1984 Appreciation Thread

[jancivil]

The biggest thing in 1984 as far as I'm concerned is the Yamaha DX7. Technically it came out in '83, according to the Wiki article but its impact says 1984 in a big way. John Chowning came up with his idea in the early '70s, at Stanford U. Stanford wanted to patent and subsequently license the tech, "but was turned down by [...] Hammond and Wurlitzer"...

How big ? the first synth to sell more than 100, 000 units. "According to [Dave] Bristow, Yamaha had hoped to sell more than 20,000 units. Within a year, orders exceeded 150,000 units,"

Wiki sez Bristow and [Gary] Leuenberger had "less than four days to create the DX7's 128 preset patches."

It sure seems like 1985 before we got into the course Leuenberger provided (gratis) at the giant Yamaha store on Market St, teaching the ways of the DX7. If my memory is right, it seems late. The house where I lived didn't have one in '84 I don't think. I got deeply into programming it.

Zappa embraced it like immediately, to a fault IME; eg: unfortunately (with no Ed Mann in the lineup) the mallet perc. was assigned to the DX7. (FZ also embraced a right-weird drum kit sound heavy on electronics at the time. A lot of the use (lotta cheezoid hand claps) was sarcastic social criticism, surely. His worst-sounding band according to many.)

[Bombadil]

My best mate bought one of those 2nd hand in 1990. FM synthesis wasn't the greatest for strings or flutes or other woodwinds. Bloody thing is heavy.

[osiris]

DX 7 makes me think of Herbie Hancock and Harold Faltermeyer.

[zerocrossing]

1984 was a weird year for me. I was working on Home Of The Brave, a Laurie Anderson concert film, and while my heart was set on a Synclavier II, because of the low pay, I opted to go in on a Juno 106 with three friends. So my first real synth was a coop deal. I’m not sure why I even went in on it, because I was working so much that I rarely had a chance to mess with it for a while. At one point, the movie went on break before filming, and without a source of funds to pay rent, I was forced to work for Crazy Eddie’s, who’s prices weren’t actually “insane,” but the owner was, and later fled to Israel after faking the worth of the company in preparation for an IPO. He literally moved stock from one warehouse to the next in the dead of night, so it seemed like his stock was much larger than it actually was. I never went back to working for Laurie. I couldn’t afford it. A request for a raise to bump me up to what still would have amounted to less than minimum wage was responded to with a comment about bringing on an intern. At least I was able to pay my rent and buy a really cool Walkman with my Crazy Eddie’s money.

[jancivil]

FM synthesis wasn't the greatest for strings or flutes or other woodwinds.

I don't have any specific recollection of trying to get a flute out of the DX7 at the moment, but it did a fantastic clarinet and bass clarinet. Maybe it was knowledge imparted by the Leuenberger classes? 2:1 ratio is made for clarinet and it's a matter of getting the modulator envelope right in the right voicing of operators, so as to get at the resonance characteristic. I'd wager rather few of end users understood the thing at all so it sucked for them but so does a lot of things, just look around.

I don't know why flute would be difficult at all. Strings, right, it's so not apt for, for reasons. (The only string synth sound I remember thinking was worthwhile was back in the '70s and somebody else's ARP 2600 we borrowed for the studio. but I was but a green teen. I'm pretty sure it wasn't my patch.)

I did a little bit of trying to get generally evocative of real instruments, in order to develop technique but time being as elusive as it tends to be my expenditure of was more to the wild side of things.
(There's actually a small clarinet (aka Eb Clarinet) patch appears at left in the mix amidst the madness.)
Google just hipped me to this offer, in the original vinyl (used) $149.95 at Amazon music. Buy it now before it becomes a collectible.

[noiseboyuk]

Can't believe I missed Thomas Dolby's The Flat Earth off my list, and Scritti Politti's Wood Beez single. Head hung in shame.

Check out 1984 movies: (snipped for space)

Actually not the best 80s year for movies though imo. I think I'd only put in Amadeus and Spinal Tap in with the greats there - a lot of love for The Terminator but it's not aged nearly as well as the sequel (something which is incredibly rare of course). Maybe Splash actually.

[bermudagold]

Check out 1984 movies:

STRAIGHT CLASSICS
A Nightmare on Elm Street...PEAK Wes Craven
The Terminator

CULT CLASSICS PURE 80S CHEESE
Footloose
The Karate Kid
Gremlins
Police Academy
Revenge of the Nerds
The Last Starfighter
Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo

YOU FORGOT
Breakin
Beat Street..."beat street is a lesson too...because you cant let the street beat you" lol
Romancing the Stone...introduced many to the lovely stylings of the great billy ocean
Red Dawn...brought cold war McCarthyism at its natural conclusion lol
Scarface...a foundational gangster film archetype
A soldiers Story...AA classic...sent Denzel Washington on his meteoric rise
Starman...solid popcorn material
Children of the corn...one of the first stephen king adaptations
Electric dreams...a guy's AI on his pc becomes jealous of his girl...talk about ahead of its time lol
1984....the original inspiration for Apples brainwashing...i mean marketing

[BONES]

No internet so the bad with the good. No social media, no ads on top of ads.

There were always ads on top of ads in newspapers and magazines. The internet is no worse and, if you have an ad blocker, it's actually a lot better.

damn, i think i got every single one of these
made in 1984 songs in my music collection
well, i recognize them all, at least

In your whole list there are only two songs I have owned and that's because I bought the albums they were on. Talk Talk and Tears For Fears, if you're wondering. In both cases, I found those albums disappointing with respect to their earlier work.

The best year for music ever. This 23 years old was already too ancient and stupid to get it in real time

I turned 26 in 1984 and I thought it was a pretty poor year, overall. Many of my favourite acts put out disappointing records. For me it was the year when too many good artists started to lose the plot. Of course, there were (a few) exceptions -

Killing Joke didn't release an album but with a single this good, I doubt anyone cared -



Shriekback released my favourite of their albums, Jam Science, of which this is my favourite cut -



The Sisters of Mercy released the Body & Soul EP, some of their best work -



Modern English released Ricochet Days, an album I probably shouldn't have liked, yet find strangely awesome. I've always been a sucker for cor anglais, though -



Someone called your name but your name was a stranger to you
It doesn't matter, doesn't matter
Take me by the hand 'cause it's all I can offer you
All, all.

PiL released their worst album but at least it ended well, with this -



Saving the best 'til last, here are two songs from Opposition's album, Promises. Of course, I was completely unaware of this band's existence at the time, having only discovered them around 12 years ago. This is absolutely f**king awesome stuff -

[BONES]

I can't believe I forgot Play Dead's best album, From the Promised Land! It's an absolute cracker -

[bermudagold]

Killing Joke didn't release an album but with a single this good, I doubt anyone cared -

Saving the best 'til last, here are two songs from Opposition's album, Promises. Of course, I was completely unaware of this band's existence at the time, having only discovered them around 12 years ago. This is absolutely f**king awesome stuff -

I like the killing joke record...sounds a lot like nirvana come as you are...i'm surprised nirvana never got called on that...the second opposition record is great...very police/stingy...the breakdowns and buildups work well for the song

[Dunbar]

I confess, I was a bit too young to appreciate Scratch Acid's debut in 1984, but it clicked for me many, many years later.

[Dunbar]

I like the killing joke record...sounds a lot like nirvana come as you are...i'm surprised nirvana never got called on that...

Maybe because Killing Joke lifted the riff from The Damned.

[bermudagold]

I like the killing joke record...sounds a lot like nirvana come as you are...i'm surprised nirvana never got called on that...

Maybe because Killing Joke lifted the riff from The Damned.

ha!...nice...the OG lol
that is a nice record...relatable lyrics...and the mix stands out as translating so well in my lil logitech computer speakers...that's rare...the original mix must be great.

[BONES]

I like the killing joke record...sounds a lot like nirvana come as you are...i'm surprised nirvana never got called on that...

They did but KJ withdrew their lawsuit after Cobain topped himself. Dave Grohl played drums on one of their albums and I think he's drummed for them live, too. Foofighters also cover KJ's Requiem and got Jaz up on stage to sing it with them one night, although FF's keyboard player has obviously never heard of LFOs.

the second opposition record is great...very police/stingy...the breakdowns and buildups work well for the song

Sting wishes he was half that good. The power in the vocals is utterly amazing. Both those songs get all their intensity from the vocal performance.

[jamcat]

I was always floored by Killing Joke's audacity to go after another band over a riff they stole themselves.

Not sure that Body And Soul was amongst the Sisters of Mercy's' best work. On the positive, it introduced Wayne Hussey into the band and was of higher production value than their previous merciful releases. And the Gustave Doré woodcut easily makes it their best sleeve. But it was also one of their most boring releases, second only to the Reptile House E.P.

As for Wayne Hussey's tenure in the Sisters, I'd say that Gary Marx was far more consequential, and should be considered the primary architect of the original band's sound. You can hear that in his post-Sisters work in Ghost Dance. Wayne Hussey only really had one significant contribution to the Sisters, 'Marian', and he proves this point later in the Mission by lifting it wholesale for Wasteland.