2. music
  3. 179094-176339

How did 70s rock music transition into 80s music?

80s music appeared to be a re-visitation of the beginning of Rock — when "singles" ruled the AM radio. In those early days, in the event that a craftsman had a hit, he/she could get to record an "collection" (when those modern LP records appeared). A LP could have two hits and 10 tunes of forgettable filler melodies. Most craftsmen were characterized by their hit singles.

The 60s and 70s saw an ascent in FM radio and AOR (Album Oriented Rock) which gave numerous specialists the opportunity to make bigger works, or gatherings of melodies which frequently remained all in all work, and empowered a more extended tuning in/focus time. Beside funk and disco dance hits, the 70s inclined towards Album Oriented Rock.

The 80s saw a swing away from longer works and AOR, and back towards snappy singles. I'd say MTV had a great deal to do with the progress to 80s music. ("Video killed the radio star"):

MTV presented many gatherings who had fantastic singles, yet probably won't have accomplished acknowledgment without MTV video openness: Squeeze, The Vapors, Duran, Adam and the Ants, the B-52s, The Cars — to give some examples. (Note, I said "may" — yet that is my hypothesis.)
MTV constrained many long settled stars — David Bowie, Rod Stewart, even The Rolling Stones — to make video-commendable tunes. (That is — SINGLES.)
Peter Gabriel is a story regardless of anyone else's opinion. He was genuinely known from his Genesis Days — yet those astonishing recordings of "For sure" and "Demolition hammer" certainly kicked him into the super frightening.
MTV — after a ton of asking, cajoling, and dangers — at last changed their bigoted whites-just strategy, and began broadcasting recordings by people like Michael Jackson and Prince — presenting various dark craftsman to a lot bigger crowd.
In outline, I think MTV during the 80s — and later the Internet and YouTube — abbreviated individuals' capacity to focus, made a market weighty on short snappy singles, and made it progressively hard for craftsman to make "collections" which would allow them an opportunity to introduce their bigger vision.

davidjohan

Showing 1 response by zazouswing

zazouswing
150 posts
 

Lots of good bands listed here, but one swallow doesn’t make a summer, and I believe that’s the point. My gut is that a combination of technology (synths), corporate investments, MTV elevating sounds based on what the bands looked like, and a generally inability for musicians to fit the new sound (punk) into a promotable box. Ironically, the free access to 4 track recording, mixed with a constant stream of disappointing popular music, kicked off the local music scene, which is where I believe the 80’s get saved. Labels like Discord in DC and Touch and Go in Chicago started releasing unique bands and developing their own sound. Kids were busy making music, not collecting music.  They watched each other play and avoided the arenas. Lo-fi was the 80’s saving grace and informed later ideas - for better or worse maybe. Don’t even get me started on Grunge. 
 

All of this digresses from the point of the post - what happened to album orientated rock. I dunno - cassingles? The Sex Pistols vs Pink Floyd saga? Casio keyboards? Mix tapes? Smooth action cue levers? Duran Duran’s haircuts? Take your pick maybe. In the ebb and flow of musical taste, every new thing is built on the rubble of its predecessor. The concept album had to go - it was just in the way. 

More to discover