The 80s:Hair Metal or New Wave?

[XxMANGOxX]

Okay, so every decade has a classification of the dominant genre of music
~60s:Surf
~70s:Punk
~90s:Grunge
~00s:Emo(though it is a horrendous, sad, and pitiful form of music)
SO...

What was the 80s?
New Wave or Hair Metal?

In my opinion I think of it as New Wave, because Hair Metal just wasn't that good to me.

[bmore007]

I liked the New Wave aspect better myself. I view it as a new wave era, there was some good hair metal though.

[BearFan51]

Not all of the metal in the 80's included "hair" in the description.

Iron Maiden
Testament
Forbidden
Judas Priest
Ozzy Osbourne
Helloween
Anthrax
Megadeth
Dio
Fates Warning
Flotsam & Jetsam
Slayer
Black Sabbath
Savatage
Many others, including dozens of "shredder" bands and solo artists on the Shrapnel label.

I even seem to remember Metallica being a metal band before their castration........:D

New Wave and Hair bands (notice, no improper use of the word metal? lol) weren't the only games in town. We had no internet, so finding good bands was difficult. Aside from going to concerts, magazines and word of mouth were the main source.

So, in answer to the question; Neither.:p

[polishdog90]

Im not sure if the OP meant the most popular mainstream music or what, but as much as people dislike Hair Metal now I think that it was the most popular style of music in the 80s. Whatever is on MTV mindless mainstream zombies automatically love and there was tons of Hair Metal on MTV in the 80s.

[polishdog90]

and if it was the most popular style of rock I don't think that it would be punk in the 70s.

[corsair]

gotta agree with ya dog. i would say 80's "Hair Metal" and would almost have to say that the 70's would be disco? :(

[JIrish780]

Heck, IMHO (which could be wrong, I hasten to add), you probably can't even call Grunge dominant in the 90s. Various divisions of R&B music, ranging from Whitney Houston to the stable of artists at Death Row Records, were as prevailant, if not more so, on the airwaves as Grunge, and Country made a massive commercial comeback in this decade. And that also doesn't account for the return of straightforward Pop that began in the latter half of the decade, either.

I've got a big theory on music cycles that I'll post here after I come home from work.

[SlitN33_B33rZ]

I'll take "I want it all" for 500, Alex.

[jawn361]

Heck, IMHO (which could be wrong, I hasten to add), you probably can't even call Grunge dominant in the 90s. Various divisions of R&B music, ranging from Whitney Houston to the stable of artists at Death Row Records, were as prevailant, if not more so, on the airwaves as Grunge, and Country made a massive commercial comeback in this decade. And that also doesn't account for the return of straightforward Pop that began in the latter half of the decade, either.

I've got a big theory on music cycles that I'll post here after I come home from work.

I have to agree here. A decade is too long to classify with one type of music. I think the punk of the late 80s in the Reagan era is better than any other time. I think the best rap came out of the late 80s early 90s too. Out of the 80+ gigs of music I have on my computer, I would say about 40% comes from the 80s and 90s and very little falls into these categories.

[XxMANGOxX]

People usually classify the 70s because of the Sex Pistols and other bands like that who just completely burst forth outta nowhere with a new genre of music, y'know?
Same thing with Grunge and New Wave.
They were things that were new and fresh.
People were actually afraid and intimidated by the Sex Pistols beacuse they were saying controversial things and, in that time, sort of taboo things, and they dressed unlike everyone else.

[Mathias83]

The OP is way off. First off, is this about what was most popular, or what you though each decade was remembered for.

60's - Rock. Plain old rock n roll.
70's - Disco. Yeah, more popular than punk.
80's - New Wave.
90's - Alternative/Indie. There werent too many grunge bands.
2000's - Emo.

[Consolcwby1]

In actuality, I found that musical tastes in the old Top 40 eras were usually broken down into 4-7 year cycles, and that more modern music is more broken up into easy to understand pidgeon-holes (I suppose that the corporate bigwigs figured that having 12 genres would generate more revenue than just 4 or 5!) In reality, the 60s could be broken into 3 separate eras:
'59-'65 - Do-Wop
'63-'68 - Brittish Invasion
'66-'71 - Psychedelic

Generally, these were the popular forms - but by no means the only forms available. Throughout the 60s there was also a convergence of folk into a pop-folk style which still influences music today.

In the 70's, there was a great amount of experimentation in rock and other musical forms. The formation of theatrically inspired stage shows were part of that, but so was a lot of experimentation with sound and rock styles. Yet, while the early 70's were clearly a hodgepodge of different tastes, the mid to late 70's yielded an extreme influx of both Disco and Country. In fact, Disco had beginnings in '73-'74 and didn't officially end in North America until around '81 with the famous disco burinings. I can remember many people saying that Rock 'n Roll was dead as far back as 1976 - now considered to be the heyday of classic rock. The reason being Rock was in a transformative state, and many different genres were being created that the mainstream did not fully understand. Yet, there were those who so hated disco, that an underground movement against it started up - that being punk. Punk became prolific in the late 70s due to the fact that disco was being played everywhere constantly. It was hard to get away from. New wave came from these punk and experimental movements. And except for funk, country and disco were pretty much kings of the Top 40.

In the 80's, the backlash against disco, country, and soft-rock of the 70's came to the forefront. In the decade, the three most popular rock forms were:
'78-'86 Punk
'79-'88 New Wave
'84-'89 Heavy Metal

Make no mistake about it, though - Hair Metal was popular. It was just that during that time period it was considered to be a Heavy Metal type, and falls under that. Interestingly enough, it was around the end of the 80's that Top 40 was beginning to be broken apart into the genre specific formats we see today.

Anyhow, this is just one old man's opinion of what he knows and experienced when it came to rock. As a Led Zep fan, I can tell you - it wasn't a pretty time in the 70's. Imagine having only AM radio to listen to music you like, while FM was dedicated to Disco! =S I still shudder to this day remembering!

[AxlVanHagar]

Good topic of discussion and great thread! Lets see .... I was 15 in 1984 and for a time New Wave was pretty huge, especially the early 80's with Hair Metal nipping at its heels. It eventually over took it and swept it away for all intents and purposes. It was still there but not the dominant force it was. From about 1984 to 1998 it was all big hair, loud guitars and skinny guys that could sing real high:D

[carlogz]

I will go for 80's New Wave than 80's Hair Metal.

I am a big fan of the 80's and all but New Wave was much more popular than Hair Metal.

The fact that you hear Blondie, B-52's, Eurythmics, Flock of Seagulls, Depeche Mode, and Duran Duran in the radio more than Ozzy, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Dio makes New Wave more popular.

Dont get me wrong though, I think 80's was the best decade to listen to music.

[carnage84]

Jack Black: "new wave tried to kill the metal, but they failed..."

[Rockbandfan23467]

Hair Metal is more promenint and lasted from like '83-'91.

On the 00's: Rap is the dominant, but Emo is what the 00's will be remembered for.

[LordOfRuin]

As someone who was living music in the 80's, I'd say this question misses the point a bit.

Prior to the 60's music was very formulaic and homogenous. Even with the advent of rock and roll, it held to one line. As the 60's psychedelic music brought in other influences, music began to sound quite different. However, up until this point, music required solid musicianship in order to be successful.

Punk changed all that...punk democratized music by saying it's about getting the message out, regardless of whether you can play. In fact, punk originally held true to the tenet that if you spent lots of time learning to play well, you were actually becoming part of the establishment.

Rather than punk music itself, this punk ethos opened the door for the virtual explosion of musical genres that happened in the 80s. Although much of it was in existence before, the 80s was a time when much was brought into the mainstream. On any given day, you could hear metal bands, Devo, some of the new wave pop, along with the Tiffany/Debbie Gibson type crap ON THE SAME RADIO STATION. This was unheard of before then.

Really, the 80s was a time of much experimentation and I would say many genres got advanced into the public consiousness.

LoR

[AxlVanHagar]

Well said LoR! Kind of funny how things have sort of come back to that with radio formats like JACK FM where it's pretty much anything goes. The 80's really was a mish mash of styles and people seemed to be pretty accepting of that. just for s***s and giggles here's a breakdown of the top 10 singles by month from 1983. I chose '83 as New Wave was still riding very high and hair metal was on the brink of going mainstream with Quiet Riot being the first metal band to have a top 5 hit with *** On Feel The Noise and a #1 album with Metal Health the same week! Metal Health actually dislodged Synchronicty by The Police from it's #1 spot on Nov. 26 1983. However that being said you should still notice quite a variety of genre's in the following charts, pop, R&B, rock, new wave etc

January
1. "The Girl Is Mine" - Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson
2. "Down Under" - Men At Work
3. "Dirty Laundry" - Don Henley
4."Maneater" - Hall and Oates
5. "Sexual Healing" - Marvin Gaye
6. "Mickey" - Toni Basil
7. "Africa" - Toto
8. "Baby Come To Me" - Patti Austin w/ James Ingram
9. "Rock The Casbah" - The Clash
10. "Gloria" - Laura Branigan


February
1. "Baby Come To Me" - Patti Austin w/ James Ingram
2. "Down Under" - Men At Work
3. "Shame On The Moon" - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
4. "Stray Cat Strut" - Stray Cats
5. "Africa" - Toto
6. "You And I" - Eddie Rabbitt
7. "Sexual Healing" - Marvin Gaye
8. "Goody Two Shoes" Adam Ant
9. "Pass The Dutchie" - Musical Youth
10. "You Can't Hurry Love" - Phil Collins


March
1. "Billie Jean" - Michael Jackson
"Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" - Culture Club
3. "Hungry Like The Wolf" - Duran Duran
4. "Shame On The Moon" - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
5. "Back On The Chain Gang" - Pretenders
6. "You Are" - Lionel Richie
7. "We've Got Tonight" - Kenny Rogers & Sheena Easton
8. "Stray Cat Strut" - Stray Cats
9. "Separate Ways" - Journey
10. "One On One" - Hall and Oates


April
1."Billie Jean" - Michael Jackson
2. "Come On Eileen" - Dexy's Midnight Runners
3. "Mr. Roboto" - Styx
4. "Beat It" - Michael Jackson
5. "Jeopardy" - Greg Kihn Band
6. "Hungry Like The Wolf" - Duran Duran
7. "Separate Ways" - Journey
8. "One On One" - Hall and Oates
9. "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" - Culture Club
10. "Der Kommissar" - After The Fire


May
1. "Beat It" - Michael Jackson
2. "Let's Dance" - David Bowie
3. "Overkill" - Men At Work
4. "She Blinded Me With Science" - Thomas Dolby
5. "Flashdance-What A Feeling" - Irene Cara
6. "Jeopardy" - Greg Kihn Band
7. "Little Red Corvette" - Prince & The Revolution
8. "Solitaire" - Laura Branigan
9. "Der Kommissar" - After The Fire
10. "My Love" - Lionel Richie


June
1. "Flashdance-What A Feeling" - Irene Cara
2. "Time (Clock of the Heart)" - Culture Club
3. "Let's Dance" - David Bowie
4. "Overkill" - Men At Work
5. "Electric Avenue" - Eddy Grant
6. "Beat It" - Michael Jackson
7."Don't Let It End" - Styx
8. "My Love" - Lionel Richie
9. "Affair Of The Heart" - Rick Springfield
10. "There's Always Something There To Remind Me" - Naked Eyes


July
1."Every Breath You Take" - Police
2. "Electric Avenue" - Eddy Grant
3. "Flashdance-What A Feeling" - Irene Cara
4. "Never Gonna Let You Go" - Sergio Mendes
5. "Wanna Be Startin' Something" - Michael Jackson
6. "Come Dancing" - Kinks
7. "Our House" - Madness
8. "Is There Something I Should Know" - Duran Duran
9. "Too Shy" - Kajagoogoo
10. "Stand Back" - Stevie Nicks


August
1. "Every Breath You Take" - Police
2. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" - Eurythmics
3. "She Works Hard For The Money" - Donna Summer
4. "Maniac" - Michael Sembello
5. "Stand Back" - Stevie Nicks
6. "Is There Something I Should Know" - Duran Duran
7. "It's A Mistake" - Men At Work
8. "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" - Human League
9. "Flashdance-What A Feeling" - Irene Cara
10. "Puttin' On The Ritz" - Taco


September
1. "Maniac" - Michael Sembello
2. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" - Eurythmics
3. "Tell Her About It" - Billy Joel
4. "The Safety Dance" - Men Without Hats
5. "Puttin' On The Ritz" - Taco
6. "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" - Bonnie Tyler
7. "Every Breath You Take" - Police
8. "Human Nature" - Michael Jackson
9. "Don't Cry" - Asia
10. "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" - Air Supply


October
1. "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" - Bonnie Tyler
2. "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" - Air Supply
3. "True" - Spandau Ballet
4. "Islands In The Stream" - Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton
5. "King Of Pain" - Police
6. "One Thing Leads To Another" - The Fixx
7. "The Safety Dance" - Men Without Hats
8. "All Night Long" - Lionel Richie
9. "Tell Her About It" - Billy Joel
10. "(She's) Sexy + 17" - Stray Cats


November
1. "All Night Long" - Lionel Richie
2. "Islands In The Stream" - Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton
3. "Say Say Say" - Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson
4. "Uptown Girl" - Billy Joel
5. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" - Bonnie Tyler
6. "*** On Feel The Noize" - Quiet Riot
7. "One Thing Leads To Another" - The Fixx
8. "Love Is A Battlefield" - Pat Benatar
9. "Suddenly Last Summer" - Motels
10. "Delirious" - Prince & The Revolution


December
1. "Say Say Say" - Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson
2. "Say It Isn't So" - Hall and Oates
3. "All Night Long" - Lionel Richie
4. "Uptown Girl" - Billy Joel
5. "Union Of The Snake" - Duran Duran
6. "Love Is A Battlefield" - Pat benatar
7."Owner Of A Lonely Heart" - Yes
8. "Twist Of Fate" - Olivia Newton-John
9. "Islands In The Stream" - Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton
10. "Church Of The Poison Mind" - Culture Club

[xHeLLraiserx]

What was the 80s?
New Wave or Hair Metal?



There was both.