Chrono Compendium
Zenan Plains - Site Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: ZeaLitY on June 21, 2006, 03:12:49 am
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Each time I find a new piece of pop culture from the 1980's, I realize how awesome that decade was. Reagan was a stable and just president; he had shortcomings, but his charisma and honest demeanor were miles higher than that of Clinton or Bush. Beautiful material things were blooming, like personal computers, mobile phones, and all kinds of musical utilities. The general attitude was "things are looking up!" Songs were still written and arranged by artists, featured improvisation, and maintained optimistic or interesting attitudes. Rap had just been kicked off, and was still political and hard-driving. Rock hit a great stride with 80's pop; melodies and catchy lines reigned and the attitude was sincerely fun. The band members were actually engaging most of the time, and celebrity was justified with addictive numbers. Jazz fusion and funk reinvented itself; Herbie Hancock achieved popularity. Party was king; Prince and Michael Jackson contributed to the atmosphere and the feeling was good. Prince especially rocked the place; he started out strong and wrapped it up with Batman (1989), leaving the 80's on top. Music videos were just being introduced, and this phase produced some of the best. Music videos still demanded a plot involving the band, a budget, and oftentimes flashy, complex dancing. Movies and TV were unafraid to be genuinely humorous and campy; the A-Team and CHiPs kicked it off. The brat pack was enjoyable throughout; the Breakfast Club was capable of actually inspiring thought (although admittedly things like Porky's and Fast Times didn't live up to that). High school culture in the 80's was legendary, creating its own genre.
A creative stride was also realized with Miami Vice, which penetrated the material glamor of the 80's. Towards the end, Star Trek was revived by its most important television series -- The Next Generation. The bright outlook of that show contributes to the optimistic memory of the 80's. The information age was not yet upon us. Person computers did not suck in users; people still had to look outside for entertainment, friendship, and enjoyment. People were not yet wired. Nowadays, it seems futile for some people to take a vacation; I know someone who goes to a very nice place, but is constantly seen with a laptop in case the company rings. Video games were coming out, and were fun with minimal technology (they required imagination). Nerds were popularized, as was science. Breakdancing and aerobics exploded. Fashion, particularly, grew to a colorful array of bold styles. Cars became more angular, and the ultimate statement was the De Lorean, which beamed with a gray, stainless steel body. It was immortalized in Back to the Future, yet another film franchise with a happy theme. The 80's also saw the full advent of the blockbuster; Indiana Jones and others solidified the idea of a megahit.
In summary, things were looking up. Pop culture was happy, and minds were on the future as computers were born and the Berlin Wall fell. The American Dream was revived in the glamor and materialism of the decade, and it all happened to a soundtrack of mostly competent musicianship and enjoyable songs. If I had a time machine, I would go to January 1, 1980, and promptly live it up like crazy, partaking in everything the decade had to offer.
I know that some of this comes from looking back and only seeing the good material of the 80's. But when compared to the dropoff that came with the early 90's and the subsequent suck of Clinton, Bush, and some of pop culture that's occurred since, I get nostalgic for a decade I was too young to fully experience. Here's to the 80's. I will own a De Lorean soon. Hail to the enjoyment of life as depicted with the sensible party atmosphere of the 1980s. Rent Weekend at Bernie's sometime. Really, listen to something like "Electric Chair" from Prince's Batman soundtrack or "Sledgehammer" by P Gabriel.
Anyhow, the real point of this thread: http://www.kingofbeaver.com/music_videos/
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Then Axl Rose had to come and fuck it all up. Then Damon Albarn came to create Brit Pop (screw the Stone Roses). Of course, a little man named Kurt Cobain soon became big, and destroyed both, until he destroyed himself. Pfft, the Eighties. Glam Rock!? Hair Metal!? KISS!? What sicko created the Eighties!?
Yes, when talking of the past, I say it in a musical sense. The past isn't good for anything else.
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Don't snort cocaine. Cocaine is a drug. And drugs are bad. M'kay?
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i love 80s music. the problem is i havent seen a music video in so long i forgot how the 80s bands look like total douchebags.
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I think ZeaLitY was going for a slightly more intellectual mood, here...
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Well...
The 80's produced Maiden, Helloween...
And ME
How could they not be phenomenal?
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Well...
The 80's produced Maiden, Helloween...
And ME
How could they not be phenomenal?
I dunno, that last one is kinda iffy.
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These questions should be answered for individuals who were born before the 80s or during the early 80s.
You would need to experience it before reflecting on it. Sadly I am incapable of answering it. However, some 80s music I have sampled from the past have been quite amazing.
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These questions should be answered for individuals who were born before the 80s or during the early 80s.
You would need to experience it before reflecting on it. Sadly I am incapable of answering it. However, some 80s music I have sampled from the past have been quite amazing.
Like Tears For Fears and Cindy Lauper. 80's was basically made up of three things, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Synth Pop. Or so I gather.
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Exactly.
I've heard Michael Jackson was amazing back in his youth. His music was very good, the best.
Then he started touching little children and . . .
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Yes, Michael Jackson of the 80's was a dynamic personality who made infectious tunes and great music videos. He was abducted by aliens and replaced with an imperfect clone. The real Jackson is still out there somewhere, grooving to Beat It and pumping up the party lifestyle of the decade...
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Face it Zeality, the old Michael Jackson was murdered. And I mean that exactly the way Obi-Wan meant it.
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You didn't live in the 80's, did you Z? :lee:
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Well...
The 80's produced Maiden, Helloween...
And ME
How could they not be phenomenal?
I dunno, that last one is kinda iffy.
YEAH RIGHT :lol:
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Kylie Minogue totally kicks more ass now than she did in the '80s...and she's still freakin hot!
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It's easy to feel nostalgia for a time you didn't live through as an adult, especially based on all of the surviving media from the period.
Honestly, I prefer the 90s to the 80s. Probably has something to do with Seinfeld, Friends, and the Drew Carey Show.
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The 80s ruled. They produced The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and a bunch of kids' TV shows that are still fun to watch even if they're so thin you can dissect them with a sponge (COWABUNGA MOTHER FUCKERS!) Not only that, the 80s saw the launch of the video game industry in earnest with Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and a ton of other games that this forum wouldn't exist without. We got most of the better episodes of The Next Generation, and a bunch of other sweet shows. It also saw the invention of the Internet, though it didn't become a mass medium until the 90s.
And I hate the Drew Carey Show, Seinfeld, and Friends. Hell, Power Rangers has more social value than they do.
(reading graffiti) Kiss rocks? Why would anyone want to...oh.
Now the late 90s mostly sucked, and so do the 2000s so far. We got DO A BARREL ROLL, but nothing can make up for the horrific childhood-raping that was The Phantom Menace, or the idiocy that is reality TV. I know I wasn't alive when Star Wars came out, but TPM was bad even when I was twelve.
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Yeah, who needs the '80's? With it's AIDS and stock market bureaucratic nonsense? Go the '60's! Peace, casual sex, and war protesting! Everything that people are trying (and failing) to recreate.
There was no point in fighting -- on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark -- the place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.
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Yes, I am an adamant fan of the 60's too. The hippies had something, although they had no real way to exact change except to drop out and become a visible rebellion. Some of them were left in the 60's, never making it out (symbolically). Others became cynical, and yet others transformed into corporate decision makers and retained some of their idealism. And others died.
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Yes, I am an adamant fan of the 60's too. The hippies had something,
Aids?
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Know your history. The AIDS epidemic began in 1981. The kind of sex that went on in the 60's was possible through a larger absence of venereal disease.
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AIDS didn't exist, but other STD's sure did.
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Know your history. The AIDS epidemic began in 1981. The kind of sex that went on in the 60's was possible through a larger absence of venereal disease.
there's no such thing as an absence of venereal disease, only lack of humanize mutantions. most disease were discovered to be originally found in animals. animal people eat, and spend into people. thus, adaptation onto humans.
I learned that in sexual educations. also: legal age in lousiana: 14 :3 its the pedo state.
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Well, you're right next to Alabama, so go figure.
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Know your history. The AIDS epidemic began in 1981. The kind of sex that went on in the 60's was possible through a larger absence of venereal disease.
Absence of veneral disease? What earth was this on? We've known of venereal diseases for the past couple hundred years.
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larger absence
As in less prevalent. If all of you are ribbing this to attack hippies, remember that they were important. The entire reaction to the horrible Vietnam war and prejudice was needed, and it put out a lot of great music, idealism, and culture. It couldn't have lasted any longer than it did, mainly because drugs had taken hold and the counterculture realized they had to find jobs or starve. But it had to happen, and the watersheds of the 60's continue to influence the present.
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Just goes to show how powerful the adjective is. It can vastly change the meaning of the nouns it is in conjunction with. Know the adjective role, bitches! :lol:
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The 80's produced R.E.M and The Flaming Lips, too.