# Were the Eighties the worst decade for music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501 "2003-01-14T12:39:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dunmurry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d2c977/32.png) [@Dunmurry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunmurry)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/1 "2003-01-14T12:39:32Z")
I heard someone on the radio recently saying that in his opinion the Eighties were the worst decade in terms of music - the artists were rubbish, the songs were rubbish… I disagree. I liked the Electropop sound and the Disco sound. The Eighties had a very distinctive sound. The Bangles are one of my favourite Eighties bands. Do you think that the 1980s were an embarrassment to the music industry? ---
**Author:** ![Mith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mith)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/2 "2003-01-14T12:56:59Z")
It’s just that… an opinion. like an ass. everyone has one, and thinks everyone else’s stinks. (or something like that ) No. I like 80’s tunes. Rock on! ---
**Author:** ![dragongirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@dragongirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragongirl)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/3 "2003-01-14T13:29:49Z")
I love the 80’s music. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/4 "2003-01-14T13:37:46Z")
Whatever. I love 80s music, but then again, i came of age in the 80s. I have a lot of fond memories attached to those songs. Everyone’s got an opinion. Personally, I can’t stand a lot of the stuff from the late 90s to now. You’d think that we’d run out of angray white boys yelling and/or moaning about how much their life sucks, but apparently we haven’t. But that’s my opinion, and you can take it or leave it. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/5 "2003-01-14T14:15:38Z")
The '80s had its musicial ups and downs, just like any decade. My favorite “Ups” were probably The Eurythmics, Peter Gabriel, The Stones, etc. But my favorite decade is late 60s and early 70s. ---
**Author:** ![sirtonyh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@sirtonyh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirtonyh)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/6 "2003-01-14T14:20:00Z")
I think 80’s music was quite good at times. There was bad stuff as usual but also quite a lot of good stuff. Fashion however, now that is another matter … ---
**Author:** ![universe.zip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@universe.zip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/universe.zip)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/7 "2003-01-14T14:31:00Z")
If you ask me… the music was the single best thing about the eighties. Well, it certainly wasn´t the hairstyles… and the fashion? nope, can´t be that either, never seen a fashion trend that embarrassing. 🙂 Anyway, I like electropop. Quite a lot, actually. And I couldn´t explain to you why I´d prefer listening to an A-HA album instead of N´Sync or whatever, I just do (though I don´t think they were all that great - but a lot of 80ies music is just plain FUN). Plus, Michael Jackson actually made good music then. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/8 "2003-01-14T14:31:24Z")
**Legomancer** said: > [@](#): > > …i came of age in the 80s… Me too, I graduated High School in 88’ and let us not forget the G & R, Metallica, and of course Poison… ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/9 "2003-01-14T14:37:17Z")
**electro-pop???** Isn’t the proper term _GLAM-ROCK_ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![universe.zip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@universe.zip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/universe.zip)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/10 "2003-01-14T14:47:33Z")
wasn´t glam-rock in the 70ies? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/11 "2003-01-14T14:51:43Z")
When I think Glam-Rock I think Twisted Sister, Poison, White Snake, Cincerella etc…etc… they were all eighties. I may be wrong??? ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/12 "2003-01-14T14:53:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by universe.zip \* > **Well, it certainly wasn´t the hairstyles… and the fashion? nope, can´t be that either, never seen a fashion trend that embarrassing. 🙂** Which is really funny, because I started high school in 1984 and we were saying the same thing about the clothes our moms made us wear in the 70s. Patchwork? BELL-BOTTOMS? The horror!! _snicker_ The 80s gave us utter crap like Tiffany and Flock of Seagulls and Lisa Lisa w/ the Cult Jam, but they also gave us The Smiths, The Cure, Ministry, Thomas Dolby, Crowded House, Level 42… It balances. I think. ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/13 "2003-01-14T14:59:26Z")
Just what is wrong with A Flock of Seagulls, **Hamadryad**? I still turn up the radio (now there’s a song!) when _ **I Ran** _ comes on. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/14 "2003-01-14T15:06:16Z")
I think the Eighties were the last great decade of popular music. From my perspective (grad. '84), the eighties was the most eclectic, experimental decade we’ll ever see. Corporate rock has now killed all but the most bland of artists, video has removed any chance for a career for anyone who isn’t drop-dead gorgeous, corporate radio has eliminated what used to be an excellent source for kids to get turned onto something new and interesting. These trends all started in the 80s, but didn’t get a strong foothold until the decade was nearly over. The 80s were the turning point in modern music, IMO. I remember the 80s as an explosion of every type of music you can name - pop, funk, reggae, hip hop and rap (both just in their infancy then), dance, synth, punk, straight ahead rock, heavy metal, hair metal, new wave, grunge; you name it, I heard it on the radio (all on the same station, no less). Some of it was crap, of course, but for sheer variety, I don’t think we’ll ever see the likes of it again. ---
**Author:** ![universe.zip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@universe.zip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/universe.zip)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/15 "2003-01-14T15:06:34Z")
When I think glam-rock I think David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust-years, Gary Glitter, T-Rex - plus anyone dressed in more gold and sequins than can possibly be good for you 🙂 Then again, I might be wrong, or the boundaries may be rather blurred, and I´m not quite sure enough about this to enter into a heated argument 😉 Plus, **Hamadryad** , I know it´s funny… only, my mom didn´t make me wear that stuff, she actually forbid it - and lost the fight. Which makes looking at photos from years past rather embarrassing 😛 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/16 "2003-01-14T15:16:56Z")
You can make ANY decade look pretty ridiculous if you focus on the silly, dated fashions and a few embarrassingly bad bands or artists. I imagine VH1 could do a retrospective that made the 60s look like the worst decade ever for music. All they’d have to do is concentrate on Nehru jackets and bell bottoms, then throw in some clips of the New Vaudeville Band, Herman’s Hermits, and Nancy Sinatra. Or, they could do a 70s retrospective that concentrated on Earth shoes, pet rocks, Afros and white polyester disco suits. Throw in a few clips of the Captain & Tenille, the Osmonds, and Rick Dees singing “Disco Duck,” and voila! The 70s look like the lamest decade ever for music. Context is everything. Sure, there was a lot of cheesey stuff in the 1980s- but there has been in EVERY decade. The 50s had Elvis AND Pat Boone. The 60s had the Rolling Stones AND the Cowsills. The 70s had Led Zeppelin AND Olivia Newton-John. The 80s had U2 AND Tiffany. The 90s had Nirvana AND the New Kids on the Block. So it goes. It’s always been that way. And the way I see it, any decade that produced Dire Straits’ “Making Movies,” AC/DC’s “For Those About to Rock,” Enya’s “Watermark,” Squeeze’s Argybargy," and the Cars’ “Heartbeat City” couldn’t be ALL bad. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/17 "2003-01-14T15:17:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Phlosphr \* > \*\ ***electro-pop???** > > Isn’t the proper term _GLAM-ROCK_ 🙂 \*\* Glam rock was the overblown 1970s guitar-fest typified by Slade, Gary Glitter etc. Electro-pop was the more minimalist, though equally badly-dressed, synth-heavy pop music of the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/18 "2003-01-14T15:41:46Z")
The 80s were the worst decade in music? Not bloody likely. The Pixies. R.E.M. The Cure. The Smiths. U2. Hüsker Dü. Grandmaster Flash. The Clash. Elvis Costello. Afrika Bambataa. Run DMC. The Beastie Boys. De La Soul. A Tribe Called Quest. The Jungle Brothers. The Go-Betweens. The Church. Echo and the Bunnymen. Crowded House. Split Enz. Sonic Youth. Nirvana. Hunters and Collectors. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Public Enemy. Jane’s Addiction. The Cocteau Twins. Red Hot Chili Peppers. They Might Be Giants. Erik B and Rakim. Kraftwerk. The Stone Roses. The Happy Mondays. New Order. The Violent Femmes. My Bloody Valentine. Public Image Ltd. Just to start us off. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/19 "2003-01-14T15:50:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DaddyTimesTwo \* > \*\*Just what is wrong with A Flock of Seagulls, **Hamadryad**? > > I still turn up the radio (now there’s a song!) when _ **I Ran** _ comes on. 😉 \*\* Okay, first? “I Ran” sucked uhm…anal tissue. Second…can you name **any** of their other songs? I’m not saying one-hit wonders don’t have their place - particularly in 80s music. (“Life in a Northern Town,” anyone?) But…it seems as though **A Flock of Seagulls** is primarily known for being… **A Flock of Seagulls**. You know, the guys with the weird hair and the video that made half of the world want to puke. **universe.zip** (great handle, by the way): D’you mean you were voluntarily wearing the bell-bottomed 70s clothes in the 70s? I was more laughing at the fact that in the 80s we thought those clothes were ridiculous…and three years ago I saw bell-bottoms with flowers embroidered along the bottom at the frickin’ GAP. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501/20 "2003-01-14T15:56:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hamadryad \* > \*\*Okay, first? “I Ran” sucked uhm…anal tissue. Second…can you name **any** of their other songs? > \*\* “Wishing (A Photograph of You)” And I’m not even a fan. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-eighties-the-worst-decade-for-music/148501.md?page=2)