# Was pop music ever more MELODRAMATIC than it was in the 80’s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 24, 2018, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989 "2018-11-24T01:04:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/21 "2018-11-24T22:50:03Z")
Another mega-melodramatic song from the sixties: The Walker Brothers - [The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q11ium_-Lv8) ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/22 "2018-11-25T00:00:38Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Another mega-melodramatic song from the sixties: > > The Walker Brothers - [The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q11ium_-Lv8) They used this as a promo when The Walking Dead First came out. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/23 "2018-11-25T00:05:21Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Well, I don’t know about “You Took the Words Right out of My Mouth,” but “Heaven can Wait” and “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights” certainly are, and two out of three ain’t bad. But that’s three out of four. … … … Also the sequel album has a few more. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/24 "2018-11-25T01:59:39Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > getting eaten alive in a cave Unless there is a song I don’t know about, it was actually a mine where they dined. > [@tripthicket](#): > > I love '80s music, but I remember the '60s and '70s > From 1975, David Geddes and [Run Joey Run](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYFKS3xxF3M) Who also was responsible for [The Last Game of the Season (A Blind Man in the Bleachers)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpQ3ANdVFeU) because HE HATED HUMANITY! > [@RTFirefly](#): > > And while I’ve heard maybe half the songs that others have suggested so far from other eras, I think “Total Eclipse” has them all beat. I see your “Total Eclipse” and raise you [“MacArthur Park” by Richard Harris.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRwYQgk05DY) ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/25 "2018-11-25T03:39:32Z")
No need to go any further than Jim Steinman’s body of work as a producer. Some of his work has already been mentioned here (“Total Eclipse of the Heart,” “I’d Do Anything For Love,” \* Bat Out of Hell\*). Other songs he’s produced include Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” and Air Supply’s “Making Love Out of Nothing at All.” > **[Jim Steinman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Steinman)** > > James Richard Steinman (November 1, 1947 – April 19, 2021) was an American composer, lyricist and record producer. He also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer. His work included songs in the adult contemporary, rock, dance, pop, musical theater, and film score genres. He produced albums for Bonnie Tyler and for Meat Loaf, including Bat Out of Hell (one of the best-selling albums in history) and Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell. > His most successful chart singles include Tyler's "Total... ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/26 "2018-11-25T03:47:33Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > Unless there is a song I don’t know about, it was actually a mine where they dined. > Who also was responsible for [The Last Game of the Season (A Blind Man in the Bleachers)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpQ3ANdVFeU) because HE HATED HUMANITY! > > I see your “Total Eclipse” and raise you [“MacArthur Park” by Richard Harris.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRwYQgk05DY) You’re bluffing. Let’s see you beat an [It Must be Him](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO8Z4ZupPcg) with a spoken bridge of[I’ve Never Been to Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3arEmkXZ8s). ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/27 "2018-11-25T05:42:32Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > No need to go any further than Jim Steinman’s body of work as a producer. Some of his work has already been mentioned here (“Total Eclipse of the Heart,” “I’d Do Anything For Love,” \* Bat Out of Hell\*). Other songs he’s produced include Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” and Air Supply’s “Making Love Out of Nothing at All.” > [Jim Steinman - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Steinman) _It’s all coming back to me now._ ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/28 "2018-11-25T11:29:47Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Meat Loaf’s _Bat Out Of Hell_ series, are all epic melodrama of the highest order. “And I would do anything for love…but I won’t do that.” Yep, that one belongs in the Melodrama HoF. > [@tripthicket](#): > > From 1968, Bobby Goldsboro and [Honey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKAeeGnAYBo) > > From 1974, Terry Jacks and [Seasons In The Sun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWdQbxNEFEs) I’m trying to clarify my thoughts here on what constitutes good melodrama. But I think this is one of the off-ramps: terminal sappiness takes a song out of melodrama territory. For a song to be melodramatic, the emotions have to be overwrought, of course, but there has to still be a real power to them. Sappiness undoes that. > [@lingyi](#): > > Expand your search to the 60’s and 70’s and you’ll find the roots of the power later artists grew from > > Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)- OMG, yes! Melanie’s vision of the 3 Days of Love and Peace that was Woodstock! > O Happy Day - The Edwin Hawkins Singers who beautifully backed up Melanie on Lay Down > War - Edwin Hawkins > What’s Going On - Marvin Gay > Ball & Chain at Monterey Pop! - and anything else she did, anytime, anywhere! > Layla - Derek and the Dominoes. Eric Clapton’s timeless love call to Pattii Boyd. In fact the whole Derek and Dominoes album! > Soul Sacrifice at Woodstock - Santana was high as a kite and had to wrestle a guitar turning into a snake, but he nailed it > The End and When the Music’s Over at the Hollywood Bowl - The Doors > Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar - Nearly every song individually and true masterpieces when taken a a whole I’m familiar with almost all of these, and at least IMHO they don’t really get into ‘melodrama’ territory, other than “Gethsemane” in _Superstar_. Jesus has some pretty melodramatic whines earlier in the record, but they’re pretty brief. (Thinking of stuff like “you’ll be lost, you’ll be so, so sorry, when I’m _goooone!_” in “Everything’s Alright.”) Per my comment in response to **tripthicket** , I think what’s missing in most of these is that I wouldn’t describe them as emotionally overwrought or ‘over the top’, except for the aforementioned bits from _Superstar._ ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/29 "2018-11-25T11:33:11Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > I see your “Total Eclipse” and raise you [“MacArthur Park” by Richard Harris.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRwYQgk05DY) You win. I must’ve been unconsciously blocking that damned thing out. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/30 "2018-11-25T11:41:22Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > I see your “Total Eclipse” and raise you [“MacArthur Park” by Richard Harris.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRwYQgk05DY) > [@RTFirefly](#): > > You win. I must’ve been unconsciously blocking that damned thing out. 😃 Following up on that thought: “MacArthur Park” is of course famed as the Worst Song Ever per Dave Barry, and for decades I was in agreement with him. Then along came “My Heart Will Go On.” It’s had time to fade in the memory, but for some years I considered it to be an even more unbearable song than “MacArthur Park.” But getting back to the thread topic, I’m not sure that “My Heart Will Go On” is more _melodramatic_ than “MacArthur Park.” I think I still have to go with the latter by that measure. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/31 "2018-11-25T15:19:12Z")
IIRC Jim Steinman described his work as being Gothic, does that mean melodramatic or a variation of it? ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/32 "2018-11-25T15:29:54Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Following up on that thought: > > “MacArthur Park” is of course famed as the Worst Song Ever per Dave Barry, and for decades I was in agreement with him. Then along came “My Heart Will Go On.” It’s had time to fade in the memory, but for some years I considered it to be an even more unbearable song than “MacArthur Park.” > > But getting back to the thread topic, I’m not sure that “My Heart Will Go On” is more _melodramatic_ than “MacArthur Park.” I think I still have to go with the latter by that measure. On a side note, have you ever heard “My Heart Will Go On” performed on recorder? [https://youtu.be/X2WH8mHJnhM](https://youtu.be/X2WH8mHJnhM) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/33 "2018-11-25T17:04:40Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > IIRC Jim Steinman described his work as being Gothic, does that mean melodramatic or a variation of it? [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-RVJyNpfDk) is [what](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeFC-rfQkVk)it’s like when Steinman is being Gothic. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/34 "2018-11-25T20:33:59Z")
[Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) definition of ‘melodramatic’: > [@](#): > > 1. of, like, or befitting melodrama. > 2. exaggerated and emotional or sentimental; sensational or sensationalized; overdramatic. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/35 "2018-11-25T22:20:43Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > You’re bluffing. Let’s see you beat an [It Must be Him](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO8Z4ZupPcg) with a spoken bridge of[I’ve Never Been to Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3arEmkXZ8s). Fortunately medleys like this don’t meet the requirement of the OP, because they were outlawed by the Geneva Convention. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/36 "2018-11-25T22:57:48Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > “One Tin Soldier”: too damn preachy to be good melodrama. > > . I’ve never understood this complaint against “One Tin Soldier”. I think people conflate the song with the movie that made it famous, “Billy Jack”. That movie was indeed hideously preachy. But “One Tin Soldier” is a story song that has only one moral to it. It happens to be a good moral too. And the stupid greedy world hasn’t gotten the fucking idea yet. ---
**Author:** ![WernhamHogg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a587f6/32.png) [@WernhamHogg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WernhamHogg)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/37 "2018-11-25T23:03:53Z")
Remember that the 1950s had an entire genre for songs about dead teenagers. Edit: late 50s/early 60s ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/38 "2018-11-25T23:50:11Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > I’ve never understood this complaint against “One Tin Soldier”. I think people conflate the song with the movie that made it famous, “Billy Jack”. That movie was indeed hideously preachy. > > But “One Tin Soldier” is a story song that has only one moral to it. It happens to be a good moral too. And the stupid greedy world hasn’t gotten the fucking idea yet. I’ve never seen the movie, and only recently became vaguely aware that there was a connection. No, I just find the song annoyingly preachy. Maybe there’s only that one statement of the moral at the very end, but the entire song is spent setting it up, and it’s pretty blatant about it. ETA: If I ever get the urge to watch “Billy Jack,” I know now to stifle that urge. Thanks! Another ETA: We’ve both overlooked the refrain, which is repeated several times during the song. There’s nothing subtle about it. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/39 "2018-11-26T22:29:54Z")
> [@lingyi](#): > > Ball & Chain at Monterey Pop! - and anything else she did, anytime, anywhere! Oh, dear Janis, hold onto me and together we can make it better! Or kill ourselves. Is anybody doing melodrama today? Um, in English, of course. Near as I can tell there is nothing in Spanish that is not at least melodramatic. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989/40 "2018-11-26T23:04:44Z")
Hmm > [@](#): > > Big thundering, climactic choruses… life or death relationship lyrics… tortured emotional vocals… To me, The stones “Gimme Shelter” comes to mind, but perhaps I’m not getting Melodramatic. I mean “War, Children, it’s just a shot away” and “Rape, murder!”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pop-music-ever-more-melodramatic-than-it-was-in-the-80-s/824989.md?page=3)