I loves me some early '80s music.

[sunvalleylaw]

I was revisiting some early '80s music today, the music that I discovered when I entered the University of Washington in '81-82, after release from the confinement of my parents' home, when the world was fresh and new, and full of opportunity, beer and Husky cheerleaders. Hope some of you enjoy this!

One of my all time favorites, with Adrian Belew playing guitar, interviewed in the new Guitar Player this month. Same as it ever was . . .

Featured in the Greek System air guitar contests.

Guitar Player has an interview with Steve Stevens this month, and his work in this era was part of the college soundtrack.

Played repeatedly on MTV back in the day.

Fraternity boys like me from the suburbs wanted to be this baad!

I don't know why, I just liked the bad girl songs of the '80s. Especially the dark haired bad girls. Someone else post a Pretenders vid, she fits too.

The Go Gos. This tape drops a bit part way through, but a cool, live performance. They made rock history as the first all-woman band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts.


The Tubes, enough said. Also featured in air guitar contests, along with "Born to Run" Listen to Lukather's '80s strat tones. There's a different tone on "She's a beauty", more VH oriented, by a different guitarist.

One thing that is interesting about some of the old stuff I liked is that while guitar, and extended solos Hendrix style, may not be as dominant, it still was very, very important to most of the songs above. Interesting. Also, saw a lot of strats in those clips. :AOK: Please add in your favorite '80s stuff. (85 or before please this thread)

 

[Algonquin]

All great stuff SVL! I worked (p/t) at a shop in the Beaches around this time and the radio was always tuned to CFNY 102.1 :AOK:

This was the genre they played and I always remember those days fondly! Thanks for posting and bringing back some good memories :beer:

 

[thearabianmage]

Maybe I'm just young. . .

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Perhaps. Kinda had to be there maybe.

 

[Spudman]

Oh I remember...I was out on the road playing hard rock and heavy metal and on our off nights we'd go out and hear some bands covering the material below. It was a great time to pick up chicks and dance and booze for free. I'm surprised I can even remember what I was doing then.

 

[ted s]

yep, mostly good stuff there, I remember it well.

 

[thearabianmage]

From what Spud says, the only thing that seems to have changed is the music (and the trendy apparel that goes with it). . . But compared to Rap/Hip Hop/R&B/Techno/Drum'n'Bass/Jungle/Trance/etc. I'd take bloody Billy Idol anyday!

 

[luvmyshiner]

Maybe it's because I was in college and graduate school at the time, but the 80's (particularly the early 80"s) have always stood out in my mind as particularly innovative when it comes to music. I also think that was due in large part to MTV which brought music to us in a way that we weren't used to experiencing it.

Great post Steve, and great choices too.:AOK:

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I also think that was due in large part to MTV which brought music to us in a way that we weren't used to experiencing it.

Great post Steve, and great choices too.:AOK:

I was at UofWashington from 81/82 through 84/85 and law school directly after that, so I feel the same way Shiner. I was going to do a later 80s one maybe some other time. I think you are right about the MTV thing. This was largely an early MTV playlist. We just need Martha Stewart! I didn't even have cable at my house, and then when I went to college, and there were big Pac 10 football games, cheerleaders, sorority girls, cable tv and beer. Fun times, and the music was a big part of it.

P.S. I just prevailed for a client on an administrative license suspension hearing where the admin. judge agreed the police officer overstepped his bounds. I like it when that happens!

 

[luvmyshiner]

P.S. I just prevailed for a client on an administrative license suspension hearing where the admin. judge agreed the police officer overstepped his bounds. I like it when that happens!

Woo dude! I've never been able to get an administrative judge to overrule a police officer. You are officially a Law God.:master:

I moved to Waco in 82 to work on a Masters degree at Baylor. It was the first time I ever had cable, and I think MTV had been around for about a year at that point. I fell in love with it. That was back when MTV actually played music videos, instead of all the craptacular reality shows they seem to prefer these days. I can remember spending hours in front of my little 8 inch black and white television mesmerized by the music.

 

[just strum]

the first one was the only one I was interested in is the first one - Talking Heads.

And I remember the Tubes for this:

 

[Tone2TheBone]

...maybe I'm just old.

I graduated HS in '81 and we were heavy into AC/DC and Ted Nugent....still...sorry my friend...am I missing something? !

 

[Kazz]

Is what I remember about The Tubes....this video was smoking hot and controversial in the 80s

 

[marnold]

I graduated high school in '86. I always annoyed my regular friends for liking metal and annoyed my metal friends for liking New Wave.

I remember someone saying that that chick in Dead or Alive was hot. Boy was HE surprised.


A flashback to the very beginning of MTV.


The first rock starlet that I ever had a crush on, Pat Benatar:


The woman I was going to marry, Nancy Wilson:

 

[Spudman]

The Tubes Completion Backwards Principle

This album also contains the first rock & roll hit Steve Lukather co-wrote, Talk to ya later, that became a classic in rock history. Many years later Luke covered the song with Simon Phillips on the Richard Marx album Flesh and bone, where Marx and Waybill did the vocals in one of the strongest duets in modern rock. The appearance of Lukather on this Tubes album ended in a (musical) friendship with Fee Waybill that caused a lot of mutual co-operation between Waybill, Lukather and Toto.


I really liked the Divinyls in the 80s. This is from 91 but it's totaly cool.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Nice additions Marnold and Spud! Marnold, I am a genre blender as well. Spud, I think of that song in relationship to my wife, thank you very much! I definitely remember from the early 90's when we first started dating. We have the CD around here somewhere. Thanks for the submissions guys.

 

[SuperSwede]

Excellent stuff boys, just excellent!

 

[thearabianmage]

This is a full-on 80's Cheese Convention! Oh dear! Where's Ratt, Poison, and Motley Crue?

I've ordered some cheese pizzas to go along with this thread, anyone fancy some? It's a 4-cheese extravaganza, whaddaya say?

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Hey man, go ahead and submit them. The invitation was given.

 

[thearabianmage]

Ah, dry British sarcasm. . . never fails

 

[luvmyshiner]

It's humorous how each generation feels the need to rip on the previous for their musical tastes. I remember when I was in High School I would lambaste my father mercilessly for listening to the likes of Bobby Goldsboro, Andy Williams, Mitch Miller, Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass . . . I could go on but I think y'all get my point.

Funny thing is my father's been gone for almost five years now, and the last few years I've found myself buying some of those old albums and listening to them again. Music has the wonderful ability to transport you back to a time and place. In this case it takes me back to younger days, with my father's old record player sitting on a metal TV tray in the corner. A simpler time and place before mortgage payments, children in college, and ex-wives.

I think all music has the ability to teach us something if we're humble enough to listen.

 

[marnold]

I always preferred these guys. The videos are laden with cheese, but I still like the tunes.
"Just Got Lucky"


"In My Dreams" (including one of the top 3 solos of the 80s--there is no debate on this)


"Into the Fire" (cheesiest of the videos, but man I love this song)


And now for something non-Dokken:
W.A.S.P. "L.O.V.E. Machine"


Savatage "Hall of the Mountain King" (oh yeah!)


Last, but not least, from my all time favorite album
Queensryche "Eyes of a Stranger"

 

[thearabianmage]

Now, now, now - I'm not trying to pull some 'your music sucks' card! I just think it's funny how so many people here like cheesy music! And I like my fair share of cheesy music, crap music, and just plain terrible music, too! I've just gotta take the piss, you know?

But my music tastes have matured a lot since I was a little kid (10-12 years ago I had abominable music taste!)

And I know what you mean about liking things that you never did before. . . My mom loves Rod Stewart, and I always hated him (I thought his hair was funny and the music was sissy) but nowadays, as you say, his songs bring back memories of living at home. Memories of a time when things weren't as complex as they are now. And it's growing on me.

Music is a powerful force (cheesy or not!)

 

[marnold]

Here's another song that I absolutely love but I'd have to turn in my metal card in order to admit it. I remember being in eighth grade and trying to figure it out on my acoustic. Unfortunately, no one had told me about power chords. I knew the key but went through all the chords I know but it didn't sound right.


Then there's everybody's favorite phone number:


What is this song about anyway? No, really. BTW, the brother of a member of this band ran for governor of Michigan a number of years ago.

 

[luvmyshiner]

Sorry Mage, I didn't mean that to come off as being a lecture, I really found it amusing. Funny thing is, when someone mentions "older music" I don't think of the stuff I listened to in college, even though that's been almost 30 years ago now. I tend to think of the stuff my parents listened to.

 

[thearabianmage]

It's all good :AOK:

Music is music, man, it don't matter when it was written, who it was written by, what 'genre' it is classified in, none of that. And it is proven that music provokes emotional responses in people in the same way that we can strongly associate scents with memories which in turn provokes an emotional response.

But, sometimes, if you 'step out' and watch things from 'the outside', you'll see it in a different perspective and it can sometimes be quite funny. If you know what I mean?

 

[sunvalleylaw]

With you there shiner re: 80's music not seeming older in my mind. I look at the vids, and I see how different it is. 'Mage, it's all good. I got the joke and welcome your input. Marnold, brave man, you, posting Rick Springfield!

Ok, I wasn't a big metal guy, but we did listen a lot to these guys, and played "air drums" and parties when they came on. Best one armed drummer and perserverence award

Ünter gleeben glauten globen! Still with arm here.




Here after, Rick Allen lost his arm.

Back to the wave, though very old school rock based. Best singing drummer.



And of course, my favorite old schoolers,





Kingbees, audio only, old school strat guy

 

[Algonquin]

I went to this concert back in 1980 with the folks I worked for. Since we had to work much of Saturday, we didn't get there till after 6:00 pm, but what we did catch was great!

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Wow, what a show! I would have loved to have gone to that one. Back then, the only wave show I went to was Bow Wow Wow. I also saw Pat Metheny Group, but that belongs in a different thread.

 

[street music]

Hey now gang, this stuff that was referred to as CHEESY" well its all ROCK'N'ROLL and that's better than anything they have on MTV today. While on vacation last week we had sat tv at the cabin and I got hook on VH1- 8-s Channel because it brought back many of the videos you all selected on here. Plus I got to watch a great Tom Petty concert, very recent and a great Pink Floyd concert plus LED ZEPPLIN. All I can say is that so many are returning to what was referred to Classic Rock for some actual guitar playing that makes since. I love R&R , I listen to some country, NO RAP and I'm sorry but IMHO opinion this alternative stuff just doesn't do much for me. I guess being over 50 does have advantages, I've seen and heard a lot of artist and glad to see the return of many of them today.