1980-1981

(the buried civilization of the 80s

Actually, the first couple of years of the 80s, 1980 and 81 were really more of a transitional period. It was the 70s winding down and the sunrise was just beginning for the new decade. While 1982, '83, '84, '85, '86, '87, '88, and '89 all had different musical and stylistic trends and various happenings to make those years identifiable, the first couple of years of the 80s didn't have such things so therefore in hindsight 1980 and '81 (especially '81) seem to be the period of the 80s that was just..'there'. 1981 seems to have become sort of like the 'lost' year of the decade. About the only thing that really happened between 1980 and 82 was that, on August 1, 1981, MTV premiered. It would make the 80s what it was and changed how music is promoted forever...but it wouldn't be until 1983 when MTV really took over the culture of the 80s.(Click here for my small mini-thesis on MTV in the 80s)

The musical marketplace in the first two years of the 80s was pretty much 'anything goes'. Between 1980 and 1982 it was nothing to hear Hall and Oates, Alabama, and Van Halen on ONE radio station. This period was a very fascinating time in music of the 80s. Before MTV really kicked into gear, we were left to wing it...and that's why I'm most fascinated by the 1980-82 period of the 80s because it seems so...obscure.

Case in point: though everybody clearly remembers even the hits by 'one-hit wonders' like Dexy's Midnight Runners (Come On Eileen), After The Fire (Der Kommissar), and Bobby McFerrin (Don't Worry Be Happy), and are still being played on 80s retro shows, such great hits like "Sweetheart" by Franke and the Knockouts, "My Girl (Gone Gone Gone)" by Chilliwack, "Sausalito Summernights" by Diesel, and "Goin' Down" by Greg Guidry have seemed to have been banished off the earth. But, nevertheless, there was a string of eventual classic favorites like Journey's "Escape", Foregnor's "4", Billy Squire's "Don't Say No", Rod Stewart's "Tonight I'm Yours", and the Stones' "Tattoo You". Judas Priest's "British Steel" and "Point Of Entry", and AC/DC's "Back In Black" and "For Those About To Rock" were also giving us a metallic kick in the ass to begin the decade with too. Album-wise, the 80s were getting off to a great start.One thing that came out of this 'lost' period that would greatly influence the rock of the 80s is the use of minor chord melodies and counter-melodies that would grip the heart. I remember when I first heard the dreamy arpeggios that begin Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" and the haunting intro of Journey's "Who's Crying Now". I had just turned 11 and was beginning to experience more in-depth emotions and the sound of those minor chords in those two songs hit me between the eyes. It would eventually become a prime ingredient in the 'popmetal' later in the decade (such as Bon Jovi and Europe). Another early '80s band that influenced the 'Bon Jovi' vibe that happened in the latter half of the decade was the Canadian band, Loverboy. Their "Get Lucky" lp from 81 was the perfect synthesis of rock guitar and pop keyboards which would be borrowed from heavily by the 'big hair and spandex' rockers between 1986 and 89. I never totally got over the excitement triggered upon the first hearing of Foreignor's "Urgent" from the "4" album or "Young Turks" from Rod Stewart's "Tonight I'm Yours". Hall and Oates was giving us a hybrid of 'rock'n'soul' that gave us tunefullness with a beat with their "Voices" and "Private Eyes" albums (I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) in particular, with it's robotic rhythms and dreamy melody was one of the biggest influences in what would become 'dance music' in the mid and late 80s, a very 'different' sounding production for the times). Rick Springfield was the first pin-up idol of the 80s with such memorable tunes like Jessie's Girl and Don't Talk To Strangers.The Police were showing us how to take complex rhythm arrangements and musicianship and make them work in a standard pop/rock song format on albums like Zenyatta Mondatta and Ghost In The Machine.

I remember, amid all the syrupy Air Supply and Kenny Rogers songs cluttering up the airwaves, how exciting it was to hear this wierd sounding keyboard fade-in like a flying saucer landing and then hearing Billy Squire and his band suddenly explode into that killer riff of "In The Dark" from his "Don't Say No" album. After hearing those songs, you knew the 80s was going to be one dynamic decade.

Now on to:

The 80's become "THE 80s"..1982-1983