# 80s music - what makes it sound 80s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 27, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950 "2011-04-27T21:17:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/1 "2011-04-27T21:17:47Z")
All 80s pop music has a sort of similar sound to it, that makes it more easily identifiable to me than music from any other decade. Possibly something about the production. Does anyone know what causes this? ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/2 "2011-04-27T21:18:58Z")
For me drum machines and heavy use of synthesizers will instantly date a song. ---
**Author:** ![Anticounterrevolutionary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Anticounterrevolutionary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anticounterrevolutionary)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/3 "2011-04-27T23:42:19Z")
The use of the [Roland TR-808](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_TR-808) and the [Linn LM-1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linn_LM-1) played a huge part in the 80’s sound. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/4 "2011-04-28T00:00:40Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > For me drum machines and heavy use of synthesizers will instantly date a song. Yep. I bet a few decades from now the same will be said of today’s music and heavy use of autotune. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/5 "2011-04-28T00:20:27Z")
The synth was likely a Yamaha DX-7 or Oberheim OBX(?) to go with the 808 and Linn Drum. And the guitar was a single coil with a thin, clean heavily chorused tone. ---
**Author:** ![Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ee7513/32.png) [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kim_o_the_Concrete_Jungle)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/6 "2011-04-28T00:21:36Z")
FM Synthesis, and gated reverb on drums. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/7 "2011-04-28T01:55:23Z")
> [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](#): > > FM Synthesis, and gated reverb on drums. Exactly what I was going to say, particularly the [gated reverb](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gated_reverb) part. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/8 "2011-04-28T02:45:09Z")
Most people didn’t know it at the time but featherd hair coated liberally in aquanet reflects sound back into the microphone with a very distinctive reverb. Modern electronics have never been able to duplicate the effect perfectly and no one knows why. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/9 "2011-04-28T05:33:17Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > The synth was likely a Yamaha DX-7 or Oberheim OBX(?) to go with the 808 and Linn Drum. And the guitar was a single coil with a thin, clean heavily chorused tone. Or the Fairlight CMI. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/10 "2011-04-28T05:38:07Z")
Seems like there is also a lot more brass (saxaphone, trumpet, etc.) in 80’s pop music. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/11 "2011-04-28T06:41:27Z")
Much of it is purged of Black American blues influences, and seems to glom onto Euro synth-pop instead. It’s more rooted in Kraftwerk than Chuck Berry. When I first heard the Smiths, I said to a friend “You can’t draw a line from Elvis to this!” He replied “Yeah, but you can draw a line from Gene Pitney to it!” ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/12 "2011-04-28T07:39:20Z")
People also played around with reverb more heavily, because the first digital reverb machines were coming out and opened possibilities never before seen. Very similar to synthesizers, when overdone they created a very distinctive sound. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/13 "2011-04-28T10:45:21Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Seems like there is also a lot more brass (saxaphone, trumpet, etc.) in 80’s pop music. It’s funny you mention that, because as I was just having dinner with some friends yesterday, somehow we got on the topic of the over-abundance of saxaphone solos in 80s pop music. Not too long ago, there was a thread about an 80s music cliche - “orchestral hits.” I don’t know the name of them, but I do remember that there was a particular type of drums that looked like flat, rubberized mattes, and had a very muted percussion sound when they were struck. Phil Collins used them a whole lot. I remember them being enormously popular, especially in the latter half of the decade. I couldn’t stand the sound of them. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/14 "2011-04-28T11:36:02Z")
To me, in the case of pretty much all hair metal bands that were popular in those days, recordings were very _thin_ sounding. Guitars very treble-y, lots of chorus and reverb, nasally vocals, compressed sounding drums… ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/15 "2011-04-28T11:41:34Z")
Don’t forget the mighty Roland Jupiter 8, arguably the ultimate pre-digital synth in pop music. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/16 "2011-04-28T11:51:04Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > It’s funny you mention that, because as I was just having dinner with some friends yesterday, somehow we got on the topic of the over-abundance of saxaphone solos in 80s pop music. > > Not too long ago, there was a thread about an 80s music cliche - “orchestral hits.” > > I don’t know the name of them, but I do remember that there was a particular type of drums that looked like flat, rubberized mattes, and had a very muted percussion sound when they were struck. Phil Collins used them a whole lot. I remember them being enormously popular, especially in the latter half of the decade. I couldn’t stand the sound of them. There were so many awful uses of orchestral hits - I didn’t see that thread, but bet I could add to it. In terms of the drums, that may be what the other posters have referred to as “gated drums.” The big drum flourish in In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins is a classic example - heck, all the drums. You set up a noise gate on the mic for the drum - so when the sound of the drum gets below a certain loudness, the signal is shut down (noise gates were originally set up to eliminate the hum you would here if you had a piece of electronic equipement on, but weren’t playing it. You set the gate to shut when the volume was only as loud as the hum). In Collins’ case, he set the gate much higher, so it cut off the end of the drumskin’s reverberation - leaving a sharp, choppy sound to the beat. And yeah, a cliche of the 80’s along with the Linn drum sound, exemplified by the drums in Prince’s 1999… ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/17 "2011-04-28T11:55:18Z")
I don’t think it’s simply the presence of the synths, but rather how they were used. There were tons of synths used in 70s prog rock and fusion, but there generally as a melody instrument. In the 80s they were used for riffs and even bass lines. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/18 "2011-04-28T12:23:30Z")
> [@Moe](#): > > I don’t think it’s simply the presence of the synths, but rather how they were used. There were tons of synths used in 70s prog rock and fusion, but there generally as a melody instrument. In the 80s they were used for riffs and even bass lines. Quite true . . . a major factor there is that synths with greater polyphony (ie, # of notes that can be played at once) were developed and released at the end of the 70s and early 80s. The Prophet 5, Obherheim OBX/Xa/8, Roland Jupiter 8, and a few others, were the true “arrival” of polyphonic synthesis, and didn’t hit the scene until around '78. Prior to this synths were melodic because they were only capable of producing one or two voices at a time. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/19 "2011-04-28T12:33:17Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Don’t forget the mighty Roland Jupiter 8, arguably the ultimate pre-digital synth in pop music. I still have one! Very rare machine these days. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950/20 "2011-04-28T12:33:50Z")
> [@Anticounterrevolutionary](#): > > The use of the [Roland TR-808](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_TR-808) and the [Linn LM-1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linn_LM-1) played a huge part in the 80’s sound. I came in to say this. Also, for guitar, there was Edward Van Halen and the proliferation of “stomp box” effects, MIDI, and digitized rackmount units which opened up the doors to a whole new world of experimentation. My personal fondness for 80’s music is in their efforts to incorporate different influences, styles, and sounds using new technology. Which is why I find it amusing when people pigeon-hole all 80s music as a genre. It was arguably the most diversified decade in music history. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-music-what-makes-it-sound-80s/579950.md?page=2)