Need some suggestions for good 80s sounds. (Also good discussion on 80s music too)

[Hink]

https://vimeo.com/200471581

[BONES]

I had that album back in the day and a few years ago I decided, out of the blue, to chase it down and got it on CD. It's better than I remember it being and I listen to it fairly regularly. It's like an Americanised version of the British New Wave stuff I was right into - Fischer Z, The FIxx, Ultravox, A Flock of Seagulls, etc. - rather than the quirkier American bands like Wall of Voodoo, Devo or Oingo Boingo that I was also into at the time.

What, you left off Crowded House?
You may have to move.

Crowded House is much more a 90s band, I reckon, even though they did start in the 80s. It was Split Enz and Dave Dobbyn in the 80s. Anyway, there was only one Kiwi in the original Crowded House line-up, they were an Australian band.

[melomood]

I still listen to some AFOS
It's that Bill Nelson connection
Lot of b-side action,Last Flight of Yuri Gargarin etc

[surreal]

Cool 80s post

[BBFG#]

Was trying to stick with synth based groups, however...

Wall of Voodoo = Stan Ridgway.
Missing Persons = Patrick O'Hearn.
'Til Tuesday = Aimee Mann

Also, Berlin, Kim Carnes, Plimsouls, Hall & Oats, Greg Kihn.
And I remember the late 80s got very overrun with the "GITnerds" for awhile.
e.g. Vai, Satriani, Bettencourt...

[Aloysius]

Go West

[jamcat]

Crowded House is much more a 90s band, I reckon, even though they did start in the 80s. It was Split Enz and Dave Dobbyn in the 80s. Anyway, there was only one Kiwi in the original Crowded House line-up, they were an Australian band.

If I had said Split Enz, you would have said they were a '70s band.
Anyways, the one Kiwi in Crowded House was Neil Finn, which is all NZ needs to claim them as their own. And they do. Quite jealously, in fact.

I believe "Don't Dream It's Over" (1986) is the unofficial national anthem of New Zealand.

[BONES]

Split Enz, for me, were definitely an 80s band. Their early stuff was quite obscure and although I See Red was probably their first hit, and was released in the 70s, the bulk of their commercial success was definitely in the 80s. I actually struggle with the knowledge that Don't Dream It's Over was a hit in 1986 because I was still in the Army then and I have no recollection of hearing it at the time. To me they are a band that came along after I got out in '87 so I'm not sure how they slipped by me earlier. To me they seem like contemporaries of Savage Garden, not Hunters & Collectors.

[Hink]

I had that album back in the day and a few years ago I decided, out of the blue, to chase it down and got it on CD. It's better than I remember it being and I listen to it fairly regularly. It's like an Americanised version of the British New Wave stuff I was right into - Fischer Z, The FIxx, Ultravox, A Flock of Seagulls, etc. - rather than the quirkier American bands like Wall of Voodoo, Devo or Oingo Boingo that I was also into at the time.

What, you left off Crowded House?
You may have to move.

Crowded House is much more a 90s band, I reckon, even though they did start in the 80s. It was Split Enz and Dave Dobbyn in the 80s. Anyway, there was only one Kiwi in the original Crowded House line-up, they were an Australian band.

that MP song just seemed to speak to me...and often when I was trippin my teeth out

[Peraqsha]

https://vimeo.com/200471581

Catchy track!

[Winstontaneous]

If you want it to sound like the '80s, you need to be in the mindset of the '80s and have the same process as they had in the '80s...
Then you need to think about how they made music, and why they did it that way.

So, cocaine </thread>

Growing up in the ‘80s I noticed that the LPs/cassettes of my brother’s that said “Produced by Brian Eno” on them felt and sounded notably different than everything else. Particularly Talking Heads’ “Remain In Light” and the Devo and Ultravox albums.

For sheer sonic wizardry the sound of Eddie Van Halen’s electric guitar is one of the high water marks of the era. From “Eruption” to “Little Guitars” to “Cathedral” or “Mean Street” there was no previous context of a guitar, or any other instrument sounding like that.

[kritikon]

Crowded House is much more a 90s band, I reckon, even though they did start in the 80s. It was Split Enz and Dave Dobbyn in the 80s. Anyway, there was only one Kiwi in the original Crowded House line-up, they were an Australian band.

Yeah - I don't remember Crowded House being around in the 80s - TBH they never really hit my radar anyway - was in the UK through the 80s/90s and can't remember Crowded House doing anything there. Now I'm in NZ, and yeah, Dobbyn mysteriously seems to be a hero here - for the life of me I can't figure out why. He comes across to me like a soft-rock/folk hybrid forest-creature - a Van Morrison but with a shit voice . If one was to go for old stuff - in NZ they do a whole range of very good authentic roots reggae and dub (some of which is also moderned-up very well), but Dobbyn...I just don't get it.

Split Enz I always admired for their quirkiness and humour. Probably in the 80s I didn't even realize they were Kiwi.

[planetearth]

In the US, Crowded House was "an '80s band" -- and not in a bad way. They had their two major (Top Ten) hits "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Something So Strong" in '87, with "Don't Dream It's Over" still being played today. "Fall At Your Feet" (from Woodface) was a minor hit, but I liked that one just as much. They apparently did better in the UK, Europe and their native Australia before and after their hits in the US (and as Split Enz), but they're primarily regarded as "an '80s band" here -- though a highly regarded one. They're not lumped in with Kajagoogoo, for example, and their video for "Don't Dream It's Over" is better and more innovative than what "The 'Goog" (as I've just now decided to call them) did for "Too Shy".

I'm moderately surprised/interested to see how they're regarded here by their fellow Australians/New Zealanders as far which decade they "belonged" to (more or less). I liked their sound, lyrics, chord progressions, harmonies...and the way they didn't necessarily try to fit in to late '80s fashions/marketing. I know they worked fairly hard in the US (and Australia, before that) on their debut album, and I think it shows in the writing and production. They may not be to everyone's' liking though, and I respect that. And I guess if they had more hits outside the US in the early '90s, they'd be considered more of a '90s band.

Then again, maybe my recollection/assessment of the band and their music is tinged with nostalgia because I was simply just happier in '87. Who the hell knows....

Steve

[arkmabat]

'80s stuff was often tracked, especially edrums and ebass, but it still had a more organic feel. I think it was often re-miced and combined with shakers, real guitar, and real singers.

Also, the whole reason I brought up John Carpenter is because his composing style meshes right in with synthwave, which at this point I've decided is actually meant to be more of a parody than a serious genre.

My dad listened to so much Crowded House during his divorce that I really don't want to hear it ever again, but maybe that's because I Take the Weather wherever I go.

[arkmabat]

and yes, for that pop-rock decade sound, we could probably make a guide:
'60s - George Martin + Friends
'70s - Ted Templeton
'80s - Brian Eno
'90s - Butch Vig
'00s - Lord Alge Bros