Worst Music From the ‘80s

[Waquoit]

There was a lot of great music in the 80s but most of the stuff that rose to the top of the charts was pure crap. But if I had to name one artist who was the crappiest of the crap for the decade, it would be Christopher Cross and anything he recorded.

Even "Sailing"?

 

[storrsroars]

Even "Sailing"?

Especially "Sailing".

Christopher Cross defines "wimpy" music. There was a lot of bad music in the 80s, but Mr. Cross went out of his way to contribute to the demasculization of the American male.

 

[traitor71]

I always put this one up there for "worst".

 

[Kolumbo]

new kids on the block.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I had to look up Hair Metal to see what you even meant by it. Some of it is garbage. But Guns n Roses certainly was not. Bon Jovi was solid. I tended to like the ballads all right among the others (Every Rose Has its Thorn). I think of most of it as "strip club music". Twisted Sister had one of the best videos of all time. Have to give them credit for that. The Hair bands were mostly a 90's thing anyway.

As for the worst of the 80's. George Michael, New Kids, Michael Jackson, Hall & Oates and the aforementioned Christopher Cross. Honorable mention to Madonna, Paula Abdul and a host of others.

 

[8893]

I had to look up Hair Metal to see what you even meant by it. Some of it is garbage. But Guns n Roses certainly was not. Bon Jovi was solid. I tended to like the ballads all right among the others (Every Rose Has its Thorn). I think of most of it as "strip club music". Twisted Sister had one of the best videos of all time. Have to give them credit for that. The Hair bands were mostly a 90's thing anyway.

As for the worst of the 80's. George Michael, New Kids, Michael Jackson, Hall & Oates and the aforementioned Christopher Cross. Honorable mention to Madonna, Paula Abdul and a host of others.

I don't put GnR or Bon Jovi in the Hair Metal camp. Not a huge fan of either but recognize the talent.

Michael Jackson, Hall & Oates and Madonna would be among the best of the 80s in my book. They each did some schlock but mostly excellent material; all were very talented and Michael Jackson and Madonna were all-time game changers.

 

[August_West]

I don't put GnR or Bon Jovi in the Hair Metal camp. Not a huge fan of either but recognize the talent.

Michael Jackson, Hall & Oates and Madonna would be among the best of the 80s in my book. They each did some schlock but mostly excellent material; all were very talented and Michael Jackson and Madonna were all-time game changers.

George Michael kicks ass too.

 

[8893]

George Michael kicks ass too.

I'll agree he was also very talented but I was never a fan of the material.

I did like some Boy George though, especially "Karma Chameleon."

 

[storrsroars]

As for the worst of the 80's. George Michael, New Kids, Michael Jackson, Hall & Oates and the aforementioned Christopher Cross. Honorable mention to Madonna, Paula Abdul and a host of others.

Do not say bad things about "Straight Up".

And George Michael would nothing without Andrew Ridgeley

 

[August_West]

I'll agree he was also very talented but I was never a fan of the material.

I did like some Boy George though, especially "Karma Chameleon."

Freedom 90 is great album

 

[HuskyHawk]

I'll agree he was also very talented but I was never a fan of the material.

I did like some Boy George though, especially "Karma Chameleon."

George Michael kicks ass too.

Oh he has some talent, and I didn't mind the Wham stuff. Just not my style of music. Same with Michael Jackson, I never liked any of it. Just not my style (Jackson 5 was a different story). I like Madonna's first record, against my normal inclination.

Boy George has a hell of a singing voice. Saw him/Culture Club a few years back with Psych Furs and Tears for Fears (I think). The guy can sing.

Hall & Oates in the 80's though, was awful. Maneater is among the worst songs of the decade and Private Eyes is not much better. 70's Hall & Oates was ok.

 

[CL82]

I always put this one up there for "worst".

Wow strong contender for worst. Definitely has that "80s" sound to it.

Nice choice.

 

[storrsroars]

Wow strong contender for worst. Definitely has that "80s" sound to it.

Nice choice.

Yeah. That's awful. Never heard of the guy before. I was pretty much all WLIR in the 80s and while they played stuff like ABC, Erasure and Pet Shop Boys that you'd hear in clubs, nothing remotely this bad.

 

[traitor71]

Yeah. That's awful. Never heard of the guy before. I was pretty much all WLIR in the 80s and while they played stuff like ABC, Erasure and Pet Shop Boys that you'd hear in clubs, nothing remotely this bad.

Heard it down here in Miami when I was a kid and it stuck with me ever since. Thanks to the power of the internet I was able to locate the song and laugh harder than I have in some time when I watched the video.

 

[superjohn]

Oh he has some talent, and I didn't mind the Wham stuff. Just not my style of music. Same with Michael Jackson, I never liked any of it. Just not my style (Jackson 5 was a different story). I like Madonna's first record, against my normal inclination.

Boy George has a hell of a singing voice. Saw him/Culture Club a few years back with Psych Furs and Tears for Fears (I think). The guy can sing.

Hall & Oates in the 80's though, was awful. Maneater is among the worst songs of the decade and Private Eyes is not much better. 70's Hall & Oates was ok.

Hall and Oates is awesome. Daryl Hall brought the Philly sound to the masses, blue eyed soul. Hard to believe anyone doesn't dig Michael Jackson.

There was a lot of good stuff and a lot of garbage in the 80's. Didn't expect to see Michael Jackson, Hall & Oates, and Christopher Cross here.

 

[auggie22]

The worst of the 80’s follows:

Men Without Hats

 

[Husky25]

As for the worst of the 80's. George Michael, New Kids, Michael Jackson, Hall & Oates and the aforementioned Christopher Cross. Honorable mention to Madonna, Paula Abdul and a host of others.

It was 1991, but watch her in the waterfall portion of the "Promise of a New Day" video and reassess. Coming of age moment for a 14 year old.

 

[ZooCougar]

 

[ZooCougar]

Great voice, bad music.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Hall and Oates is awesome. Daryl Hall brought the Philly sound to the masses, blue eyed soul. Hard to believe anyone doesn't dig Michael Jackson.

There was a lot of good stuff and a lot of garbage in the 80's. Didn't expect to see Michael Jackson, Hall & Oates, and Christopher Cross here.

"Maneater" is blue-eyed soul? "Kiss is on my List"? "I can't go for that"? Schlock pop. The 70's stuff was fine. Joe Cocker is blue eyed soul.
Never got the Michael Jackson thing. I remember when "Billie Jean" was huge, I simply couldn't understand how anyone thought that was a good song.

 

[superjohn]

"Maneater" is blue-eyed soul? "Kiss is on my List"? "I can't go for that"? Schlock pop. The 70's stuff was fine. Joe Cocker is blue eyed soul.
Never got the Michael Jackson thing. I remember when "Billie Jean" was huge, I simply couldn't understand how anyone thought that was a good song.

This is like saying Steve Winwood is nothing but a synth pop guy because of "Valerie" and "Higher Love" or the Beatles are nothing but a lame boy band pop group because of "I want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You." I love Joe Cocker but most of his big songs were covers.

If you don't get how Michael Jackson was good I don't know what to tell you.

 

[superjohn]

Great voice, bad music.

When I went to Italy 15 years ago this is all they played, everywhere you went it was Simply Red.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Pantera started as Glam Metal (easy way to differentiate it from other metal sub-genres where they had big hair)

 

[Rocktheworld]

Really the only truly good music that came from the 80s were the emergence of more extreme heavy metal and modern hip-hop. The 80s and its BS only stood as an inspirational force for the no-BS that followed such as heavy metal and grunge. Unfortunately it killed and buried punk music.

You can correlate the decline in music with the dawning of MTV

 

[storrsroars]

Really the only truly good music that came from the 80s were the emergence of more extreme heavy metal and modern hip-hop. The 80s and its BS only stood as an inspirational force for the no-BS that followed such as heavy metal and grunge. Unfortunately it killed and buried punk music.

You can correlate the decline in music with the dawning of MTV

I can't stand most metal and think today's hip-hop sucks compared to that of the late 80s and 90s, but I do agree for most part with MTV being a net negative to creativity.

Musical genres come and go as they should. But seems we've stuck in "mediocrity" for quite some time. Eventually beats will go out of style, melody will come back and people will be convinced it's "new". Personally, I'm enjoying dream pop at the moment, like Geowulf, Lana del Rey, etc.