Was the 80's pretty much the worst decade in recorded time?

um have you turned on the radio today? seriously I dont think Ive heard a song in 10yrs that Ive liked.. and if it was something i liked,. it wasnt on the pop charts.

 

The 80's rocked as a decade in the key of gay.

 

Agreed. I don't even bother with the radio anymore. The only thing decent is the classic rock station and even then, it's the same one or two songs over and over.

 

I was just listening to Joe Jackson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inrEPapTtMM"]Joe Jackson Steppin Out HD - YouTube
Released as a single in August 1982, it became Jackson's biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit in the U.S., peaking at number six.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKOyx8Lt3UU"]The Fray Over My Head With Lyrics - YouTube
"Over My Head (Cable Car).2005" Quickly broke into the top 40 of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks, the song amazingly kept striving high to then reach the eighth rank on The Billboard Hot 100..

Id have to say I like Joe more, but the Fray is catchy and can get ya laid..

 

I Can't Speak For Others, But It Certainly Did For Me...



Cheers Glen.

 

I LOVED the 80's:

I got married to a man I loved.
I had my much loved (and perfect - lol) son.
I was at a physical prime (altho' I didn't realize it. haha).
I spent lots of money in fun and stupidity.
I LOVED going out, wearing very accepted ho-clothes! and DANCING!

Idealism had still maintained (some magical way) and realism (cynicism?) had not yet set it. :2thumbsup:

 

They sire have some good stuff out dont they? (Most of it from the 80s )

 

love the 80's...thought the 90's absolutely sucked, every band sounded the same...like creed

 

Everyone saying how great the 70's were....but didnt those musicians still make music in the 80's?

 

The 90's sucked like a black hole.

 

Indeed they did!!!!

The 80s were the end of a very good time!!!! (Stuff has just gotton worse since )

 

I feel like the 80s had two sides, some really good things came out of the 80s, and some really shitty things came out of the 80s.

The 80s seemed like a really materialistic decade, probably for a couple different factors. Like people were getting tired of the hippie lifestyle and decided to come back down to earth a little. People learned what they needed from lsd and inner searching and with the new world view they decided to go on. Technology becomes the new frontier for exploration. Computers and robots became a huge thing in the 80s!

This new technology fueled other advances in everyday life. Malls, clothes, credit cards, cars, buildings, everything became infused with the new technology. Material life was becoming extremely rich and complex.

So with that being said a lot of things came out of this. If you watch any 80s movie you can see all sorts of cliches, and almost every 80s movie has this really similar vibe to it. They are all funny uplifting goofy type movies, people in a big new world trying to work things out or something along that line.

All sorts of subcultures came out of this. You have the geeks and their arcades, the glamour girls and their madonna lifestyles, the metal heads and their rebellion, the office people and their cubicles, and the post disco dancers and their cocaine.

So anyways I guess like any era some things were great, and some not so great. In music for example you have the whole hair metal scene, which I say to this day is some of the greatest voices music ever had. I mean you hear a band like Judas Priest, with a classicaly trained singer who can really fucking sing, I mean hit the highest of high notes with such beauty. Besides Rhianna or some other rnb singer, you are not gonna hear a voice like that anywhere, especially not from a rock band like new found glory (who sound terrible in comparison.) Oh and btw lets not forget all the dauling guitars, barely see that shit anymore! ... At the same time their are some amazing pop songs that came out, Thriller for life! But also just some terrible terrible music as well. Just the same bubble pop, same sound, madonna material girl bullshit that came out that was just ewww.

Style wise I have no idea what the 80s was thinking. Men dressed like women, everyone wore neon shorts and triangle shirts, and just terrible terrible hairstyles. Kids had such stupid geeky tight fittin cloths too, it was weird. Every once in awhile you see an 80s person who looked Fresh, but usually no.

As far as drugs, everyone was doing cocaine! Like everyone! And comparison to the mind opening powers of lsd, cocaine was like the complete opposite. Cocaine made you narrow minded, egotistical, addictive, and just straight up douche baggish. And I think it made people forget about the inner world completely.

If you were a kid though, video games were bran fucking new and awesome. Its funny how a simple 8bit game like galaca could be just as much fun or more fun then a full world 3d game now.

So just to recap:
Music - some amazing, some awful
Clothing - mostly awful
Drugs - fun until your out of lines
Movies - mostly good but with a real hint of cheesiness to it
Other - Videogames are the shit, Malls are the new hang out spot, robots are your best friend

(btw Im sorry i dont know why i posted a whole page on the 80s, just one of those things.)

 

I'm not sure why you posted it either...

 

The 80s were fucking awesome compared to now.

 

I think you mean fucking rad.

 

I only have conscious recollection of 3 years in the 80's. Not that old. From an American history standpoint, I would say this decade is the worse.

 

Once I started listening to digital music channels that divide everything up by decades, I got a fresh reminder of just how much good stuff was released in the 70's and 80's, and just how fast it all went to hell after that. On the 90's channel, I find about one song out of twenty to be worth listening to. The 60's mix is better, but there were so many songs with a sad, melancholy feel. The 50's sound is more fun, if you can take a little silliness now and then.

Beyond pop and rock, the 80's were also good years for classical, jazz, and blues. A lot of great jazz and blues musicians from the past were still alive, and they were laying down their first digitally recorded tracks, which will last forever. Classical symphonies were shit on vinyl; too much noise in the quiet sections. Classical fans switched to CD's as fast as they could, and never looked back.

Your post was entertaining and insightful, but I have to disagree with this one part. I hardly ever saw any of this, except on TV and in movies. I'm sure there were big style variations in different parts of the country. It seems like trendy things have always been more intense in the Northeast and in California.

Another cultural thing that was different in different places; liquor by the drink was new to most of the South in the 80's. Before the late 70's, we had only had beer and wine served in public places. Most rural counties down here were still 'dry' but the cities had cool bars and nightclubs springing up everywhere. Going to them was more fun then because it was something new and different to do. Everybody was learning about mixed drinks. And everybody wanted a black Jack Daniels t-shirt, partly to piss off their parents.

Right in the middle of the 80's came the big AIDS/HIV panic, which was a HUGE disruption to the lifestyles of the young and single. It was really sad and scary. Before that, the early 80's had been (sexually) a continuation of the 70's.

 

I would give everything to go back to 1981. Working on my 5th decade now and no other time even comes close to being as awesome as the 80's. That's just me being a huge metal and video game fan. It was an exciting decade for music and technology. Nothing compares to the leaps made in the 80's. Take me back to 81, Journey, Metallica, Pac Man, and Donkey Kong, arcades and carnivals, fun times with friends who actually got together instead of texting and posting stupid crap online. People don't even know how to have fun anymore, bunch of ipod zombies. 90's and 2K's been nothing but shit. Except South Park to parody how fucking shitty these days are....

 

Do they really have a choice? When I think back to fun things I did in the 80's and fun places I went to, most of those options aren't around anymore. Sometimes I just want to shout at younger people, "GET OFF YOUR ASS AND DO SOMETHING" but then I remember that they don't have anywhere to go.

I remember one night at the Six Flags Over Atlanta amusement park, back when everybody thought it was cool to hang out in those places. They had this monster sound system that covered the whole park, and they played nothing but classic rock -- songs that were current hits on the radio at that time. When Queen's "We Will Rock You" came on, everybody stopped whatever they were doing, and started banging on whatever they could get to that made a lot of noise, and clapping. The place was really crowded, so it was LOUD. Tram cars were passing over my head, and all the riders were stomping on the metal floors. I'll never forget that moment. People don't do things like that anymore.

Then I got in line for the old Mind Bender roller coaster. They were paying a local cover band to play just for the people waiting in line and on the ride. Definitely one of the best hard rock cover bands I've ever heard. I mean, they were killing it, especially the drummer and lead guitar player. All the biggest hits, just the way they were supposed to sound. Everybody was dancing in line, with whoever was closest to you.

arty:

I also remember driving for hours to get to the biggest shopping mall in North Carolina (Eastland, Charlotte). Everybody loved the ice skating rink in the center, where they played the music loud all the time. And they had Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor, where everybody wanted to go for their birthday. They had live ragtime jazz music, and all their employees were in costume. They busted ass to make everybody feel special. It was a nonstop party.

Every week, there was something special and interesting on display in the mall, or a special event. If you wanted to keep up with the latest trends and cool stuff in America, Eastland Mall was where you went. They had the best record store, and the best bookstore. They also had a food court that was a big step up from ordinary fast food, and it was the only one in the state for a long time.

Eventually, the skating rink closed because of "liability issues" and the mall got invaded by scary people. White people gradually stopped going there, especially after two shootings in the food court. The mall went out of business, and the building has been abandoned for years.

Charlotte people can still go to SouthPark to shop, but it's very different. I think it's upscale materialism at its worst. That's the place that keeps getting in the national news for roof collapses and parking deck collapses.

Charlotte also had its own theme park, with all kinds of interesting and fun things for people of all ages, including live shows, but it's totally different now. They have nothing but wild rides and water slides for teenagers. It feels like a very ordinary amusement park.

Then there was Antoine's Cellar in Greensboro, the other legendary NC 80's celebration destination. There was an ordinary Italian restaurant on the main level, but the Cellar had a bunch of big black male waiters (mostly Omega Psi Phi members) who would gather around you and sing "Happy Birthday" loud enough to make your ears ring for an hour. But first, they would stare at you like they were going to beat you up. It was cool because everybody knew it was a joke. The building is still there, but the basement level is no longer used. Dining at Antoine's is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

I think people are forgetting how to be humans. You can buy everything but groceries online, but you can't fully experience human life.

 

You arent the only one!!

GOOD FOOD,GOOD CANDY,GOOD ANALOGUE MUSIC........ Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh