This occured to me about lots of artists or bands who initially got big during the '60s and '70s and either had a sudden comeback or continuted success in the late 1981/'82-1986 period of early MTV. Their hit songs often screamed Eighties as much as (if not more!) the new artists of the time did. ;)  I'm thinking stuff like "We Built This City", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", or that period's Rod Stewart and Lionel Richie.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Marty you forgot the Monkees!!!!

Remember their 20th Anniversary Album? :)

I don't remember it but I know about it now, lol.

Yeah, the song "That Was Then, This is Now" is extremely overproduced '80s cheese (in a good way).

I don't remember it but I know about it now, lol.

Yeah, the song "That Was Then, This is Now" is extremely overproduced '80s cheese (in a good way).


That was one of the biggest concert tours of 86 I believe.  If you go on youtube you can see the video for that song talking about cheesy. ;D

I actually watched it not too long ago and I know what you mean. ;)

BTW, I was 4 in 1986 and turned 5 later in the year. Although I can remember quite a bit of the music and the overall "feel" of the time, it was more the stuff that permeated the masses. Lots of '80s music I equally didn't hear or know about until the '90s or even '00s. It was only a couple years ago that I knew of the Monkees comeback.

That was one of the biggest concert tours of 86 I believe.  If you go on youtube you can see the video for that song talking about cheesy. ;D

They re-ran the TV series again in '86 too!  That godawful "Help" rip-off sit-com.  Yet, no matter how bad it is, I'll always watch it!
8)

Veteran artist: Mike Howlett
1970s: Played bass in legendary prog rock band Gong.  
Played in Strontium 90 with Sting, Stewart Copland, recorded early demo of "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic."
1980s: Produced tracks and/or albums for the following:
Orchestral Maneuvres in the Dark
A Flock of Seagulls
The Tear Drop Exploded
Tears for Fears
Gang of Four
Blancmange
John Foxx
Berlin
Comsat Angels
China Crisis
Thompson Twins
The Alarm

And yet...these graying ex-hippies who just loooove progressive rock from the '70s always poo-pooed New Wave, so it gave me great joy in telling them, one of your own virtually defined it!

^ I didn't realize the irony about Howlitt, but I think you're right in saying that alot of people who tend to dislike a certain scene are actually those who "created" it. For instance, most of the grunge guys were actually early Generation Xers and former '80s teens, so the average person Kurt Cobain or Eddie Vedder's age were likely to despise the '90s!

I have noticed that the core "new wave haters" (or for that matter. 1980s culture and politics in general) are former hippies of the late '60s and to a lesser extent '70s. Probably because that lifestyle and era "defined" them so much, they despised Reagan (not that that's a bad thing, necesarilly).

  I wonder how many young people, in the eighties, were even aware of the pedigrees of the long-lived and vital artists that made comebacks (or changed their approach) throughout the decade...

  For instance, never heard of Yes before.  Never heard of ZZ Top before.  Never heard of Crosby, Stills & Nash before.  Never heard of REO Speedwagon before....

Heck, Michael Jackson was probably the biggest artist of the 80s, and he first gained prominence as a child-singer with the Jackson 5 in the late 60s and early 70s.

You think of Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel and Genesis as being very 80s, but they all got their start together in the prog-rock movement of the 70s.

And even though Bruce Springsteen was huge in the 80s, he started out in the 70s, too.

how about Paul Carrack?  he had a solo alb um then...and Ace released "how long" in 75!

Paul Carrack (born April 22, 1951 in Sheffield, England) is an English keyboardist, singer and songwriter. Carrack has had multiple careers which have overlapped over the last three-plus decades. He has been a member of several bands including Ace, Squeeze, and Mike + The Mechanics, been a session and touring musician for several others, and has enjoyed success as a solo artist as well. His distinctive voice shows up on some of his affiliated bands' best-known hits.

aerosmith also was big in the 80s....permenant vacation.....

Aretha Franklin made a comeback.  Her song Freeway Of Love and her duet with George Michael.

Aretha Franklin made a comeback.  Her song Freeway Of Love and her duet with George Michael.


  Don't forget Tina Turner.  Big time comeback...

  Don't forget Tina Turner.  Big time comeback...


Oh yes, Private Dancer was a big Album. :)

And the Everly brothers."ON the Wings of a Nightingale "should have gone to #1!

Let's not forget Heart (What About Love, These Dreams, Alone), Fleetwood Mac (Gypsy, Big Love, Everywhere), Journey (Any Way You Want It, Don't Stop Believin', Faithfully), Talking Heads (Once In A Lifetime, Burning Down The House, Road To Nowhere) or Hall & Oates (Private Eyes, Maneater, Out Of Touch). All of them started out in the mid-to-late 70's.

NTM two of the 80's biggest solo artists, Don Henley(Dirty Laundry, The Boys Of Summer) & Glenn Frey(The Heat Is On, Smuggler's Blues) were alumni of the EAGLES!

Your Pal,
Doc
8)

I friend and I were just talking about this topic this morning!  It seems that som many of the musicians from the 70s and 80s were very verstile and could adjust to play the music that was popular at the time.  Even those who started out in the 80s had to change styles by around 1986-1987.    That's quite impressive to me...usually people get stuck in one genre and are done when musical styles change.

I friend and I were just talking about this topic this morning!  It seems that som many of the musicians from the 70s and 80s were very verstile and could adjust to play the music that was popular at the time.  Even those who started out in the 80s had to change styles by around 1986-1987.    That's quite impressive to me...usually people get stuck in one genre and are done when musical styles change.


  Yeah.  Many are also accused of being "sell outs" which I think is bunk in many cases.  One does not necessarily have to sell out in order to be successful groove ;) on...

Rick Nelson came back with Garden Party.

Its funny because I was just thinking how big 50's and 60's music seemed in the 80s.
There are a ton of movies with soundtracks that feature Motown songs and 50's & 60'sRock.
It seems there was a ressurgence of this music in the 80's I feel like it might have been as popular as 80's music itself....
Am I Wrong?

Rick Nelson came back with Garden Party.

Its funny because I was just thinking how big 50's and 60's music seemed in the 80s.
There are a ton of movies with soundtracks that feature Motown songs and 50's & 60'sRock.
It seems there was a ressurgence of this music in the 80's I feel like it might have been as popular as 80's music itself....
Am I Wrong?

Yeah, the '50s and early-mid '60s influence was huge in the 1979-1986 time.

I think it was due to being part of the backlash against 1970s long-form genres such as progressive rock, Disco, or the ten-minute guitar solos. So pop music looked into the past and basically just made something new out of it. Lots of the early MTV bands, such as Hall and Oates, The Cars, Michael Jackson, that period's Billy Joel and Van Halen, The Go-Gos, Huey Lewis, and Stray Cats seem to share the "radio hit single" feel in common with The Beatles/British Invasion, The Beach Boys and Motown singers.

On a secondary level, it might've also been the artists paying tribute to the music of their childhood. There were lots of cover songs from then, too.

Dang what about Diana Ross nobody mentioned her on this thread. She was only in the most famous girl-group of all time in the "Supremes". She had hits "I;m Coming" in 1980(well 1980 wasn;t exactly core 80's like 82/83-86 was but it was still an 80's year.) Diana Ross also scored a huge hit with her calloboration with Lionel Richie in 1981 with "Endless Love". She also had hits with Upside Down in 1980 I think and a hit in 1984 with "I;m Missing You".

I friend and I were just talking about this topic this morning!  It seems that som many of the musicians from the 70s and 80s were very verstile and could adjust to play the music that was popular at the time.  Even those who started out in the 80s had to change styles by around 1986-1987.    That's quite impressive to me...usually people get stuck in one genre and are done when musical styles change.
Yeah thats true in the case of some of the grunge bands in 1999 because they couldn't change their sound enough to sell the amount of records as a result of teen-pop's dominants in 1999. Truth is that many grunge bands(almost all) that came in the 1991-1996 period were pretty much in trouble in the 1999 music scene. A band like "Creed" did well from 1997-2002 because they did poppier sounding music than the grunge bands that come out in 1991-1996 period. As a matter fact I remember reading a review in 1999 of Stone Temple Pilots 1999 CD release called "No. 4" which netted the monster hit "Sour Girl" and the record reviewer said of "No. 4" this(CD) sounds like 1992(instead of 1999.) Hall & Oates got the same treatment in 1990 as Stone temple Pilots did in 1999. I remember watching VH1 "Behind The Music" of Hall & Oates and I heard Hall & Oates in 1990 got criticized for sounding too 1980's in 1990.