Worst '80s production?

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Alright, electro-pop is supposedly back "in," but what about BAD '80s production? I'm not sure if it was the abuse of new technology or what, but some/most music from the early to mid-'80s was so immediately dated that it is impossible to get past. Anyway, what are your nominations for worst '80s production (which might inlude synth horn blasts/trills, rigidly sequenced Linn drum machines, etc.)?

Mine is "We Built This City" by Starship, a song which, despite having "rock n' roll" repeated in the chorus, is not very rock n' roll at all!

Feel free to argue that said production is actually Good. I'd love to hear a defense!

― Aaron, Wednesday, 2 October 2002 19:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Modern Talking "Cheri Cheri Lady"

― Siegbran (eofor), Wednesday, 2 October 2002 19:47 (twenty-three years ago)

That 80's Drum Sound

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 2 October 2002 19:51 (twenty-three years ago)

Stacey Q's "Two of Hearts."

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Wednesday, 2 October 2002 19:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Rattle And Hum

Potentially good record w/awful sound - The Colour Of Spring

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 2 October 2002 20:30 (twenty-three years ago)

we built this city is a brilliant song! It reeks of 80's excess, it is the 80's. It's like someone put hair spray in the production guys coffee. I always thought this song was a dig at the record industry. The city is clearly the money grabbing soul-less side of the record companies.

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 2 October 2002 20:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Errr... not that I want to do too much analysis of Starship, but I'm pretty sure it's about San Fransisco (there's a breakdown section in the middle with San Fran radio DJs). Which makes the song WAY more ironic since it's about as far away from, say, the Grateful Dead, Beau Brummels, or Jefferson _Airplane_ as you can get. Anyway, I didn't say it wasn't brilliant, just that it epitomizes bad '80s production values.

I almost used Stacey Q's "Two of Hearts" instead of "We Built This City" as my example. "I-I-I-I-I-I need.." VS the synth hits during the verses of "We Built."

― Aaron, Wednesday, 2 October 2002 20:39 (twenty-three years ago)

Stacey Q's "2 of Hearts" still sounds fantastic though. Also check Khia's excellent "Jealous Girls" for an '02 update of this production style.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 2 October 2002 20:41 (twenty-three years ago)

Jel if you were American I guarantee you would think it to be beyond evil. I'm sure I've mentioned here how much the cheerleading routine I witnessed in '85 -- replete with a fake city built out of cardboard bricks (and then toppled with some enthusiastic leg kicks) -- still haunts me to this day. Or have I?

And then there's Sara. Never before has a whimper sounded more pathetic. I wish I could like these songs ironically, but I... just... can't... muster... the strength.

Two of Hearts IS SO MUCH BETTER than these two songs. That isn't saying much but still...

― Andy K (Andy K), Wednesday, 2 October 2002 20:41 (twenty-three years ago)

Even though it once sounded fresh (like back in grade eleven) I now find Sarah McLachlan's first album nearly impossible to listen to because of the mercilessly loud drums. That, and I think I've soured on certain aspects of her voice.

That whole Paul Hardcastle thing sounds pretty funny now too.

For best 80's production, I just might submit Frankie's 'Relax' because it has essentially the same effect now as it ever did.

― Kim (Kim), Wednesday, 2 October 2002 21:57 (twenty-three years ago)

10,000 Maniacs' In My Tribe (1987, produced by Peter Asher). It sounds both tinny and muddy, and snatches every last scrap of personality out of the recording).

― Jody Beth Rosen, Wednesday, 2 October 2002 22:07 (twenty-three years ago)

It Bites, "Calling All The Heroes" (a monstrous meeting of Jethro Tull and Duran Duran)

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Wednesday, 2 October 2002 22:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Pretty Poison-Catch Me (I'm Falling)

― Micheline Gros-Jean (Micheline), Wednesday, 2 October 2002 23:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Shack's "Zilch" album (die, Ian Broudie, you scum!!!) and the Go Betweens' "Springhill Fair" album, for awful, awful 80s sequenced drum sounds.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 3 October 2002 00:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Things like Pretty Poison and Suzy Q are the best kinds of typically 80's productions. They're only one step removed from freestyle for god sakes. The worst 80's production is those hardcore bands dolled up with all kinds of treble and echo to sound like Def Leppard or something -- TSOL and shit like that.

― Kris (aqueduct), Thursday, 3 October 2002 00:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Jim's OTM about Shack. I played EATB's 'Porcupine' for the first time in ages at the weekend, and was shocked at how badly produced it is. Really bad drum sound and poorly recorded/separated guitars. The producer - 'Kingbird' AKA Ian Broudie.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 3 October 2002 05:24 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm going to third everything with big echoey drums on it. I'm sure I would go from quite liking the Cocteau Twins to absolutely loving them if it wasn't for the drum sound.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 3 October 2002 06:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Phil Collins to thread!

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 3 October 2002 07:20 (twenty-three years ago)

haha we used to have a joke that record company people put a coded message on particularly poorly-produced corporate indie records in the 80s. The message read "Produced by Ian Broudie".

― Tim (Tim), Thursday, 3 October 2002 07:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Robin Guthrie's jaw-droppingly incompetent, cloth eared mangling of Felt's Ignite the Seven Cannons. Thankfully most of the songs are pretty poor anyway. But the production almost defies belief.

― future man, Thursday, 3 October 2002 08:01 (twenty-three years ago)

'Born In The USA' - Bruce Springsteen

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Thursday, 3 October 2002 08:23 (twenty-three years ago)

The Cocteau twins remastered stuff on that recent best of sorted the sound out a fair bit to my lugholes. They're re-releasing all the albums after remastering soon-ish IIRC.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 3 October 2002 09:05 (twenty-three years ago)

New Order. I like 'em a lot, but I hate the production because it tries SO HARD to ruin such great songs.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 3 October 2002 15:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Sometimes while driving home on a Friday night I tune into "Friday Night 80s" on the radio for a couple of hours. It's the best thing on crap Irish music radio and given the lack of a CD player in the car I don't have much choice. Anyway, it's amazing how similar a lot of those chart songs sound now when at the time I wouldn't have put certain tunes in the same production bracket. The show plays the same fucking 40 or so songs every week with little variation or adventure so at this stage I hate all these songs and any nostalgia for my teenage years has become blighted. My choce for worst sound would go to T'Pau's China In Your Hand or Living on a Prayer. I think that chart period between late 85 and early 88 was the worst ever in pop history -- that whole sound and spiky hair culture (probably most horribly typified by the Top Gun movie).

― d_gunnip, Thursday, 3 October 2002 15:52 (twenty-three years ago)

"Livin' On A Prayer": indeed, they don't get much worse than that.

Tom, what do you dislike about the production on "The Colour of Spring"? I'm interested.

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Friday, 4 October 2002 00:05 (twenty-three years ago)

How many people out there are finding themselves trying to recall the names of any of those big hair hard rock bands? I for one would posit that the trajedy of the eighties is Winger, Warrant, Great White, etc. Not only did all of these band contribute zilch to the progress of music, they ruined a generation of mullet wearing kids who are now raising their own progeny, doomed to listen to Slaughter. I for one find nothing worth recollecting about them. Better we forget.

― Christopher J myers, Friday, 4 October 2002 03:49 (twenty-three years ago)

"Livin' On a Prayer" = classic obv. I had "99 In the Shade" in my head for a day after the last Toronto FAP. Maybe I should start looking for a copy of New Jersey.

― sundar subramanian, Friday, 4 October 2002 18:22 (twenty-three years ago)

I am *so* glad that hair metal never REALLY made it in the UK charts (even B*n J*vi only had one Top 10 hit in the 80s)

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Friday, 4 October 2002 19:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, but I must say that 80s hair bands knew how to make album covers...

Witness:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf400/f457/f45714ra4ma.jpg

― Aaron W, Friday, 4 October 2002 19:35 (twenty-three years ago)

I find the period of '84 - '88 to be the greatest period in pop history.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Jack Wagner "All I Need"

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:35 (twenty-three years ago)

I think the modern production of bands trying to sound 80s (and don't) is much worse sounding then the original 80s style production.

― A Nairn (moretap), Friday, 4 October 2002 21:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh, wait wait wait. That Bruce Willis cover / song - "Respect Yourself"? - wow, the production on that is awwwwful. Lots of those fancy reversed drum hits (y'know, when there's that rush of sucking-like sound before the verse starts? if there's a technical term for this crap, please share w/ the group).

From what I recall, most drums in the 80's sounded quite bad. I mean, if you want your drums to sound like a drum machine, stay off the coke for a couple of hours and go buy a damn machine. And then a lot of songs tried to rip off that Bob Rock sound - egads.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 4 October 2002 21:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Ah, that would be the 'reverse-reverb'. Traditionally made by playing the tape backwards and recording reverb of the selected track onto a seperate track. When you play the tape in the correct direction you then get the cucking sound you describe.

A similair sound can be acomplished using reversed samples, and I'm sure there are plug-ins which do a similar thing. One of my multi-fx boxes even has a 'real-time' reverse-reverb, but you have to be rather clever with your playing to get the same result as it cannot travel in time and guess what you are playing before you have stuck your instrument.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Sunday, 6 October 2002 00:46 (twenty-three years ago)

haha we used to have a joke that record company people put a coded message on particularly poorly-produced corporate indie records in the 80s. The message read "Produced by Ian Broudie".

That'd be "produced by Nigel Goldricht" these days, no?

― Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 6 October 2002 12:45 (twenty-three years ago)

reverse reverb - also a big element of the sound of kevin shields' guitar incidentally. Which fits in with the thread title nicely.

― ghostly wilbur, Monday, 7 October 2002 08:27 (twenty-two years ago)

six months pass...

How bout that first album by Matthew Sweet?

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 09:54 (twenty-two years ago)

what's wrong with the Linndrum? I could hear those sounds again. Must get some samples, so sick of the 808 and the 909, even though I still love 'em.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 10:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I would probably say the whole "I'm your Man" album is killed by the production. Fair enough on "First we Take Manhatten" - then it just goes weak and wank. Tower of Song needs a good kick up the arse to sound decent - and as for Jazz Police . . .

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 10:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Lots of Prefab Sprout was ruined by 80's production, especially the Steve McQueen album (When Love Breaks Down excepted)

― flowersdie (flowersdie), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 10:21 (twenty-two years ago)

absolutely anything w/ a Linn drum in it... in retrospect, the most horrible sound in the world... they were just about tolerable at the time but now, eeeew!

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 10:26 (twenty-two years ago)

'absolutely anything w/ a Linn drum in it'

except of course Bad Company's "Evil Wind"!

― dave q, Tuesday, 6 May 2003 11:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Wang Chung

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 11:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Did ya know...
Jack Ryder... - formerly of EastEnders "fame" and now Mr Kym Marsh, formerly of Hear'Say fame - well, his dad was in Wang Chung!

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 11:22 (twenty-two years ago)

thats even more amazing than Adam F (Kaos)'s Dad being Alvin Stardust!

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 11:29 (twenty-two years ago)

that one i can never get over...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 11:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Lots of Prefab Sprout was ruined by 80's production

IMO, their latest effort was ruined by a lack of 80s production. Same about Scritti Politti.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 13:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Pleased to Meet Me

― Evan (Evan), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 04:27 (twenty-two years ago)

It sounds both tinny and muddy

I can't stop laughing over this, but I'm not sure why. I've never even heard the record!

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 04:35 (twenty-two years ago)

tinny + muddy = quite a common lo-fi problem - not as oxymoronic as it might seem

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 04:36 (twenty-two years ago)

for examples see the last Boyracer album, excellent songs but it sounds like it was recorded in a steel drum

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 04:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Prince used the Linn drum all the time, so WRONG.

No one has topped Andy K's nomination of Starship's "Sara," despite great, valiant effort on everyone's part. Therefore, he wins.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 06:25 (twenty-two years ago)

i dunno, the production on the Eno/Cale album is pretty fucking horrible..

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 06:27 (twenty-two years ago)

As marvellous an album as it is, "Climate of hunter" has (for me) the most horrible, dated sound to it. It's those big gated drums, that fretless bass, it absolutely REEKS of the 80s.

― Rob M (Rob M), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 12:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Most of the stuff listed here is of the overblown, jump-off-the-radio variety, but I'd personally have to look in the other direction--towards lameness--and I'm thinking specifically Husker Du and the Replacements (especially the Replacements). I loved both of those bands at the time, and believe they wrote lots of great songs between them, but sonically they do come up kinda short for me now. From Tim onwards, the Replacements sound really anemic with no rhythmic punch at all and a rather blah guitar sound too; at least their earlier 'loose' style was more trebly and had some bite. Husker Du sound more original, and they came close to getting it right (soundwise) on Candy Apple Grey and Flip Your Wig, though even those could be better. I really like Grant Hart's Journeyesque ballad on C.A.G., "No Promise Have I Made," but I can't help wondering how much better it would be if they went all the way and had someone produce the damn thing: the song practically demands a goopy string arrangement. I'm not saying these guys had the worst production, necessarily, but they do strike me as strong cases of not enough ambition to match the talent, or something. I don't blame it on budget, either. Black Flag and Sonic Youth records from the '80s sound a LOT more interesting. (I remember how Nirvana got compared to both Husker Du and Replacements when Nevermind came out, and I agreed; I was also happy that they managed to put it across so much better.)

― s woods, Wednesday, 7 May 2003 13:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Prince used the Linn drum all the time, so WRONG

I agree - and his is about the only stuff I can tolerate with that sound in it, just because he made some superb songs that still manage to transcend their underlying percussive awfulness. All these great records would benefit from not having used them IMHO. I really believe this and was including Prince along every single record that has ever included a Linn drum... horrible, horrible noise

refusing to be WRONG! ;-)

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 20:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Boomtown Rats "I Don't Like Mondays"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 7 May 2003 20:30 (twenty-two years ago)

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