Overview
Objectives
- Identify several major artists and movements from the 1980s that drew heavily on earlier forms and styles of rock music
- Examine how each artist incorporated earlier styles of music into their new albums and singles
- Recall the significance of MTV in the promotion of musicians such as the Replacements and Peter Gabriel
Introduction
During the 1980s, musicians drew heavily from earlier traditions of rock, African American music, and other genres of popular music. The musicians discussed in this chapter were consciously indebted to earlier genres of rock and popular music, and the recordings they made during this period reflect a sense of synthesis and reinterpretation of older forms rather than the quest for brand new genres. As we will see in this lesson, the sounds and sensibilities of the blues, soul, folk rock, rock and roll, funk, progressive rock, and punk were all present during the 1980s, and musicians freely adapted and reworked the musical language and styles of these genres.
This lesson offers an overview of a few of the most notable musicians and styles from this period, including the hardcore punk of the Replacements, the blue-eyed soul of George Michael, the traditional rock of Bruce Springsteen, and the re-envisioned progressive rock of Peter Gabriel.
“Bob Dylan and John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen, these are soul guys. Bruce Springsteen might not sing like Otis Redding, but he sings with white soul. He's singing and he's writing songs from the bottom of his gut.”
“It was a really interesting time in New York in the late 70s and early 80s, and the music scene was really, really interesting because you didn't have to be a virtuoso to make music, it was more about your desire to express things.”
"[Peter Gabriel] composed the music for Martin Scorsese's movie The Last Temptation Of Christ. The soundtrack won a Grammy for best New Age performance."
