The 80's - What did they do to our music?

[seventieslord]

The 80's reputation as the worst decade for music is hard earned, in my opinion. Obviously, most of the songs we think of when we think of the 80's are the one hit wonders and novelty hits like Micky, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, and Karma Chameleon. Now even if we can look back fondly at songs like that, we all know they were shite.

But surely good bands were at least still making good music, right? Not compared to their output before and after. When looking at my own music collection, I see in total 9 bands/artists whose entire catalogs I have collected who existed for at least a few years before and after the 80's. They are:

Black Sabbath
Pink Floyd
Bob Dylan
AC DC
The Ramones
Cheap Trick
The Rolling Stones
Aerosmith
Rush

So these are bands that I must be some sort of authority on. Looking back, I think every one of these artists' worst decade of output was the 1980's. Aerosmith is arguable, and Pink Floyd's 1980's output was just two albums (but they were the two worst)

The only bands of my favourites who I think did their best work in the 1980's are Metallica and U2.

Can anyone add more examples to either list? Or provide an explanation/apology for why the 80's sucked so bad?

[Ross]

One band who only did good work in the the 80s...

Guns n' Roses

And yes, I'm well aware that the Use Your Illusions came out in the 90s....

Tom Waits, actually improved in the 80s, based on his 70s output, paving the way for becoming a total genius in the 90s.

[beerofthedark]

Iron Maiden's best work was in the 80's, really went downhill in the 90's and now up to a comparable level once again.
Thrash was at it's best in the 80's too.

[seventieslord]

I don't know quite enough about Maiden to say anything, but probably good call there. As for GNR, they only really existed (in terms of releasing studio albums of original material) from 1987-1992 so they may not be a perfect case, but yes, obviously their best was from the 80's.

[pete gusher]

elvis costello - a genius in every decade

[geordierussell]

early 70 disco was crap.

the 80's were the best and worst of times.

[kitescreech]

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The 80's reputation as the worst decade for music is hard earned, in my opinion. Obviously, most of the songs we think of when we think of the 80's are the one hit wonders and novelty hits like... Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, and Karma Chameleon

I dont think it's fair to group Culture Club and Wham! in as either novelty hits or one hit wonders. Im not defending their music, but they were around for a loooong time. And sold a lot of stuff. And influenced pop to this day. Which is not a good thing.

[sparky]

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The 80's reputation as the worst decade for music is hard earned, in my opinion. Obviously, most of the songs we think of when we think of the 80's are the one hit wonders and novelty hits like... Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, and Karma Chameleon

I dont think it's fair to group Culture Club and Wham! in as either novelty hits or one hit wonders. Im not defending their music, but they were around for a loooong time. And sold a lot of stuff. And influenced pop to this day. Which is not a good thing.

Duran Duran stick out in my mind as being big in the 80's
But I think The Cure were good in the 80's and 90's and as far as a good "big" rock album Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell springs to mind, although I don't think it's much good now.
But none of them really stand up to Motorhead and Ramones for delivering good solid albums throught out the 80's even if their albums were not extremely drifferent from one to the next(I mean in their respective styles)

[seventieslord]

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The 80's reputation as the worst decade for music is hard earned, in my opinion. Obviously, most of the songs we think of when we think of the 80's are the one hit wonders and novelty hits like... Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, and Karma Chameleon

I dont think it's fair to group Culture Club and Wham! in as either novelty hits or one hit wonders. Im not defending their music, but they were around for a loooong time. And sold a lot of stuff. And influenced pop to this day. Which is not a good thing.

Duran Duran stick out in my mind as being big in the 80's
But I think The Cure were good in the 80's and 90's and as far as a good "big" rock album Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell springs to mind, although I don't think it's much good now.
But none of them really stand up to Motorhead and Ramones for delivering good solid albums throught out the 80's even if their albums were not extremely drifferent from one to the next(I mean in their respective styles)

Good Call on Duran Duran, they really shone in the 80's. The Cure too. Even if I'm not the biggest fan of either.

Bat out of Hell was from the 70's though.

And the Ramones' best albums were their first 5 that were all released in 1980 and earlier. Their other stuff after that went downhill until a minor resurgence in the 90's.

[DangerousBeans]

Beastie Boys and The Pogues were pretty big.

Not too sure about the Beasties but The Pogues best stuff was certainly in the 80's
If i should fall from Grace with God is a cracking album.

[sparky]

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The 80's reputation as the worst decade for music is hard earned, in my opinion. Obviously, most of the songs we think of when we think of the 80's are the one hit wonders and novelty hits like... Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, and Karma Chameleon

I dont think it's fair to group Culture Club and Wham! in as either novelty hits or one hit wonders. Im not defending their music, but they were around for a loooong time. And sold a lot of stuff. And influenced pop to this day. Which is not a good thing.

Duran Duran stick out in my mind as being big in the 80's
But I think The Cure were good in the 80's and 90's and as far as a good "big" rock album Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell springs to mind, although I don't think it's much good now.
But none of them really stand up to Motorhead and Ramones for delivering good solid albums throught out the 80's even if their albums were not extremely drifferent from one to the next(I mean in their respective styles)

Good Call on Duran Duran, they really shone in the 80's. The Cure too. Even if I'm not the biggest fan of either.

Bat out of Hell was from the 70's though.

Me dumb Bat out of Hell was 1977 to be exact