100 artists who were great in the 70s, but then completely lost it in the 80s

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

1. David Bowie

is the man who invented this particular career arc, but who else was there?

― Aleister Crowley, Thursday, 3 February 2005 16:02 (twenty years ago)

2. Stevie Wonder

― jonviachicago, Thursday, 3 February 2005 16:03 (twenty years ago)

3. Jerry Lee Lewis

― Huk-L, Thursday, 3 February 2005 16:13 (twenty years ago)

Aerosmith

― Flash (cowboytrance), Thursday, 3 February 2005 16:14 (twenty years ago)

5. Miles Davis

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 3 February 2005 16:18 (twenty years ago)

Almost everyone who was really great in the 70s was really crap in the 80s.

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Thursday, 3 February 2005 16:46 (twenty years ago)

6. John Prine

― Huk-L, Thursday, 3 February 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

7. Neil Young

― David Allen (David Allen), Thursday, 3 February 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

8. Brian Eno

Oh wait. He was crap in the 70s too, wasn't he? Forget it.

― Qp3, Thursday, 3 February 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

9. John Lennon

― Buffalo Stan (Buffalo Stan), Thursday, 3 February 2005 16:57 (twenty years ago)

10. Rod Stewart

― dan. (dan.), Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

more interestingly was anyone actually great in the 70's AND the 80's? I can't think of a single example...

― simon 803 (simon 803), Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

brooce

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

12. The Cars
13. Cheap Trick

― peepee (peepee), Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

no, no, i was saying bruce was great in the 70s *and* 80s!

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

great in both the 70s and 80s (first decade of the 80s at least) = SPARKS

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:47 (twenty years ago)

14. Steve Miller Band

― Jessie, Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

The Fall were great in the 70s and much of the 80s.

Two more who were not so great even if both they still had moments:

Lee "Scratch" Perry
James Brown

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

Kraftwerk were great in the 70s and the brief period of the 80s where they still released stuff.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

15. Does the John Lennon quip apply to Bob Marley?

― peepee (peepee), Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:50 (twenty years ago)

James Brown?!? I dunno man, that album w/Full Force is pretty dire...

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:52 (twenty years ago)

was anyone actually great in the 70's AND the 80's? I can't think of a single example...

talking heads
michael jackson
the clash (for a couple years in the '80s anyway)
motorhead (ditto)
ac/dc (ditto)

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:52 (twenty years ago)

I like many of Neil Young's 80s records (Trans, Reac.tor, Freedom) so I nominate him. "Landing on Water" is really the only truly awful one.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

James Brown was good up until about '75. "Sex Machine" today is pretty lousy, actually; "The Original Disco Man" and "Jam/1980s" are good, late Brown, nowhere near his classic stuff but honest attempts to come to grips with what was going on around him.

Alex Chilton certainly didn't make too many good things in the '80s, a few scattered tracks. But he was good live back then.
Joni Mitchell didn't do much good stuff in the '80s.
Gilberto Gil actually went bad sometime in the '70s when he decided to play "reggae," and although "Um Banda Um" in the '80s has its moments, he was perhaps the best example of someone intelligent who consciously decided to go "pop" and "universal" with generally bad results.

― es hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:57 (twenty years ago)

You can find people who straddled the late 70s/early 80s with ease - but it's pretty hard to find people who were good both pre-1976 and post-1982.

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Thursday, 3 February 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

James Brown did drop considerably after the mid 70s, but the song "Bring It On" (1983) is a massively hard funk gem which I highly recommend (though it is very obscure), like an amazing oasis in his post seventies desert.

― peepee (peepee), Thursday, 3 February 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

(x-post)
it's pretty hard to find people who were truly great for longer than ANY six- or seven-year period, though. the average pop legend does his/her career-making work in a remarkably short period of time, no matter what era you're talking about.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 3 February 2005 18:03 (twenty years ago)

>was anyone actually great in the 70's AND the 80's? I can't think of a single example...

robyn hitchcock was great in the 70s (with the soft boys) and generally great in the 80's. Elvis Costello--great in 70's, great in 80's up to 1984 or so. Maybe that doesn't count. he did certainly lose the plot in the eighties.

― tylerw, Thursday, 3 February 2005 18:21 (twenty years ago)

Great in the '70s and '80s:
George Clinton and Robert Wyatt spring to mind.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 3 February 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

Michael Jackson did alright.

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Thursday, 3 February 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

dumb thread

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 3 February 2005 18:31 (twenty years ago)

amen.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 3 February 2005 18:35 (twenty years ago)

Pink Floyd.

And special points for Lou Reed, who not only declined from the 70's-80's, but also from the 60's-70's, and probably from the 80's-90's and 90's-00's, making his career arc a perfect \

― yossarian, Thursday, 3 February 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

I've completely lost count, but Olivia Newton-John and, for the most part, Elton John.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Thursday, 3 February 2005 19:48 (twenty years ago)

Could people stop fucking the list up please?

Anyway:

Kiss
Genesis
Gang of Four

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Thursday, 3 February 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

Wow, specifying pre-'76 and post-'82 really does wipe the slate almost clean with diluvial thoroughness, regardless of genre:
50. Todd Rundgren
51. Bob Seger
52. Merle Haggard (great for awhile in the 80s, but really fell off later)
53. Linda Ronstadt
54. Kool & the Gang
55. Arthur Blythe
56. Heptones
57. AC/DC

Possible exceptions might include Kraftwerk, Paul Simon, Ornette Coleman, Richard Thompson, June Tabor, Norman Blake, ZZ Top and, around my house, the Kinks.

― briania (briania), Thursday, 3 February 2005 20:04 (twenty years ago)

Well if "great" means "not terrible" and then "lost it" means "lost it" then KISS...

― Bryan Moore (Bryan Moore), Thursday, 3 February 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

To defend Neil in the 80's, "Freedom" was good... and Trans was decent enough. To be fair, though, he put out lots of shit in that decade too... Will defend Old Ways, though, as a not-quite-bad album....

― Bryan Moore (Bryan Moore), Thursday, 3 February 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

(first decade of the 80s at least)

My mind is still boggling at this too much to think of a proper answer.

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 3 February 2005 21:10 (twenty years ago)

I kind of want to say Paul Weller. But I don't think I mean it (and I know the pre-1976 has ruled him out anyway, but...)

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 3 February 2005 21:12 (twenty years ago)

(by which I mean I could kind of defend the Style Council a bit, though if the thread want people that were great in the 70s, losing it in the 80s then turning into a completely indefensible waste of space in the 90s, he'd be right up there)

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 3 February 2005 21:14 (twenty years ago)

Dylan (arguably)

― Bretty (Bretty), Saturday, 5 February 2005 00:47 (twenty years ago)

Thin Lizzy, probably (never paid much attention to the likes of Chinatown, though, so I could be wrong).

Also the Who, "Eminence Front" being the sole exception.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Saturday, 5 February 2005 04:49 (twenty years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.