Taking sides: the music of the 80s vs. the music of the 90s

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it's time to throw down

Poll Results

OptionVotes
80s 79
90s 46


pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 22:47 (fourteen years ago)

the fuck does this even mean

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 22:48 (fourteen years ago)

this is impossible

voting "yes"

DALEKS OF GOD (DJP), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 22:50 (fourteen years ago)

ridiculously easy. 80s.

the wheelie king (wk), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 22:51 (fourteen years ago)

not really ridiculously easy if you were at all into rave/UK breakbeat/jungle/drum n bass/trip-hop

DALEKS OF GOD (DJP), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 22:52 (fourteen years ago)

and hip hop

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 22:53 (fourteen years ago)

I do prefer eighties "college" rock to nineties.

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 22:54 (fourteen years ago)

but that's where, as Christgau might say, distinctions become not very cost-effective.

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 22:54 (fourteen years ago)

Dan's answers OTM.

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 17 August 2011 22:55 (fourteen years ago)

nope, still easy

the wheelie king (wk), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 22:55 (fourteen years ago)

and hip hop

boom

pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 22:56 (fourteen years ago)

rave kind of peaked in the late '80s. the best trip hop was released by Soul II Soul in the late '80s (ok, not really but I chose a side and I'm sticking to it). ukbreakbeat/jungle/d&b is too small and narrow of a thing to tilt my feelings in favor of the '90s. Plus what about house, miami bass, and electro?

the wheelie king (wk), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 22:59 (fourteen years ago)

if you just look at hip hop it's a slight win for the '90s

the wheelie king (wk), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:01 (fourteen years ago)

yeah hip-hop was an obvious oversight

otoh I have burning 100% unironic love and adoration for "Let's Go All The Way"

xp: rave didn't peak in the late 80s! not unless you are strictly talking Belgian new beat, and even then that all transitioned into a ton of great early 90s tunes

DALEKS OF GOD (DJP), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:01 (fourteen years ago)

rock was more interesting in the 80s, but hip hop in the 90s was amazing. so...

voting YES

that mellow wash of meh (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:05 (fourteen years ago)

"summer of love" was '88 right? I don't know that much about "rave" as a genre, but it seems like a lot of the major players at least had records out by the late '80s. shamen, 808 state, etc. Also the early '90s still felt really '80s

the wheelie king (wk), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:06 (fourteen years ago)

I think you guys are underrating '80s hip hop a little

the wheelie king (wk), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:09 (fourteen years ago)

this question is also very interesting from a metal standpoint imo because there was a lot of really groundbreaking intense shit going down in the 80s & no-one outside of the scene gave a shit, but the 90s is when the workers kinda seized the means of production & some titanic masterpieces got made - voting 90s is made harder for me by remembering that Don't Break the Oath came out in '84

pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:10 (fourteen years ago)

The nineties never boasted a record as sublime as the Breakfast Club's "Right on Track."

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:10 (fourteen years ago)

not really ridiculously easy if you were at all into rave/UK breakbeat/jungle/drum n bass/trip-hop

I don't care about any of this stuff and it's still a hard decision. In my mind the 80s is a good deal broader in scope in terms of what I find interesting and the number of bands that had amazing streaks of records (Prince, the Cure, Camper Van Beethoven, the Smiths, too many others to count). But in the 90s I got to witness a relatively new genre reach full flower, and that feels like something particularly special.

xp

that mellow wash of meh (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:11 (fourteen years ago)

Don't Break the Oath came out in '84

love that record. kinda prefer 80s metal myself, grunge washed out a lot of shit in the 90s and I started to lose interest in the more underground metal stuff

that mellow wash of meh (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:12 (fourteen years ago)

But in the 90s I got to witness a relatively new genre reach full flower, and that feels like something particularly special.

I LOVED Backstreet Boys too.

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:13 (fourteen years ago)

NKOTB forever

that mellow wash of meh (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:28 (fourteen years ago)

Menudo motherfuckers

the wheelie king (wk), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:30 (fourteen years ago)

NINETEEN NINETIES O YEA

Monstrous TumTum (Lamp), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:30 (fourteen years ago)

1780s

king of torts (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:31 (fourteen years ago)

MUSIC OF THE 90s MUSIC OF THE 90s SOUNDS LIKE LOVE

Monstrous TumTum (Lamp), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:31 (fourteen years ago)

lol i wonder how old most of the 90s voters are. it wasnt all the candy-coated wonderland dan's making it out to seem.

king of torts (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:33 (fourteen years ago)

candy-raver wonderland

Monstrous TumTum (Lamp), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:34 (fourteen years ago)

what happened in the 90s that made us all so sour?

Monstrous TumTum (Lamp), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:34 (fourteen years ago)

the internet?

Monstrous TumTum (Lamp), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:35 (fourteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ira3LoZiTWc

NEVER FORGET

that mellow wash of meh (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:35 (fourteen years ago)

what happened in the 90s that made us all so sour?

having to endure all that shitty techno music imho

that mellow wash of meh (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:35 (fourteen years ago)

the eighties was prob the worst decade for music since the 40s.

one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:35 (fourteen years ago)

^^^threw down

mookieproof, Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:36 (fourteen years ago)

90s

ladies love draculas like children love stray dogs (ENBB), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:36 (fourteen years ago)

the eighties was prob the worst decade for music since the 40s.

and then the '90s happened

the wheelie king (wk), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:37 (fourteen years ago)

there was a WAR on ffs

think there was one in the 40s too

king of torts (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:37 (fourteen years ago)

the eighties was 00s were prob the worst decade for music since the 40s.

fixed

that mellow wash of meh (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:37 (fourteen years ago)

there's always a war

mookieproof, Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:38 (fourteen years ago)

there were no wars in the 90s. not in any countries that mattered anyway.

king of torts (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:39 (fourteen years ago)

war on drugs tho

the wheelie king (wk), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:40 (fourteen years ago)

that's a country that matters to me

the wheelie king (wk), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:40 (fourteen years ago)

as i said

king of torts (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:40 (fourteen years ago)

every1 too busy jammin to amazing 90s music to fight

Monstrous TumTum (Lamp), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:40 (fourteen years ago)

OK I have to ask: what was so awful about the forties?

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:41 (fourteen years ago)

lol i wonder how old most of the 90s voters are. it wasnt all the candy-coated wonderland dan's making it out to seem.

let me ask you a question man - which decade gave us born against? 80s punk has charm but 90s punk goes in imo

pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:42 (fourteen years ago)

hitler iirc

king of torts (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:42 (fourteen years ago)

80s punk has charm but 90s punk goes in imo

lol...?

that mellow wash of meh (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:46 (fourteen years ago)

"summer of love" was '88 right? I don't know that much about "rave" as a genre, but it seems like a lot of the major players at least had records out by the late '80s. shamen, 808 state, etc. Also the early '90s still felt really '80s

― the wheelie king (wk), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:06 (36 minutes ago)

where to begin.

Tim F, Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:46 (fourteen years ago)

Aaliyah's the exception there and also the only one not from 1999.

Matt DC, Friday, 19 August 2011 15:31 (fourteen years ago)

Yep, me too.

Why'd You Wanna Tweet Me So Bad? (dog latin), Friday, 19 August 2011 15:31 (fourteen years ago)

the 2000s started around 1999 for me anyway.

Why'd You Wanna Tweet Me So Bad? (dog latin), Friday, 19 August 2011 15:31 (fourteen years ago)

Several xposts yeah 80s film scores knock 90s film scores' dick in the dirt with extreme prejudice.

Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Friday, 19 August 2011 16:20 (fourteen years ago)

that Equalizer theme is awesome

funk & swagnalls (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 19 August 2011 17:55 (fourteen years ago)

I still vote 80s, but thinking about this more while reading this thread, I remembered just how much of my 90s was spent listening to the 80s, which only confuses things for me.

jer.fairall, Friday, 19 August 2011 18:05 (fourteen years ago)

"no way are any of these as good as Prince, Jacko, or Madonna at their peak"

kriss kross 3-note sample of "want you back" eclipses all of these. just that 3-note sample.
if you had the choice of saving the bassline to "want you back" or the entirety of the 80s from
cultural destruction, Tito's gonna live, Reagan's gonna die. totally dessork

Philip Nunez, Friday, 19 August 2011 19:41 (fourteen years ago)

wouldn't that be a point in favor of the '60s, not the '90s?

some dude, Friday, 19 August 2011 21:06 (fourteen years ago)

if you believe in the power of sampling then the 90s absorbs all of the source's powers like when the bad guy in Tron says "all my powers are yours" and he turns into a glowing david warner giant.

Philip Nunez, Friday, 19 August 2011 21:15 (fourteen years ago)

Possibly, but the 90's did hae to deal with the aftermath of the whole Biz Markie vs Gilbert O Sullivan case.

MarkoP, Friday, 19 August 2011 21:28 (fourteen years ago)

once again the outcome of an ilx poll is decided by the supreme court! i bet scalia rules for 80s.

Philip Nunez, Friday, 19 August 2011 21:33 (fourteen years ago)

the 2000s started around 1999 for me anyway.

I consider the 2000s to have started around 2002, which was when R&B was being slowly replaced by powerpop influenced teen-punkpop (Avril Lavigne, Pink) and the beginning of the electro thing that was to dominate most of the following years.

Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Friday, 19 August 2011 23:03 (fourteen years ago)

How did Avril Lavigne replace R'n'B exactly? I don't even understand the correlation between these two things?? Also, electro revival properly kicked off early 2001 with electroclash etc. Earlier for some people.

Why'd You Wanna Tweet Me So Bad? (dog latin), Friday, 19 August 2011 23:59 (fourteen years ago)

oh wait, never mind.

Why'd You Wanna Tweet Me So Bad? (dog latin), Saturday, 20 August 2011 00:01 (fourteen years ago)

it's really simple dl - first we had r&b, and then Avril Lavigne destroyed it with her music

pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, 20 August 2011 00:01 (fourteen years ago)

in many respects i understand the impulse to vote for Wham!s "Club Tropicana" over the entire career of the Wu Tang Clan, but on a second consideration i have to go with the "what the fuck do you senile clowns think you're doing?" argument

Looking for Mrs Nutbar (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 20 August 2011 00:08 (fourteen years ago)

At the risk of reducing myself to (even more of) a cartoon character....

http://youtu.be/x1U1Ue_5kq8

Alex in NYC, Saturday, 20 August 2011 00:14 (fourteen years ago)

haaahahahaha

pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, 20 August 2011 00:16 (fourteen years ago)

i always assumed that was a comedy goth diss of the 80s music scene?

Looking for Mrs Nutbar (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 20 August 2011 00:16 (fourteen years ago)

I think it's about getting an apartment north of 79th iirc

pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, 20 August 2011 00:17 (fourteen years ago)

^^ good point, was blinded by mostly hearing them grunting out of the speakers in provincial night clubs in northern pit villages

Looking for Mrs Nutbar (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 20 August 2011 00:20 (fourteen years ago)

...whilst waiting for the DJ to drop "Club Tropicana"

Looking for Mrs Nutbar (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 20 August 2011 00:21 (fourteen years ago)

The correct answer is 85-95

qpә (EDB), Saturday, 20 August 2011 00:33 (fourteen years ago)

87 > 95 > 88 > 84 > 91 > 94 > 82 > 96> 99 > 80 > 89 > 93 > 86 > 81 > 85 > 97 > 98 > 83 > 90 > 92

some dude, Saturday, 20 August 2011 02:51 (fourteen years ago)

Only a dead inside robot could calculate that.

Tim F, Saturday, 20 August 2011 03:20 (fourteen years ago)

beep boop bop boop

some dude, Saturday, 20 August 2011 03:26 (fourteen years ago)

I like 82 and 94.

billstevejim, Saturday, 20 August 2011 07:51 (fourteen years ago)

How did Avril Lavigne replace R'n'B exactly?

She replaced part of it. The first years of the 00s were more or less all about R&B. But I guess she also represented a shift in the boy/girl band style where the Max Martin style (which was more or less the only non-R&B/hip-hop style in early 00s hitlists) was being replaced by a slightly more rock oriented style.

Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Saturday, 20 August 2011 09:30 (fourteen years ago)

yeah everyone's being "DURR DURR SHUT UP GEIR" but he has a point, rap and R&B ruled the top 10 much more before the white girl takeover of Avril and Pink and Kelly (and later Gaga and Katy etc)

some dude, Saturday, 20 August 2011 11:04 (fourteen years ago)

the time-line feels a little distorted is all. also Pink is definitely a halfway point of rock/r'n'b crossover whereas Avril and Kelly etc take the r'n'b out altogether and it seems to me that Gaga belongs to a different lineage - Madonna-esque pop auteurs have been a thing since at least, um, Madonna - and maybe Katy Perry considers herself in this vein too but no, sorry.

Countdown to Alma Cogan (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 20 August 2011 11:17 (fourteen years ago)

well yeah it's all a bit fuzzy and generalized but there IS a nugget of truth to it is all i'm saying

some dude, Saturday, 20 August 2011 11:58 (fourteen years ago)

If teen punk pop eclipsed anything in the 00s surely it was straight-up Baby One More Time dance-pop rather than R&B?

Matt DC, Saturday, 20 August 2011 16:32 (fourteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjWddDI5_FA

i genuinely thought when i first joined that he was the admin (ilxor), Saturday, 20 August 2011 19:49 (fourteen years ago)

this is so obviously the 80's, fools.

sleeve, Saturday, 20 August 2011 20:11 (fourteen years ago)

the time-line feels a little distorted is all. also Pink is definitely a halfway point of rock/r'n'b crossover whereas Avril and Kelly etc take the r'n'b out altogether and it seems to me that Gaga belongs to a different lineage - Madonna-esque pop auteurs have been a thing since at least, um, Madonna - and maybe Katy Perry considers herself in this vein too but no, sorry.

I am having a hard time associating Katy Perry with any particular musical style at all. She seems to just do whatever she (or the marketing people behind her) expects to sell at the time, regardless of genre or style.

Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Sunday, 21 August 2011 15:33 (fourteen years ago)

agree w/geir on this. yet I'll add for all the calculation that ms. perry clearly enjoys herself which is her saving grace for some people tho I find her voice skin-crawlingly awful

chief content officer (m coleman), Sunday, 21 August 2011 16:09 (fourteen years ago)

I am sure she does. I think "California Gurls" was kind of nice, but that was due to brilliant production, not because of her (or Snoop for that matter).

Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Sunday, 21 August 2011 20:46 (fourteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 23:01 (fourteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Wednesday, 24 August 2011 23:01 (fourteen years ago)

a just and proper result.

Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 25 August 2011 00:55 (fourteen years ago)

the eighties was prob the worst decade for music since the 40s.

indie traitor!

incredibly middlebrow (Dr Morbius), Friday, 26 August 2011 15:14 (fourteen years ago)

yeah! I hope you end up as John Maus's roadie!

strident gumrakers (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 26 August 2011 15:31 (fourteen years ago)

indie trators?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUknsOvL-78

Philip Nunez, Friday, 26 August 2011 15:50 (fourteen years ago)

Dum Dum was top 10 on my 1980s albums ballot

strident gumrakers (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 26 August 2011 16:02 (fourteen years ago)

when I heard that Vaselines tune last year I forgave its nonsense cuz it was so damn irresistable.

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 26 August 2011 16:14 (fourteen years ago)

That dynamic is so weird to me! like when the pro-life song won the ILX "best sex pistols track" poll, because it rocks I guess.

Philip Nunez, Friday, 26 August 2011 16:45 (fourteen years ago)

it is ok to say the 80s suck when u were one of the bands that made the 80s rule geddit?

strident gumrakers (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 26 August 2011 17:02 (fourteen years ago)

yah but johnny rotten didn't go around starting planned parenthood clinics... or did he? Planned Parenthood Ltd?

Philip Nunez, Friday, 26 August 2011 17:31 (fourteen years ago)

one year passes...

Been listening to a spotifly list of 1000 1980s songs in alphabetical order and let me tell you, Madonna made a lot of songs brought to you by the letter 'L'.

pplains, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 02:53 (thirteen years ago)

one year passes...

What about the music of the '90s as imagined by MAD Magazine in the '80s?

http://d1g4sq00ps2bp3.cloudfront.net/images/12130mad.jpg

jaymc, Friday, 2 May 2014 17:13 (eleven years ago)


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