Why is 80s music such a lost genre?

[Trigonal Planar]

Why is an entire decade of music (actually, from the late 70s to the early 90s could all be considered part of the "80s genre") completely ignored by almost everyone? I don't know of ANY 80s radio stations (I'm sure there are a few though). There are tons of oldies stations, tons of top 40s/easy listening stations but 80s music seems to have completely fallen off the radar!

Whenever I hear an 80s song on the radio its inevitably either Madnonna or Michael Jackson. If they're doing an "80s flashback" (I don't undertsand why a decade+ of music only deserves an hour flashback....), inevitably its nothing but hair bands.

Actually, its more like New Wave has fallen off the radar.

Why? This music was incredibly inventitive, its (finally) being recognized for the huge influence its had, it WAS extremely popular at one time but now......its just.......gone. Why?

[Mr. Blue Sky]

MTV. Style over substance.

[AndrewL]

There are several 80's music stations I know of in the PA/NY/NJ area.

[Doomtrain]

I know of at least one dedicated 80s station here in Atlanta--or there was one a few months ago, last time I listened to the radio. In addition, quite a few of the rock stations would do an 80s block around lunch time. Some would even do an "80s at 8" at night.

[Khadaji]

Here in South Central PA there was an 80s station. I listen occasionally. Last time I tuned in I wasn't sure if it was still devoted to all 80s.

[istareatthesun]

Well, 80's pop was probably the worst era of pop music ever known other than disco, so that is part of the reason it is lost. As for the great 80's bands (The Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Kate Bush, etc.), I guess U2 is the only one that is still accessible to new audienced so they are the only one that gets played. It's sad but that's how the big money machine works.

[NDP]

As for the OP, there are quite a few radio stations with an 80's music format here in the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, I can't stand to listen to most of them for more than a few minutes. istareatthesun is mostly right about the era. I can't remember exactly who said this, but any decade that begins with the murder of John Lennon and ends with the return of Donny Osmond to the Top 10 is best quickly forgotten.

Still, this does not mean there wasn't any good music out during this time. In addition to the groups istareatthesun mentioned, there were also--among others--The Replacements, the Cowboy Junkies, and (late in the decade) The Pixies. Hip-Hop was new and was also a lot more creative. The problem was that much of this music existed below the general pop music radar. It was generally only heard on low-wattage college, alternative, or hip-hop stations. That's why I can't stand most of what they play on 80's format stations. They usually play what was popular in the mainstream during that period so that means you essentially get a lot of Madonna, Duran Duran, hair metal, and other stuff I spent much of the decade trying to avoid.

[shy guy]

There might not be a big need for a lot of stations devoted solely to the 80's right now. I know that a ton of easy listening and pop stations play 80's songs right along with the newer stuff, and I've heard a lot of those hour long flashback deals.

Stations could just be waiting for full-blown 80's nostalgia to kick in, too.

[istareatthesun]

NDP, how could I have forgotten to mention those bands. Cowboy Junkies and the Pixies are especially some of my favorites.

[Harriet the Spry]

'80s music is the music of Generation X. The generations on either side of us are much larger. There is a larger music market to the aging Baby Boomers and to their children than there is to us, especially as we age out of the key 18-to-34 demographic.

Don't turn on our music! No one does angst and materialism like we did!

Just putting another spin on things....

[Wolfian]

Originally posted by Khadaji
Here in South Central PA there was an 80s station. I listen occasionally. Last time I tuned in I wasn't sure if it was still devoted to all 80s.

I think you might be thinking about 96.5 which us Southern Jerseyans get too. It used to be all 80s, but now its' "80s and today." Too bad.

[Trigonal Planar]

istareatthesun: First of all, I happen to think the 90s-current has been the worst decade for pop music.

Secondly, the bands you list were indeed good. And that's my point: There were A LOT of good bands in the 80s yet all people associate with the 80s are the crappy bands. Sure there was crappiness in the 80s, but there's a hell of a lot MORE crappiness out there these days!

But this is all beside the point: Why have the "good" bands been so completely forgotten? Why does everyone focus on the "crappy 80s" rather than the "good 80s"?

[DJ Burning Chrome]

Trigonal Planar: I imagine that part of it has to do with the technological revolution in music. Since the later nineties, music has become more digitized (and better, in my opinion) and also more readily accessible due to the net boom. If you try to find netmusic, you'll be able to find far more more modern songs than you will 80s songs. I also think that a large part of it may have to do with the image of the eighties. Afros, disco balls, and pink pants.

[Walloon]

Originally posted by DJ Burning Chrome
I also think that a large part of it may have to do with the image of the eighties. Afros, disco balls, and pink pants. Afros? :dubious:

DJ, my lad, you have confused the '70s with the '80s.

[Trigonal Planar]

I also think that a large part of it may have to do with the image of the eighties. Afros, disco balls, and pink pants.

Yet another example of the complete ignorance and bastardization of the 80s :smack:

[I can't believe that's butter!]

Well, it's not a total loss; pink pants were indeed extant in the 1980s, no?

I say we have the most welcome lack of Simmons drums to blame.

[maleinblack]

I am with Trigonal Planar on this one.I seriously feel that the current music scenario sucks as compared to the 80`s.
As regards to the op,I would highly reccomend Netscape Radio.Theres a direct link on my browser to connect to this service.They have 2 genuinely nice stations(Awesome 80`s and Awesome 80`s II).Since we dont have any 80`s stations where I stay, this is highly preferred.

[shy guy]

As regards to the op,I would highly reccomend Netscape Radio. Along those lines, if you're a Mac user, there are 80's net-radio stations in the iTunes radio menu.

[Walloon]

When Elvis Costello chose The 500 Albums Essential to a Happy Life (http://www.elviscostello.info/articles/t-z/vanity_fair.001101a.html) in 2000, he wrote in the introduction, "There is nothing to speak of from the 80s, the decade that music forgot, except for Robert Wyatt."

And he wasn't being an old fogey; he included numerous albums from the '90s, including Beck, Björk, Blur, Jeff Buckley, Destiny's Child, the Fugees, etc.

[Mojo]

Huh- I was a fan of the Elvis Costello-produced Specials albums from the 80s; I guess he doesn't feel the same way.

Trigonal Planar, if you're interested in bands with a 80s new-wave sound, may I recommend Deadsy (specifically the song She Likes Big Words)? You can definitely hear a Duran Duran influence with some Rush in there as well.

Slight hijack- I've recently noticed a resurgence of 80s culture. Last weekend I saw several people with mohawks as well as what I'd describe as a Ted McGinley wannabe- white pants, pink belt, turquoise polo shirt with upturned collar, frosted hair.

[nitroglycerine]

Originally posted by Walloon
When Elvis Costello chose The 500 Albums Essential to a Happy Life (http://www.elviscostello.info/articles/t-z/vanity_fair.001101a.html) in 2000, he wrote in the introduction, "There is nothing to speak of from the 80s, the decade that music forgot, except for Robert Wyatt."

And he wasn't being an old fogey; he included numerous albums from the '90s, including Beck, Björk, Blur, Jeff Buckley, Destiny's Child, the Fugees, etc.

Ya know, thats a fucked up thing for Elvis to say because he's ignoring a whole decade of political punk rock that he had a hand in inspiring. Really music hasn't changed very much since the 80s exept for rap-metal which is due to die any day now.

Jon

[Violet]

Originally posted by Trigonal Planar
... This music was incredibly inventitive, its (finally) being recognized for the huge influence its had, it WAS extremely popular at one time but now......its just.......gone. Why?
See http://www.80smusiccentral.com/80radio.html

BUT, it is possible that they play the same stuff over & over, like you said.

[Bad News Baboon]

If you have cable, try to watch VH-1 Classic sometime, especially during the "we are the 80's" time slot.

I am lucky enough to catch it during the day. It's fabulous! It's like watching M-TV back in the day.

[acrossthesea]

I don't know, maybe it's all just perception, where you live, or what type of music you like. I've always heard a lot of "good" 80's music on the radio...The Smiths, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Cyndi Lauper, The Eurythmics, The Ramones, Devo, etc etc etc. And then of course there's the 80's bands that are so successful they were also 90's bands and 00's bands, like U2 and Metallica.

[Götterfunken]

All the music that I listened to during the 80s was called "alternative" (before that label became associated mainly with grunge during the 90s). This included many of the bands that acrossthesea and others have mentioned (The Cure, The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Talking Heads, the Pixies, etc...; I'd also add Joy Division/New Order).

The fact that these brilliant bands were obscured in favor of awful mainstream pop music is what makes the 80s the musical equivalent of a bottomless pit. I remember enduring crap from Rick Astley, the Bangles, Europe ("The Final Countdown" still gets stuck in my head once in a while, and this is the kind of thing you can never forgive) etc. There was a lot of bad music during the 80s, and it was so prolific that it obscured most of the really good stuff (occasionally, a single from an alternative band would surface, but normally you really had to hunt it down).

That being said, I wouldn't say that it's difficult to find 80s music, good or bad, nowadays--more and more radio stations will do 80s revivals, and some are devoted entirely to it. History repeats itself, however: it's usually the bad pop songs that they play, perhaps because they sound more obviously dated as "80s music" to our ears (and this is probably because these are the songs that people remember most vividly from the 80s...a vicious circle, I suppose).

[SirRay]

Originally posted by Mojo
Slight hijack- I've recently noticed a resurgence of 80s culture. Last weekend I saw several people with mohawks as well as.
Oddly enough, I've been seeing mohawks and odd dye jobs (pink, blue, green...) for quite a few years now, maybe since the late 90s. Didn't think much about at all except 'that's back again? - try something original!'.
I guess it takes quite a bit to shock us '80s survivors.

[gex gex]

The reason the eighties is "ignored" (and with the Wedding Singer and its associate soundtracks being huge hits, it's a tough claim to make) is because the eighties is the first decade when popular couldn't consistently be equated with good. Good music became overwhelmingly found in underground/alternative scenes, and people whose involvement in music was passive could no longer find anything that appealed to them.

I'm not one of these people, but it seems as if they were saying at the time "when I was a kid, the greatest band in the world was the Beatles, and they were the biggest band in the world. Now the biggest artist in the world is Michael Jackson, who is terrible, so I assume that Michael Jackson is the best contemporary music has to offer. Hence, the eighties is terrible."

It's a fallacy. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who dismisses the eighties (or the nineties or, for that matter, the '60s or '70s) as having little or no redeeming qualities is a person whose involvement in music is only skin deep, a person who will only enjoy music that's served up to them by hitmakers rather than someone who actively looks for music they love.

[Trigonal Planar]

I'm not one of these people, but it seems as if they were saying at the time "when I was a kid, the greatest band in the world was the Beatles, and they were the biggest band in the world. Now the biggest artist in the world is Michael Jackson, who is terrible, so I assume that Michael Jackson is the best contemporary music has to offer. Hence, the eighties is terrible."

It's a fallacy. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who dismisses the eighties (or the nineties or, for that matter, the '60s or '70s) as having little or no redeeming qualities is a person whose involvement in music is only skin deep, a person who will only enjoy music that's served up to them by hitmakers rather than someone who actively looks for music they love.

gex gex: Exactly! Your post basically just stated what I was trying to get at with my OP. Whenever I tell people I like 80s music, I get the same reply every time: "eeww, you like that Michael Jackson stuff??". Then I have to go on to explain how, believe it or not, there was an incredible underground/alternative scene and start naming off bands like DM, THe Cure, etc. It is infuriating to me that the 80s is so univerally associated with its crap bands while the *many* exceptional bands are just that....minor exceptions.

If I come along and say 90s music sucks I'll get a bunch of responses like "uhh, no way dude", "obviously you've never heard of this band...or this band...or this band...", "you must not be much of a music fan then"

But if I come along and say 80s music sucks, I'll get a bunch of responses like "You're telling me!", "I'm so glad that decade's over", "what a waste of music".

:rolleyes:

[nitroglycerine]

Originally posted by gex gex
The reason the eighties is "ignored" (and with the Wedding Singer and its associate soundtracks being huge hits, it's a tough claim to make) is because the eighties is the first decade when popular couldn't consistently be equated with good. Good music became overwhelmingly found in underground/alternative scenes, and people whose involvement in music was passive could no longer find anything that appealed to them.

I'm not one of these people, but it seems as if they were saying at the time "when I was a kid, the greatest band in the world was the Beatles, and they were the biggest band in the world. Now the biggest artist in the world is Michael Jackson, who is terrible, so I assume that Michael Jackson is the best contemporary music has to offer. Hence, the eighties is terrible."

It's a fallacy. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who dismisses the eighties (or the nineties or, for that matter, the '60s or '70s) as having little or no redeeming qualities is a person whose involvement in music is only skin deep, a person who will only enjoy music that's served up to them by hitmakers rather than someone who actively looks for music they love.

Well said!

Jon