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I have ZERO reverence for Dancing in the Dark. If you find the Erasure version of Atlantic City, however, well... tell my mom I love her.

GeddyWrox wrote:

pioneer98 wrote:There was a lot of music back then that I thought was silly even then. Huey Lewis. Herbie Hancock. The Bangles. The Cars. Peter Gabriel. Etc. There were exceptions that were actually pretty good. Genesis. U2. Prince. Michael Jackson. Maybe Springsteen? Etc.

Whoa, whoa, WHOA!!! You lump Peter Gabriel in with the "bads", yet Genesis in with the "goods"??? That is wrong on multiple levels!!!

I'm glad someone else mentioned this. Tsk, tsk on the Peter Gabriel dis.

The synth schlock started in the 70's of course. I mean there is some synth on Abbey Road after all.

There were some that used it well: Dark Side of the Moon for instance.

But then you had things like Heart's Dreamboat Annie and Boston's debut. At the time it sounds great, new, fresh, modern! But boy it hasn't aged well. So much of it sounds like cheap video game effects.

Man, I hope Theo doesn't see this thread...

Dancing in the Dark is [expletive] great.

Even better, "I'm on Fire"

There are many artists that made a string of great albums in the 70's, and as soon as the 80's hit, their catalogue dries up. Neil Young and Van Morrison come to mind. It's like the artists and producers got so excited about the new technology (a la autotune) that they just dove in completely to the new sound. Pianos were replaced with synths, acoustic guitars were recorded with the piezo instead of a mic, and reverb reigned supreme.

There are good songs in the 80's, but many of them are lost in the production. I'm not sure we'll be as kind to the "popular" music of the 00's and 10's.

cardsfantx wrote:

Fat_Bulldog wrote:I love 80's music.

don't you want to wait till the board argues about it for approx 50 pages and then see who wins, before you decide if you love it?

I'll be six feet in the cold hard ground before I lose this thread!!! The spiky ball at the end of my mace is swinging. BTW, the ball is a very angry Eddie Murphy face.

MrSaigon wrote:EDM, Dubstep, even modern Radiohead aren't my thing but I wouldn't say they bother me all that much. But that soulless, hollow synthesized sound of the 80s is (almost always) unbearable.

Exhibit B (listen to Beams' interview before the performance as well, I think I lifted that subconciously in paraphrase before):

I like Iron and Wine, but I disagree with the point being made. "Oh, let's improve this song with "real instruments" because it sounds better to me." Music is subjective. If the synths, and those flat, non-reverberating notes that go with it don't bother you, then it's fine. I think it would be lame if all music was arranged and instrumented according to one particular era or school of thought. I like that you can listen to a song and know right away when it came out.

MrSaigon wrote:

cardsfantx wrote:

Fat_Bulldog wrote:I love 80's music.

don't you want to wait till the board argues about it for approx 50 pages and then see who wins, before you decide if you love it?

I'll be six feet in the cold hard ground before I lose this thread!!! The spiky ball at the end of my mace is swinging. BTW, the ball is a very angry Eddie Murphy face.

ghostrunner wrote:

MrSaigon wrote:EDM, Dubstep, even modern Radiohead aren't my thing but I wouldn't say they bother me all that much. But that soulless, hollow synthesized sound of the 80s is (almost always) unbearable.

Exhibit B (listen to Beams' interview before the performance as well, I think I lifted that subconciously in paraphrase before):

I like Iron and Wine, but I disagree with the point being made. "Oh, let's improve this song with "real instruments" because it sounds better to me." Music is subjective. If the synths, and those flat, non-reverberating notes that go with it don't bother you, then it's fine. I think it would be lame if all music was arranged and instrumented according to one particular era or school of thought. I like that you can listen to a song and know right away when it came out.

Go back to the earliest days of music and play three chords on an acoustic guitar and three notes on a 80s synth for 10 notable artists every ten years and ask what they prefer. What you get may not be objective, but it will be overwhelming. It's a horrible sound. It's the Yellow-5, artificial preservative carcinogen of music.