# Fuck the 80's **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 18, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093 "2005-03-18T02:18:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Legolamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@Legolamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legolamb)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/61 "2005-03-18T16:06:00Z")
> [@mattmorgan64](#): > > Theres a show on VH1 now called ‘one hit wonders’. The #8 song has taken me right back to my visceral hate of nearly all ‘music’ released in the 80’s. > > AHA: Take on me. 😕 A-Ha are one-hit wonders? What, didn’t you get James Bond films in America back then? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/62 "2005-03-18T16:10:36Z")
> [@Scott\_plaid](#): > > tdn, you ain’t \*\*_no_ \*\* friend of mine. I ain’t never caught a rabbit, either, but what does that have to do with the 80s? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/63 "2005-03-18T16:10:54Z")
> [@andros](#): > > **matt\_mcl** , re: Pet Shop Boys, I had a moment of pop drone mindlessness and bought _Please_ in 1986 based on the radio cut of “West End Girls” alone. I became desperately hooked. (I confess I don’t understand their status as gay music icons, but I don’t much care.) I haven’t heard their last couple albums, unfortunately. Their recent stuff is just as strong as their classic stuff, IMHO. In fact, they had a recent B-side (“I Didn’t Get Where I am Today”, 2004) that was better than most groups’ A-sides. **World Eater** , thanks for mentioning the Housemartins. Don’t know how I forgot them. As for **mattmorgan64** : I agree, the 80s were pretty dire times. But the best (mostly underground) music was a reaction to that, full of passion and anger, raging against the ugliness all around. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/64 "2005-03-18T16:14:39Z")
Eh, “The Living Daylights” wasn’t a huge hit over here. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/65 "2005-03-18T16:22:36Z")
> [@Sample\_the\_Dog](#): > > My vote for best 80s record of all time, “The Golden Age of Wireless” by Thomas Dolby. It pisses me off that he reworked a bunch of the songs when he released it on CD. **betenoir, Andros,** and **woodstockbirdybird** , lets get together and share playlists! I suggest a nice central location of First Avenue’s Seventh Street Entry, where I cut my teeth with then little known bands named Husker Du and the Replacements. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/66 "2005-03-18T16:48:42Z")
> [@mattmorgan64](#): > > …Did I mention I also hated that stupid fucking Valley Girl Movie, with Nick Cage in it? You know why? Well, not only did the movie suck ass, but he looks JUST LIKE every member of the band I started this thread off with, AHA. And I hate the look of the 80’s. I hate the look of every member of the band. And I also hate the look of Nick Cage in the 80’s. > > The blonde he played across from was pretty cute though. > > \*\* > > I did like FTARH though. Well, that movie happened to feature one of the best, non-schlocky bands from the early 80s, **The Plimsouls**. They were the band playing in the punk club Nick Cage went to when he was broken up with the valley girl…oh, I think they were also playing when the punk guys took the valley girls to the same club, earlier in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/67 "2005-03-18T16:49:21Z")
> [@andros](#): > > **matt\_mcl** , re: Pet Shop Boys, I had a moment of pop drone mindlessness and bought _Please_ in 1986 based on the radio cut of “West End Girls” alone. I became desperately hooked. (I confess I don’t understand their status as gay music icons, but I don’t much care.) Well, there is the fact that they’ve done a lot of disco-pop numbers of the sort that tends to get played in dance clubs, and the fact that Neil is out (legend has it that their album _Very_ is the answer to the question “Are you gay?”). There’s also the fact that a ton of their lyrics are about gay experience: “West End Girls” (which as I understand it is slang for queens from the theatre district), “It’s a Sin,” “Being Boring” and “Dreaming of the Queen” (about losing friends to AIDS), “Can You Forgive Her?,” “I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing,” “Liberation,” “Young Offender,” “The Survivors,” “A Red-Letter Day,” “Rent,” “The Boy Who Couldn’t Keep His Clothes On,” “Sexy Northerner”… and those are just off the top of my head. There are also a passel of covers of songs that were either gay to begin with or that they made gay, such as “Go West” (which, although a cover of the Village People, has some original lyrics as well), “If Love were All,” “Somewhere,” “Try It (I’m in love with a married man),” and “Homosexuality.” > [@](#): > > I haven’t heard their last couple albums, unfortunately. Yeah, for some reason they’ve tanked in the US despite being (as I understand it) as popular as ever in Europe. They did a concert in Montreal in 1999 and it was the best time ever. Still the only concert I’ve ever been to. _Bilingual_ was barely released in North America, despite being amazing (in the running with _Very_ as my overall favourite.) _Nightlife_ included a number of versions of songs from their musical _Closer to Heaven_, as well as the radio hit “New York City Boy.” _Release_ had a slower, guitar-ballad feel to it, that it’s taken me a while to warm to, but has some lovely tracks like “London,” “Home and Dry,” and “E-Mail”, while “The Night I Fell In Love” is a wonderful satire in which an 18-year-old boy spends the night with his idol Eminem. _Disco 3_ returned to their dance theme with some new tracks, and _Pop Art_ is a best-of compilation with an absolutely luminous new track, literally my favourite song of theirs, “Miracles.” ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/68 "2005-03-18T17:06:57Z")
get [the two cd-version](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000657Z9/qid=1111166690/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_11_2/202-1715033-6682260) , so you can hear the remix of “Sexy Northerner” ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/69 "2005-03-18T17:42:15Z")
Wrong starts with a “W”. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/70 "2005-03-18T17:45:06Z")
😕 ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/71 "2005-03-18T17:50:53Z")
> [@mattmorgan64](#): > > Stupid fucking polo shirts (oh, if you didn’t have the crocodile, you just weren’t in the club, as I recall), those gay (NTTARWT) (I was going to quote _Relax_ but can’t remember enough of the lyrics) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/72 "2005-03-18T17:59:43Z")
> [@fessie](#): > > (I was going to quote _Relax_ but can’t remember enough of the lyrics) Relax! Don’t do it! If…-doo-gon…-do-do-do-it! Glad I could help. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/73 "2005-03-18T18:00:08Z")
Don’t do it. When you want to go to it, that is. [Relax.](http://welcome.to/fgth) ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/74 "2005-03-18T18:04:35Z")
/Lucy That’s It!! /Lucy ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/75 "2005-03-18T18:08:45Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > As proof, I submit the following fact: In the 70s, ELP released Brain Salad Surgery. in the 80s, they released Love Beach. Need I say more? _Love Beach_ was 1978. (And it was half good, anyway. Unfortunately, they front-loaded the thing with five crap songs in a row, so your ears are bleeding and your stomach is in a knot before you get to the decent stuff.) ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/76 "2005-03-18T18:27:16Z")
Ok, thinking about it makes perfect sense. I guess I’ve just been listening to them for so long that I just sort of take the gay vibe for granted. I forget how important–and unusual–it is to have a band (especially one with sometime pop appeal) dealing with specifially gay subject matter. I’ve got _Bilingual_ on order, and I’ll see about _Release_. Let’s see, other stuff . . . I still have my “Frankie Says” t-shirt, have never been able to get rid of it. It’s stashed away with my “Holiday Inn Cambodia” and “Peekaboo” tees. And I once put _Brain Salad Surgery_ on repeat for three days straight. Was stoned the entire time without smoking a single bowl. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/77 "2005-03-18T18:30:25Z")
I was just remembering wearing my “Relax” tee to a punk warehouse show. Got all sorts of shit for it, but I was 6’1" and wearing leathers, steel-toe Docs, and spikes, so the shit was somewhat limited. ---
**Author:** ![mattmorgan64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@mattmorgan64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattmorgan64)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/78 "2005-03-18T18:32:46Z")
Oh FUCK I’ve created a tribute thread to the worst decade in history. May god forgive me, as I know I never will. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/79 "2005-03-18T18:39:19Z")
Choose Life. You know, like on the t-shirts worn by Wham! ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093/80 "2005-03-18T18:41:29Z")
> [@Legolamb](#): > > 😕 > A-Ha are one-hit wonders? What, didn’t you get James Bond films in America back then? C’mon, **aha** had several Top 40 hits, back when he was singing professionally. (Which probably makes him unique among Dopers.) 😛 Of course, that was well before the 80s… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-80s/295093.md?page=5)