Music: Why did music drop in quality during the 1980s?

[Fiji Water]

Joy Division's Closer came out in 1980. That album by itself makes the 80s worthwhile to me...

 

[zombie kopitar]

The whole switch from analog recording to digital was the biggest factor in a drastic sonic difference in most pop records coming out. It was very brittle and harsh to many people's ears, especially earlier on. Of course some will say it had a nice sparkle and shimmer, so you know different strokes.

I'll be honest I really would love to hear some amazing 80's music recorded with the more classic analog sounds, such as Graceland by Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel and The Smiths stuff.
Musically though it's a solid decade imo, just sort of sounded like crap.

 

[Know Your Enemy]

It did for rock and pop music, but not for Metal and Hip hop. So I wouldn't consider it a step back

 

[timbermen]

Just look at the music Eric Claption wrote in the 70s vs the 80s.

Cocaine was written in 77/78 btw.

Clapton never wrote that, J.J. Cale did. Saw a JJ Cale tribute band a few months ago. He wrote tons of hits but they were popularized by other artists.

 

[peate]

The whole switch from analog recording to digital was the biggest factor in a drastic sonic difference in most pop records coming out. It was very brittle and harsh to many people's ears, especially earlier on. Of course some will say it had a nice sparkle and shimmer, so you know different strokes.

I'll be honest I really would love to hear some amazing 80's music recorded with the more classic analog sounds, such as Graceland by Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel and The Smiths stuff.
Musically though it's a solid decade imo, just sort of sounded like crap.

Nonsense, it was a garbage decade regardless of recording methods.You can't turn crap into something good just by switching recording methods.

 

[Shareefruck]

Feels like there's a lot of old thread bumps lately.

Personally, I've gotten way more out of 80s music than I have out of 90s, 00s, and 10s music (the latter three of which I can only find a handful of albums/artists that truly stand up to the peaks to me-- if even that many, even though these are the eras that I grew up with and should have the greatest bias in favor of). It's a significant drop-off from the 60s and 70s (which are my favorite eras), I agree, but calling it a garbage decade doesn't really compute to me either. The bad stuff from every decade is bad and isn't really worth considering (although the 80s bad stuff can be particularly annoying).

 

[kihei]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The '80s bad stuff is one thing, but the '70s bad stuff (disco, for starters) seemed much more of an annoyance to me.

 

[peate]

Disco killed music, plain and simple.

 

[Shareefruck]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The '80s bad stuff is one thing, but the '70s bad stuff (disco, for starters) seemed much more of an annoyance to me.

You're right, I shouldn't say bad stuff. I should say typical stuff.

I guess I feel like there was more of a clear separation that's easier to isolate and ignore with the 70s bad stuff. Some of it was awful, but alot of it was incredible. Not many people are still fans of 70s disco, so I find myself having less awareness of it, but it feels like the general sounds of the 80s that annoy me seem to infect even half-way decent bands, still have some resonance in today's culture, are what the 80s are still known for, and are still sometimes praised. Most of the stuff I thought were brilliant from the 80s seemed antithetical to the norm of the 80s, but there ended up being quite a few of those cases.

The 90s were kind of the opposite for me. I feel like the general sounds and attitudes were more pleasant, respectable, and up my alley, and there was a greater quantity of good stuff, but very few artists seemed to hit the higher peaks for me.

 

[Bixby Snyder]

John Bonham died.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

The peaks of:

Metallica
Michael Jackson
Prince
Whitney Houston
Run DMC
NWA
Megadeth
Guns n Roses
New Order
Joy Division
Gary Numan
New Wave genre
U2
Madonna
Police
The Cure
The Cars
Beastie Boys
Van Halen
Journey
Hall and Oates
Eurythmics
Bowie

Yeah, so basically the premise of this thread is false

 

[zombie kopitar]

Nonsense, it was a garbage decade regardless of recording methods.You can't turn crap into something good just by switching recording methods.

You either missed my point or are so bias that I don't really think it matters much to you anyway.
If you don't understand what switching over to a completely new technology did for the sound, compared to a very refined technique that had been perfected over the last previous 50 years I'm not wasting my time either.

*this is also including the new era of digital synths vs analog synths as well. Which just flat out sounded like dog poo early on.

 

[peate]

You either missed my point or are so bias that I don't really think it matters much to you anyway.
If you don't understand what switching over to a completely new technology did for the sound, compared to a very refined technique that had been perfected over the last previous 50 years I'm not wasting my time either.

I had over 2000 vinyls from 1957 to late 80's, so yeah I know a little about sound.

I was just saying that digital recording didn't kill the music like you think, it was more the cookie cutter radio gaga we were bombarded with. But I agree the sound was warmer and nothing beats the first time you drop the stylus on a new release while looking at the sleeve.

I miss my old record collection, even though today I can carry it on a flash drive. And some of the remastered stuff I hear, I have no complaints really. On a good system, it sounds fine.

 

[HolyGhost]

comes down to your taste, your age and your willingness to give different music a try

 

[HolyGhost]

I think ZZ Top might be the only previously established band that actually got better in the '80s.

Yeah I said it.

no they didn't--they sold out

 

[plank]

The peaks of:

Metallica
Michael Jackson
Prince
Whitney Houston
Run DMC
NWA
Megadeth
Guns n Roses
New Order
Joy Division
Gary Numan
New Wave genre
U2
Madonna
Police
The Cure
The Cars
Beastie Boys
Van Halen
Journey
Hall and Oates
Eurythmics
Bowie

Yeah, so basically the premise of this thread is false

Bowie's best work was in the 70's
The 2 best Cars albums came out in '78 and '79
Van Halen peaked from 78-81

 

[Shareefruck]

Suggesting that Bowie's peak was in the 80s

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Bowie's best work was in the 70's
The 2 best Cars albums came out in '78 and '79
Van Halen peaked from 78-81

Peak <> peaked

Bowie's peak started in the early 70s and continued well into the 80s. He had 3 straight #1 albums, Scary Monsters (1980), Lets Dance (1983) and Tonight (1984).

Same goes for The Cars. Their best album was in the late 70s, but their popularity and success really peaked in the 80s. Their top 10 hits were in the 80s, as were 3 of their 4 Top 10 albums (Panorama, Shake It Up, Heartbreak City).

Van Halen's peak was 78-84 really. Van Halen 1 through 1984. Although in terms of success, their peak goes into the 90s. From 86 to 95 they had 4 straight #1 albums and 11 #1 singles.

Suggesting that Bowie's peak was in the 80s

thinking Bowie's peak was only a few years long

 

[Shareefruck]

thinking Bowie's peak was only a few years long

Other than arguably Scary Monsters, his 80s stuff was a pretty clear step down from his 70s stuff, IMO.

 

[x Tame Impala]

-Bonham died September 1980 so Zeppelin was never more, but they did everything they needed to do before that anyway
-Beatles were long gone and had already done everything they needed to do
-Rolling Stones did everything they needed to do

It was an end of an era. Kind of like when Jordan retired in 98. There was still great basketball being played but there wasn’t a legend to pick up the mantle.

 

[Stylizer1]

Why did music drop in quality during the 1980s?


Crack.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

no they didn't--they sold out

ZZ Top were a solid blues rock act before the '80s, but the world has more than enough of those.

I'll take their polished, propulsive '80s synth blues rock any day.

 

[Fantomas]

Bowie's peak started in the early 70s and continued well into the 80s. He had 3 straight #1 albums, Scary Monsters (1980), Lets Dance (1983) and Tonight (1984).

Have you actually listened to Tonight?

 

[plank]

ZZ Top were a solid blues rock act before the '80s, but the world has more than enough of those.

I'll take their polished, propulsive '80s synth blues rock any day.

80's ZZ Top is decent, 70's ZZ rocks!

 

[plank]

Peak <> peaked

Bowie's peak started in the early 70s and continued well into the 80s. He had 3 straight #1 albums, Scary Monsters (1980), Lets Dance (1983) and Tonight (1984).

Same goes for The Cars. Their best album was in the late 70s, but their popularity and success really peaked in the 80s. Their top 10 hits were in the 80s, as were 3 of their 4 Top 10 albums (Panorama, Shake It Up, Heartbreak City).

Van Halen's peak was 78-84 really. Van Halen 1 through 1984. Although in terms of success, their peak goes into the 90s. From 86 to 95 they had 4 straight #1 albums and 11 #1 singles.




thinking Bowie's peak was only a few years long

I don't go by what was popular in the 80's, history proves that they had horrible taste in music, cars, fashion, hair styles, etc..

I was a teenager in the 80's and never cared for the synths and fake drums then and I'm still not a fan. And even though the 80's are my least favorite rock decade it still produced a ton of great bands and music. U2, REM, Cougar, Pixies, Pretenders, The Blasters, SRV, Thorogood, VH, and so on. Plus, a lot of 70's stalwarts were still making good music.