavily distorted quitars. One of my favorites. Amazing crescento at the end of "medusa".)
Cabaret Voltaire- "I Want you"
(Industrial/EBM genius Richard H.Kirk with Cabaret Voltaire. Dadaism expressed through music).
Killing Joke - "Adorations"
(Killing Joke in mystical ecstasy. Mysterious and enigmatic, at times agressive, new-wave by this lot. the bad-quality of this video aids in the atmosphere!)
jupiterone
ewwwww sonic youth :(
XaNaX
quote:
Originally posted by emc^2
Interesting observation: why is it that in the 80's during stressful times (cold war) and time of major political turmoil around the world, the music was a lot more bright than it is today?
because cocaine was cheap (relatively), readily available, and of high quality
MeLLyMeL
quote:
Originally posted by XaNaX
because cocaine was cheap (relatively), readily available, and of high quality
:haha: <3
I appreciate. 80's is simply the best station to listen to while cleaning the house! My favorite after EDM.
I wish more new wave clubs existed because they tend to play 80's tunes.
