80's: New Renaisance or Over Hyped Dross

Just a few years ago it was pretty much lumped in with the 70s as a decade of kitschy pop and bad haircuts. So what happened?

and the people who aren't old enough to remember it the first time round are buying into the myth that the era was a pleasant one.

there is plenty to be found in the revival, even for those of us that didn't enjoy it. i look forward to seeing the reappearance of the likes of strawberry switchblade and err...

err...

well, THE SMITHS might re-form, but that might not be a good thing. the memory is probably better. same goes for the fieldmice. and the pastels never went away.

generally, though, i will greet anyone trying to claim the decade as some sort of golden age with a tut, a sigh, and a flick of my exquisitely-coiffured blow-dried and brylcreemed wig.

Meanwhile, Mike Joyce has already sold off all his old equipment to finance his penchant for smack.

no, they really, really won't. it was just a flight of fancy. i suspect the results would be poor even if they did. although some bands seem to be able to channel hatred into something good (mamas and papas, later beatles, later smiths for that matter) and they certainly wouldn't be short of any of that.

Well it had it's moments but, yes, these revivals are always spurred on by people who aren't quite old enough to remember it properly, or at least were still at school so look back on those times with innocent fondness without thinking of things like the economics or politics of the era.

When I saw kids wearing flares in the 90s I thought no one who was actually old enough to to remember wearing them in the 70s would ever go back to them - too many bad memories of muddy hems and getting them caught in the spokes of your bike wheels (or having to stuff them in your socks to avoid that and looking even more ridiculous).

Bloody kids. A good spell in the Army should sort them out.

whereas i was one of those irritating kids going 'fuck you, oldster, the 70s were COOL!!! where's me tank-top??'

now, i am on the other side. one of those resentful wrinklies who tremble at the very mention of turn-ups.

most of my recollection of mainstream culture of the time is coloured by the fact that it was a horrible period of my life. its hard to ever completely separate the music and the emotions you were feeling at the time, particularly when they were that strong.

i could probably appreciate more eclectic music that i didn't get to hear first time round and so can view from an unbiased perspective (leaving aside all my other biases, that is).

I used to be a bigger '80s fetishist than I am today. I used to daydream about being transported to this mythical World Of The Eighties, where everything was like a John Hughes film, from the fashions to the high school life to the music to the people. I would fantasize about actually getting to see my Favorite Musical Artist get heavy airplay on MTV, purchase books and magazines about them from regular bookstores, and go to one of their massive arena concerts. I wished I could find '80s-style fashions in regular stores and I wished I knew how to style my hair and put on makeup in an "'80s style". If I had seen something like what's going on at the present moment happen when I was in high school, I would've constantly floated on a cloud of blissful contentment. Even without being as huge an '80s fanatic, the whole '80s revival thing puts a smile on my face.

(mark e, FYI, it's funny that you mention, *ahem*, Duran Duran in your post. In my own eyes, the eyes of a second generation fangirl whose first exposure to this band was actually in 1991, this band has hardly been mainstream. I didn't grow up listening to their music on the radio -- in fact, until about 1999, I could count on one hand the number of times I heard their music on the radio. I still haven't heard more than maybe four or five of the band's songs on the radio. Plus, the "new music" I've been able to witness firsthand has always been a couple of steps to the side of the mainstream.)