OFF: now 90s v. 80s

[Nick English]

> I mean I remember
> people calling bands 'new wave' in 1983, 7 years after the term was coined
> in relation to punk (how, for instance, Orchestral Manouveres in the Dark
> could be thought to have anything in common with The Jam is totally beyond
> me, but they were both called 'new wave' at one point or another)

I think in the 80s, the term "New Wave" just came to be another
expression for pop. A little creative blurring of the lines for
increased marketing possibilities. You see that a lot today.
Everything is a "crossover" song, because there's more money in that.

As far as the 80s vs. the 90s in terms of rock and roll, I think the
90s wins hands down. Rock and roll was watered down pop in the 80s
for the most part. I still think grunge is about the ugliest style of
rock I've ever heard, but there's some new rock out there that I can
really dig.

Another thing that makes the 90s better -- I think most of the 70s
bands floundered in the 80s, trying to kneel before the altar of MTV.
But in the 90s, they kind of re-discovered their roots. I think bands like
BOC, Yes, Uriah Heep and many others have gone a long way toward
recapturing the fire they left behind in the 80s. I think the
Internet had a lot to do with it, thanks to lists like this, chat
groups and fan pages that give bands a direct indication of who's
gonna buy their records and what they want to hear.

Of course, that could be a good thing AND a bad thing. Bad in that
artists could conceivably limit or change their  vision to meet
the expectation of fans, rather than truly expressing
themselves.

Take BOC for instance. Most fans I know of thought HF was a damn fine
effort. Nothing stellar, but definitely good stuff. And even though I
enjoyed it, if their new album is not significantly different, I'm
gonna be a little bit pissed and quite a bit disappointed. Because
the thing that hooked me on BOC was not a particular sound so much as
a particular vision. They're not a band I ever looked to to rehash
the same material from album to album.  God created AC/DC for that.

--  Nick