It's 4am on a Saturday night/Sunday morning. I am drunk off my ass. Here's one of my favourite posts for October. The original post was done on the 2nd of October 2006 here.
All you need is a reminder. I haven't up till now realised how much I love music from the 80s. Hell, I even love porn from the 80's. Real women didn't shave their pubes back then. I liked 80's porn for the hairstyles, especially the hairstlyes, and to a lesser extent, shoulder pads. Butt naked, big haired, slim women with so much hairspray, the guys wore dentist masks not condoms. The only people on the planet with bigger hair than 80's pornstars were the hair metal bands.
I love hair metal bands. I love bands like Motley Crue and Poison and the slightly more serious (just cos they didn't wear makeup) metal bands like Def Leppard, Bon Jovi and Van Halen. I liked the excesses of the 80's rather than the excesses of today because the difference between the two are worlds apart. Back then 80's band excesses were of a more unrealistic nature. You didn't take it seriously and that was the fun of it. Just look at the videos these guys made. No one would wear the stuff these guys wore, the clothes, the makeup and the poses, the outrageous behaviour. There are music videos made by 80s metal bands that can almost kill me from laughter. MTV was still in its early years. No one really had a big video budget in those days. The result - one motorcycle, a poorly made sparse stage in the middle of the desert, four guys in drag and makeup trying to look tough, a little bit of fireworks and two foxes. Video women in the 80s were foxes, nowadays they're ho's. The usual formula is the lead singer on his big bad bike riding up to the stage in the desert, does his bit amidst the sneers and metal guitar poses which really overshadow the fireworks and foxes, gets on his bike and rides off with one fox on the back to a hotel room in Tucson, leaving his band to share the remaining fox amongst the saguaros.
These days, the excesses is about how rich these people are. Their suits and cigars, mansions and cars, bitches and hos, the parties and shows. Jeezuz. I just wrote P. Diddy's next hit. Or one of those rappers you've never heard of but would see on MTV Cribs living large.
The music? There were many advances in music in those days. Of course, like I mentioned, MTV was still young. The 80s was the steep learning curve for making music videos. Back to the music, a lot of these guys were good musicians in actuality but it was the Reagan era. As long as you were flashy, no one cared. It was a good time for music though underneath the layers. Metallica had just formed and were taking the Bay area by storm. Eddie Van Halen had burst onto the scene taking guitar another step ahead. Def Leppard brought the twin guitar attack to mainstream. Bon Jovi had formed and were paving the way for New Jersey bands. Motley Crue called every man and his dog 'dude' and Poison were brilliant even under all the hair and makeup. Duran Duran deserves a mention. Brilliant musicians, songwriters and producers. They got more attention for their music videos (the original kings of video) and their good looks. John Taylor, who was prettier than any of his girlfriends, is an excellent bass player. I'm not talking about technical proficiency. I'm talking about playing exactly what's right for the song.
Poison is another good example of what melodically selective playing can do for a song. The foundation of Poison's music however, was at the hands (and fingers) of just one man, C.C. de Ville, guitar extrordinaire. CC wasn't a guitar visionary. He didn't create anything new and he didn't pioneer anything nor did he change the way guitar was played. He was however, extremely, extremely good at bringing a song to life. Listen to about any Poison song to see (hear?) what I mean. Try comparing it to when Ritchie Kotzen took over guitar duties from CC on the album Native Tongue. CC played absolutely the right thing at the right time in any Poison song and a lot of the time carried the song on his guitar.
I was listening to my Motley Crue and Poison albums last night and marvelled at how alive the songs are. Then I was at Breakers, where they played nothing but 80s pop. I have to say, I absolutely loved it.
We might have had a brief 80's revival but the 80's was so good it'll swing by another time. Wait for it.
The 80's in my opinon without research:
Front man: David Lee Roth. Couldn't really sing but there's only one Diamond Dave.
Bassist: John Taylor. He played almost as good as he looks.
Guitarist: C.C. de Ville. See above.
Drummer: Tommy Lee. The only drummer who managed to have a personality.
Boy band: Duran Duran. They stepped up what a music video was.
Girl group: The Bangles. Look past how ubercute Susanna Hoffs was and you'll find a really good band.
Honorable mention: a-ha. Good songwriting, good composition, good production, good band.
