I think VIDEO killed the Video Star.

[Doctor Morbius]

^^^ Huey Lewis = Substance??? ^^^ WTF were you sniffing back in the 80s to think that Huey Dumb{censored} Lewis ever did anything better than cause millions of impressionable empty headed nitwits to go out and impulse-buy millions of his vinyl albums and 45 RPM singles, which effectively wasted untold thousands of barrels of crude oil to manufacture those vinyl albums containing his ignorant wretched pop music.

[mnhhngbfs]

yes, huey lewis is to blame for gas prices. makes perfect sense.

[flummox]

Well I agree that was a {censored} song and album...(and that is a great scene)....sports did still have some "soul" in it in my opinion. Tight and well written songs. Just because Huey had some stupid lyrics didn't mean his band couldn't play. And I like the replacements too...but there was a pretty clear reason they never made it any bigger than they did. I mean seriously Paul...can you write something other than a song that has a constant repetitive 1/8th note strum pattern over 3 chords? I know there are that crowd that think they were more cool in the 80's cause they were into the college rock...but really...they weren't.

 

I was there, I was a member of that crowd, and having spent the last 20 years working with people who weren't....I can assure you...we were.

[Invader.CC]

I can't say anything bad about the eighties ..It was my prime graduated in 85 i loved all of these songs plus many of the 80's pop metal or rock..

 

I'm trying to find and upload a picture of my first semi successful band where i'm wearing a Don Johnson outfit and i'm singing devil inside by INXS..

 

From an artistic standpoint there may not be much to them ..All i know is being able to sing them and knowing the dance moves sure got me laid alot.

 

Here is another of my favorites from the 80's

 

 

 

 

[video=youtube;oc-P8oDuS0Q]

 

 

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

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJv5qLsLYoo

[stymye]

I always thought this was heavy

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJFqw80ilv4

[Doctor Morbius]

Ant music was awesome.

[Doctor Morbius]

Another '80s favorite.

 

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

 

And an '80s thread wouldn't be complete without OMD!

 

 

 

The Furs.

 

[video=youtube;-P09gm_I5RI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P09gm_I5RI

 

Modern English

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niCfmQajoh0

[soundcreation]

 

I was there, I was a member of that crowd, and having spent the last 20 years working with people who weren't....I can assure you...we were.

 

 

No dude...you really really weren't. You think you were mis understood or other people just didn't "get it" but many of us totally did "get" what your scene was all about....we really did just think the music those bands made was quite repetitive, simplistic and boring. I've grown to appreciate a lot more of those bands then I ever thought I would have...but still in my opinion...from a song writing perspective they were pretty weak.

[golias]

Stuff I hated about the 80s then and still hate now:

Mechanical solid-state guitar distortion.
The Yamaha DX-7
Hair metal

But on the bright side, punk rock was at its very best in the 80s. I'll take the Violent Femmes, Black Flag, the 'Mats and the Clash over the mascara-wearing flannel punks of the 90s any day and twice on Sunday.

[Beyer160]

No dude...you really really weren't. You think you were mis understood or other people just didn't "get it" but many of us totally did "get" what your scene was all about....we really did just think the music those bands made was quite repetitive, simplistic and boring.

 

 

Wow, way to make a sweeping generalization. I'll grant you that some of '80s "college rock" wasn't that great in retrospect, but by and large the underground music of that decade was vastly superior to the dreck spewing out of mainstream radio. Personally, I'll take Mission Of Burma, Husker Du or Sonic Youth over the bland, pasteurized for easy consumption pap of Huey Lewis any day of the week. But again, whatever floats your boat. Some people like Judy Garland, it's all good.

 

I do give Huey credit for smuggling drugs for Thin Lizzy, though. Any friend of Phil Lynott's must have at least some redeeming quality.

[soundcreation]

 

Wow, way to make a sweeping generalization. I'll grant you that some of '80s "college rock" wasn't that great in retrospect, but by and large the underground music of that decade was vastly superior to the dreck spewing out of mainstream radio. Personally, I'll take Mission Of Burma, Husker Du or Sonic Youth over the bland, pasteurized for easy consumption pap of Huey Lewis any day of the week. But again, whatever floats your boat. Some people like Judy Garland, it's all good. I do give Huey credit for smuggling drugs for Thin Lizzy, though. Any friend of Phil Lynott's must have at least some redeeming quality.

 

 

I would take those bands over HL too. But to say they are actually 'better' in some measurable way is just arrogance. And anyway this thread is about POP songs. So in those terms those bands you mentioned didn't write better pop songs than HL. I was a metal fan back then...so what your saying would be like me saying "man...metallica, megadeth, and Iron Maiden were way better than the pop crap on 80's radio.." But whatever. That only means better TO ME. I'm sure the people who really liked 80's pop at the time though the metal I was into was just noise and garbage. Probably still do.

 

You only think it's superior because YOU like it better. There is no other reason. Just like I used to think the metal bands I was into were way better than the pop AND the stuff you listened too. Of course I was wrong too. Sorry but there is no "better" when we talk about liking different kinds of music.

 

And yeah maybe you should look up HL's roots. You might find it will give you a little more respect. That guy payed his dues well enough and if he managed to cash in on the MTV train then good for him. I mean {censored}...he's no different than ZZ top with legs or Dire Straits with money for nothing. Fore maybe {censored}....but Sports is a {censored}ing incredible album with monstrously catchy hooks, funky guitar work, R&B horns, amazing bass lines, cool percussion, nods to rock, soul, doo wop, R&B and his singing is fantastic. All delivered tight and punchy. I don't know about you but I like all that stuff so I don't really give a {censored} if he's a dork or his image "represents the worst of the 80's"....I never was in danger of being sucked into the "yuppie lifestyle" anyway....Songs are solid...bottom line.

[scolfax]

 

What I realize now is that I was just much more open minded about what type of music I liked than most of my friends were. And I liked a much wider variety of music than any of them did.

 

 

I was a teen of the 80's too. Another possible explanation is that we all watched, listened, and enjoyed all of this in the privacy of our homes, but didn't admit it when we went back to school. I mean, I would never ever call myself a Madonna (or whatever) fan, would never buy an album or go to a concert. But some of those songs seemed downright newsworthy at the time.

 

Huey Lewis was one of my first "favorite" bands. Their first album and Picture This are great albums that came before Sports, which was probably overplayed and hence the turn-off for some of you. If you never have, you owe it to yourself to give the lead guitar player a listen - very melodic, great playing!

[iron chicken]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FACTx6fhpLc

[iron chicken]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpkasPwAtrQ&feature=channel

 

 

 

 

[video=youtube;S-gl90-ZnmI]

[benzem]

Pop was probably the best it's ever been in the 80's in my opinion. Song writing was great, musicianship was great..production...well OK, production was mostly too over the top, but whatever... As a teen of the 80's (and a metal head to boot) I could never acknowledge the "guilty pleasures" back in the day. But now I don't even refer to them as guilty pleasures....What I realize now is that I was just much more open minded about what type of music I liked than most of my friends were. And I liked a much wider variety of music than any of them did. So now I just call them what they are. Great {censored}ing songs. If other people can't get past the hair and image to actually hear the music, that's their problem.

Completely agree. Well said.

[Coopster]

I Terri Nunn!

[Beyer160]

Fore maybe {censored}....but Sports is a {censored}ing incredible album with monstrously catchy hooks, funky guitar work, R&B horns, amazing bass lines, cool percussion, nods to rock, soul, doo wop, R&B and his singing is fantastic.

 

 

There's an album I love that features all of that- it's called "Exile On Main Street", and it doesn't sound a damn thing like Huey Lewis. Vive le difference.

[EllenGtrGrl]

 

 

I don't know girl - I'm from Wisconsin, and here in the Milwaukee area (where the 'Femmes are from), they're cannonized as musical saints, but I've never gotten into them. I guess I found them to be too basic and laid back for my tastes. I never really considered them to be punk sounding.

 

I guess as long as I'm posting, I might as well add my 2 cents worth to the discussion. For most of the 80s (excluding the brief metal upswing in the early 80s [quiet Riot, Ratt, etc.], and the sleaze rock/glam metal surge in the late 80s), the main music seemed to be keyboard driven, new wavey, or uber poppy stuff. My roommates in college ate it up big time, so I was bombarded with bratpack soundtrack stuff, Huey Lewis and The News, Thomas Dolby, etc. The radio was innundated with that stuff. Sure, attending the University of Wisconsin as I did in the mid 80s, there was some college/alternative rock to listen to, and some of it was pretty cool, but if you wanted the heavy stuff (thrash metal, and hard core, before they suffered from "send in the clones" syndrome), you were out of luck 90% of the time. You learned of new stuff either from music magazines (always risky and expensive, since you never got a chance to hear the stuff before you bought it, and possibly learned that you didn't like it), or MTV"s "Headbanger's Ball." Tape trading - it must not have been too common, I didn't learn about it until the 90s (long after it was over with). As it was most of the music listening public treated you like you were some kind uncouth neanderthal if you listened to heavy music (it got kind of tiring listening to my roommates tell me that I needed "to have more grown up and sophisticated" musical tastes - and they weren't even musicians!).

 

Sorry, I digressed - I don't dislike all 80s pop (for instance I think The Fixx song "Red Skies" is a great song, ditto for "Poison Arrow" by ABC), but even the stuff I do like, I only like in small measures. A lot of it sounds too bland, and too much alike. Maybe this is due to the overproduction that was so commonly used back then, or the adherence to a proven money making formula/sound. But, I can only take so much vapid lyrics, overbearing synths, squawking saxophones, and overchorused rhythmn guitar parts.

 

 

[humbuckerstrat]

[humbuckerstrat]

I was addicted to MTV in the early eighties, 'nuff said.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swQi4CAzmrA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyl5DlrsU90

[BlueSky1963]

Just gotta add this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz5DkTF2RW8

Not an 80's thread without it!

[BlueSky1963]

This too!

[Invader.CC]

I don't understand the argument here..80's pop was not written to be great master pieces of music ..It was written to be catchy,upbeat and easy for white folk to dance to.

On top of that it was produced for a wide audience appeal and it did accomplish that..For the most part i will be the first to admit yes it cheesy but sometimes cheesy can be a good thing..

I think sometimes as musicians we are drawn to the darker sounds .Were 80's music was bright,happy and uplifting..If you think about the social climate of the 80's .Everything was on its way up and it was good times for all and the pop music of the time reflected that.

One of the songs that best express this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq0XZx_a7Y8&feature=related

[Invader.CC]

 

 

 

Thanks for posting i absolutely loved this song but forgot all about it till now..

[scolfax]

[video=youtube;E-OSaKGCsug]