Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler 80'S Music....only ONE real flaw.

In a recent thread....someone mentioned that 80's cd mixes, were the worst for source material. Well, that's a rather broad statement...but, it got me thinking.
To me, the 80's were all and all, a GOOD period for popular music in general.

I still like most 80's music, and actually miss it. The music was everywhere....movie soundtracks, (even all those 80's "B" movies) and just about everywhere you went..... (you almost didn't need to buy it).

THE MAIN THING I noticed back then, and ESPECIALLY NOW.....was not so much the mixes, or mastering of the music from back in those day's.....it was that AWFUL snare drum crash style that EVERY BAND, or GROUP...(no matter which music type) apparently thought HAD to be in EVERY 80's song.
You know, that.....1,2,3,4,...BAM...1,2,3,4,...BAM.

To me, it sounded like a garbage can lid being struck with a ball bat.....in a garage. THAT'S the one "mistake" I think was made back then...it's like that SNL comedy skit...."I need more cowbell"...only, I picture the producers saying..."you gotta have the snare...more snare!
I guess I feel the most sorry for the many drummers, who had to play that way on everything they did.
1,2,3,4,...BAM...1,2,3,4,...BAM.

Anyhow, that's my take on the 80's "sound".

Nah, the problem for me was the amount of Yamaha DX7s running around. Everyone had to use one of those sounds in the music...

I give you this as a repository of 80's sound. The first one is particularly insipid. God, I hate that noise...

I always thought the problem was "big hair" .

.....1,2,3,4,...BAM...1,2,3,4,...BAM.


I hadn't noticed that most 80s music was in 5/4 time...

Actually, I think the overabundance of thin guitar sounds coupled with the aforementioned DX7s were the bane of good music in the 80s. But at least everyone knew what gear you needed to have back then. So the only choices you had to make were fashion-centric.

>>Nah, the problem for me was the amount of Yamaha DX7s running around. Everyone had to use one of those sounds in the music...

I generally stopped listening to bands when they started getting FM synths. Didn't mind Prophets and Oberheims, and some groups even did decent things with Polymoogs (especially Cardboard Brains, but nobody outside Toronto would have heard of them).

Giving FM synthesizers to rock bands was like giving people Macintoshes -- the urge to use every single stinkin' font in a single document was too much to resist.

Even ELP went bad when the Yammie keyboards started to appear. Love Beach... thpthttt!!

It's funny, listening to those tones, I was reminded of horrifically sappy love songs (Rhodes), "alternative" rock, and Rush. Sigh... liking 1 out of 3 ain't bad, I suppose.

You don't like Rush? Suprises me..

No, no, Rush is the one I like...


Oh. That was a joke, wasn't it?

If you've looked in the mirror lately, and have seen what I have seen while looking in the mirror lately, you could go for some 'big hair'.

That's when I stopped listening to Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
They pretty much went into the dumpster with that album!
Funny thing with ELP, most of their albums sound like crap (too bass heavy) even though they are fantastic musicians. Too bad they won't remaster those old tapes with today's technology.
BTW, avoid the Royal Albert Hall DVD, the performance is good however it sound's like it was recorded from the basement!