|
|
Post by SharksFan99 on Dec 8, 2017 18:41:53 GMT 10
I was curious to know what everyone else's opinion is of Late '80s (1987-1989) pop culture. It could be argued that the Late '80s are generally the least appreciated era of the 1980s. Many people tend to overlook the era in favour of the more extravagant, colourful Mid '80s.
As for myself, i'm not particularly a fan of Late '80s pop culture. I'm not sure why this is, but I personally don't think Late '80s pop culture is as "fresh" or as innovative as the pop culture from earlier in the decade. 1988, in particular, was quite a lacklustre year for music and pop culture in general.
|
|
|
|
Post by longaotian on Dec 8, 2017 21:29:35 GMT 10
I don't know too much about the Late 80s pop culutre in particular. However, I didn't think it was any worse than the other 80s years.
|
|
|
|
Post by #Infinity on Dec 9, 2017 0:45:27 GMT 10
I suppose the late 80s are a mix of great and ehh for me. Musically, yeah, it's definitely not as solid as the early/mid-1980s. More songs were either employing rote 60s style progressions or were just colourlessly peppy, though the latter weren't as common as they would be in the early 90s. I do laud the development of new jack swing, which, in combination with crashing 80s percussion, was often quite epic – I would single out Bobby Brown's "Every Little Step," Exposé's "Tell Me Why," and Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" as huge classics off the top of my head, but there are plenty more, too. The hair metal, honestly, I think was mostly cheesy fun, but I still overall prefer the new wave classics of the mid-80s. Other general songs, like "Cross My Broken Heart," "Living in a Box," "Looking for a New Love," and "Head to Toe" are just extremely middling and definitely epitomize whatever shallowness a lot of people like to pin on the 1980s.
Movies, however, I would probably say were fairly solid in the late 80s. While 1987 produced an unusually high number of infamously bad flicks, all three years churned out some classics in drama, comedy, and imagination. They were largely just films that are easy to pick up, play, and have a good, laid-back time to. 1989 is my favourite year in cinema ever.
Technologically, the late 80s are definitely superior to 1980 to 1986. Firstly, cassettes were more common than ever, so it was popular to listen to music on the go; CD's were also mainstream for the first time, making it convenient to skip around to whatever tracks you felt like listening to at any given moment. The Nintendo Entertainment System became huge, revitalizing the home gaming industry in North America; in my opinion the NES was far superior to the early 80s' signature technology, the Atari 2600 (released in 1977, but strictly a craze in the early 80s). Personal computers were also starting to become much more common, thus giving way to both computer games, as well as word processors, making life a lot easier.
The fashion of the late 80s is notoriously over the top, but in all fairness, a lot of the higher end clothing is pretty darn classy. I also still think guys in general were a lot handsomer in the late 80s than they are today.
|
|
|
|
Post by TheUser98 on Apr 2, 2018 11:44:46 GMT 10
I think pop culture was still good in 1987, but I do agree that pop culture had become stale by 1988/89. The old analog synth sounds of the early part of the decade were gone by this point, hair metal had become gimmicky, and many of the classic 80's artists such as Michael Jackson, Prince, George Michael, Duran Duran etc. were past their prime. It just seemed like a very boring time for popular culture.
The only other time I can think of where pop culture went stale was the period from 1959 through 1962. This was when rock and roll bit the dust as Elvis had been drafted into the military, Buddy Holly died in a plane crash (along with the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens), Jerry Lee Lewis was blacklisted, Chuck Berry was sent to prison and every other rock and roll singer had either stopped making music or had lost their edginess. This led to the rise of cheesy pop idols such as Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon and Bobbie Darin. Music would remain stale until 1964 which ushered in the British invasion.
SharksFan99 likes this
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
|
0 |
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2018 12:55:08 GMT 10
I think pop culture was still good in 1987, but I do agree that pop culture had become stale by 1988/89. The old analog synth sounds of the early part of the decade were gone by this point, hair metal had become gimmicky, and many of the classic 80's artists such as Michael Jackson, Prince, George Michael, Duran Duran etc. were past their prime. It just seemed like a very boring time for popular culture. The only other time I can think of where pop culture went stale was the period from 1959 through 1962. T his was when rock and roll bit the dust as Elvis had been drafted into the military, Buddy Holly died in a plane crash (along with the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens), Jerry Lee Lewis was blacklisted, Chuck Berry was sent to prison and every other rock and roll singer had either stopped making music or had lost their edginess. This led to the rise of cheesy pop idols such as Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon and Bobbie Darin. Music would remain stale until 1964 which ushered in the British invasion. The 1987-88 school year was still the peak of glam metal. I would say that it started to decline in the 1988-89 school year.
|
|
|
|
Post by #Infinity on Apr 2, 2018 13:46:59 GMT 10
I think pop culture was still good in 1987, but I do agree that pop culture had become stale by 1988/89. The old analog synth sounds of the early part of the decade were gone by this point, hair metal had become gimmicky, and many of the classic 80's artists such as Michael Jackson, Prince, George Michael, Duran Duran etc. were past their prime. It just seemed like a very boring time for popular culture. The only other time I can think of where pop culture went stale was the period from 1959 through 1962. T his was when rock and roll bit the dust as Elvis had been drafted into the military, Buddy Holly died in a plane crash (along with the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens), Jerry Lee Lewis was blacklisted, Chuck Berry was sent to prison and every other rock and roll singer had either stopped making music or had lost their edginess. This led to the rise of cheesy pop idols such as Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon and Bobbie Darin. Music would remain stale until 1964 which ushered in the British invasion. The 1987-88 school year was still the peak of glam metal. I would say that it started to decline in the 1988-89 school year. That was also still glam metal's peak, as it was when Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction became popular, not to mention Bon Jovi, Poison, Def Leppard, Cinderella, and plenty other forefront hair metal bands were going very strong too. I would argue the movement didn't start declining until at least the 1989-1990 school year, but even then, it was still the dominant form of mainstream rock.
|
|
|
|
Post by Telso on Apr 19, 2018 22:21:22 GMT 10
Dislike a lot of the mainstream music from then, quirky, fun and enjoyable new wave, post-punk and synthpop brushed aside for a heavy focus on hackneyed adult contemp and glam metal.
|
|
|
|
Post by SharksFan99 on Apr 20, 2018 10:12:54 GMT 10
Dislike a lot of the mainstream music from then, quirky, fun and enjoyable new wave, post-punk and synthpop brushed aside for a heavy focus on hackneyed adult contemp and glam metal. Yep. I personally think 1988-1991 was a really average time for music.
|
|
|
|
Post by John Titor on Dec 9, 2019 13:18:28 GMT 10
The best era of the 80s
|
|
|
|
Post by astropoug on Jul 25, 2021 5:13:54 GMT 10
Agreed with John Titor, I do like this part of the 80s the most out of all of them.
I feel as though the music scene of the late 80s is a lot more diverse than is often given credit for. 1988 was a year where Bon Jovi, Guns N Roses, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and U2 could all see success. Sure there was lots of hair metal, but there was also the upcoming new jack swing scene, and the rise of alternative rock, and though not as popular, thrash metal was thriving, and death metal came into existence.
NES was thriving with titles like Mega Man, The Legend of Zelda, Contra, and Castlevania. Amiga also had a strong gaming scene during this time.
Cartoons were much better with shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and DuckTales coming to mind, as well as the start of The Simpsons shorts.
Movies were also great. Robocop, Back to the Future Part II, Bill and Ted, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Speaking of, Disney was recovering out of their slump with films like The Great Mouse Detective, Oliver and Company, as well as the aforementioned Who Framed Roger Rabbit and DuckTales, ultimately culminating in the release of The Little Mermaid.
|
|
