I posted about this years ago when I was first here and thought I'd get a fresh perspective. :)

Something about the music and pop culture of 1981-1986 just feels more "classic" to me. Its just a matter of perception from my end, but I love that suburban pop culture. Such as John Hughes movies, new wave and arena rock type music (i.e. Huey Lewis, Thompson Twins, Foreigner, The Police, Cyndi, Journey, Bon Jovi).

One reason I don't enjoy the later part as much (starting as early as '86 but especially gaining steam in '88-89), even if I remember it clearer, was the rise in more edgy or hip hop culture. I just don't relate as well to anything with a rap element (I enjoy the more traditional R&B black music however, like Motown). There's some people around my age, where the only 80s music they know is the more urban stuff at the very end, like Lisa Lisa or Salt N Pepa.

Of course there was still a blend of both styles (even well into the 90s there was), but it seems like the lack of hip hop culture in the first half of the 80s make it more nostalgic. Even the black artists then made very "white" music, such as MJ, Lionel Richie, Whitney, Billy Ocean, and Prince. I think that's what made them so big as crossovers, since there was a divergence of people who got into them, including outside their fanbase.

I was thinking about the same - just yesterday when I was on Youtube listening to those "Best of 1981, 82, 83... and so on"-Videos...

I think you're right. The music from around my birth seems to be the last time that pop music had that classic-80's-sound. 1986 had songs that sounded classic 1983-80's (new wave etc.) and also songs which sounded way more polished like the 1988-80's. 1986 was a transitional year in my opinion, but most hits from 1987 were great, too.

I was thinking about the same - just yesterday when I was on Youtube listening to those "Best of 1981, 82, 83... and so on"-Videos...

I think you're right. The music from around my birth seems to be the last time that pop music had that classic-80's-sound. 1986 had songs that sounded classic 1983-80's (new wave etc.) and also songs which sounded way more polished like the 1988-80's. 1986 was a transitional year in my opinion, but most hits from 1987 were great, too.

Agreed. :) Yeah '87 and even 88 were pretty classic overall, just with more new jack swing & rap starting to slowly seep its way in too. I don't like that as much because its more rhythmic and focused on beats. The early/mid 80s were very melodic.

That era was also kind of a return to the '50s/early '60s in vibe, music, graphic design, fashion, even certain politics. Huey Lewis and Hall and Oates have their influences written all over them, from early rock n roll, doo wop, and motown. I'd even go as so far as to say that 1975 seems more different from 1955 than even 1985 does, imagine someone from 1955 coming to 1975 and seeing people in bellbottoms, big collars, leisure suits, afros, funky patterns, platform shoes, hot pants, stoner dudes with big mustaches and long hair, ect. Fashion in 1985 was(besides big hair, jeans jackets, mullets ect.) kind of more similar to the '50s fashion compared to the '70s, hair was generally shorter on men, jeans, t shirt, preppy clothes.

Yes they were classic, I grew up listening on the radio with the good music and better melodies between 1981-1987.

I think the mid 80s were the last gasps of the Post WWII era. The last years wear a young man could wear slacks casually and not be considered old fashioned. A preppier era before Jeans and a T-Shirt became our national "uniform". The fixation with the '50s had held over from the 70s and was still going really strong in the mid 80s with movies like Back to the Future being big hits.

I look at the late 80s as the basic beginnings of our modern pop culture in terms of what we wear and whatnot. I mean FOR THE MOST PART our pop culture/fashions haven't changed at all since the mid 90s.

That era was also kind of a return to the '50s/early '60s in vibe, music, graphic design, fashion, even certain politics. Huey Lewis and Hall and Oates have their influences written all over them, from early rock n roll, doo wop, and motown. I'd even go as so far as to say that 1975 seems more different from 1955 than even 1985 does, imagine someone from 1955 coming to 1975 and seeing people in bellbottoms, big collars, leisure suits, afros, funky patterns, platform shoes, hot pants, stoner dudes with big mustaches and long hair, ect. Fashion in 1985 was(besides big hair, jeans jackets, mullets ect.) kind of more similar to the '50s fashion compared to the '70s, hair was generally shorter on men, jeans, t shirt, preppy clothes.



I think the mid 80s were the last gasps of the Post WWII era. The last years wear a young man could wear slacks casually and not be considered old fashioned. A preppier era before Jeans and a T-Shirt became our national "uniform". The fixation with the '50s had held over from the 70s and was still going really strong in the mid 80s with movies like Back to the Future being big hits.

I look at the late 80s as the basic beginnings of our modern pop culture in terms of what we wear and whatnot. I mean FOR THE MOST PART our pop culture/fashions haven't changed at all since the mid 90s.


Excellent posts. :)

I never thought about the 50s influence perhaps being a reason for this, but I'll have to agree. Yeah, music like Hall & Oates, David Lee Roth, Huey Lewis, Stray Cats, The Cars, and Billy Joel definitely had the rockabilly vibe. Even pop like Madonna, Cyndi and MJ were influenced big by girl groups and Motown, respectively.

Rhett - I noticed that now that you mention it as well, with even young guys sometimes wearing dressier clothes without it standing out. Of course the sneakers/T shirt/jeans style was popular too, but it just blended in. Its amazing when you think about it, but yeah World War II was only 35-40 years ago at that point. Still recent enough to be a little bit relevant and not total history, even if it was of course very very old school. Maybe its because there could've been some youngish 45 year olds in 1982 (who remembered WWII) that may have still been into pop culture slightly and had some influence over it, if they were in the business, for example.

Excellent posts. :)

I never thought about the 50s influence perhaps being a reason for this, but I'll have to agree. Yeah, music like Hall & Oates, David Lee Roth, Huey Lewis, Stray Cats, The Cars, and Billy Joel definitely had the rockabilly vibe. Even pop like Madonna, Cyndi and MJ were influenced big by girl groups and Motown, respectively.

Rhett - I noticed that now that you mention it as well, with even young guys sometimes wearing dressier clothes without it standing out. Of course the sneakers/T shirt/jeans style was popular too, but it just blended in. Its amazing when you think about it, but yeah World War II was only 35-40 years ago at that point. Still recent enough to be a little bit relevant and not total history, even if it was of course very very old school. Maybe its because there could've been some youngish 45 year olds in 1982 (who remembered WWII) that may have still been into pop culture slightly and had some influence over it, if they were in the business, for example.


Oh yeah--I don't think the 50s craze died out until the late 80s. I mean that trend lasted over a decade--from around 1969 to the late 80s. Plus you had nostalgia for the 30s and 40s due to the Indiana Jones movies.

I look at pictures of my father (who was born in 1954) in the mid '80s and he was not old fashioned by ANY MEANS--At all. He was something of a Hippie. Some pictures he's wearing jeans and a t-shirt, others he's wearing slacks and a button down shirt or a polo shirt or a sweater--in casual situations. Or I look at my mother's photos from the 70s: Her sister's husband was of the same Hippie generation and wore long sideburns, but also wore slacks, dressy shirts and had his hair slicked back all the time.

In my family, actually, the older people dressed more outlandishly than the younger people. There's a photo from 1973 with my great uncle in it. He was 63 at the time. He's wearing a pink wide collared Disco-esque shirt, a wide plastic white belt, and loud fuschia colored bell bottoms, with long sideburns. And the younger guys in my family were wearing more conservative clothes with less long sideburns.
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5176/5534105772_1093716786_b.jpg

There are some really interesting posts made here.

There is a definite difference though, depending on country and attitude, I split that difference into three rather than two.

1980 - 1982: The beginning of the end of old school new wave from the late 1970s (old school Gary Numan, old school OMD, old school Human League...). Start of New Romantics (Adam and the Ants, ABC, Ultravox, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran...)

1983 - 1986: New Romantics ends around 1983/84 and most turn into mainstream new wave (Thompson Twins, Nik Kershaw, Howard Jones...) which turns into mainstream electronic synth pop (Erasure, Pet Shop Boys...)

1987 - 1989: S/A/W (Stock/Aitken/Waterman) era. Hip-hop and DJ sampling influence becomes mainstream (Beastie Boys, Run DMC...)

While all this is going on in the UK, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Prince and Whitney Houston make their mark in the second phase. There is also a soulful influence in the third phase where Hue and Cry, Curiosity Killed the Cat, Hothouse Flowers, Danny Wilson, Aztec Camera, Breathe and Deacon Blue fit in. Singers from the 1960s Jackie Wilson, Percy Sledge and Ben E King also had re-issued hits around this time too.

The novelty record was a constant theme throughout the 1980s in the UK too, mostly kickstarted around 1981 and carried on in it's own right to 1987. However, Bananarama had a novelty hit with Jennifer Saunders/Dawn French for Comic Relief in 1989.

This is just the way I see it from the UK.

Oh yeah--I don't think the 50s craze died out until the late 80s. I mean that trend lasted over a decade--from around 1969 to the late 80s. Plus you had nostalgia for the 30s and 40s due to the Indiana Jones movies.

I look at pictures of my father (who was born in 1954) in the mid '80s and he was not old fashioned by ANY MEANS--At all. He was something of a Hippie. Some pictures he's wearing jeans and a t-shirt, others he's wearing slacks and a button down shirt or a polo shirt or a sweater--in casual situations. Or I look at my mother's photos from the 70s: Her sister's husband was of the same Hippie generation and wore long sideburns, but also wore slacks, dressy shirts and had his hair slicked back all the time.

In my family, actually, the older people dressed more outlandishly than the younger people. There's a photo from 1973 with my great uncle in it. He was 63 at the time. He's wearing a pink wide collared Disco-esque shirt, a wide plastic white belt, and loud fuschia colored bell bottoms, with long sideburns. And the younger guys in my family were wearing more conservative clothes with less long sideburns.
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5176/5534105772_1093716786_b.jpg


cool photo Rhett.

They were classic cause I grew up listening to music on the radio like Prince, Madonna and Michael Jackson plus you had the old school rap like Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, Sugarhill Gang and Kurtis Blow.

1980 - 1982: The beginning of the end of old school new wave from the late 1970s (old school Gary Numan, old school OMD, old school Human League...). Start of New Romantics (Adam and the Ants, ABC, Ultravox, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran...)

1983 - 1986: New Romantics ends around 1983/84 and most turn into mainstream new wave (Thompson Twins, Nik Kershaw, Howard Jones...) which turns into mainstream electronic synth pop (Erasure, Pet Shop Boys...)

1987 - 1989: S/A/W (Stock/Aitken/Waterman) era. Hip-hop and DJ sampling influence becomes mainstream (Beastie Boys, Run DMC...)


I can relate to these groupings - and not just purely from a UK point of view. You could easily put 1987 in the "classic mid 80s" feel, but looking back the music/styling did change quite drastically in 1987.

I can relate to these groupings - and not just purely from a UK point of view. You could easily put 1987 in the "classic mid 80s" feel, but looking back the music/styling did change quite drastically in 1987.


Yeah, from what I can tell, the UK is more dance-oriented, so there wouldn't be as much of a divergence in the style of music circa 1986 as there seemed to be in the US. Were rap and grunge popular over there?

Make no mistake, there's tons of classic, great songs in the later 80s too (and into the 90s), but somehow the presence of "blacker"/more urban music kinda ruins it for me overall.  ;D

My favorite late 80s music tends to be the new wave/classic rock/hair metal/adult contemporary stuff which was still charting. Such as Steve Winwood, Crowded House, Def Leppard, Fleetwood Mac, Go West, Bon Jovi, Richard Marx, Depeche Mode, Bruce Hornsby, and Phil Collins.

You had the styles of music, the dance crazes and the crazy clothing fads too.