What Did You Listen To In The 80's?

[Dave78]

There was so much music in the 80's to go around, what did you listen to back then? Just one genre only, or a little bit of everything?

Rock?
Pop/R&B?
New Wave/Alternative?

I was a station-hopper, so I listened to just about everything on the various radio stations out here in SoCal. The first half of the 80's I mostly listened to the rock stations, but the second half of the 80's I spent an inordinate amount of time listening to the New Wave/Alternative station which seemingly played every imaginable kind of mainstream and obscure song ever recorded to wax or silica.

I love the 70's for the innocence of childhood thru high school, but getting out into the real world in the 80's brought on some wild times, and a lot of great music to go along with it.

Stories of wild times available upon request.

[Flower]

In the 80's I listened to ...

Phil Collins
Genesis
Foreigner
Toto
Billy Joel

[Oblivion]

To my mom singing go to sleep songs :p At the end of the 80's I was 7...

[Lord Grendel]

Let's see who were some of the bands I really enjoyed from the 80's...

The Fixx

Saga

Rush (I know they started in the 70's but I got into them in the 80's)

Peter Gabriel

The Cars

Dixie Dregs

Little Feat (Thread for them coming soon.)

Chris DeBurgh

Def Leppard

Those are a few off the top of my head.

[Magic]

I listened to:

Foreigner
The Cars
Journey
Poco
April Wine
Pat Benatar
Bon Jovi
Van Halen
Bob Seger
Talking Heads
Tears for Fears
John Cougar Mellencamp
Bruce Springsteen


Plus a variety of pop stuff

[gregjohnson1229]

lets see i was born in 1987, but i love lots of eighties songs. I do this songwriters circle show at a club in D.C. Basically its 4 songwriters with acoustic guitars going alternating with their own songs also their are group cover songs.80's songs are perfect for this format because there was a lot of sing along songs. WE have fun doing Pat Benetar (i think i mispelled the name) covers. The late eighties were great because good bands like soundgarden and red hot chilli peppers were starting to form. The 80's porbably has the most memorable and quality one hit wonders.

[rtbuck]

The 80's were great & that's when I really started opening my ears to music. Before the 80's rolled around I was strictly into bands like Kiss,Aerosmith, Nugent,Judas Priest,Blue Oyster Cult,Rush,Triumph,April Wine, Nazareth, AC/DC,UFO,Sabbath...etc. Once I got into the Stones around 78 it opened the doors for more Blues/Rock stuff but for the most part it was Metal/Hard Rock. I hated Punk & didn't care too much for the new wave stuff. Things drastically changed for me when Alice Cooper released "Flush the Fashion" in 1980 & because I was a Cooper freak no matter what he released I liked. Flush the Fashion had more of a new wave/Punk style to it & the next thing I know, I'm discovering songs like Jim Carroll's "People Who Died",The Ramones "I Wanna Be Sedated", & "What I Like About You" by the Romantics. Then things really changed when I seen a Pat Benatar show.David Johansen opened the show & he blew Pat Benatar away(Benatar was good but Johansen was unbelievable & for the record Neil Geraldo was sporting a cast from a broken wrist). I heard of Johansen bit had no idea who he was.All I know was he played Personality Crisis & Stranded in a Jungle & although I never heard the tunes I loved them. I bought a couple of his records afterwards & later realized he was the singer of the NY Dolls & I wouldn't be caught dead buying one of their albums until I seen those 2 songs I liked from the show were from the Dolls.Boom!!I now was getting into Punk which I vowed never to get into.
MTV also had a major impact on me.Between songs like Quiot Riot's "Metal Health" & Ratt's "Round & Round" they'd play videos like "Mexican Radio" or "Blinded Me with Science" so I got into all of those video hits.
I also loved the whole Metal Scene especially those first 2 Motley Crue Records,Iron Maiden's "Number of The Beast","Piece of Mind",& "Power Slave", All of the Anthrax albums,Metallica's "Kill'em All" & "Master of the Puppets",Twisted Sister, & of course Kiss.As I said Cooper kind of helped get me into the new wave/punk thing & I liked his early 80's releases but he was out of the hardrock loop by then.Kiss actually fell out of the loop with & after Dynasty.The Elder & Unmasked went totally unnoticed here. Rock was in need of a new Theatrical God & with the bite of a bat head there was Ozzy to jump in with perfect timing to take over Metal/Hardrock & I loved those first 3 Ozzy records.
I was in Montreal for a Sabres Canadiens game & that was the first time I heard "99 Red Balloons" by Nena & I loved the groove of it."I Wanna be a Cowboy" by Boys don't Cry & "Peter Gunn Theme" by Art of Noise also went over big in the clubs up there.
I was reading about Guns & Roses in Kerrang & I spotted their "Live Suicide" EP in a record store & the main reason I bought it was because they covered "Mama Kin". A few months later I picked up their Appetite For Destruction album & loved it.About a month later the record was pulled off the shelves because of the cover so I got one of the original covers. From their I got into Hanoi Rocks, the Dogs D'amour, & London Quireboys.For me there was a connectiomn with all this music & my guitar hero from the NY Dolls ...Johnny Thunders. I bought a Johnny record because I thought he looked cool as hell on the NY Dolls albums but the album was live & I thought he sucked but there was something there so I gave him another chance & that was it I was a Thunders Freak. I got to see him in 1986 with Green Jello opening.It was my first time at a Punk club & the club was sold out.I was up front with some friends & as I'm throwing my fist in the air this guy next to me who I didn't know kept bumping into me.I finally got pissed off so I started throwing my 6'3" 260lb body at him.All of a sudden I realized...I was slam Dancing!!! I never liked mosh pits but some of the wildest ones I seen back then were...at shows by the Goo Goo Dolls!!! Yes,back in the 80's the Goos were something to see.Johnny & Robbie would run around on a stage of broken Beer Bottles screaming out revved up covers of "Sunshine of Your Love","Gimme Shelter", & "Born to be Wild". If you haven't heard their very first 2 albums check them out & you will not believe it's the same band.In 1986 I seen a wild show & the reason...Punk & Metal didn't mix well in my area at that time. The show was Motorhead with Wendy O Williams & the Cro Mags.Wow,I couldn't believe all the fights & spitting at each other between the The Mowhawk & Skinhead Punkers & the Bikers!
I also seen Kim Mitchell & Joan Jett at least 10 times eachduring the 80's & was never disappointed especially being front row for one show where I was front Row for Joan Jett & her opening act Chuck Berry.The highlight being brought up onstage with about 10 others during Chuck Berry where I got to stand right next to him.
I better stop here!!!!

[Mr. Shadow]

I was listenimg to Hendrix and Dylan a lot.

[starman]

Originally Posted by KMET There was so much music in the 80's to go around, what did you listen to back then? Just one genre only, or a little bit of everything? Rock? Pop/R&B? New Wave/Alternative? I was a station-hopper, so I listened to just about everything on the various radio stations out here in SoCal. The first half of the 80's I mostly listened to the rock stations, but the second half of the 80's I spent an inordinate amount of time listening to the New Wave/Alternative station which seemingly played every imaginable kind of mainstream and obscure song ever recorded to wax or silica. I love the 70's for the innocence of childhood thru high school, but getting out into the real world in the 80's brought on some wild times, and a lot of great music to go along with it. Stories of wild times available upon request.

I was more or less doing my best to avoid MTV and the commercial new wave ilk. As a musician I was playing with people considerably older than myself and doing mostly hard rock bar room type junk, but I HATED the original material that we were doing. It just wasn't "real" and I could really tell because my heart wasn't into it. I was always the odd man out trying to get them to play stuff like The Trooper by Iron Maiden and Lips In The Hills by BOC. They weren't buying. : I hung in there though cause we were doing stuff like Godzilla and Live Wire by AC/DC.

[Dave78]

Great post, rtbuck.

We're similar in age and that was pretty much my experience going from 70's hard rock bands (Led Zep, The Who, Aerosmith and Van Halen) to, in 1980, walking into Willie Wonka's chocolate factory with all the new and different music that came out in the early the 80's (The Police, B52's, Missing Persons, etc...) and on into the late 80's.

Out here in L.A. there was a music station for just about every kind of music back in the 70's and 80's so it was very easy to hear new stuff all the time. Especially on the New Wave/Alternative station KROQ.

Btw... if you remember, did Pat Benatar's drummer play standing up? He did when I saw her in 81. Kinda funny to watch.

[rtbuck]

Kmet Police, B52's, & Missing Persons were all great. I lked the Police as soon as I heard "Roxanne" for the First time(I think it was around '79). I rushed out & bought the 45 & although I loved Roxanne, I really enjoyed the flipside which was "Dead End Job". That sounds pretty wild,Pat Benatar with a stand-up drummer but that was one of the few times I got tickets up in the nosebleed section.It was definitely in '81 when I seen her

[Cosmic Harmony]

I wasn't born until 1991....which blows....

I was a kid so I listened to what my mom and dad listened to:

Def Leppard
Bon Jovi
Madonna
Judas Priest
Ozzy Osbourne
Black Sabbath


Those were my humble beginnings.

[foreverblue]

dire straits
led zeppelin
eric clapton

[Slip'nn2Darkness]

Mostly everything.. Started getting into R&B more..