How did 70s rock music transition into 80s music?
80s music appeared to be a re-visitation of the beginning of Rock — when "singles" ruled the AM radio. In those early days, in the event that a craftsman had a hit, he/she could get to record an "collection" (when those modern LP records appeared). A LP could have two hits and 10 tunes of forgettable filler melodies. Most craftsmen were characterized by their hit singles.
The 60s and 70s saw an ascent in FM radio and AOR (Album Oriented Rock) which gave numerous specialists the opportunity to make bigger works, or gatherings of melodies which frequently remained all in all work, and empowered a more extended tuning in/focus time. Beside funk and disco dance hits, the 70s inclined towards Album Oriented Rock.
The 80s saw a swing away from longer works and AOR, and back towards snappy singles. I'd say MTV had a great deal to do with the progress to 80s music. ("Video killed the radio star"):
MTV presented many gatherings who had fantastic singles, yet probably won't have accomplished acknowledgment without MTV video openness: Squeeze, The Vapors, Duran, Adam and the Ants, the B-52s, The Cars — to give some examples. (Note, I said "may" — yet that is my hypothesis.)
MTV constrained many long settled stars — David Bowie, Rod Stewart, even The Rolling Stones — to make video-commendable tunes. (That is — SINGLES.)
Peter Gabriel is a story regardless of anyone else's opinion. He was genuinely known from his Genesis Days — yet those astonishing recordings of "For sure" and "Demolition hammer" certainly kicked him into the super frightening.
MTV — after a ton of asking, cajoling, and dangers — at last changed their bigoted whites-just strategy, and began broadcasting recordings by people like Michael Jackson and Prince — presenting various dark craftsman to a lot bigger crowd.
In outline, I think MTV during the 80s — and later the Internet and YouTube — abbreviated individuals' capacity to focus, made a market weighty on short snappy singles, and made it progressively hard for craftsman to make "collections" which would allow them an opportunity to introduce their bigger vision.
@moonwatcher , I would say rock has evolved. 21 Pilots, One Republic, even Imagine Dragons and Billie Eilish are essentially a modern version of rock for their popular songs. What I see the issue with modern music media (many younger writers) is their definition of rock is often more what I would call "rock noise" than rock. Look at the Billboard top 20 of the late 60's, early 70's. The majority of the songs are not what we would really call rock. |
@theaudiomaniac I just wonder if and when the current infatuation with singer-centric pop music will fade? I listen to some of it (it’s unavoidable), but have moved on to jazz, electronica, jamband, Americana, classical and other genres of music. At some point I’ve heard enough "ooh baby I love you" songs to last a lifetime. We used to deride that stuff as "bubble gum pop". |
Maybe we will get lucky and some of the truly talented, like Ed Sheeran, will get together with some other talented people and form a band. One can always hope. He is one of the bright lights.
We probably need a new business model to drive real change @moonwatcher |
I always thought of the eighties as the big hair band era. And it completely turned me off. However, since I now listen to a lot of electronic music, I have discovered an absolute genius of the genre which makes me now think the 80s were one of the best decade in new music you can find. His name is Boris Blank. He is from Switzerland and his band is YELLO. Absolutely fantastic music starting in 1980 and has lasted over 40 years. If you truly have an audiophile system that can go DEEP, I assure you that you will never hear better sound on it than Boris Blank and Yello. |
