Worst Music From the ‘80s

[ZooCougar]

Journey-Send her my love

 

[storrsroars]

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.

 

[8893]

We Built This City

Mr. Roboto

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Hair metal, all of it, is terrible.

 

[8893]

Hair metal, all of it, is terrible.

Agreed. I have an omnivorous appetite for music and can usually find something to enjoy about pretty much any type/style, but hair metal is the only genre I categorically dismiss in its entirety.

 

[August_West]

Agreed. I have an omnivorous appetite for music and can usually find something to enjoy about pretty much any type/style, but hair metal is the only genre I categorically dismiss in its entirety.

do you even unskinny bop, bro?

 

[8893]

do you even unskinny bop, bro?

Ha, I thought it was a new genre and googled it; never even heard the term before. I guess I really turned a deaf ear to the whole genre. Must be part of my animal instinct for survival.

 

[August_West]

Ha, I thought it was a new genre and googled it; never even heard the term before. I guess I really turned a deaf ear to the whole genre. Must be part of my animal instinct for survival.

Its total schlock.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Going against the grain, I loved hair metal during the 80's. Listening to it now, some of it is crappy, but some of it has held up well. Disagree with the whole lot of you.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I was not a fan of synth pop at the time (although decades later I came around to it). Depeche Mode, The Cure, not my cup of tea. I have a hard time differentiating between late 80's/early 90's. Fine Young Cannibals, detested their songs.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Wasn't a big fan of Milli Vanilli either...but they were lip synching, so I guess it doesn't count? Somebody was singing it though, just not the two members of the band.

 

[meyers7]

Party All The Time - Eddie Murphy

 

[Deepster]

Awww, c'mon. I love me some hair metal.

Cinderella
RATT
Europe
Whitesnake
Motley Crue

That settles it. I'm growing my mullet back.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Awww, c'mon. I love me some hair metal.

Cinderella
RATT
Europe
Whitesnake
Motley Crue

...Def Leppard
Guns N Roses
Dokken...

 

[Chin Diesel]

Nelson
Eddie Murphy
Carl Lewis
Don Johnson
We Built This City

I take Def Leppard, GnR and a few others in to a separate category. Lots of that music still sounds decent today.

Motley Crue is still great strip club music. Mostly because it's fat, balding guys in their 40's and 50's throwing money at the dancers.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Nelson had the hair, but they weren't metal at all.

Most of the 80's metal bands get lumped together as hair metal or butt rock or whatever. There were definitely stylistic differences between some of them. Def Leppard goes back a little earlier, to the late 70's, and of course were from the UK whereas LA was the epicenter of 80's metal. Cinderella's second album went in a bit of a bluesy direction. Poison was definitely very schlocky, but I still liked some of their songs.

Some bands clearly were not a part of the same scene/sound. Speed metal and thrash was something different altogether. Judas Priest wasn't really in the same mold as most of the other 80's stuff.


Now Winger you can bash as much as you want. Warrant was pretty cheesy.

 

[G0UCONN]

Hated the Eurythmics, Duran Duran, and didn't hate but not a fan of the Police.

 

[rogerflash]

Why would anyone remember the bad music? It's more common situation to have in mind the track that you love

 

[Dove]

Its total schlock.

A-Dub pick up your guitar anna...talk to me!!

 

[J187Money]

Journey-Send her my love

One of my favorite songs, so I politely disagree.

 

[J187Money]

Going against the grain, I loved hair metal during the 80's. Listening to it now, some of it is crappy, but some of it has held up well. Disagree with the whole lot of you.

I'm with you. Loved hair metal - still do

 

[J187Money]

...Def Leppard
Guns N Roses
Dokken...

Don't forget Winger

 

[Dove]

Don't forget Winger

Jeez. I'll bet you liked Jetboy, too.

 

[Dove]

With hair metal I enjoyed:

Ratt (but in small doses)
Crue
Faster Pussycat
Cinderella

 

[J187Money]

Jeez. I'll bet you liked Jetboy, too.

Never heard of Jetboy.

 

[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.