What does "'80s electro instrumental music" refer to?

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I'm reading this thing and the guy is talking about "the '80s electro instrumental boom." He mentions Jan Hammer and Herbie Hancock - maybe as influences, maybe as examples, I don't know. Anyone know what artists this would refer to?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 2 December 2005 05:31 (nineteen years ago)

Ugh. The joys of overinflated critical vagaries.

If your critic intends Jan Hammer and Herbie Hancock to be crucial examples of "80s electro," one could conceivably construct a bastardized "movement" out of similar MOR one-hit-wonders of this period: Harold Faltermeyer ("Axel F"), Paul Hardcastle ("19"), or -- although it pains me to mention them in the same breath -- the breathtaking first incarnation of the Art of Noise ("Close [To The Edit]").

There certainly was a lot of incredible instrumental dance music of various stripes being pioneered in that time period, but I'm not sure I'd start my list with two journeyman jazz/fusion musicians who achieved fluke hitdom through trendy cross-pollination, as was the case with both Hammer and Hancock.

― Myke Weiskopf (Myke Weiskopf), Friday, 2 December 2005 06:03 (nineteen years ago)

And yes, in retrospect, I am appropriately feeling like an idiot for insinuating that the ZTT-era Art of Noise were either "MOR" or "one-hit wonders."

(...tho the AoN rather quickly got over any fear of being viewed as a kitschy postmodern karaoke machine for Max Headroom, Duane Eddy, Tom Jones, etc etc etc.)

(Cf., liner notes to Daft for superior critical japery per Paul Morley.)

― Myke Weiskopf (Myke Weiskopf), Friday, 2 December 2005 06:13 (nineteen years ago)

vangelis?

― jmeister (jmeister), Friday, 2 December 2005 06:14 (nineteen years ago)

Herbie Hancock is not a "journeyman."

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 2 December 2005 07:24 (nineteen years ago)

Herbie Hancock is a "journeyman" musician? "Rockit" was a fluke? (see: the entire "Head Hunters" album...)

― vartman (novaheat), Friday, 2 December 2005 07:27 (nineteen years ago)

A fluke hit maybe?

― Ned T.RIfle II (Ned T.Rifle II), Friday, 2 December 2005 09:49 (nineteen years ago)

maybe it was "feets dont let me fail" and his "pioneering" (i guess for these purposes) use of the vocoder. thats all i could think of besides the electronic sounds of the first track on Sextant. I think its called "rain".

― jmeister (jmeister), Friday, 2 December 2005 10:40 (nineteen years ago)

Jean Michele Jarre?

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Friday, 2 December 2005 10:42 (nineteen years ago)

HIP HOP BE BOP don't stop...Man Parrish? (there are some vocals)

"Rain Forest" by Paul Hardcastle??

soundtrack synth squiggles like "Axel F" by Sir Harold Faltemeyer???

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Friday, 2 December 2005 11:35 (nineteen years ago)

Hashim 'Al-Narfish' is the pinnacle.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Friday, 2 December 2005 11:37 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, I meant a fluke hit. And in referring to Hancock as a "journeyman," I was expressing a (perhaps unpopular) opinion that much of his work in other genres - especially in the last twenty-five years - has been extremely dicey in the quality stakes. (Headhunters, I'll grant you, is a landmark album, but when's the last time you played Mr. Hands? Dis Is Da Drum? Feets Don't Fail Me Now? Light Me Up? Man-Child? Sound-System? Monster?) I realize that one could make the same argument for certain periods of Miles Davis's (or, really, anybody's) work, but I personally find little to enjoy from across a rather large subsection of Hancock's work. One man's bloody opinion, etc etc.

― Myke Weiskopf (Myke Weiskopf), Friday, 2 December 2005 11:42 (nineteen years ago)

the sequel to hot buttered "popcorn" is kids in the kitchen "frog ". it's a b-side.

― retrogurl, Friday, 2 December 2005 12:49 (nineteen years ago)

Some of us hold Paul Hardcastle and Harold Faltermeyer in as high esteem as Hancock and Hammer (sounds like a cop show....) 19 was a fluke hit, but Rainforest and Soundchaser were big in the clubs, and Rainforest is still a staple. Faltermeyer came out of working with Moroder, and there's always the Latin Rascals mix of Axel F.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 2 December 2005 13:54 (nineteen years ago)

Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre, John Carpenter, Bill Laswell. Lotta soundtracks.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Friday, 2 December 2005 23:33 (nineteen years ago)

Possibly Yello, not fully instrumental, but usually with a way of building songs more similar to instrumental music than vocal music.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 3 December 2005 00:02 (nineteen years ago)

xpost
Speaking of, what if Jan Hammer was also mentioned because of Miami Vice titles like "Crockett's Theme" ? Also well remixed a few years ago by FPU on Turbo Recordings.

― blunt (blunt), Saturday, 3 December 2005 00:09 (nineteen years ago)

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