Sound of the 80s

[telecode]

Also look at how synths were used in quasi alternative darker music of the 80s such as Echo and Bunnymen, Psychadelic Furs, e.t.c. I think those records wound up influencing who bands in 90s used synths. (Not posting any more vids i promise)

Indeed - Joy Division perhaps being the big one here in 1979. People (rightly) think of them as a guitar band, but Atmosphere and Love Will Tear Us Apart in particular both rely on synths heavily. This was only a couple of years after the Sex Pistols where I think it was assumed any keyboard player of any kind should get bottled off stage and count themselves lucky to not get their face kicked in.

Shalamar vids - whoa, there goes the volume and bigness of the snare. This is where it got to in 1987:


(A friend and I agreed that 1987 was Peak Snare)

+1 I think you bring up a good point. Perhaps the distinguishing sonic element of how "80s music" as far as top 40 synth pop was concerned was how the claps got replaced with the snare in the overall mix. Falco from '82

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-bgiiTxhzM

(yeah, i know I said no more vides, but i had to, one of my fav songs..

[telecode]

If there's anything really notable in the development of the music of the 1980's it lays more in the development of recording technology. Better tape machines, MIDI, sequencers and samplers.

Yeah, i agree with this. I think the tech music development got a boost of adrenaline and all these new instruments and tools just started seeping into the old 70s guitar rock recording studios.

I personally think the avant garde pop artists like Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson e.t.c... did a lot more ground breaking stuff with their use of synths in their releases from that time period.

What I personally find interesting about some of those 80s pop records I grew up on is, when I hear them today, I feel they haven't aged very well. They just don't sound as "magical" as I remember them sounding and they sound just badly mastered. This is where wonder if there is some truth to some of the discussions over at Steve Hoffman audiophile forums about maybe analogue LP and cassettes do sound better than CD and digital. I would have listened and owned the LP and cassette versions of those releases back then. Today I own the digital and CD released and various remastered iterations of them and none of them sound as good as they did back when they were released. (At least not to my ears.)

[sfd]

I was around 18 then. I remmeber that video too. I think, but I'm not 100% sure, that there was another song that topped the list at that time. Can't remember the artist. But I think the song's name was "Shame Shame Shame". Or was it 1987. God I've gotten old.

Anyway, on that album (Circus) they used decent Roland drum machines. Clarke said that they didn't do any drum programming. Instead they used the presets. Because, he said, why bother when there are already great drum patterns in there.

So, as a challenge for this thread, why not try to dig up those drum patters from that album

On a side note. I liked the remix album "The Two Ring Circus" better.

[telecode]

I was around 18 then. I remmeber that video too. I think, but I'm not 100% sure, that there was another song that topped the list at that time. Can't remember the artist. But I think the song's name was "Shame Shame Shame". Or was it 1987. God I've gotten old.

Anyway, on that album (Circus) they used decent Roland drum machines. Clarke said that they didn't do any drum programming. Instead they used the presets. Because, he said, why bother when there are already gr eat drum patterns in there.

So, as a challenge for this thread, why not try to dig up those drum patters from that album

On a side note. I liked the remix album "The Two Ring Circus" better.

To be honest. I was never a big fan of them. I thought they were a bit like Bronski Beat. But they were cooler pop than the kiddie pop of Stock Aitken Waterman productions.

Arggg the only goood thing about that video are those late 80s all natural bouncy racks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykDsmAqExH8

[noiseboyuk]

I personally think the avant garde pop artists like Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson e.t.c... did a lot more ground breaking stuff with their use of synths in their releases from that time period.

Kate Bush is pretty timeless. Peter Garbiel's Games Without Frontiers (1980) could have been released yesterday. Stunning production on that, the way he used a CR78 drum machine with real percussion, that thin distorted guitar and synths. Killer song.

[telecode]

I personally think the avant garde pop artists like Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson e.t.c... did a lot more ground breaking stuff with their use of synths in their releases from that time period.

Kate Bush is pretty timeless. Peter Garbiel's Games Without Frontiers (1980) could have been released yesterday. Stunning production on that, the way he used a CR78 drum machine with real percussion, that thin distorted guitar and synths. Killer song.

I was more referring to So and Hounds of Love releases. The early 80s releases do sound as good as they always did. Maybe the mastering to CD got screwed for those tapes.

[telecode]

Some more "ah, fauk it, we dont need nothin' but snare to make a hit!" from one of the lesser known artists of "the time". you can't blame him for not being an original. But great player. Actually mind blowing work on the times comeback record in 00s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gonfAO521o

[vurt]

i dated a girl a bit back who lived in a flat above the guy with the tache from fgth.

[vurt]

she also lived round the corner from the house (the original) paul mccartney was born in.

wings where 80s

[telecode]

who the hell is tache from fgth?

[vurt]

who the hell is tache from fgth?

where you under a rock in the 80s?

[vurt]

https://youtu.be/oh4tHpUflDA

[wagtunes]

who the hell is tache from fgth?

where you under a rock in the 80s?

I don't know about a rock, but I know a lot of us were under a rock lobster in the 80s.

[telecode]

Ohhh Frankie. I only know Holly Johnson's name

[AnX]

.
... Pet Shop Boys... where not specifically "synth-pop#" artists

i cant think of a better term to describe them, they are quintessentially synth pop