Actually in a handful of years time I'm going to (genuinely) be interested in how you feel about the intersection of Rock and Rap. We might even be able to touch on it a little bit next year.
I'm sure the 1981 playlist will ultimately be a balanced affair.Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of.
At least do the decent think and restrict it to 5 rather than 50 ;-)
Don't see what all the fuss is about with Joy Division. Give me a well-sung, well-produced MOR album anyday.
Don't see what all the fuss is about with Joy Division. Give me a well-sung, well-produced MOR album anyday.
You don’t like singers. Don’t give me that mullarkey :-)Don't see what all the fuss is about with Joy Division. Give me a well-sung, well-produced MOR album anyday.
I think next year is a bit soon. Not really a spoiler to say that I am not a big rap / hip hop fan but there are exceptions. I do like Gangsta rap, but perhaps not for the right reasons. One of my most favoured artists of more recent times did fall into the rock / rap bracket.
Amen to that.I am a great believer in people being entitled to their own musical taste but I do get hacked off by people looking down their nose at some of the stuff I like and the failure to appreciate what is quite simply quality music just because it is pleasant on the ear and has mass market appeal. It is simply, to me, misplaced musical snobbery. I feel I can say this because I have a collection of a few thousand of albums that cover a wide range of music. It is also not to say that I cannot be dismissive of plenty of music.
My wider point being that some people dismiss bands like Journey and Survivor, yet Steve Perry, Dave Bickler and particularly Jimi Jamison had amazing voices. Pair that with the musicianship of those bands and what's not to like?You don’t like singers. Don’t give me that mullarkey :-)
You hear music through your own ears and not through others. What is quality to you is not so for others. To level snobbery is a lazy criticism. Folk like different music. Most do not seek to dominate playlists with their favourites quite as much as you do mate. Reverting to five picks each might balance things up. Just a thought.I am a great believer in people being entitled to their own musical taste but I do get hacked off by people looking down their nose at some of the stuff I like and the failure to appreciate what is quite simply quality music just because it is pleasant on the ear and has mass market appeal. It is simply, to me, misplaced musical snobbery. I feel I can say this because I have a collection of a few thousand of albums that cover a wide range of music. It is also not to say that I cannot be dismissive of plenty of music.
I'm on for 89 and The Beasties will be featuring then plus another seminal hip hop album from that year.You're right it is too soon but there's a track that's often credited with being the first to meld the two together in the mainstream. I've never really bought that it's that influential on that front.
Personally I'm looking forward to arguing about the Beastie Boys in a few weeks.
Amen to that.
My wider point being that some people dismiss bands like Journey and Survivor, yet Steve Perry, Dave Bickler and particularly Jimi Jamison had amazing voices. Pair that with the musicianship of those bands and what's not to like?
When you have songs as iconic as "Don't Stop Believin" and "Eye of the Tiger", it makes it even more unfathomable.
JD can't hold a candle to these bands IMO, but I know that most on here, with their Manc bias, would disagree,
I agree. I'm overcorrecting on the JD thing because although I get that there will be a certain type of person that likes their music (and as noted, it's more than fair enough to like any type of music) they are made out to be this amazing, influential band. What I hear when I listen is totally out of kilter with that description.I would argue this sort of chimes with my point above. "Don't Stop Believin" is a straightforward uplifting anthem that is there to be enjoyed on it's own merits and appreciated for the quality of the execution and the production. It's not a song to be 'worrying' about for different meanings, it's not song that sends you into your head.
For the avoidance of doubt before I get accused of being a music snob I don't think either is intrinsically better it's just that personality type can influence which you want to spend your time with.
It's like the classic folk test of when you go to the Lake District and say stood on Friars Crag you ask someone what do you see? One person will give you a detailed description of Derwentwater and the other will say something like "mother nature in all it's glory". They are both 'right' and both people are getting a lot from being there but they are viewing things through a different lens.
One of the reasons I like JD is that they can do both things for me, pull me into myself and equally bring me out of myself (I like to air drum as Stephen Morris).
I agree. I'm overcorrecting on the JD thing because although I get that there will be a certain type of person that likes their music (and as noted, it's more than fair enough to like any type of music) they are made out to be this amazing, influential band. What I hear when I listen is totally out of kilter with that description.
Marco, Merrick, Terry Lee, Gary Tibbs and yours truly!Gary Tibbs
The question is not wether you like them, (you clearly don’t) but wether they and the album are culturally significant in 1980 and worthy of discussion on a thread about the history of rock music in 1980. My point was I think they are and other than @threespires initial write up they had been totally ignored although the album appears in most lists of the best of 1980 and their lead singer died.Don't see what all the fuss is about with Joy Division. Give me a well-sung, well-produced MOR album anyday.
You would love it over here in the States Rob, took me 9 months to find a college radio station in the Boston area that played music up my alley. Prior to that it was all soft rock nonsense galore.Amen to that.
My wider point being that some people dismiss bands like Journey and Survivor, yet Steve Perry, Dave Bickler and particularly Jimi Jamison had amazing voices. Pair that with the musicianship of those bands and what's not to like?
When you have songs as iconic as "Don't Stop Believin" and "Eye of the Tiger", it makes it even more unfathomable.
JD can't hold a candle to these bands IMO, but I know that most on here, with their Manc bias, would disagree,
I don't think JD's cultural significance was well known in 1980. Most electronic bands of this era were plugging away, doing their own thing. Look at the astonishment at Our Friends in 79 from his fellow artists. John Peel championed a lot of these bands but until you hit Radio 1/ TOTP you were pretty much an unknown.The question is not wether you like them, (you clearly don’t) but wether they and the album are culturally significant in 1980 and worthy of discussion on a thread about the history of rock music in 1980. My point was I think they are and other than @threespires initial write up they had been totally ignored although the album appears in most lists of the best of 1980 and their lead singer died.
It’s back to a question you and I have discussed many times.
Is this thread predominantly about building a playlist of our favourites for the year (and at the moment dominated in numbers by a small number of participants) or is it about building a comprehensive history of music year by year. If it’s the first, we are doing that. If it’s the second, I don’t believe we are as well as we set out to do when we started the thread.
We can do both but the balance has to be better than it is at present. Just my views and if I’m the only one that feels like that I won’t raise it again.
I don't think JD's cultural significance was well known in 1980. Most electronic bands of this era were plugging away, doing their own thing. Look at the astonishment at Our Friends in 79 from his fellow artists. John Peel championed a lot of these bands but until you hit Radio 1/ TOTP you were pretty much an unknown.
History is hindsight.I think that's a very valid point, some stuff makes an immediate impact but with other stuff there's a degree of hindsight. The trouble is if you wait till a bands influence becomes more obvious it's harder to pin down what year(s) to put it in, that's if you remember to do it at all. I personally think it's easier to just project forward to the impact, accepting that it gives a slightly distorted view of contemporaneous events.
Ah well I may mention the track you are thinking of but let's not give away the contents of my 1981 write-up.You're right it is too soon but there's a track that's often credited with being the first to meld the two together in the mainstream. I've never really bought that it's that influential on that front.
Personally I'm looking forward to arguing about the Beastie Boys in a few weeks.
You would love it over here in the States Rob, took me 9 months to find a college radio station in the Boston area that played music up my alley. Prior to that it was all soft rock nonsense galore.
I would listen to one (the radio had no CD option nor Bluetooth) station until Don’t Stop Believing came on and I’d change the channel. It was a game I played on long drives and believe me it was changed very often.
And on Friday’s every fucking station played Lover Boys “Everybody’s working for the weekend” with the DJ’s presumably believing they were the only one playing it….. again the station got changed frequently on Fridays. These stations were so bad that I recall one day The Police’s ‘Every little thing she does is magic’ came on and it sounded like the best song ever written and for 3 minutes my gloom was lifted………. Thank fuck for College radio station WERS