80's ROCK IS DEAD (LONG LIVE 80'S ROCK)

October 31, 2002 1:54 AM

80's ROCK IS DEAD (LONG LIVE 80'S ROCK) Holy crap, I saw an ad on the teevee for a new BOSTON album called Corporate America. A new Boston album! A self-described "in your face" indictment of big business and what it is doing to our world. You'll be comforted to know that the music is still way overproduced and the political content has all the impact of Mike + the Mechanics "Silent Running." In other words — don't change a thing! It turns out all the big 80's rockers have 2002 albums, even the little king himself: Phil Collins. Testify. I'll be damned if one of his new songs doesn't sound like "Take Me Home (Redux)." Def Leppard's "X"? Same. Poison's "Hollyweird"? Same! Poison even does a party rock version of The Who's "Squeeze Box." Wonderful. Bon Jovi, Rush, Robert Plant — what year is this again? Who cares. Let's rock. As soon as this Family Ties is over.
posted by Dok Millennium (36 comments total)

Go look at the root of their website. It's like when eras clash or something...

And why the hell do they have a .org, anyway? I didn't know being washed-up made you a non-profit...
posted by zztzed at 2:05 AM on October 31, 2002

I'm still waiting for a new Van Halen album, but that's not going to happen. I *hate* their music, but Eddie rocks.
posted by swordfishtrombones at 2:07 AM on October 31, 2002

The one thing I like about Rush is that they're one of the few (if not the only) bands where the drummer writes all their lyrics...
posted by PenDevil at 2:43 AM on October 31, 2002

for a moment i thought we were going to have a decent discussion about a great era of music. but then you mentioned phil collins and bon jovi. these people do not represent an era of anything. they represent popular culture which has not changed from the 60-s to present.
posted by carfilhiot at 2:51 AM on October 31, 2002

"they represent popular culture which has not changed from the 60-s to present."

<devil's advocate> If it ain't broke, don't fix it. </devil's advocate>
posted by Nick Jordan at 3:13 AM on October 31, 2002

I'd hardly call Rush an "80's band"... their first album did come out in '74, and their best stuff was during the 70's. [/pedantic]
posted by drgonzo at 3:26 AM on October 31, 2002

I'd say that Boston is really more of a 70's band, too. They're one of the mildly retarded progeny of the earlier, much better 70's super groups. I'd lump them together with Foreigner, Frampton, ELO, blah blah blah. Their first album was one of the first ones I ever purchased, and that was in the late 70's.
posted by Shike at 3:47 AM on October 31, 2002

*shudder*

Coincidentally enough, as custodian of the company's hold music [some background] I made the switch to streaming Club 977 about an hour ago - a comunal workplace decision, mainly for a laff - & we've been giggling, guessing & reminiscing to The Cars, JCM, Hall & Oates, Asia, Depeche Mode, Talking Heads, The Police et-set-er-ah, et-set-er-ah for the past hour.

I'll leave the rest of this thread to the MeFi Rocking Chair division ;-)
posted by i_cola at 4:02 AM on October 31, 2002

I'm still waiting for a new Van Halen album, but that's not going to happen. I *hate* their music, but Eddie rocks.

Well, David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar were both on the MTV video award whatsits (which was on TV in Australia only moments ago), perhaps a reunion is on the cards...but lets fucking hope not!
posted by backOfYourMind at 4:39 AM on October 31, 2002

I heartily suggest purchasing Peter Gabriel's latest album "Up". In my opinion, it sounds as if Trent Reznor recut "So". Fantastic blending of music styles.
posted by thanotopsis at 4:51 AM on October 31, 2002

giggling, guessing & reminiscing

I've been doing the same thing listening to the radio stations in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City since Tuesday. Hearing Adam Curry introduce Flock of Seagulls makes me smile. Or maybe it was running over rollerbladers.
posted by yerfatma at 4:53 AM on October 31, 2002

I'll leave the rest of this thread to the MeFi Rocking Chair division ;-)

Why you little (falls out of rocking chair) DOH !
posted by a3matrix at 5:01 AM on October 31, 2002

*heheh* Spookily enough, we've just had Flock of Seagulls and... BOSTON! The novelty is now wearing slightly thin...
posted by i_cola at 5:08 AM on October 31, 2002

There is still plenty of good new guitar-bass-drums music around, but, also like in the 80s, you have to look for it. If you are not willing to expend the effort, or if you are unfortunate enough to not know where to look, then you end up having to listen to Bon Jovi and Nickelback until you drive your souped-up Honda off a cliff.
posted by Fabulon7 at 5:55 AM on October 31, 2002

Well, David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar were both on the MTV video award whatsits (which was on TV in Australia only moments ago), perhaps a reunion is on the cards...but lets fucking hope not!

Mr. Lee Roth () and Mr. Hagar went on tour this summer as...wait for it...Sam and Dave. As far as I know, it went well. A friend of mine, who is something of a pop-culture nut, went to the show in st. louis and said it was well-attended.
posted by notsnot at 6:19 AM on October 31, 2002

I um liked the new Def Leppard and Bon Jovi albums. But then I wasn't old enough to be a fan of them back in the '80s, so what do I know?
posted by riffola at 6:20 AM on October 31, 2002

I heard there's a new Hall and Oates album out, too. Let's just all pray that parachute pants come back, those were so freaking cool....
posted by Jimmy Olsen at 6:39 AM on October 31, 2002

I relive my childhood by listening to Bon Jovi and, um, Europe. I was the world's biggest Europe fan when I was 13. I discovered that there was music beyond that which my parents listened to in early 1987, at the zenith of the hair bands' ascendency.

Luckily, I got over that and now I am merely a huge John Wesley Harding fan. (He has a fabulous cover of "Like A Prayer" that he released in 1989, and if you can find it, I highly recommend it.)

Yes, I do have an obsessive personality. Why do you ask?
posted by eilatan at 6:42 AM on October 31, 2002

Well, we all know that Guns n' Roses are back, but did you know that Kip Winger is still out there? Yeah, he is. That's too bad. But there are other bands from the eighties who are putting out new stuff... you know, the hair bands....like
Faster Pussycat, Enuff Z Nuff, Quiet Riot, LA Guns, WASP, and all those other bands that had one or two hits, and you were ashamed to listen to five minutes after you bought the album.


woohooo! I can grow the mullet back!
posted by bradth27 at 6:47 AM on October 31, 2002

True, Boston and Rush are definitely 70's arena rockers that found new audiences (and new mediocrity) in the 80's. I think I found these bands through their 80's output first, sadly, so I associate them with my adolescence.

For my money, the best "new" guitar-drums-bass rock around is Walt Mink [RIP].
posted by Dok Millennium at 7:00 AM on October 31, 2002

Well, we all know that Guns n' Roses are back

Ok, I knew there was some guy who wears a bucket on his head (ooh, you guys) filling in for Slash, but who are these other Marilyn Manson looky-likeys that seem to be on rythm guitar duties these days...and who's that drummer? Are there any original band members besides Axl or what?

Has the world gone topsy-turvy?
posted by backOfYourMind at 7:05 AM on October 31, 2002

Ha! WASP. I actually interviewed Mr. Blackie Lawless a while back (sidenote: he has really, really small feet for a guy that's 6'3"). My favorite quote from the interview was regarding comebacks: “Somebody says an artist makes a comeback. It’s not so much that [the artist] made a comeback – it’s the other people that went away."

That said, he was a pretty nice guy and smarter than you'd think.
posted by Atom12 at 7:06 AM on October 31, 2002

I don't know... Rush in the early 80's wasn't so bad...

Moving Pictures was from '81 I think.... and its probably their best album....

and to the guy who said that rush was the only band where the drummer write the lyrics... remember late 90's alternitive band Cowboy Mouth? they had a hit with the song "Jenny Says" and the drummer writes and sings all the lyrics if I remember correctly... (he was insane though.... if you ever saw him in concert... )
posted by LoopSouth at 7:55 AM on October 31, 2002

Rush has made music in the 70s 80s 90s and this year. So they have never left to make a comeback. Though they did shell out a lot of crap in the late 80s and 90s, thier new album Vapor Trails is a comeback in the sense that it is closer to rock than new age jazz shit.
posted by Recockulous at 8:02 AM on October 31, 2002

P.S. In case anyone's interested, I came up with the title X for Def Leppard's latest album. It's supposed to the roman numeral for ten, as in their tenth album. Anyway I came up with it back in the first third of '00, and it became popular amongst the fans, and eventually the band liked it. It used to be called "Ten", but now everyone just calls it X.
posted by riffola at 8:06 AM on October 31, 2002

Joey Tempest of Europe fame recently released his second (?) solo-album. He's a singer/songwriter nowadays, unfortunately not a very interesting one.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 8:15 AM on October 31, 2002

Most disturbing '80s regrouping: playing bass for Axl's reconstituted Guns 'n' Roses is none other than Tommy Stinson of the Replacements. Weird.
posted by mookieproof at 8:18 AM on October 31, 2002

I've heard it said that fashion trends invariably become fashionably retro two decades later... I suppose this can hold true for 80s music as well.

That being said, I cannot stress enough my hope that crimped hair and giant shoulder pads do NOT come back into style along with the music.

(And one of the new goth guitar players in Guns N' Roses at the MTV awards was probably Robin Finck from Nine Inch Nails who has been on and off with the band for a while. Buckethead is a possibly insane yet amazingly talented Bay Area based guitarist ... who knows, this could be interesting)
posted by KatlaDragon at 8:27 AM on October 31, 2002

"Stubby McGee and the guys who aren't Slash."
-Conan O'Brien
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 8:36 AM on October 31, 2002

soundofsuburbia: I've heard parts of Joey Tempest's first solo album (Azalea Park, I think it's called), and you're right--not particularly interesting. Not sucky, but not really good, either. Sigh. Europe's last album, Prisoners In Paradise pretty much sucked, too.

I did like the remix they released of "The Final Countdown" a few years ago--they stripped out the guitar, bass, and drums, and added a techno-ish thing to the keyboards and vocals. Really neat. I think they used the same producer on it that did the techno remix of Cher's "Believe".
posted by eilatan at 8:54 AM on October 31, 2002

Saw Rush twice this year on their Vapor Trails tour. They didn't so much make a "comeback" as they took a break after drummer Neil Peart lost both his wife and son in 1997. Good to see he's managed to eventually carry on.

They've gotten positively goofy about their history, though. The guitar player (Alex Lifeson) has taken to ranting during the instrumental "La Villa Strangiato"; at the show I saw on Sunday he was chiding Neil, "Go on, let's see you play something reaaaally clever on the drums."
posted by Accidental Angel at 8:59 AM on October 31, 2002

Accidental Angel: And during monday night's show (in Boston) he asked Neil to play something clever, then complained 'No, that from last night's show' when he tried. Good to know that it was actually in reference to something
posted by Davidicus at 9:36 AM on October 31, 2002

I have to say, seeing GnR on the MTV Music Awards, they totally sucked ass. I was super excited when they went on, playing the opening notes from "Welcome to the Jungle," but then Axl opened his mouth. He sounded like week old poop. Then I realized they were actually playing a medley of their old stuff. A GnR medley. What gives?

But, I'm all for Tommy Stinson (being from Minneapolis) and I'm all for Buckethead and whoever other weird goth dudes are. Maybe if they got rid of Axl they'd actually be a good band.
posted by Dok Millennium at 11:27 AM on October 31, 2002

yngwie malmsteens ' i'll see the light tonight'
is without a doubt, the worst rock video ever made,
can someone please tell me how to access a copy on the net?

i have to see him kill that giant dragon that comes out
of the middle of the stage (which if i remember rightly threatens a helpless blonde damsel , or was that the lead singer guy with the poodle hair?) with a fretwank guitar solo just one more time !

pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssseeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
email me!

i need to see this so bad !!!!!!
posted by sgt.serenity at 11:40 AM on October 31, 2002

The ultimate statement on 80s music is Bret Easton Ellis' great (though much reviled) novel American Psycho. In between describing his murders, yuppie serial killer Patrick Bateman discusses his love for Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, and Huey Lewis and the News. The mini-essays on the greatness of these artists are quite hilarious.
posted by Rebis at 2:41 PM on October 31, 2002

Drummers who write lyrics and sing, part III: Don Henley.

He did make music in the '80s, in fact that was the extent of his solo career.

Henley's career progression: decent drummer -> bad singer -> big, empty mouth

Hey Don, just kidding!
posted by billsaysthis at 3:40 PM on October 31, 2002