Vh1's "Greatest Hits of the 80s"

Bbucko

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The eighties were my 20s (I was born in January, 1960) and remember them with a clarity bordering on the perverse.

For every horrible hairband number, there was:

Siouxsie & The Banshees

The Cure
U2
The Psychedelic Furs
The Birthday Party (Bad Seeds, Nick Cave)
Nina Hagen on her own, or flirting with Merv Griffin & Don Rickles (& rapping!!!)
& Nena (decidedly different)
Scandal
Katrina & The Waves
The Pretenders
The English Beat
Bronksi Beat
Soft Cell
Jimmy Somerville and Marc Almond (which one reviewer said was the gayest one he'd ever heard)
New Order, Perfect Kiss, perhaps the perfect 80s song. Notice the haircuts...
Or this one... so modern!
OMD, or course
Dead or Alive
Jodi Whatley

This is just off the top of my head...

Even the worst excesses of 80s hair and shoulderpads pale in significance when compared to some of the piercings and tattoos I've seen over the last ten or so years.
 

Principessa

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In my opinion , in general terms music in 80's and 90's were way better than most of today music that is mostly crap.
Agreed! The 80's and 90's were my heyday!


If you are asking what our favorite was or one we most remember for me it was.... Drum roll please
Addicted to Love by Robert Palmer
OMG! Me, Maria; and my friend Tara used to dress like the girls in the video and go clubbing in NYC. We never paid a cover or bought our own drinks. :cool: I was never into the drug scene but I know for a fact they got lots of free blow, just for being young, hot, and leggy. :wink:

We spent the summer of 1986 (I was 20 that summer) dancing on the bar at The Palladium, The Limelight, and at a friends guest cottage in Oyster Bay.:rolleyes: Those were good times. :smile:
 

jason_els

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That version of the 80s was decidedly underground and rarely if ever seen on MTV save during 120Minutes and even then I never recall seeing them play Soft Cell's Sex Dwarf nor all but the tamest of Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, etc. and never Nina Hagen. My peers hated the fact I listened to music like this. They were all strictly CSNY, Yes, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, types. My sister was into all the spandex hair metal bands. It was tough being a loner. There wasn't an attitude of anything goes that there is today. Blondie is still my favorite band though I have a very special place in my heart for Nirvana and The Pixies.

I have to say that I thought the 90s were a fantastic time for music. Lot of great bands and, for once, I could listen to popular music and actually like it. It owed more to the music I listened to than 80s metal and pop which I detested.

Soft Cell was great. Marc Almond's voice is exactly within my range so I could sing along quite credibly with the songs. It was fun.

The eighties were my 20s (I was born in January, 1960) and remember them with a clarity bordering on the perverse.

For every horrible hairband number, there was:

Siouxsie & The Banshees

The Cure
U2
The Psychedelic Furs
The Birthday Party (Bad Seeds, Nick Cave)
Nina Hagen on her own, or flirting with Merv Griffin & Don Rickles (& rapping!!!)
& Nena (decidedly different)
Scandal
Katrina & The Waves
The Pretenders
The English Beat
Bronksi Beat
Soft Cell
Jimmy Somerville and Marc Almond (which one reviewer said was the gayest one he'd ever heard)
New Order, Perfect Kiss, perhaps the perfect 80s song. Notice the haircuts...
Or this one... so modern!
OMD, or course
Dead or Alive
Jodi Whatley

This is just off the top of my head...

Even the worst excesses of 80s hair and shoulderpads pale in significance when compared to some of the piercings and tattoos I've seen over the last ten or so years.
 

Mr. Snakey

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The eighties were my 20s (I was born in January, 1960) and remember them with a clarity bordering on the perverse.

For every horrible hairband number, there was:

Siouxsie & The Banshees

The Cure
U2
The Psychedelic Furs
The Birthday Party (Bad Seeds, Nick Cave)
Nina Hagen on her own, or flirting with Merv Griffin & Don Rickles (& rapping!!!)
& Nena (decidedly different)
Scandal
Katrina & The Waves
The Pretenders
The English Beat
Bronksi Beat
Soft Cell
Jimmy Somerville and Marc Almond (which one reviewer said was the gayest one he'd ever heard)
New Order, Perfect Kiss, perhaps the perfect 80s song. Notice the haircuts...
Or this one... so modern!
OMD, or course
Dead or Alive
Jodi Whatley

This is just off the top of my head...

Even the worst excesses of 80s hair and shoulderpads pale in significance when compared to some of the piercings and tattoos I've seen over the last ten or so years.
Good list i cant argue with. The Furs and The Cure are two of my favorites. :smile:
 

jason_els

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I'd also add:

The B-52's
Talking Heads
Human League

A Flock of Seagulls - Their most beautiful, if not most influential song. It's surprisingly lovely.
and one more just because it's so iconic of the 80s. It was radical stuff given the previous 20 years of hippies and disco.

Berlin
Missing Persons
The Go-Gos
Cabaret Voltaire - Industrial before there was industrial
Wall of Voodoo - Who the hell knows what it is but it's great.
Squeeze
Gang of Four
The Pixies - A flash of their complete brilliance. Most of post 80s music owes a huge debt to this band.
The Cramps
Kraftwerk - Der vaters auf electronika
Eurythmics
Circle Jerks
Flesh for Lulu

Sonic Youth - The grand daddies of post-punk, industrial, grunge, and a host of everything else. Their influence cannot be underestimated. They sound like noise until you hear the dissonance as a melody within itself and then it just flowers like a rose under a black light. Drips of green fireflies on velvet shimmering just out of reach. Simply beautiful music that doesn't sound beautiful.

XTC
Social Distortion
Oingo Boingo - What Danny Elfman did before writing movie scores.
Roxy Music - Just plain beautiful stuff.
Tangerine Dream
Love and Rockets/Bauhaus
The The
Flying Lizards - Best version of The Beatles' Money ever.
 

MNGuy

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The eighties were my 20s (I was born in January, 1960) and remember them with a clarity bordering on the perverse.

For every horrible hairband number, there was:

Siouxsie & The Banshees

The Cure
U2
The Psychedelic Furs
The Birthday Party (Bad Seeds, Nick Cave)
Nina Hagen on her own, or flirting with Merv Griffin & Don Rickles (& rapping!!!)
& Nena (decidedly different)
Scandal
Katrina & The Waves
The Pretenders
The English Beat
Bronksi Beat
Soft Cell
Jimmy Somerville and Marc Almond (which one reviewer said was the gayest one he'd ever heard)
New Order, Perfect Kiss, perhaps the perfect 80s song. Notice the haircuts...
Or this one... so modern!
OMD, or course
Dead or Alive
Jodi Whatley

This is just off the top of my head...

Even the worst excesses of 80s hair and shoulderpads pale in significance when compared to some of the piercings and tattoos I've seen over the last ten or so years.


Katrina and the Waves??

I'd add Depeche Mode, R.E.M. and that band with the letter U and the number 2.
 

jason_els

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Definitely Depeche Mode. Duh me.

REM had one or two good songs then turned into another god awful power ballad band. He did mention U2.

Have to agree about Katrina and the Waves but then I loved Toni Basil (I think it's proof I'm gay). Watch just the first minute to see what I mean. This has been on many Top 10 Worst Songs Ever lists.

Katrina and the Waves??

I'd add Depeche Mode, R.E.M. and that band with the letter U and the number 2.
 

Bbucko

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Katrina and the Waves??

I'd add Depeche Mode, R.E.M. and that band with the letter U and the number 2.

I'll defend Katrina on personal reasons...long story. I know it's commercial, but I loved it then (& still do).

U2 was third on my original list, but if I Will Follow wasn't your cuppa cuppa, maybe Out Of Control would be.

Celebration was a single between Boy and Gloria. I drove the record store crazy waiting for Gloria, which even at the time was a decidedly strange album...High Catholic Punk?

But it had:
Fire
Rejoice
I Threw A Brick Through A Window
Among others...

REM were an obvious band I missed. They kinda invented "alternative rock".

I have always loved Depeche Mode. I bought a compilation produced by Some Bizarre for Soft Cell's The Girl With The Patent Leather Face but fell in love with Photographic. The The & B Movie were also featured.

Echo & The Bunnymen was also an obvious omission:
The Killing Moon
Do It Clean
or later, Lips Like Sugar.

But perhaps the most glaring admission of all is The Sisters Of Mercy.

They bridge electronica, post-punk, goth...defy labels. For a few brief months, they even stood on the outer edge of pop (but don't tell Andrew Eldridge). Has any voice so low ever screeched so beseechingly?
Alice
Gimme Shelter (perhaps one of the three best covers ever...ever)
Marianne
Lucretia, My Reflection
 

Mr. Snakey

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I'll defend Katrina on personal reasons...long story. I know it's commercial, but I loved it then (& still do).

U2 was third on my original list, but if I Will Follow wasn't your cuppa cuppa, maybe Out Of Control would be.

Celebration was a single between Boy and Gloria. I drove the record store crazy waiting for Gloria, which even at the time was a decidedly strange album...High Catholic Punk?

But it had:
Fire
Rejoice
I Threw A Brick Through A Window
Among others...

REM were an obvious band I missed. They kinda invented "alternative rock".

I have always loved Depeche Mode. I bought a compilation produced by Some Bizarre for Soft Cell's The Girl With The Patent Leather Face but fell in love with Photographic. The The & B Movie were also featured.

Echo & The Bunnymen was also an obvious omission:
The Killing Moon
Do It Clean
or later, Lips Like Sugar.

But perhaps the most glaring admission of all is The Sisters Of Mercy.

They bridge electronica, post-punk, goth...defy labels. For a few brief months, they even stood on the outer edge of pop (but don't tell Andrew Eldridge). Has any voice so low ever screeched so beseechingly?
Alice
Gimme Shelter (perhaps one of the three best covers ever...ever)
Marianne
Lucretia, My Reflection
The 80's was some good music. I loved Echo and the bunnymen.
 

B_henry miller

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I guess for me, because I was a kid in the 80s, all these bands seemed larger-than-life, like gods. Now, I see them for what they are, just bands with some good songs -- and it's a bit of a letdown. It's almost like they went from being "music gods" to "kitsch."
 

Mr. Snakey

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I guess for me, because I was a kid in the 80s, all these bands seemed larger-than-life, like gods. Now, I see them for what they are, just bands with some good songs -- and it's a bit of a letdown. It's almost like they went from being "music gods" to "kitsch."
They were just some good bands with some good music. Another good band i loved was Ultravox.
 

Bbucko

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I guess for me, because I was a kid in the 80s, all these bands seemed larger-than-life, like gods. Now, I see them for what they are, just bands with some good songs -- and it's a bit of a letdown. It's almost like they went from being "music gods" to "kitsch."

The secret to 80s music, and perhaps why they seem kitsch now, is that they were playing dance music. People don't dance to that kind of music any more.

Uncut-
You, Jason & I have such similar taste in music. I wonder if we maybe haven't bumped into each other on some dancefloor, circa 1982?
 

Mr. Snakey

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The secret to 80s music, and perhaps why they seem kitsch now, is that they were playing dance music. People don't dance to that kind of music any more.

Uncut-
You, Jason & I have such similar taste in music. I wonder if we maybe haven't bumped into each other on some dancefloor, circa 1982?
We may have. :wink:
 

B_henry miller

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Also, the structures that made them famous back then are almost obsolete today. Remember the days when MTV used to actually play MUSIC VIDEOS? Now, they play short clips if at all, and music videos are largely relegated to YouTube. And record sales aren't where it's at anymore; everyone downloads for free, or for a very small fee.

The Internet has just changed everything, meaning that everyone can be a star for a small amount of time; but no one stays famous for that long or gets that famous. It's sort of endearing/kitsch to look back to a time when Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Springsteen, Prince, etc., were allowed to become superstars. They don't make superstars like that anymore.

The secret to 80s music, and perhaps why they seem kitsch now, is that they were playing dance music. People don't dance to that kind of music any more.
 

Bbucko

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Also, the structures that made them famous back then are almost obsolete today. Remember the days when MTV used to actually play MUSIC VIDEOS? Now, they play short clips if at all, and music videos are largely relegated to YouTube. And record sales aren't where it's at anymore; everyone downloads for free, or for a very small fee.

The Internet has just changed everything, meaning that everyone can be a star for a small amount of time; but no one stays famous for that long or gets that famous. It's sort of endearing/kitsch to look back to a time when Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Springsteen, Prince, etc., were allowed to become superstars. They don't make superstars like that anymore.

I agree, it's the screens that have gotten smaller :wink:

BTW- none of the icons you mention were on my list, but they truly were the megastars of the era.
 

B_henry miller

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It's funny, but in the retrospectives I've seen, they often leave off the megastars as well. I think it's because they defined the era, but because they are so big on their own they also transcend the era. It's almost like they are so famous that you don't need a retrospective to be reminded of them. They're all still in the news on a regular basis these days anyway.
 

titan1968

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Here is a link to 'Rise Up' (Canadian version) from Canadian group Parachute Club. It was a hit here in 1983 and one of my favourites. This song is uplifting and the lyrics are meaningful-- they ring true now as much as they did in 1983. Enjoy.

 
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