Big Hair, Funny Clothes and Visceral Music. There’s Nothing Like the 80s
The quintessential 80’s band, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), the head jarring hip-hopping sounds of Public Enemy, the yearning sounds of Simple Minds, and of course, Michael Jackson’s record-setting
Thriller album. The era of music in the 80’s is often relegated to bad jokes and cliches. Too many people forget that the same type of energy the ignited the sixties and seventies, also ignited the 80’s. The energy just had more rhythm.
Who stands out in your mind? There’s A-ha, Aerosmith, Adam Ant, Atlantic Starr, B-52’s, Bananarama, Bangels, David Bowie, Christopher Cross, Phil Collins, Clash, Commodores, Culture Club, Def Leppard, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Eagles Sheena Easton, Eurythmics, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Grateful Dead, Guns & Roses, Hall & Oates, Heart, Journey, the Jacksons, Kinks, Kool & The Gang, Cyndi Lauper, John Lennon, Olivia Newton-John, Sinead O’Connor, Oingo Boingo, Robert Palmer, Alan Parsons Project, Tom Petty & The Heartbeakers, Police, Queen, Quiet Riot, Eddie Rabbit, R.E.M., REO Speedwagon, Rolling Stones, Lionel Ritchie, Rick Springfield, Bruce Springsteen, Sade, Rod Stewart, Styx, Survivor, Talking Heads, Toto, Tina Turner, Tears for Fears, UB40, U2, Wang Chung, Wham! and Whitesnake and Weird Al Yankovic. And oh so many more.
Rather than try to list the stand-out band of the 80’s it’s often better to discuss how one feels when listening to 80’s music. There is a sense of romance, discovery, rebellion and freedom. The proper eighties music can make one feel like Ferris Bueller, doing his one thing, his own way. Technically speaking, I reached adolescence during the 70’s. However, I didn’t really find my voice in music until the 80’s. It was during this decade that I came into my own. The music had alluring power.
80’s music isn’t just the music that stands out because we recall the film we watched as the tune played. It’s more than the soundtrack to Do the Right Thing, Pretty in Pink or The Breakfast Club. It’s a decade of experiences and changing politics, conveyed within the essence of rhythms, beats and screaming electric guitars. It is a voice standing out from the antiestablishment music of the 70’s that screamed, “Let’s just rock out and have fun!“
