80's Radio

[Reverend SC]

So a couple months ago, a new 80's radio station came on the air in the Sacramento area. I put it on #1 pre-set and listened all the time. I was in heaven, all 80's all the time. I wondered why people said the music of that decade sucked, it was great!

Two months later, I've had a revelation - it did suck. It's just bad music. It was nice hearing it again, for nostalgia's sake I guess. But as time goes on, you discover a couple things. 1) there wasn't that many good songs, I hear the same ones over and over, proving that out of 10 years of music, there were only a couple hundred decent songs, and 2) they were decent then because there WAS a musical void, it was the best that was available, that doesn't mean it was good. Most of it was just poor. Very poor.

So WTF happened? The 60's were awesone, the 70's were good if you stayed away from disco and stuck with Bad Company and Led Zeppelin, and the 90's was an explosion of genre's, you could find all sorts of stuff that pleased you. But the 80's just sucked as far a quality of the music. Terrible in retrospect. It's like we were oblivious to what made good music. Blissfully ignorant. I guess that's one redeeming factor, and why it's still fun to listen to....

[CanariaChick]

...then we wouldn't have had the 90's genre explosion without the 80's experimentation with electronics, street beats, style fussions, big hair, etc... It's like watching peeps struggling in the old days of skateboarding to just get over the coping and/or air, if you compare that to what pro skaters are pulling off nowadays, it looks cheesy as hell, but without that original effort to try something new and different, we may not be where we are today, isn't evolution a wonderful thing?

And while on the subject of (r)evolution and radio stations, have you heard Air America?

[Tantrum]

We had a station here in the Denver area switch formats about 3 years ago (early 2000) to all 80s. The station was strong with a nice corporation backing it. The local talking heads at the time said the station wouldn't do well because the music wasn't popular. I loved the station and found myself listening to that exclusivly when I chose music stations. Sure there were some aspects of 80s music I didn't like (hair metal, for example). I was more a fan of NuRo, second wave Ska, and reggae dancehall so I didn't like all of the music they played. In any event, the station didn't last but a year and it was replaced by a Spanish language station. I have no idea why they failed.

Fast forward to the present. The local progressive rock station has launced a campain saying they listen to the fans about what to program. The response for 80s music has been so overwhelming, that the station now has 80s weekends quite frequently and has numerous "lunch blocks" of 80s songs. I guess my point is there is still a demand for the music.

Now addressing your first point that the music sucked. I disagree that there was a musical void. To say it filled a void is to say there was no popular music at the time. Maybe I missed your point. If you look back, the bands that became synonymous with the 80s sound actually got their starts in the late 70s and some continued to have success into the early 90s when grunge became popular. As Canaria points out, it is a continuum with each step building on the previous.

I agree, content wise, most of the popular 80s songs were shallow. However, does music have to convey deep messages to be good? Or, can it be something simple that pleases you?

Just my humble opinion.

[Reverend SC]

I agree that the diversity of the 90's has roots in 80's, but that doesn't mean that the music in the 80's was good, does it? Small economy cars are great now, does that mean the Yugo was quality?

Spurts of 80's is great, 80's Night, 80's Weekend, that kind of thing, because you can hit the high points and go home. But an entire station has 2 choices, 1) Play the popular stuff all the time, but then it becomes apparent by the volume of repeats that there just wasn't that many good songs, or 2) Play everything 80's, including the stuff that didn't last back then.

Tantrum, what happened to that 80's station, is it still on the air?

And I'm not saying nothing was popular in the 80's, of course it was. But listening now I realize it was only because it was all there was, something had to be #1 simply by default. And I'm not saying that all lyrics must be deep and meaningful, I'm talking about the music itself, the arrangement, the beats. Compare them to the 70's. There were shollow songs in the 70's that are classics, standing the test of time. But they had musical substance, I'm not hearing that from this 80's station.

Like I said, it's fun for nostalgia, for a weekend, but I can still listen to 60's and 70's classic rock, even though I know them all by heart, it's good music. But this 80's station is off my radio already. I can listen to Light my Fire much more than We Got The Beat...

And Canaria, I don't know if I'd call Air America "revolutionary". Radio WAS liberal in the 80's if you recall. Bill Press was the biggest radio show before Rush. But conservative talk became more popular, eventually forcing liberal hosts either off the air for lack of interest and advertizing, or to change their formats (see: Tom Leykis). Also look at Jim Hightower. We'll see where it goes, there may not even be a demand for "liberal radio" like there is for "conservative radio". And since revenue-driven advertizers are really the ones who determine if this thing will fly, it'll be interesting to watch.

[Tantrum]

Tantrum, what happened to that 80's station, is it still on the air?

Nope, that went belly up and I don't know why.

And I'm not saying that all lyrics must be deep and meaningful, I'm talking about the music itself, the arrangement, the beats.

I'll agree with that for some (OK most ) segments of 80s music. As I mentioned before, my frame of reverence is mainly second wave ska and Jamaican dancehall. This sub-genre, if you will, had very meaningful and deep lyrics, combined with a novel beat. Most rock-n-roll was 4-4 and on the beat but ska was 4-4 with the emphasis on the off-beat. Sorry, I should have made this more clear in my post.

[Reverend SC]

Nope, that went belly up and I don't know why.

I'll agree with that for some (OK most ) segments of 80s music. As I mentioned before, my frame of reverence is mainly second wave ska and Jamaican dancehall. This sub-genre, if you will, had very meaningful and deep lyrics, combined with a novel beat. Most rock-n-roll was 4-4 and on the beat but ska was 4-4 with the emphasis on the off-beat. Sorry, I should have made this more clear in my post.

This station isn't hitting those genre's at all, it mostly Prince, Bangles, the one hit wonders (Kajagoogoo, etc), Simple Minds, the kind of stuff in all the Molly Ringwald movies. I have yet to hear any Red Hot Chili Peppers-type stuff, or ska, nothing that was "alternative" back then.

[Tantrum]

This station isn't hitting those genre's at all, it mostly Prince, Bangles, the one hit wonders (Kajagoogoo, etc), Simple Minds, the kind of stuff in all the Molly Ringwald movies.

as you point out, are representative of the genre. However, they're not the whole picture. I, too, would become frustrated with a station that played those songs exclusively. The radio station here is falling into the trap sometimes, but they tend to focus on the late 80s (RHCPs, etc.).

On a similar note, have you been to VH1's website? I think it's great to look back at the 80s through their eyes. I dig their show about reuniting lost 80s bands. I watch it while I exercise. Check it out: http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/bands_r...d/series.jhtml

[Reverend SC]

I, too, would become frustrated with a station that played those songs exclusively.

I think I've heard "Purple Rain" more in the last 2 months than I did in the 80's...lol...

[canuck]

80's music did suck....even the Clash got lame...


and Tantrum's narrow field of interest rather surprises me....no Duran Duran bro?

c'mon, fess up!!!

[Tantrum]

on this grease fire!

80's music did suck....even the Clash got lame...

Ah, ha. So the Clash were not lame at some point? Case closed.

and Tantrum's narrow field of interest rather surprises me....no Duran Duran bro?

Sure double-D (as us Duran Duran fans often refered to them;) ) occupied some shelf space, but the genre previously mentioned is my fav.

As an aside: I saw double-d and OMD at the SD Sports Arena in 1985. You should have seen me: I had on my suspenders, but off-the-shoulder mind you, and my hair piled-high, the sleeves on my teal and black-check over-sized shirt were rolled up, as well as the cuffs on my pants, and I had on top-siders with no socks. Jumping the fence to my friend's house before the concert caused me some injury when said suspender caught on the fence and just about left me hanging in mid-air. Needless to say, I learned my lesson about jumping fences.

[canuck]

topsiders with no socks?!!!


ROTFLMAO!!!!


thanks, needed that

[Tantrum]

and don't tell me you didn't because I know you did.

[Reverend SC]

I was a Jeff Spicoli Vans guy for almost the entire decade. You used to be able to order them custom, different colors and checker patters for each panel of each shoe.

[Tantrum]

Vans weren't concert footwear but rather for school. I went with the lace-ups because I couldn't keep the slip-ons on when I played kick ball.

[canuck]

with socks, my feet stunk too much without!