The 80s

The 1980s as a decade are often criticized. It seems the developments of the fifties (rock & roll), sixties (Dylan's folk rock, the Beatles), seventies (disco, punk) and even nineties (grunge, alternative generally, electronic music) are held in high esteem while the eighties, which is seen as synthetic, shallow and cheesy, is reviled. As a contrarian generally, I tend to disagree in part because I think writing off genres, years and decades is a lazy way to be a music fan. I think there is plenty of good music of all types, genres, and time periods - you just have to do the work of finding it. Recently, I've been noticing an eighties influence seeping into a lot of newer music. Vampire Weekend and Cut Copy being perhaps more popular examples but also Austra and tUnE-yArDs. What I notice is the influence of a certain branch or "art-rock" of the eighties. I'm thinking of Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson, the Talking Heads, Jane Siberry,  Suzanne Vega, the Parachute Club and even Tears for Fears. This all fits in well with a book I'm reading (Music: a Very Short Introduction by Nicholas Cook) which, aside from providing one of the better explanations of constructivism that I've read, also helps explain appreciating music not in terms of offering "new things to hear" but "new ways of hearing things." I think the above mentioned eighties artists can be appreciated in this way quite well, especially when we think of the inclusion of avant garde experimentalism (perhaps via Brian Eno's influence) and most noticeably, the influence of "world music." By hearing the sounds and rhythms of African (especially) and other "world music" influences, we hear those influences in new ways and appreciate them more. This is one of the gifts of the eighties: allowing us to appreciate music from beyond our limited western, white perspectives. Maybe this is something I think about more obviously because of recently listening to Peter Gabriel and Tears for Fears - just listen to the rhythms in just about any Peter Gabriel track and songs like "Mother's Talk" or "Change" by Tears for Fears.