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The Human League were not one hit wonders as they also had hits with Fascination, Mirror Man, and then after a dry spell came back in the early 90's with a solid ac/pop song called Human. The Human League were one of the more consistently good synth pop bands with a little more substance than some of the others.
The best stuff of the 80's was REM, The Replacements, Husker Du, later the Pixies among others. The guitar-alternative movement opened the door for Nirvana, who were brilliant!
I certainly enjoyed some of the New Wave and Punk of the early 80's. The Cars, Blondie, The Ramones,etc.
However, those bands had their starts in the 70's and they fizzled out as the 80's went on.Blondie got overexposed and was condemned by the NY Punk/New Wave community after her Autoamerican album in 1981. She really didn't do anything after that despite being hotter than a firecracker from 1978-1981.
The Cars lost me after Shake it Up. Heartbeat City in 1984 was a sellout album all the way. However, they just released their first album in 25 years this past spring. Their new song "Blue Tip" was dynamite for a bunch of 60 year olds.
The Ramones were never the same starting with "End of the Century" in 1980. I'm a big fan too. However, their 4 70's albums are all you need to get them at their peak. Self titled debut up through Road to Ruin.
Another band that got killed by MTV 80's. Steely Dan. Gaucho was released in 1981 and many critics thought it was a lame version of Aja. That type of music was not accepted very well after 1981. Donald Fagen did have success with The Nightfly in 1982. That was it though. Fagen didn't release another solo album for over 10 years. Steely Dan took 20 years to reform after their Gaucho breakup.
I certainly enjoyed some of the New Wave and Punk of the early 80's. The Cars, Blondie, The Ramones,etc.
However, those bands had their starts in the 70's and they fizzled out as the 80's went on.Blondie got overexposed and was condemned by the NY Punk/New Wave community after her Autoamerican album in 1981. She really didn't do anything after that despite being hotter than a firecracker from 1978-1981.
The Cars lost me after Shake it Up. Heartbeat City in 1984 was a sellout album all the way. However, they just released their first album in 25 years this past spring. Their new song "Blue Tip" was dynamite for a bunch of 60 year olds.
The Ramones were never the same starting with "End of the Century" in 1980. I'm a big fan too. However, their 4 70's albums are all you need to get them at their peak. Self titled debut up through Road to Ruin.
Those bands were has beens in 1981 when hardcore punk had begun to explode.
If we're talking about huge shifts in the music industry, I would also argue that somewhere between 1997 and 1999 was the most recent major shift in popular music, as this marked the time when the Internet and digital music started to hit critical mass.
I would go even a tad earlier as the biggest shift mid 90s.
It's when Hip Hop became Gangsta and gained mainstream appeal with Dre's The Chronic and 2Pac's All Eyes on Me.
It's when Rock essentially disappeared into Alternative, Emo, Pop-Punk/Punk, Metal, Hardcore, Indie, and many other genres with the rise of Rage Against the Machine, Green Day, and many other acts that lifted their repective genres i.e. Sunny Day Real Estate help established Emo.
It's when Techno split into individual genres Trance, House, Drum&Bass, Jungle, and many other genres.
I guess it depends on how far back in time you're willing to go. I'd argue that 1964 had a bigger shift in music (British Invasion-Beatles/Stones/Kinks/Animals), followed by 1967 (Psychedelia--Hendrix, Pink Floyd, J Airplane, & Sgt Pepper/Strawberry Fields Forever/Walrus era Beatles) and even 1965 (folk-rock-Simon & garfunkel/Mama&Papas/Lovin'Spoonful/RubberSoul era Beatles). That's not to say that there was some overlap (eg Herman's Hermits had hits in '65 that sounded more like 1964, but most of the groups had advanced their sound very noticeably).
1977 was another big year for changing music style with The Clash, The Ramones, The Talking Heads, The Police, The Jam, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson and Graham Parker
Ragga inspired DnB. Disco gave rise to house (in Chicago and NYC). MIDI and computer technology gave rise to the producers creating techno (in Detroit). It's really a fascinating history...but very blurry.
I certainly enjoyed some of the New Wave and Punk of the early 80's. The Cars, Blondie, The Ramones,etc.
However, those bands had their starts in the 70's and they fizzled out as the 80's went on.Blondie got overexposed and was condemned by the NY Punk/New Wave community after her Autoamerican album in 1981. She really didn't do anything after that despite being hotter than a firecracker from 1978-1981.
The Cars lost me after Shake it Up. Heartbeat City in 1984 was a sellout album all the way. However, they just released their first album in 25 years this past spring. Their new song "Blue Tip" was dynamite for a bunch of 60 year olds.
The Ramones were never the same starting with "End of the Century" in 1980. I'm a big fan too. However, their 4 70's albums are all you need to get them at their peak. Self titled debut up through Road to Ruin.
Time has proven the AutoAmerican album to be ahead of its time. People including myself appreciated it more later on. The Hunter released in 82 is what did Blondie in. That album was not so great.
Blondie got overexposed and was condemned by the NY Punk/New Wave community after her Autoamerican album in 1981. She really didn't do anything after that despite being hotter than a firecracker from 1978-1981.
Blondie is the name of the band, not the singer. Her name would be Debbie Harry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncopus99
I would go even a tad earlier as the biggest shift mid 90s.
It's when Hip Hop became Gangsta and gained mainstream appeal with Dre's The Chronic and 2Pac's All Eyes on Me.
It's when Rock essentially disappeared into Alternative, Emo, Pop-Punk/Punk, Metal, Hardcore, Indie, and many other genres with the rise of Rage Against the Machine, Green Day, and many other acts that lifted their repective genres i.e. Sunny Day Real Estate help established Emo.
It's when Techno split into individual genres Trance, House, Drum&Bass, Jungle, and many other genres.
If we're talking about shifts to the entire music industry, the digital music revolution of the mid-late 90's was far more important than the stylistic shifts you're mentioning.
Blondie is the name of the band, not the singer. Her name would be Debbie Harry.
If we're talking about shifts to the entire music industry, the digital music revolution of the mid-late 90's was far more important than the stylistic shifts you're mentioning.
The digital revolution started closer to 1981...with the advent of the CD. I still remember the "home taping is killing music campaign" that was often included in the slip sleeves of many of my LPs.
It's a fun debate, no doubt...but I think that the production techniques that defined the sounds of the artists being mentioned aren't being given enough credit with regard to the OP's assertation that 1981 was a big bang year.
It could be similarly argued that the mid to late 90's had it's watershed moments as well....but when it comes to the technology that actually defined the sound of what we listen to, which was more on the part of sound designers, producers and engineers, that technology wasn't readily available until the rise of PC's and MIDI...sampling...etc.
The changes you speak of are more logistical in nature.
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Less is more.
