[degsyhufc]

Was playing guitar hero (or rock band) the other night and this song came on.

Never heard it before and was saying to my mates that it's a very good song. Is it from a recent band?
Sounds like late 2000 Britpop. Not Artic Monkeys but more like The Last Shadow Puppets or similar bands.

Was more that surprised to find out who it was by and the date it was released - 1984
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX1Pw...E78ACD4210638C

"The Killing Moon" is a single by the band Echo & the Bunnymen. It was released on their 1984 album, Ocean Rain. It is one of the band's highest-charting hits, reaching number nine in the UK Singles Chart, and often cited as the band's greatest song. Ian McCulloch has said: "When I sing 'The Killing Moon' I know there isn't a band in the world who's got a song anywhere near that."[1]

[Jon Ross]

I remember Matthew Wright, Janice Long and Terry Christian waxing lyrical about their love of Echo & the Bunnymen on Channel Five a while back. Terry Christian even said "at one time they could have been as big as U2." Personally, I don't think any band with a name like that was ever gonna be the biggest band in the world.

[Platinum_Rose]

Love that song and the band

[Coen]

Aye they did some good tunes the Bunnymen, very influential as well so no surprise they'd sound like many later bands to someone unfamiliar with em.

Bring On The Dancing Horses probably my favourite track by em. (The Killers are fans of that one as well. )

[Jon Ross]

Coldplay's Chris Martin is known to be a huge fan. In fact, I've seen one of Coldplay's early albums described in a music magazine as their attempt to sound like them. I can't comment, having never listened to a Coldplay album.

[mrkite77]

Lips Like Sugar still gets plenty of airplay around here.

[Jon Ross]

Originally Posted by Coen

very influential as well so no surprise they'd sound like many later bands to someone unfamiliar with em.

Indeed. They are actually one of the very few bands to have come out of the cheesy '80s (widely considered the worst decade of music ever) with any street cred whatsoever.

[ashtray88]

I love that song. Another good song by them is The Cutter.

[mrkite77]

Originally Posted by Jon Ross

widely considered the worst decade of music ever

By whom?

[2shy2007]

Originally Posted by mrkite77

By whom?

I would like to know that too, for every cheesy band there were two fresh sounding cool bands.

[silentNate]

Originally Posted by mrkite77

By whom?

Not by me for sure... I think 2000 to 2010 was pretty dire... generic R&B dominated the music scene and everything else was forgotten

The Cutter is my favourite Echo & the Bunnymen tune btw

[2shy2007]

Originally Posted by silentNate

Not by me for sure... I think 2000 to 2010 was pretty dire... generic R&B dominated the music scene and everything else was forgotten

The Cutter is my favourite Echo & the Bunnymen tune btw

I agree, that decade has to be the worst in recent musical history. The 80s had so many great genres, new wave, new romantic,two tone,ska,the mod revival was still going,my god I miss it!

[silentNate]

Originally Posted by 2shy2007

I agree, that decade has to be the worst in recent musical history. The 80s had so many great genres, new wave, new romantic,two tone,ska,the mod revival was still going,my god I miss it!

I liked shoegazing, indie, grebo and the metal of the time but OMG was that early dance music good around 1988

[2shy2007]

Originally Posted by silentNate

I liked shoegazing, indie, grebo and the metal of the time but OMG was that early dance music good around 1988

I feel quite sorry for kids these days, they have nothing rebellious to follow, nothing shocking, no fashion,no excitement in music anymore

[silentNate]

Originally Posted by 2shy2007

I feel quite sorry for kids these days, they have nothing rebellious to follow, nothing shocking, no fashion,no excitement in music anymore

Something will happen to break the commercial mode that is dominating music... it may sound awful or just derivative to our ears though

[Jon Ross]

Originally Posted by mrkite77

By whom?

Sorry man, the '80s was so naff even Mick Hucknall is embarrassed to be associated with it:

The truth is there was a golden era in music from 1962 to 1978 – after that it all went a bit tits up. I blame the ****ing drum machine and the ****ing shoulder pads of the 1980s. I feel a bit like the antichrist as I had the bulk of my success in the 80s and I hate 80s music. I don't care if it's in fashion now, I hate it. I hate everything about it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010...all-simply-red

I saw a recent review of Peter Gabriel's "So", from 1986, in Uncut magazine, that summed up the general critical opinion on '80s music:

So much '80s music - or, to be specific, pop recorded between those wilderness years of '83 and '88 - is rendered almost unlistenable today, due to those hallmarks of high '80s production: gated reverb on the snare, glutinous DX7 pianos, Simmons electric tom-toms, heavily chorused guitars, and so on.

[scrilla]

The eighties was a wonderfully rich decade for music! Far ahead of the nineties and the only complete decade of this current century.

Who cares about Mick Hucknall and the chart pop music of the day. Many great records have utilised drum machines and what do shoulder pads have to do with anything? That's about as useful as saying James Brown was crap because he wore flares for a while.

Mick Hucknall should be embarrassed to be associated with his career, not a decade in time!

[Jon Ross]

You only need to listen to how bad Bowie got in the '80s - and how embarrassed he is by most of his '80s output (or his Phil Collins years as he called them ) - to see what I mean.

Here's another example of the critical view on the '80s, this time from John Harris:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/jan/14/2

Like countless thousands, I spent a good deal of Christmas watching my Live Aid DVD box set. Much of it - Sade, Simple Minds, Nik Kershaw, Kenny "Footloose" Loggins - sent me straight to the fast-forward button. The odd moment had me gawping at the screen, thinking that the 1980s had amounted to a period of collective psychosis: who, I am still wondering, ever came to the conclusion that Spandau Ballet were a good idea?

Terry Christian, who is VERY knowledgeable on music, said a while back about the '80s

I thought the music was a bit rubbish. I liked the Smiths, I thought New Order were good. A few good bands, some good jazz-funk around. Other than that, all I remember is devastation and Margaret Thatcher.

[DRAGON LANCE]

How the hell were the 80's the worst decade in music? There was a huge variety of music in that era, and a huge amount of world beating acts. You had everything from The Pet Shop Boys to Guns and Roses. Madonna to Julian Cope. Acid House to New Romantics. Prince to Metallica. Duran Duran to Bruce Springsteen. Need I go on? If you don't like synth pop there were whole hosts of other things to enjoy. Like Echo and the Bunnymen.
At least the 80's had a distinct sound. And fashion. What I like about the 80's is people used to have fun and the world was a more innocent place. It was the decade people could be anything they wanted to be. Where's any of that spirit today? Most things now are bland, safe and dull.

Taking that back to the Echo and Bunnymen what I loved about them and the other great 80’s guitar bands (be it the Smiths, U2, etc.) was they weren't trying to specifically sound like their dad's record collection. They were trying to sound like something new and different. Again not much of that in today's guitar bands is there? Nothing wrong with just good classic songs that sound like they could have been written in any era of course, but sometimes you need somebody to come along and shake things up.

Yes many of the tricks the 80's bands of any variety be it synth or guitar became copied and as a result clichéd, but 1st time around they were something genuinely new. I actually think 80’s music strength is that its instantly recognisable by its sound.

Just one last thing re: The Bunnymen. I do find it bizarre how kids discover them these days. Through video games like the person who started the thread, or the film Donnie Darko seems to be another source. Oh well at least new generations are still discovering them!

[mrkite77]

Originally Posted by Jon Ross

So much '80s music - or, to be specific, pop recorded between those wilderness years of '83 and '88 - is rendered almost unlistenable today, due to those hallmarks of high '80s production: gated reverb on the snare, glutinous DX7 pianos, Simmons electric tom-toms, heavily chorused guitars, and so on.

Well there's your problem. You seem to think pop music is the only music.

While some of that 80s pop music was awesome (Talk Talk, Oingo Boingo, Peter Schilling, off the top of my head), don't forget the 80s also gave us The Dead Milkmen, The Church, Killing Joke, The Pixies etc etc.

[scrilla]

Originally Posted by Jon Ross

You only need to listen to how bad Bowie got in the '80s - and how embarrassed he is by most of his '80s output (or his Phil Collins years as he called them ) - to see what I mean.

An artist who released his first records in 1969 (I think) and having been prolific throughout the seventies, making less of value in the eighties is not enough to justify writing off an entire decade of music. There will always be endless examples to illustrate people's claims just as there will be endless examples to disprove them.

Originally Posted by Jon Ross

Here's another example of the critical view on the '80s, this time from John Harris:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/jan/14/2

Like countless thousands, I spent a good deal of Christmas watching my Live Aid DVD box set. Much of it - Sade, Simple Minds, Nik Kershaw, Kenny "Footloose" Loggins - sent me straight to the fast-forward button. The odd moment had me gawping at the screen, thinking that the 1980s had amounted to a period of collective psychosis: who, I am still wondering, ever came to the conclusion that Spandau Ballet were a good idea?

That article name checks a handful of chart acts but is mostly about the band Queen and juxtaposing their performing at Live Aid with their performing at Sun City. Possibly an interesting read for people who don't know about this but again hardly a sufficient summing up of a musical decade.

Originally Posted by Jon Ross

Terry Christian, who is VERY knowledgeable on music, said a while back about the '80s

I thought the music was a bit rubbish. I liked the Smiths, I thought New Order were good. A few good bands, some good jazz-funk around. Other than that, all I remember is devastation and Margaret Thatcher.

I've no idea if Terry Christian is particularly knowledgeable about music, as I'm mostly aware of him through having watched The Word but again, hardly that insightful.

A few sound bites / snippets from media figures do not begin to scratch the surface of an entire decade of music.

I know the various reasons why some people who are into specific genres of music slate the eighties: for many genres it was a transition period and progression or change certainly doesn't always please us but to suggest that the decade was musically stagnant or creatively bankrupt or whatever; no, I couldn't agree at all. I've far to many records to suggest otherwise and I'm sure many of them would never have be heard by these media people who get paid to write short, simplistic pieces for the papers.

There are books on single genres of music and certain eras which still barely touch on many aspects and artists.

[Jon Ross]

If you think about the bands that were really big in the '80s, it's no coincidence you won't find many major bands from the last 20 years that have named them as an influence. I mean, seriously, what band from the last 20 years has named Genesis, Dire Straits, Level 42 or Marillion as an influence, yet they all sold loads of albums and played big venues in the '80s. Genesis were the first band to sell out four nights at Wembley Stadium (1987), while Dire Straits had the first million-selling CD. Those artists are now considered little more than jokes in the press, but they were huge in the '80s. Contrast that with the enduring influence of the big bands from the '60s and '70s (Beatles, Stones, Who, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd).

It's actually the smaller, more cultish bands from the '80s (Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, Jesus and Mary Chain) that have proved to be influential, but most of the bigger acts and the mainstream music scene of the time has become a joke. That's the critical difference, I think, between the '80s and previous decades.

[Jon Ross]

Originally Posted by mrkite77

Well there's your problem. You seem to think pop music is the only music.

The quote was actually taken from a music journalist called John Lewis. That was his view on the '80s, specifically '83 - '88 pop music (as he said).

[Fast Fuse]

Originally Posted by Jon Ross

It's actually the smaller, more cultish bands from the '80s (Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, Jesus and Mary Chain) that have proved to be influential, but most of the bigger acts and the mainstream music scene of the time has become a joke. That's the critical difference, I think, between the '80s and previous decades.

In fact these bands were influenced by Motown and The Velvet Underground which sort of underlines the fact that the true golden era for pop music was the 60's.

[mushymanrob]

Originally Posted by degsyhufc

Was playing guitar hero (or rock band) the other night and this song came on.

Never heard it before and was saying to my mates that it's a very good song. Is it from a recent band?
Sounds like late 2000 Britpop. Not Artic Monkeys but more like The Last Shadow Puppets or similar bands.

Was more that surprised to find out who it was by and the date it was released - 1984
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX1Pw...E78ACD4210638C

just goes to highlight how generic recent music is.... you like indie? check out original indie...

Originally Posted by Jon Ross

Indeed. They are actually one of the very few bands to have come out of the cheesy '80s (widely considered the worst decade of music ever) with any street cred whatsoever.

Originally Posted by Jon Ross

Sorry man, the '80s was so naff even Mick Hucknall is embarrassed to be associated with it:

The truth is there was a golden era in music from 1962 to 1978 – after that it all went a bit tits up. I blame the ****ing drum machine and the ****ing shoulder pads of the 1980s. I feel a bit like the antichrist as I had the bulk of my success in the 80s and I hate 80s music. I don't care if it's in fashion now, I hate it. I hate everything about it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010...all-simply-red

I saw a recent review of Peter Gabriel's "So", from 1986, in Uncut magazine, that summed up the general critical opinion on '80s music:

So much '80s music - or, to be specific, pop recorded between those wilderness years of '83 and '88 - is rendered almost unlistenable today, due to those hallmarks of high '80s production: gated reverb on the snare, glutinous DX7 pianos, Simmons electric tom-toms, heavily chorused guitars, and so on.

sorry dude, thats utter guff.

you can make a case out for any decade being naff, because there was good and bad from the 50's onward.

83-88 'wilderness years'?... this statement belongs on that other thread regarding the most ridiculous thing heard about music.

to start with it spans two very differing styles of pop... from real groups, new romantic era (duran duran, spandau, culture club, wham!) into halfway through s/a/w manufactured crap... how tf can those 'real' groups be compared to watermans factory puppets. it doesnt matter who was 'best' the styles of pop in that timespan cited were completely different, but started before 83, and finished after 88 ! splitting around 86...

dont take the opinions of one person as a rule... the 80's were a great decade throughout.