Rock and Roll HAIR-Story: The 80's!!

[ABlairican Pie]

The beginning of the 80's was a decade of coldness and tension in the world:

America was held spellbound by the Iran hostage crisis while morale had hit bottom towards its leaders. The deadlock over the fate of the Americans held at the embassy in Tehran continued well into the new year as that nation was held in the grip of an Islamic revolution and its malevolent mullah, the Ayatollah Khomeini. The inability of President Carter to bring about their safe return soured people's confidence in his leadership abilities.

The Cold War was going full throttle as the country locked horns with Moscow over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. American had lent military support to the mujaheedin freedom fighters--a decision it would later regret

Disco had been symbolically destroyed the summer before at Comiskey Field.

Prog rock bands were dinosaurs facing extinction in the onslaught of newer bands caught up in the new wave explosion. For them, the 80's were a time of creative opportunity.

If you missed the previous threads here they are.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/...=rock+and+roll (1950s)

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/...=rock+and+roll (1960s)

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/...=rock+and+roll (1970s)

[ABlairican Pie]

The first album of the new year was released January 1, 1980 by a band that did not feel the need to concede to the new wave, but a more permanent wave that resisted trends. Rush released
Permanent Waves. Rush knew that it could not continue to be a progressive band without actually progressing and sounding fresh for the times. Record company bigwigs finally stood up and took notice of them. But before they could stuff Rush into their rock and roll hit sausage factory, they had to deal with honest lyrics such as these:

The Spirit of Radio

Begin the day with a friendly voice,
A companion unobtrusive
Plays the song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood.

Off on your way, hit the open road,
There is magic at your fingers
For the Spirit ever lingers,
Undemanding contact in your happy solitude.

Chorus
Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free

All this machinery making modern music
Can still be open-hearted.
Not so coldly charted
It's really just a question of your honesty, yeah,
Your honesty.
One likes to believe in the freedom of music,
But glittering prizes and endless compromises
Shatter the illusion of integrity.

Chorus

For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall,
Concert hall
And echoes with the sounds of salesmen.

[ABlairican Pie]

Geddy Lee

Freewill

There are those who think that life has nothing left to chance,
A host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance.

A planet of playthings,
We dance on the strings
Of powers we cannot perceive
"The stars aren't aligned,
Or the gods are malign..."
Blame is better to give than receive.

Chorus
You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that's clear
I will choose freewill.

There are those who think that they were dealt a losing hand,
The cards were stacked against them; they weren't born in Lotusland.

All preordained
A prisoner in chains
A victim of venomous fate.
Kicked in the face,
You can pray for a place
In heaven's unearthly estate.

Chorus

Each of us
A cell of awareness
Imperfect and incomplete.
Genetic blends
With uncertain ends
On a fortune hunt that's far too fleet.

Chorus

[ABlairican Pie]

Rush live 1980

As on previous Rush albums, one song would serve as a thematic centerpiece. The lyrics of the next song, actually the closing song, would serve as a warning and a wake-up call for all the trendy, fashionable new wave bands straddling the charts:

Natural Science

1. Tide Pools

When the ebbing tide retreats
Along the rocky shoreline,
It leaves a trail of tidal pools
In a short-lived galaxy.
Each microcosmic planet
A complete society.

A simple kind mirror
To reflect upon our own.
All the busy little creatures
Chasing out their destinies.
Living in their pools,
They soon forget about the sea...

Wheels within wheels in a spiral array,
A pattern so grand and complex,
Time after time we lose sight of the way,
Our causes can't see their effects.

2. Hyperspace

A quantum leap forward
In time and in space,
The universe learned to expand.

The mess and the magic,
Triumphant and tragic,
A mechanized world out of hand.

Computerized clinic
For superior cynics
Who dance to a synthetic band.

In their own image,
Their world is fashioned.
No wonder they don't understand.

3. Permanent Waves

Science, like nature,
Must also be tamed
With a view towards its preservation.
Given the same
State of integrity,
It will surely serve us well.

Art as expression,
Not as market campaigns
Will still capture our imaginations.
Given the same
State of integrity,
It will surely help us along.

The most endangered species,
The honest man,
Will still survive annihilation.
Forming a world
State of integrity,
Sensitive, open and strong.

Wave after wave will flow with the tide, and bury the world as it does.
Tide after tide will flow and recede, leaving life to go on as it was...

[ABlairican Pie]

Alex

Entre Nous

We are secrets to each other
Each one's life a novel
No-one else has read.
Even joined in bonds of love,
We're linked to one another
By such slender threads.

We are planets to each other,
Drifting in our orbits
To a brief eclipse.
Each of us a world apart,
Alone and yet together,
Like two passing ships.

Chorus
Just between us,
I think it's time for us to recognize
The differences we sometimes fear to show.
Just between us,
I think it's time for us to realize
The spaces in between
Leave room for you and I to grow.

We are strangers to each other,
Full of sliding panels,
An illusion show.
Acting well-rehearsed routines
Or playing from the heart?
It's hard for one to know.

Chorus

We are islands to each other,
Building hopeful bridges
On a troubled sea.
Some are burned or swept away,
Some we would not choose,
But we're not always free.

Chorus

[Cactus Jack]

DEVO hit big in 1980 again

With a little song called...WHIP IT!!!

Crack that whip
Give the past the slip
Step on a crack
Break your Momma's back

When a problem comes along
You must whip it
Before the cream sits out too long
You must whip it
When something's goin' wrong
You must whip it

Now whip it
Into shape
Shape it up
Get straight
Go forward
Move ahead
Try to detect it
It's not too late
To whip it
Whip it good

When a good time turns around
You must whip it
You will never live it down
Unless you whip it
No one gets their way
Until they whip it

I say, whip it
Whip it good
I say, whip it
Whip it good

---- Instrumental Interlude ----

Crack that whip
Give the past the slip
Step on a crack
Break your Momma's back

When a problem comes along
You must whip it
Before the cream sits out too long
You must whip it
When something's goin' wrong
You must whip it

Now whip it
Into shape
Shape it up
Get straight
Go forward
Move ahead
Try to detect it
It's not too late
To whip it
Whip it good

[Dean Winchester]

Also in 1980, a 22 year old from Minneapolis who had scored some reasonable success on the pop and r&b charts the previous year unleashed his new sound on us that year. A hybrid form of music that successfully mixed funk, rock, dance and soul music... A great record that was only a sign of what was to come for the rest of the 1980's.

His name was (and since, 2000, is again) Prince, and he is funky.

The album? Dirty Mind

[Rhiannon]

mullets are great

[Steve M.]

There wasn't a worse decade in the rock and roll era than the eighties. Bananarama, Culture Club, Duran Duran, Madonna, Animotion, Huey Lewis and the News, and an assortment of hair-metal bands. . . I could go on.

Looking back, you can summarize how depressingly boring the eighties were when you see what was at the top of the Billboard singles charts in the first week of January 1980 and in the last week of December 1989. The decade's first number-one single was "Babe Please Don't Go" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band, and its last was "Another Day In Paradise" by Phil Collins. In with a yawn, out with a yawn. And a lot of yawning in between.

[Cashodeen]

Originally posted by Steve M.
There wasn't a worse decade in the rock and roll era than the eighties. Bananarama, Culture Club, Duran Duran, Madonna, Animotion, Huey Lewis and the News, and an assortment of hair-metal bands. . . I could go on.

Looking back, you can summarize how depressingly boring the eighties were when you see what was at the top of the Billboard singles charts in the first week of January 1980 and in the last week of December 1989. The decade's first number-one single was "Babe Please Don't Go" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band, and its last was "Another Day In Paradise" by Phil Collins. In with a yawn, out with a yawn. And a lot of yawning in between.

You've just got no taste.

[AKA]

Back after a five-year hiatus and on a new record label (Geffen), John Lennon released the album Double Fantasy with his wife, Yoko Ono on November 17, 1980.

Along with being a hit among the masses, it was also Lennon's biggest critical success since 1971's Imagine.

The album included seven songs by Lennon and seven songs by Ono:

Side One:
(Just Like) Starting Over (Lennon)
Kiss, Kiss, Kiss (Ono)
Cleanup Time (Lennon)
Give Me Something (Ono)
I'm Losing You (Lennon)
I'm Moving On (Ono)
Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) (Lennon)

Side Two:
Watching The Wheels (Lennon)
Yes, I'm Your Angel (Ono)
Woman (Lennon)
Beautiful Boys (Ono)
Dear Yoko (Lennon)
Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him (Ono)
Hard Times Are Over (Ono)

The future looked bright for John. For 1981, he planned a U.S. tour and a sequel to Double Fantasy entitled Milk And Honey.

[AKA]

John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 1980

[AKA]

Delete

[AKA]

Monday
December 8
1980

In the morning, famed photographer Annie Leibovitz arrives at the Dakota (the apartment where John, Yoko, and their five-year-old son, Sean live) for a photo session. The Lennons are heavily promoting Double Fantasy.

This is one of the many pictures taken that morning by Leibovitz:

[AKA]

Still in their apartment, the Lennons are interviewed by RKO Radio that afternoon. Most of this interview can be heard on the 2001 reissue of Milk And Honey.

At around 5 pm EST, the Lennons leave their apartment for a recording session at the Record Plant. They are to work on Yoko's song, "Walking On Thin Ice."

On the way to their car, John is asked for an autograph by a man holding a copy of Double Fantasy.

"John, will you sign this?" he asks.

"Sure, no problem," John replies as he signs the record cover with the man's pen (this moment is eerily captured in the chilling photo below).

"Is that all you want?" John asks the man. After several moments of silence, John asks again.

"Is that all you want?"

"Yes. Thank you, John."

At that point, John follows Yoko into the limo and they drive away.