[Music] Is the 80’s the best decade ever for Pop Music ?

Live by the sea said:

Apologies if this has already been discussed but I couldn’t see it ,

Taking into account all the manufactured garbage that has come from the likes of Pop Idol & X factor etc , ie Sam smith , Ollie Murs , little mix etc was the 1980’s the best era for pop music .

I accept the 1950’s & 60’s was great for rock and roll and soul music etc but had there ever been a better decade for pop .

Look at the Calibre of artist in the 80’s and this is just off the top of my head

Michael Jackson
Prince
Madonna
David Bowie
U2
Whitney Houston
Simple Minds
Tears for fears
Duran Duran
Spandau Ballet
Paul Young
George Michael / Wham
Culture Club
New Order
ABC
Aha
Queen
Lionel Ritchie
Phil Collins
Bryan Adam’s
Tina Turner
Depeche mode
Billy Joel
Bruce Springsteen
The cure
The police
Pet shop boys
REM
Adam and the Ants
Human league
Roxy music
Level 42

The list goes on and on . All original - no one manufactured

Why has the last 30 years been so poor in comparison ?

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Live by the sea said:

Apologies if this has already been discussed but I couldn’t see it ,

Taking into account all the manufactured garbage that has come from the likes of Pop Idol & X factor etc , ie Sam smith , Ollie Murs , little mix etc was the 1980’s the best era for pop music .

I accept the 1950’s & 60’s was great for rock and roll and soul music etc but had there ever been a better decade for pop .

Look at the Calibre of artist in the 80’s and this is just off the top of my head

Michael Jackson
Prince
Madonna
David Bowie
U2
Whitney Houston
Simple Minds
Tears for fears
Duran Duran
Spandau Ballet
Paul Young
George Michael / Wham
Culture Club
New Order
ABC
Aha
Queen
Lionel Ritchie
Phil Collins
Bryan Adam’s
Tina Turner
Depeche mode
Billy Joel
Bruce Springsteen
The cure
The police
Pet shop boys
REM
Adam and the Ants
Human league
Roxy music
Level 42

The list goes on and on . All original - no one manufactured

Why has the last 30 years been so poor in comparison ?

Click to expand...

BadFish said:

It really depends on when you were born and what your 'era' was.

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Harry Wilson's tackle said:

Yes (good thread by someone I have on ignore by the way )

I think the reason is simple. Since the early 60s pop music expanded exponentially, under 25s with money to spend increased exponentially, and a market emerged. Pop (I'm not talking about contemporary music, artwork music, rock music here, I am talking mainstream 'popular' 'chart singles' music) got a bit samey and TOTP became an embarrassment of miming nonentities. I love to love, but my baby just wants to dance.

Then we had punk, 'new wave' and by 1980 we had the Banshees, U2 and the like on TOTP. The 80s were then fantastic, with album bacnds gracing the singles charts and independent lable music reaching the masses. That was the peak of 'pop' music for me. There again I wouldn't say I have ever really liked 'pop' and I certainly didn't like 'pop culture'.

But then we had fragmentation, new scenes, dance music ('raves'), 'goth', 'ambient', 'shoegaze', 'grunge', and so 'pop' music as a thing, where TOTP, Smashy and Nicey, and radio 1 made all the rules, simply faded away as a cultural entity.

I just asked our 10 year old who her favourite artist is. 'Katy Perry' apparently.

However, in my book, new music is better now than ever. I listen to 30 or more brilliant new tracks a week. But it is niche, does not require exchanging money for vinyl, and is personal. The idea of 20 million people watching any sort of music programme on the telly and charging out to buy product, with millions of people liking the same stuff, now, is absurd.

So yes, 80s is best for pop, but contemporary music is better now than ever.

Edit: other opinions are of course available

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