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Fab songs from artists that went to sh*t in the 80s.

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Bamber’s thread on artists losing it made me think of all the greats of the 1960s and 70s who turned to shit in the 80s, mainly due to running out of songs and/or try and failing to adapt to new technologies and fashions. From Elton to Clapton, Rodders to poor old Bob, the list is huge, but there must be a few gems in their output from this decade. But what are they?

My pick is from Diana Ross’ patchy 1985 album Eaten Alive, wot I got at a car boot yesterday. It’s actually not that bad thanks to Bee Gees Inc., but far and away the best is the UK chart-topping Chain Reaction, which surprisingly tanked in the US, and unsurprisingly went to no. 1 in the Gibb brothers’ homeland.

What’s yours?

2

Comments

  1. Since you’ve mentioned Elton John, how about this (I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues)?

    I’m coming from the opposite angle on this thread – the songs here will probably be the first I heard by many of the artists as a kid. Should be an interesting read…

    • Oh, good one.

      Btw, I’m a kid of the eighties too – it wasn’t until just a few years ago that I discovered the 70s output of Stevie Wonder and realised that stuff like I Just Called… and Ebony & Ivory were not representative of his talents.

      • Stevie’s an interesting one – IJCTSILY is bloody awful, but those two are certainly the first I remember hearing. Mum & Dad like their Motown so I got to hear older stuff not too long afterwards.

        I have a bad habit of transposing time periods – Elton John was younger in that video than I am now – and his musical career at that point shorter than that of say the Manics or Blur is now. It’s interesting trying to detect a similar dip in form for some of the elder (ish) folk of rock today.

    • Yes! It has that hollow, brittle 80s sound but still manages to give off a lovely, summery vibe.

      Question: I wasn’t really paying attention to the lyrics – is he singing about his number twos?

  14. No artist went so comprehsively to bollicks in the 80s as Stevie Wonder. After the two tracks on Musiquarium in 1982 he became almost unrecognisably rubbish, in a process one could call Ebony and Ivorification * except as a live act.

    This weren’t bad tho’:

    *see also Macca.

  15. Curtis climbed aboard The Blow Monkeys unstoppable hit making juggernaut ™, Aretha fared somewhat better by standing in George Michael’s five o clock shadow, Dusty got into bed with The Pet Shop Boys for the Scandal soundtrack and the sublime What Have I Done To Deserve This?
    I think my favourite of these was Sandie Shaw’s collaboration with The Smiths – from a young popster’ point of view I was familiar with the aforementioned as fine but past it artistes whereas Sandie was the Eurovision Puppet On A string lady to me, and from Sandie’s point of view teaming up with a relatively unknown and somewhat odd (you want me to sing “would you kindly note my inside leg”?) band was by no means the route to chart success that duetting with the Careless Whisper hitmaker might have been:
    http://youtu.be/xbQq2WCCGAU
    (Please Help The Cause Against Loneliness)

  17. i was going to say Sir Van, but actually, having checked, his output throughout the 80s is far too good for this thread. Then I though of Joni but there is nothing I know of hers from this period which is any good at all – though hopefully someone will put me right. So i’ll go for the aforementioned Macca

  18. American Dream by CSNY uses every 80s production cliche in the book, but it’s a superb tune.

    Also, Dion’s Yo Frankie album utilised the talents of Mark Knopfler and Paul Simon and contains some brilliant songs (Written On Subway Walls, King Of The New York Street).

    What about Laughing Len’s I’m Your Man, too, and Robbie Robertson’s self-titled record, and Townshend’s White City?.

    Increasingly as well as learning to love 80s pop, I’m inclined to think that many of rock’s elder statesmen did their best work in that decade.

    • I prefer a different, later collaboration with Marcus Miller, Amandla. They play Mr Pastorius pretty straight, allowing the spotlight to linger on Miles and his horn.

    • Let’s be fair here: after withdrawing in the mid-70s having pushed that Agharta line-up (and indeed the envelope) as far as was humanly possible, his reappearance with The Man With The Horn in 81 was no revelation but a good album nevertheless. A few more outings showed he was a lot more mainstream this time out but then, he had always enjoyed a good pop tune. Some of the albums, Tutu say , were none more 80s and he was using Markus Miller as musical director.

      But he hadn’t turned to shit! Most of his 80s output was/is still worth having. Star People is no Bitches Brew, We Want Miles no In A Silent Way, admittedly. But it’s still Miles, dammit! Shouldn’t be on this thread.

  26. I’ll tell you a heritage rock artist who had a blooming good 80s – Robert Palmer. (Though it helps that he was always pretty funky and forward-thinking)

    Worst songs by previously sainted hitmaker this decade? Passengers by Elton John, Illegal Alien by Genesis, Spies Like Us by Macca, and all of Hot Space by Queen,

    But Young Turks and Baby Jane were two fairly good Rod Stewart singles in my opinion.

    • Surely Elton sank even lower than “Passengers” in the 1980s?

      Exhibit A, m’lud is the wretched “Heartache All Over The World” single from the abysmal “Leather Jackets” album.

      Let’s just say that that song wouldn’t quite have merited a place on “Tumbledweed Connection”, for example.

  27. I was rather keen on Townshend’s White City at the time, but I was 11 and didn’t really know any better. I’ve not got the nerve to sift through it now, but it’s got to be better than It’s Hard.

    Any volunteers?

    • I’ve oft had a habit of preferring follow-ups to hits than the hits themselves

      Whiter Shade Of Pale – is OK. Homburg – great
      Take on Me – meh. The Sun Always Shines on TV – now you’re talking!

      So it is with Pete and the White City album. Face The Face was a biggish it (in these parts anyway). It was alrightish, but the follow-up, Give Blood, was much better, and still stands up well IMO.

  29. As someone who hates absolutely everything from this dire decade, I’ll point you to the critically acclaimed albums from the likes of John Lee Hooker and B.B. King from said dire decade.

    Why anyone would want to hear crisp, 1980s productions of the blues instead of the wonderful Modern and Crown recordings from the 50s is, and was, beyond me, especially as they normally had a whole load of white millionaires in support.

  33. Always nice to read threads from the young ‘uns about how the ‘eighties weren’t really as shit as all that, because it’s all they had to call their own, the poor slobs. Imagine! Being young and having to buy records in the ‘eighties! How crazy would that be?!

    A band that took the Road To Shitland like no other in the ‘eighties was the Beach Boys. At least they had the integrity to admit the decade was a lost cause, and to go to sleep until it was over. Yes, they decided to be Still Snoozin’ until 2012, but, you know …

    Anyway. They had not one great song in the ‘eighties. And so were a mirror of the times.

  34. To celebrate this thread entering* the top 5 of Most Commented (Last 7 Days) and therefore joining my other two threads on the Most Bored Leaderboard (well, one is sorta HP’s – bless!), I’ve given myself another little upsie, when signed out. It wasn’t as satisfying as the first, though.

    *”entering”, heh.

  35. Eric Clapton – Just Like A Prisoner & Same Old Blues. Beware the Phil Collins production and drums but that aside ol’ EC regained plenty of fire on guitar on these two from 1985:

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