NWB - Community Blog

Shoulder pads and bouffant hair

That it was there! Sweeping generalisation but if I look at my music collection the 80's is by far and away the smallest section.

Sorry......but you've just reminded me of this - I actually really liked this song at the time (but i was a teen) and I like it even more now....

I'll take the 80s over the 60s and the 90s any day of the week.

absolutely nothing wrong with it

some brilliant music came out of the eighties.....this is a masterpiece!

4 weeks at number one....how could it happen in a supposedly civilised country....

Anyone else descovered Absolute 80s on DAB?

Is that 70's keyboardist the bastard child of Hitler and Freddie Mercury?

The off button?

Each to their own of course but there wasn't a decade that produced so many fresh and exciting genres of music. Sure it's easy to laugh at the dirge but every decade had dreadful music, the 60s had Cilla Black and a whole host of awful singers. The 70s had bags of turgid rubbish as well, The Bay City Rollers, The Rubettes and The Worsels anyone? Sure the 80s had shoulder pads (and every decade had shit clothes as well as good) and Stock Aitken and Waterman. The 80s also had:

The greatest era of indie music. The Smiths, The Chameleons, My Bloody Valetine, Prefab Sprout, The Pale Fountains, The Railway Children, The Stone Roses, The Happy Mondays, The Wedding Present. Delve deeper and great bands like The Comsat Angels, A Certain Ratio, The Sound, The June Brides and It's Immaterial will greet you.

Electronic Music. Dance, Electro, Techno, House - the key genres of modern electronic music were defined. Some truly seminal electronic acts produced their masterworks or emerged from out of nowhere with incredible music. YMO's stunning

The decade rock music progressed the most. Hair Metal, NWBM (Maiden, Priest coming to prominence), Thrash, Speed and Death Metal. Pantera and Metallica - that bands that most of metal still hugely influenced by.

The greatest era of rap music: Grandmaster Flash, Beastie Boys, NWA, Public Enemy. When rap was genuinely interesting before it was watered down into MTV rubbish.

It was a decade where truly great British bands like Simple Minds, Tears For Fears, Ultravox, Duran Duran, The Cure, New Order and Depeche Mode would fill stadia around the world and sell tens of millions of records abroad. The scene was vibrant. You could go into the darkest depths of the charts and the indie scene of the decade and find unbelievably great bands who for some reason never quite made it.

To dismis the 80s is to blinker yourself to a wonderful decade of music. Anyone who slags the 80s off needs to listen to a few more records before dismissing an entire decade altogether. For the 80s bashers out there, get your paws on the following records and re-assess your opinions:

The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
The Chameleons - Script of the Bridge
Ultravox - Vienna
Tears For Fears - Songs From the Big Chair
The Cure - Disintegration
Depeche Mode - Music For The Masses
Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen
Public Enemy - Fear of the Black Planet
The Blue Nile - Hats
The Pale Fountains - Pacific Street

80s defence over, feel free to post a clip of Lizzie Webb's fitness LP (yes, it exists) or something equally naff in retaliation!

Outstanding Post Mike.

its the 90s that was a mixed bag IMHO

Cheers Mick. I was worried I might have gone on an epic 80s rant there! Being a synth player I'm a bit attached to the 80s. Have you got any favourite albums from the 80s worth a listing?

+1. Great post Mike. My teen "music" discovering years were the 80's. Never quite had the maturity to cope with/understand the Smiths but I'm still a closet fan of Duran Duran, Adam and the Ants, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Depech Mode, Kate Bush, The Cure and many more. The "fashion" I could well have done without but I will never lose my nostalgia for the music of my youth.

@rob - I think all decades are. The bands who get remembered and the ones that don't are quite strange. There never seems to be any rhyme or reason to it. I think through an objective eye, the 90s had some really great music. Its weird really, I think the further you get from a decade the more the haze seems to lift. Look at what's happened to the 80s now, lots of 80s acts who were laughed at for a while are now mega-cool and given "legend" status. For instance, Gary Numan and Iron Maiden. Ten years ago everyone was laughing at them and their albums were in second hand bargain bins. Now they're hailed as visionary geniuses - especially Numan. The 90s revival has got to be on the cards soon. Grunge and Brit Pop will be given their second chance in the sun.

@Tub Thumper: Some great bands you've listed there! I should've put Hounds of Love on my list (maybe even The Dreaming too). Hounds of Love is just incredible - "Cloudbursting" sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it.

I wish I was 10-15 years older to have been able to actively take part in the 80s music scene, it would've been great. Though I did get Pulp, Blur and Radiohead at their prime - which was fantastic.

If I were you I'd definaetly go back to the Smiths. Meat is Murder and The Queen is Dead are hilarious in places and the music is absolutely fantastic. Plus I think out of all the bands in the history of music, no other band sums up the North like the Smiths. Whenever I stick on a Smiths record when I'm away I'm instantly transported back to a rainy Oxford Road. Somehow it's oddly comforting, it's really hard to explain.

Mike, I was into Tubeway Army and Gary Numan back then. Classical, Metal and synth stuff worked for me. Hell, I liked Howard Jones and Nik Kershaw. It was a refreshing change. Also bands like Sisters of Mercy and The Mission. My favourite music ever, though, was the heavy funk rock that was emerging in the late 80s.

What I disliked about the mood of the 90s was the mainstream was infected with either Dance music, faux rebellion or bands like Korn making a living out of whining about being bummed by their dads. Give me happy, throwaway music over songs with a "message". I can make my own mind up thanks.

Some great bands listed there too Mick! Love The Mission and Sisters of Mercy. The "goth" 80s scene was great. I'm also a huge fan of Xymox and The Church too. The Church in particular, corking band.

You're right about the 90s production, I think the mish-mash thing has dated some records quite badly but then again it might be because we're still in the shadow of that decade. I think it was partly to do with the production techniques of the time, computer music production was just coming in and in some cases the kinks hadn't been ironed out - too many records of the time sound very flat and too clinical I find (as with many re-masters of the time) - though that will hopefully be addressed with remastering in the future with lovely new Pro Tools setups. Of course in 20 years time I'll be criticising records of today for the same reasons I bet!

You're right about the "my dad was shit to me" aspect of certain bands - it is well cliched. It's like heavy metal's answer to the X-Factor sob story!

Crap, I almost forgot Big Audio Dynamite and PIL!

Absolutely love PiL. "Metal Box" is bloody brilliant - though rather painful on the loud speakers if you're not careful. I need to get hold of the BAD album, I've heard E=MC2 but not much else - one for the trip to Fopp tomorrow.

I'm going to have to add John Foxx to the list. Metamatic, The Garden and Golden Section are absolutely fantastic albums. I love the fact that he's a down to earth Lancashire lad who's been at the cutting edge of electronic music for 30 years whilst firmly keeping his feet on the ground.

Oh I'm coming over all whimsical now, rifling through my record collection.....REM, ZZ Top, New Order, The Stone Roses, A-Ha (the Norwegian synth band...not an exclamation of delight....), Madness......

....I may be gone for some time......

Very nice Al :o)

Don't make me break out the Mungo Jerry :oP

Mind you the charts were clogged with this kind of cowshit too....

@Tubthumber: Absolutely love a-ha. A proud owner of Hunting High and Low, Scoundrel Days, Stay on These Roads, Minor Earth Major Sky and Foot of the Mountain. What a great band they were. Gutted they're gone. Their best of "25" is brilliant - two CDs and not a jot of filler.

I guess it's time for me to post some bad 80s music. My shout is this:

Oh eck! Sorry Al! Glad to hear from another Cure fan. I really like Kiss Me (and the 6 track ep of the same name) but there's a few tracks that leave me a little cold, I think Disintegration holds together better as an album too. Pornography is also great (oooh matron!) but it's a bit too dark for it's own good at times.

Don't get me wrong about rap, I don't listen to bags of it but Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys in their prime were amazing bands. They were genuinely doing something incredibly different, the arrangements and the use of sampling on their 80s (and early 90s) records was just incredible. Beastie Boys also have a habit of producing ludicrously silly pop videos:

FUCK OFF

Leo Sayer...SAY NO MORE !

80s were superb - and the 1st half of the 90s!!!

Jez !!!! put the drugs down n stand away from the windows ;-)

Well said Jez.

I was at University for the first few years of the 90's and all i can remember of it's music was dancing my heart out (whilst off my tits on Diamond White) to "Ride On Time" and folk wandering the corridors of my Hall of Residence at 4am shrieking ACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED at the top of their lungs whilst stealing everyone's food from the communal fridges.

Oh, that and the fact that Nirvana played at our Fresher's dance before they'd made it big.

@Tex - I'm actually sober for once ya cheeky Cowboy!!!
@ Mick - I was going to list bands, then got tired of typing and deleted!!! - NWOBHM thru to Hairspray rock era, for me - enuff said!!! Good times!!
:0)

@tubthumper - Nirvana supported Tad and somebody else from my memories on the subpop tour. I never went. Ouch!!! They got quite big after!!!
:0)

@Jez, well just stand away from the window anyhow, just in case ;-)

Stop panicking Tex - it's the neighbours window, they're fast asleep and don't even know I'm here!!!

@ Jez - Ouch indeed. I hear they got quite famous after that.....

It was also the time of the Hacienda, and Mick Hucknall DJ'ing just down the road on his nights off. Always hated him. Ginger headed overrated bottom feeding ballbag that he was.

@Jez, pmsl, I can see ya :-)

I was always in the Banshee Tubthumps (or Jillys or the Salisbury) - did the occasional thursday in the Hacienda, or was it monday... :0) (loved the Ritz mondays!!)

that's not me Tex, that's me grandad - I'm round the back!!!

Those years are a total blur to me. I remember we used to do "Fridays" nightclub in South Manchester every Monday night, the Student Unions were a regular haunt and the rest of the time it was the Hac or the place Hucknall was (I can't even remember it's name - just that it had a bouncy old style sprung dance floor which would proper catch you off guard if you were arseholed - like trying to dance on a trampoline).

There was one night at the Bier Keller that will forever be etched in my mind....I got pissed, got crushed in a flash mob on the dance floor, staggered off the dance floor and plonked my hands down on a broken glass, went to loo, locked self in loo, fainted or fell asleep and was awoken by the cleaner at 7am. Then hours in casualty having things poked into the cuts in my hands to see if there was any glass in there....without anaesthetic. Ah yes, student days....the best of your life.

Jez, I was in the banshee every thursday and saturday until rock world opened. I was in there the first night (a wednesday) I remember scrapping outside the banshee with monkey boys. Good times :oD

Sprung dancefloor was the Ritz!!! Feck me - BierKeller, forgotten that!!! I'm with you, a bit hazy!!!

@MIck - thursday was THE night out, free in the Banshee, either 1p or 5p in Jillys (it was Fagins upstairs then)

Happy days!!!
:0)

The Banshee was THE rock club to be in. Upstairs= men vs women makeup. downstairs=punk/alternatives and the free for all toilets. Sub level bar= fast service if you could find it. first left past the pool tables and make SURE your boots had thick soles to repel the glass and needles. There were some different bastards down there. :o)

I was always trollied by the time I got uptown. Lived in East Didsbury (at the time Richard Madeley got arrested for "allegedly" shoplifting booze from kwik save) in Broomhurst Hall of Residence. 75p for a bottle of Diamond White in the Union bar.

@Tex - I love that photo!

The 80's - some of the best music....and some of the worst.

If it wasn't for Howard Jones, Depeche Mode, Human League and Blamange I wouldn't have turned to Motorhead, AC/DC, Zep to get musical satifaction so from my point of view - there WAS some good to come out of a disaster zone.

Hey synthy
Whats wrong with the Rubettes? Just looking at the Smiths made me vomit.

I'd rather get F.I.T.A than go through some of that 80s crap ever again. I enjoyed the 70s, as a kid I loved all the glam and as a teenager I loved the punk. The 80s was like having a arse douche with bleach then having to drink it. What a fecking travesty of shite.

one superb album from each year of the 80s....

Back In Black (1980) - AC/DC
No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith (1981) - Motorhead
Number Of The Beast (1982) - Iron Maiden
Kill Em All (1983) - Metallica
1984 (1984) - Van Halen
Ratt (1985) - Invasion Of Your Privacy
Slippery When Wet (1986) - Bon Jovi
Aerosmith (1987) - Permanent Vacation
Slayer (1988) - South Of Heaven
The Real Thing (1989) - Faith No More

:0)

@Steve Blease - lol

I'm just looking up those two expressions but they made me laugh anyway!

I Dont know what FITA is but isnt the arse douch otherwise known as fosters?

Isn't FITA a cheese?

80s music is the best kind of music!!!!!!!

Don't know if you're joking or not, but F.I.T.A is F...ed in the Arse. LOL.

@ kev poison Whiskey. Leo sayer may not have had the looks, but that guy wrote some major songs. He did a whole album for Roger Daltery.

Try this. All I can say is, I wish I wrote this, but Leo Sayer beat me to it. BTW I have never seen this clip before, but that looks like too guys from argent on guitar and piano.

@Al - sorry for misreading! I was in a bad mood yesterday. Spent eight hours in the company of the M6 and countless traffic jams - far too much time on that strip of road! I might dig out "Kiss Me" and give it another proper listen, I've not listened to it in years. Absolutely love distintegration though, my favourite tracks are "Untitled, Pictures of You and Same Deep Water" - brill!

@Terry - I'm sorry "Sugar Baby Love" is the kind of song that makes me glad I wasn't around in the 70s! It's all taste I suppose but it's a bit harsh to dismis the Smiths because of how they look - sounds like an X-Factor argument. Plus Mozz and the boys looked far cooler than the Rubettes - they dressed like the characters from the Tetley teabags adverts! Musically the Smiths are one of the best bands of the last 30 years. They produced 4 truly seminal albums and disbanded. They never went rubbish, sold out or did the "reunion tour" (aka mansion needs its windows/roof doing tour).

@Cottonhouse, FITA could be a diet feta ("FITA (pronounced fitter) cheese, the low fat feta. All the taste, half the calories").

Oh yeah I forgot, Leo Sayer was in the 70s mainly so I don't know why he got mentioned. :)

Glad to hear I've sparked a Cure revisitation, they are such a good band - there's a Cure album for every mood. Love them. Wish they'd get a keyboard player back though, hearing Just Like Heaven minus synths a while back sounded so wrong!

Ha ha, The Thompson Twins. I've got their best of, it does have two saving graces, "Hold Me Now" and "Doctor Doctor", but the rest is hard work. I suppose "Love on Your Side" and "Sister of Mercy" are quite good too but it's bad when I can't even name or hum anything else!

Curiosity Killed The Cat were bob though, never rated them. I saw Ben Vol-au-vent-Perrier (or whatever he was called) at Butlins a while back, it was bad. He was restyle rapping over something I couldn't make out. I went to bed and my mate stayed and claimed he was that wrecked he fell off the stage. Wish I'd seen that!

steve.. i never said a yay or nay for mr sayer.. i left the comment open on purpose. And to have a dig at Al..he knows why ;0)

Mike..you probably know this anyway, but the Rubettes were all session guys and the single sugar baby love was originally intended as a demo but the record company were so impressed they decided to realease it. So the band had an image put together for them at short notice...and cant you tell?..lol..and no,,i didnt wicky that ;0)

The Rubettes.Showaddywaddy.Mud.Sweet.Pure entertainment, Youd never catch their frontmen on TOTP
with twigs sticking out of ther arses,singing about being miserable.

The 80's were shit, in work we sometimes listen to an 80's radio show, some fantastic music but most of it is shit.....in general everyone turned 'gay'...hair metal, spandex, poodle perms, make-up, girly looking blokes...uuurrrgggghhhhhh.
I remember 'The Tube' was synonymous with the decade...a bunch of posers who were obviously 'experimenting' both musically and sexually.....but to be fair the 80's were better than the 90's...
But the 70's were the best...
It sums it up for me when the 'greatest' album of the 80's awards always includes London Calling by the Clash...which was released in December '79...nuff said.

@Terry. You're comparing Mud to The Smiths?!! Don't make me laugh. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable is meant to be ironic, read the lyrics - it's a fantastic song. Musically it's fanastic too, Morrissey and Marr were the best UK pop music songwriting partnership since Lennon and McCartney.

@LGIT, surely the fact that London Calling is included greatest 80s albums lists is more a case of sloppy journalism than the fault of the 80s! I don't want to incur a punky backlash but from you and the rest of the punk fraternity but if I were to personally pick an album to represent 1980, I think I'd pick Closer by Joy Division, Metamatic by John Foxx or Back in Black by AC/DC. Not only for the distinct lack of filler on them but for how those albums would go on to define the rest of the decade's music in their respective genres and the genres they'd inspire.

Hi Synthy
Whats (ironic) got to do with it?Its about the entertainment factor,the melody,the (smack you in between the eyes) tunes.Ive never listened to the words of Tiger Feet,Jukebox Jive,Little bit of soap, because i dont care what their about. Its the feel.
If its any conselation to you,One of my heroes is the best synth player in the world,Frank Sidebottom.

@Terry...calling The Smiths 'miserable' has to be the laziest musical argument ever known to man...hear it all the time, absolute bollocks. You've missed the point of The Smiths if you think they're miserable. They were by far the most innovative and interesting band of the 80s in my opinion, miles ahead of Mud or Showaddywaddy.

Each to their own?

Hm.

yeh ok face
but i didnt say the smiths were miserable,just the boring song.and your right, each to their own...T

Fair dos. Just seem to hear that argument all the time against The Smiths in general but didn't realise you meant the specific song. Anyway back on topic I think the 80s has some cracking music. But a lot of the pop stuff was certainly some of the worst music of all time.

yeh Joe Dolce i remember that one .it stopped that Bloody vienna thing getting to no 1,or knocked it off ,cant remember now.Well done Joe anyway.

@Terry. Frank Sidebottom is a Mancunian legend though in terms of keyboard prowess I think John Shuttleworth would shoot him down. Joe Dolce isn't even Italian you know, I think he is/was an Australian comedian. I'm assuming you were posting that to wind me up so he's Midge and the boys coming at ya:

Hi Synthy,
youve got it in one.Good to see youve got a sense of humour.

Ahhh! It's all a matter of what you like and don't. If we all liked the same music it'd be boring. Are you familiar with the work of Mr Gary Le Strange by the way?

never heard of him,ive just watched it though.,not enough melody for me .Wasnt he in Sweet.

He's a mishmash of every 80s star, that's his "Vienna" - loads of references to some of the sillier aspects of Ultravox's image and videos. Here's his "Numan":

Loads of great stuff out of 80's too many to mention but defo Blue Nile, Prefab Sprout, Aztec Camera, Deacon Blue etc ...

@Synthy Mike I'm with you on this one :)