The 80's

[Dupree]

I was only alive for four years of the 80's (four consecutive years I'd also like to point out) and all I really remember of it was a My Little Pony desk and going to Marwell Zoo.

I bought 'Saint Morrissey' yesterday and the writer spent the first few chapters bashing the 80's...for those of you alive during that decade - did it really suck that much? If so why? If it didn't suck, what was good about it?

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

the 70s were horrid and the 90's too
so by comparison the 80's were awesome
we had the cold war
coke not crack
& British bands all came to play L.A.
if not for Moz, the 90s would have been so not worth it
and hes 'from the 80s'
so...

 

[Tex]

the 80's were magic

musically, there was so much new stuff & experimention. you also didnt have the instant gratification of the internet, if you "found" a band you really had to do some research, you had to go to the good record stores, read the right magazines, talk to the right people hehe
the 90's were just nondescript

 

[Dupree]

What about everyone's general outlook? Did people seem happy/happier back then? I mean, even now the news is constantly full of death, disease and destruction but did it seem that back then there was a lot of crappy things going on?

I really don't get all this Thatcher business either. I mean, maybe I'm being naive but it seems to me like people hated Thatcher, people hated John Major, people hate Tony Blair and similarly it seems the more recent Presidents of America are hated by a lot of people. Did she really make a lot of people unhappy is it just 'the done thing' to go 'oh, that Thatcher!! Urgh, hated her'?

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

Reagan was probably an alrite to hang with
and thatcher would be fun to kick to death
while Majors and Bush lied about wars&$
which it seems americans and brits are ok with
but clinton lied about a blow job

and blair is just scum cuz hes gw2's tool
pretty sad
but yep the 80's
also
chicks were hotter then...

 

[Worm]

The Eighties were shit. The shameless greed and the Technicolor fraudulence of those years were dizzying. Don't let anyone tell you differently. I hated it then and I still do. There isn't one cell in my body that yearns nostalgically for the Eighties. Mind you, that's not to say there weren't great artists working in the Eighties, just that most of the good ones were united in a violent reaction against the decade. (See: The Smiths.)

 

[WhyteGrrrl]

The Eighties were shit. The shameless greed and the Technicolor fraudulence of those years were dizzying. Don't let anyone tell you differently. I hated it then and I still do. There isn't one cell in my body that yearns nostalgically for the Eighties. Mind you, that's not to say there weren't great artists working in the Eighties, just that most of the good ones were united in a violent reaction against the decade. (See: The Smiths.)

You just put all my thoughts about the 80's into the words I could not come up with. Great music, but everything else..acid washed hairsprayed shit!

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

just that most of the good ones were united in a violent reaction against the decade. (See: The Smiths.)

as opposed to now, where most politely kow-tow to the powers that be
moz excepted, of course

 

[Sister]

I lived for 8 years in 80s and that were the happiest years of my life, I tell you!
Fashion was a bit scary though.
I think late 90s - early 00s were really shit years. Stagnation in everything.

 

[WhyteGrrrl]

as opposed to now, where most politely kow-tow to the powers that be
moz excepted, of course

the politics of now are horrid too, but at least Im in a better place!

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

the politics of now are horrid too, but at least Im in a better place!

im not, the army promised me a war with a worthy foe like the Russians
and maybe after liberating them a pretty exSoviet wife
it didnt happen
the 80s ended

 

[Worm]

as opposed to now, where most politely kow-tow to the powers that be

Haha, point taken, but a band like Green Day-- let's say-- is just aping U2. Are there any bands out there that really sound like they're out of step with the world in 2006? I mean really out of step the way The Smiths were?

I don't mean this to be a "good old days" rant. In fact, part of the strength of the last 15 years in music has been that songwriters have gotten so much better at removing barriers in music. There isn't an "us vs. them" vibe anymore.

But maybe we lost something along the way. I just got done reading about the tool from AFI (or The AFI from Tool, I've already forgotten), who loves Fat Bob, Ian Mackaye, and Morrissey, but also fesses up to liking Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall" and Gnarls Barkley. And hey, it's hip. It's all around us. Look at the last several years: OutKast likes The Smiths, Rick Rubin produces Neil Diamond, Johnny Marr plays with the Pet Shop Boys, Tommy Stinson plays in Guns 'N' Roses, Henry Rollins shills for the Gap and John Lydon's a TV star, newer groups get along famously with their influences, who are happy to escape from the back pages of a faded annual, and on and on. Everyone sings protest songs, the "shocking" music is canned, hip-hop is mainstream, you're actually uncool if you shit on mainstream Top 40 fare, Bill Shatner is an unearthed treasure, the iPod is the ultimate equalizer, CDs are sold in Starbucks...

I mean, who is fighting the good fight? The Dixie Chicks?

Well...yeah, The Dixie Chicks.

The Dixie Chicks.

The prosecution rests.

 

[WhyteGrrrl]

Haha, point taken, but a band like Green Day-- let's say-- is just aping U2. Are there any bands out there that really sound like they're out of step with the world in 2006? I mean really out of step the way The Smiths were?

I don't mean this to be a "good old days" rant. In fact, part of the strength of the last 15 years in music has been that songwriters have gotten so much better at removing barriers in music. There isn't an "us vs. them" vibe anymore.

But maybe we lost something along the way. I just got done reading about the tool from AFI (or The AFI from Tool, I've already forgotten), who loves Fat Bob, Ian Mackaye, and Morrissey, but also fesses up to liking Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall" and Gnarls Barkley. And hey, it's hip. It's all around us. Look at the last several years: OutKast likes The Smiths, Rick Rubin produces Neil Diamond, Johnny Marr plays with the Pet Shop Boys, Tommy Stinson plays in Guns 'N' Roses, Henry Rollins shills for the Gap and John Lydon's a TV star, newer groups get along famously with their influences, who are happy to escape from the back pages of a faded annual, and on and on. Everyone sings protest songs, the "shocking" music is canned, hip-hop is mainstream, Bill Shatner is cool, the iPod is the ultimate equalizer, CDs are sold in Starbucks...

I mean, who is fighting the good fight? The Dixie Chicks?

Well...yeah, The Dixie Chicks.

The Dixie Chicks.

The prosecution rests.

And that is why I love the band "Butt Trumpet"

 

[WhyteGrrrl]

im not, the army promised me a war with a worthy foe like the Russians
and maybe after liberating them a pretty exSoviet wife
it didnt happen
the 80s ended
QUOTE]
the military never keeps it's promises :/

 

[Tex]

What about everyone's general outlook? Did people seem happy/happier back then? I mean, even now the news is constantly full of death, disease and destruction but did it seem that back then there was a lot of crappy things going on?

I really don't get all this Thatcher business either. I mean, maybe I'm being naive but it seems to me like people hated Thatcher, people hated John Major, people hate Tony Blair and similarly it seems the more recent Presidents of America are hated by a lot of people. Did she really make a lot of people unhappy is it just 'the done thing' to go 'oh, that Thatcher!! Urgh, hated her'?

well it was a bit more innocent then, just as each decade that passes was more innocent than the last..........people hate politicians in general especially those on the opposite side of the aisle from themselves, In my lifetime Reagan was probably the most well liked
yes the Smiths did stand out, but they werent the only ones.....lots of good stuff happened, but when people slag on the 80's its generally bad pop songs that are pointed too...........I would suggest that to be the norm for any time period

 

[Pervomartovtsi]

well here in the 80's we were living in a bloody right wing dictatorship...that's why in chile we hate the 80's

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

well here in the 80's we were living in a bloody right wing dictatorship...that's why in chile we hate the 80's

& now we are
tHANKs

 

[JoyDiv007]

Musically the 80's the rocked, the fashion was horrible. I look back and think why the hell did I wear those clothes. Politics were worse, though seems not much has changed in that area.

 

[realitybites]

I mean, who is fighting the good fight? The Dixie Chicks?

Well...yeah, The Dixie Chicks.

The Dixie Chicks.

The prosecution rests.

Does music always have to be political to be meaningful? Why can't it simply be pleasurable to listen to or dance to? Sometimes I like listening to meaningless shit. What's wrong with that? BTW, the guy from AFI is Davey Havok. And Miss Murder rocks--even if it is loud, obnoxious, and un-political.

 

[Puddle]

The 80s...they were simple for me. of course i was 11 when they ended. i actually still remember that New Years day 1990 came around.

It was simple obviously because i was a kid, and there wasn't much junk in the way (by junk i mean computers, internet, cable, video games other than Atari, cell phones).

I had a sister 8 years older so i was pretty familiar with the music of the 80s. including the Smiths but not to mention other bands she loved (Aha, Duran Duran, etc).

Other than that. there was casey kasem, Reagan making another speech in the oval office, gorbachev with a tattoo of alaska on his forehead, a pope in a cool car, swatch watches (first with rubber swatch guards and then the plastic oval guards), nonsense hair styles, the Lost Boys, various causes broadcasted live on tv (Live Aid, Hands Across America), GI JOE, MacGyver, Smurfs, and various other things that only pertain to me--so i think.

What's to hate? It's impossible to hate at an age of 8.