Someone said this song and music video are very late 80s. Like it couldn't have been made any earlier than 1987 or any later than 91. Do you agree?
xweiQukBM_k

Music videos filmed in the evening/dawn and/or back alleys were very big in the late 80s (Respectable - 1987; Everlasting Love - 1987, Got to Be Certain - 1988; etc.) Except MJ's Billie Jean and Madonna's Burning Up were early 80s and had similar settings. ???

About the song, it sounds very 1988-1990.

Edit: On a side note, somewhat ironically, many 1989-1991 music videos looked very low-cost like being from 1981-1983. The "Buffalo Stance" video for ex. was not that far off from Haysi Fantayzee's "Shiny Shiny" or even Amii Stewart's "Knock On Wood". ;D. Does anyone have any explaination for that? A sudden stand against the sleeker, more polished look of the second half of the 80's?

The album was released in 1988 and the song became a hit in late 1989. So it's 80s.

It's typical 1980s freestyle dance. The guest rap verse puts it more in late '80s territory, but it definitely doesn't sound '90s.

It sounds very late 80s to me. A lot of people tend to forget about the late 80s and how they were dominated by Freestyle, New Jack Swing and other stuff like Adult Contemporary for some reason. I guess it wouldn't have been too out-of-place in the early 90s but certainly not past that.

I'd place it in the same category as Janet Jackson's RN1814 album, being basically of its time ("almost" '90s, but still very late '80s overall). That said, the guest rapper IMO is a bellwether of an important feature in pop in the '90s and beyond, since most '80s rap was just that and now melding from other genres. That said, it would be similar to early 1980 hits like Donna Summer's "On The Radio" as being '70s or Christina Aguilera's "What A Girl Wants" as being '90s. All three were released/recorded in the final year of the decade while managing to transcend decades on the charts, but peaking early in the first year of that new decade. It wasn't until "Rush, Rush" in '91 that we finally got a pretty distinct "90s sound" from Paula, though even "The Promise Of A New Day" from the same year even still has that vague late '80s influence with the drums/synths.

But that's not to say that there WEREN'T any '90s-type pop songs at the time this was a hit, thanks to Technotronic's "Pump Up The Jam", which although also recorded in 1989, has that house and club sound that's representative of the early '90s in contrast to the freestyle-type music that was still around.

True, it's more 80's, but also very transitionary. I think "Buffalo Stance" and "Black Velvet" were also in the same transitionary category (at least musically)*. I wouldn't have imagined any of the three being released in 1980-1987. Even 1988 would be pushing it.

*Ironically, many 1989-1991 music videos looked very low-cost like being from 1981-1983. "Buffalo Stance" being a great example. It was not that far off from the low-fi looks of Haysi Fantayzee's "Shiny Shiny". The low-fi trend suddenly made the experimential, but low cost music videos from almost a decade earlier look not that old. Does anyone have any explaination for that? A sudden stand against the sleeker, more polished look of the second half of the 80's? "Buffalo Stance" almost looks like being from the same era as Amii Stewart's "Knock On Wood" video. ;D

Edit: I don't want to make another thread just for that, but it's an interesting very late 80s/early 90s phenomenon.

Very late 80s. Would have sounded outdated in the early 90s.

But that's not to say that there WEREN'T any '90s-type pop songs at the time this was a hit, thanks to Technotronic's "Pump Up The Jam", which although also recorded in 1989, has that house and club sound that's representative of the early '90s in contrast to the freestyle-type music that was still around.

Yeah, that one kinda paved the way for 90's dance-pop music, in a sense.

The production on this single remix is very late 80s / 1990.

The album version sounded more 80s with the electric guitar bridge at 2mins 19 and also had no rapping.

Whilst I like Paula Abdul's music, I was never a fan of "Opposites Attract".


ciTAaTBkkLY

Definitely 1980s for at the time of the record's release in 1988 the 1990s had not existed yet.

Whilst I like Paula Abdul's music, I was never a fan of "Opposites Attract".
Oh. :o I personally love it. It was a good record/video in an era when most songs were tasteless. 1981-1985 music was better than 1986-1989 imo.

Definitely 1980s for at the time of the record's release in 1988 the 1990s had not existed yet.

Exactly as I was mentioning in my first reply up above.

Oh. :o I personally love it. It was a good record/video in an era when most songs were tasteless. 1981-1985 music was better than 1986-1989 imo.


The song was about a relationship between two different people with different tastes in everything.

Someone said this song and music video are very late 80s. Like it couldn't have been made any earlier than 1987 or any later than 91. Do you agree?
xweiQukBM_k

Music videos filmed in the evening/dawn and/or back alleys were very big in the late 80s (Respectable - 1987; Everlasting Love - 1987, Got to Be Certain - 1988; etc.) Except MJ's Billie Jean and Madonna's Burning Up were early 80s and had similar settings. ???

About the song, it sounds very 1988-1990.

Edit: On a side note, somewhat ironically, many 1989-1991 music videos looked very low-cost like being from 1981-1983. The "Buffalo Stance" video for ex. was not that far off from Haysi Fantayzee's "Shiny Shiny" or even Amii Stewart's "Knock On Wood". ;D. Does anyone have any explaination for that? A sudden stand against the sleeker, more polished look of the second half of the 80's?


It’s kinda like a mixture of both the 80s and the 90s. With the rapping, it’s more of a 90s element, because Hip Hop was more popular in the 90s, and more definitive of that decade, but the synthesizers give it an 80s appeal to it, and the singing, well, let’s just say it’s both. The beat sounds kinda like dance-pop, so it sounds 80s too. I’d say it’s 80% 80s, and 20% 90s. Songs like these would’ve lasted until 1995, because New Jack Swing was popular until 1995, with Teen Pop growing out of it. Let’s call the Late 80s & Early 90s either the Bush 41 era, or the New Jack Swing era.  ;)

It sounds very late 80s, but technically went to #1 in 1990 and is one of the top songs of that year: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposites_Attract

Many (most?) songs in that 1988-91 era had a similar sound. The OP is right though that it wasn't around much prior to '87 or after '91.

Very late 80s. Would have sounded outdated in the early 90s.


Definitely not outdated in 1990. Maybe '92 or '93

It sounds very late 80s, but technically went to #1 in 1990 and is one of the top songs of that year: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposites_Attract

Many (most?) songs in that 1988-91 era had a similar sound. The OP is right though that it wasn't around much prior to '87 or after '91.

Yes, the song is very 1989. But the video itself is not unlike some 1987-1988 videos. But the styling is kinda non-descript, almost timeless. It doesn't seem out of place in any era as her hair is straight, which is more a 90s thing, no?

And how would you describe MC Skat Kat?

https://cdn.weasyl.com/static/media/62/14/3e/62143ed5a09e2270f883eba68ec4242315dd29b9f3b86c3b1647151818b2a096.png

Always thought MC Skat Cat looked like a 50s Tom & Jerry character reject.

His haircut is very 1989-1990 though (maybe the buzzcut was also in in the 50s?). Just like with the animated guys in the Money For Nothing video I wish he had his own cartoon series. :)

Always thought MC Skat Cat looked like a 50s Tom & Jerry character reject.


I was thinking that myself. ;D

Definitely not outdated in 1990. Maybe '92 or '93


Agreed.

Someone said this song and music video are very late 80s. Like it couldn't have been made any earlier than 1987 or any later than 91. Do you agree?
xweiQukBM_k

Music videos filmed in the evening/dawn and/or back alleys were very big in the late 80s (Respectable - 1987; Everlasting Love - 1987, Got to Be Certain - 1988; etc.) Except MJ's Billie Jean and Madonna's Burning Up were early 80s and had similar settings. ???

About the song, it sounds very 1988-1990.

Edit: On a side note, somewhat ironically, many 1989-1991 music videos looked very low-cost like being from 1981-1983. The "Buffalo Stance" video for ex. was not that far off from Haysi Fantayzee's "Shiny Shiny" or even Amii Stewart's "Knock On Wood". ;D. Does anyone have any explaination for that? A sudden stand against the sleeker, more polished look of the second half of the 80's?
I was knocked out by this record!

I was knocked out by this record!



Now you're talking about the Paula Abdul songs I like! Looooved this when it came out and watched the vid religiously!


uszk0pPiRwo

This music video is definitely late 80s like. It would've been seen as outdated after 1991.

Interestingly, the Wild Pair landed another top 40 hit in early 1992 with this kind of obvious knock off from Paula Abdul sound-a-like Stacy Earl. So the sound hung around a couple years into the '90s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKGw0uECKxI

Interestingly, the Wild Pair landed another top 40 hit in early 1992 with this kind of obvious knock off from Paula Abdul sound-a-like Stacy Earl. So the sound hung around a couple years into the '90s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKGw0uECKxI


It's not a synth heavy as Stacey Q's 1986 hits ("Two of Hearts" and "We Connect" are prototypically '80s sounding), but it certainly doesn't sound out of line with Paula's 1989 hits another similar uptempo songs from around that time. That said, it still has a bit of that freestyle sound, just a bit down compared to those Miami Vice-era hits, and doesn't have that more typical early '90s dance sound like you'd see from Technotronic, Snap, or 2 Unlimited from around this time. A lot like how there was post-disco and funk in the early '80s that still reeked '70s.