My mom was a young mom in the 90s so I grew up on 80s stuff. I’ve kinda been exposed to the music and movies all my life lol.
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A time of big hair and big ideas! Where grown men could prance around in full makeup and tights and not have their masculinity called into question!
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One of the oddest turn-abouts, truly.
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TBH Taylor Swift was in town this past weekend, and it’s made me think of how cool it would be to see a MASSIVE pop star at the height of their fame. I don’t think I would even be picky, they just have to be one of the biggest names. MJ big. Madonna big. Taylor Swift big. Yanno.
It’s just an experience I’ll probably never have, so I’ll settle for my metal shows. I’m not too upset about it, truth be told, simply because it’s so hard to get tickets for those pop stars.
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Madonna was in town. I considered it. Tickets were too expensive.
I got Janet Jackson tickets this summer. She was ok. Nelly opened for her. That man put on a party!
I saw AJR on their last tour. They were great. If you know who Harry Mack is, I saw him, too. He had the best crowd.
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Maybe I’ve just become a slightly crotchety old man, but a few years back there was a lot of celebration in certain spaces of men breaking into the makeup tutorial YouTube niche, and all I could think was “Dee Snider did not go full punk drag to be slandered in such a manner!”
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Yeah, I think it’s more “height of their career” because I think the energy would be awesome. Imagine being at the MTV Awards performance of Vogue in 1990! Imagine! Just being there!
I’ve seen Tears for Fears and Joan Jett, as far as popular 80s acts go. Both were amazing. Joan Jett is somehow immortal, I swear.
The one band I would not want to see, though, is The Beatles. I was told that while they weren’t terrible live, the crowds were so bad that you could barely hear the music over the screaming.
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I’ve never really understood the Beatles love. Even for the era, their music is mediocre at best.
That said, if you haven’t listened to Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr reuniting a year ago for a version of “Let It Be” with Dolly Parton on lead vocals - go listen on YouTube. It’s genuinely moving. EDIT: Just learned it also features Mick Fleetwood and Peter Frampton. Jesus, this collaboration just flew under everyone’s radar…
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The Beatles are okay in their later work tbh. Otherwise they’re just an average boy band, and that’s part of the screaming, u kno?
I like most of what they did after the White Album when they started getting weird with it, but not a fan of their earlier stuff. Some of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club is also pretty good.
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Roxanne is one of my favorites. I prefer them pre Syncronicity.
The 80’s was a blast. So much good music. Did you know that The Cure has a new album?
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Yes! Looking forward to grabbing it! One of my all time favorite Cure songs is “Burn” from “The Crow” soundtrack.
Soooo many bands from the 80’s are releasing new albums. Just read that even Guns n Roses is going to release a new album. At the risk of dating myself… lol… my very first ever rock concert was GnR on the Use Your Illusion tour.
PS:
There’s a really great live version of that Cure song on YouTube. Think it was a BBC broadcast live from Glastonbury.
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Wrapped Around Your Finger is my favorite. It’s a story about a young mage apprenticing under a vampire, surpassing him and then enthralling him. Good times.
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Oh, I managed to snag tickets to see the Pixies in August next year. I can’t wait for the inevitable crowd-wide sing-along of Blister In the Sun.
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I like The Beatles now, some of their music anyway, but I wasn’t alive when they were in their heyday. I’m not sure I would have been a huge fan, but I respect their impact.
I suspect a lot of the reverence for them comes from the fact that rock and roll was still coming of age back then and was brand new. For kids today (mine included), they don’t know a world without a huge range of diverse music - from rap to rock to soul to jazz to pop to shoe gazing to techno to metal (and the 4000 versions of it) - any type of music someone wants today is at their fingertips.
It wasn’t that way until probably well into the mid / late 90’s.
The Beatles were unique and new, an enormous cultural influence at a time of tremendous societal upheaval. There wasn’t much like them. I would personally point to other bands that I’m aware of now that started back then, that I enjoy more. (The Left Banke, for one)
The Rolling Stones and The Beatles first albums were both released in the US, I believe, in '64. They were very different bands and The Beatles hit bigger and harder in the US than the Stones because of their packaging - four clean cut guys in suits and ties. The Stones were wearing suits, but they looked like art house college kids and parents didn’t love them nearly as much. The Beatles were much more accessible.
It’s hard for my kids (the oldest is 27) to really grasp how difficult it was to ‘discover’ music - even in the 80’s when I was growing up. Rock and Roll wasn’t accepted. Rap was stared at with bewilderment. Heavy metal? Ozzy was eating bats and killing puppies on stage. (People believed it!!)
You had to hunt to find bands, you had to seek out live music venues, college towns, dive bars, go somewhere to hear something you’d never heard.
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I remember when three of my friends and I drove 3 hours to see Christian Death at the Velvet Web in Miami. The venue was charging ten dollars more (like $50 adjusted for 90s inflation) at the door than advertised. My friend Crackhead Jimmy (we also had a friend we called Vanilla Jimmy) sold all the CDs he had with him and the player to get us all in. Gitane Demone tried to make me her bus groupie and Rozz Williams wrote an archaic number on Jimmy’s forearm that he got tattooed on for good.
Music wasn’t always so user friendly.
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Also worth noting that the Beatles were one of the first times you could have music available whenever you want, in your home! Sure, you had to buy it back then, but they were guaranteed to be big given how easy they were to listen to. (Also my favorite Beatles song is Hey Bulldog off Yellow Submarine, I love it a lot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNsee-gRLAY)
After Limewire shut down and in the void between Streaming and Easy Filesharing, I was a poor kid that didn’t have easy access to buying Apple Music stuff. I listened to the CDs I had and I listened to the radio. The main way I discovered music back then was through Rock Band and Guitar Hero and my parents. So I’ve got a pretty hefty 70s and 80s rock diet. Punk, too. and Bowie. Lots of Bowie.
TBH It’s admittedly a crapshoot if the streaming era can help you discover new music because of algorithms, but I’ve been using it to slowly go through Pink Floyd’s discography and discovering that I really like The Wall. We’re in a golden age for finding music.
Also someone mentioned The Cure. Claudio did a cover of Just Like Heaven. I love this man’s voice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmTMfBs7EZA I should see when Coheed and Cambria is coming to town next. They’re one of the few bands that consistently comes through Indianapolis, and part of the reason I’m ok with our concert scene.
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Yeah. The 80’s had so many good artists but you definitely had to search far and wide to find their music. I am glad that it is easier for people to seek out music these days.
I cannot imagine a world without books or music.
Cheers.
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i saw the mountain dew promo and it’s like, why not sparkling water promo, costco hot dog promo or Korean BBQ promo??!??!?!
anyway i mostly like the tabards and hope they end up on the trading post at some point.
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If these and future promotion items don’t funnel into the trading post once it’s over, that might be worse than all these bundles and the Brutosaur.
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Ended up playing Cyberpunk 2077 again. I will finish it this time. Maybe. Perhaps. Probably not. But I want to.
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