The ’80s Saw Music Change Almost Every Year
The Advent of New Wave
New wave in the 1980s changed music in ways nobody could have predicted. The essence of new wave rests on the use of electronic equipment within the pop music genre. In a sense, new wave was a merging of many different forms into one cohesive synthesis of sound. New wave groups dominated the music landscape of the 1980s.
Tracing The Origins
The 1980s were a prolific and innovative continue reading…
The 1970s are a difficult decade to pin down in terms of amazing movies. Movie technology and audience sensibility were both changing at an alarming pace, and out of that change came some of the most groundbreaking films of all time, like the ones available through http://www.expertsatellite.com. Here are the movies that were the very best of the 1970′s.
1. Star Wars (1977): It’s hard to argue with the impact this movie had on the cultural consciousness when Star Wars movies are still being made today. The effects may be cheesy now, but it started a whole new way of sci fi movies in the 70′s.
2. The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974): These films are often considered the best ever made. Modern gangster movies owe their success all to this film and its sequel.
3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974): Just because it’s a comedy doesn’t mean it’s not a good movie. Monty Python already had some success with their television show, but this movie made them a household name. Nearly forty years later, people still quote it and laugh.
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975): This movie swept the Oscars that year, pulling in Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, Best Actor for Jack Nicholson and Best Actress for Louise Fletcher. The movie remains a masterpiece about freedom and mental illness.
5. Alien (1979): Alien was a serious science fiction/horror mix that paved the way for others in the same genre. The famous scene with the alien popping out of its victim’s chest is still well known today.
6. Taxi Driver (1976): Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese’s best pairing, this movie is a haunting character study that deserved every one of its four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, although it did not win any of them.
7. Apocalypse Now (1979): The 1970s was Francis Ford Coppola’s decade. After his Godfather movies, he went on to direct a stunning movie about the horrors of war. It is one of the greatest war movies all of time and certainly the greatest one from the decade.
The Viet Nam War And The End Of The Folk Era
Folk music has been around a long time. Many believe it’s a natural emanation of early European bard lyrics and music. Folk music in the 1960′s and mid 1970′s served a different purpose. It was the voice for a new generation of war protestors and peaceniks. Folk music carried the world through ravages of the Viet Nam war. When the war ended, the messages in folk music grew less valid.
Disco On The Scene
Competing with pop, rock, jazz and blues in continue reading…
The “27″ Club
Jim Morrison of the Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin of Big Brother and the Holding Company are often referred to as members of the “27″ club. This is the age that seems to claim more deaths in contemporary music. Yet, Morrison, Hendrix and Joplin live on long past their deaths. Their influence among professional musicians is heard in the Joplinesque, bluesy sound of the late Amy Winehouse, also a member of the “27″ club. The impeccable guitar licks of Slash of Guns and Roses continue reading…
Most music revolutions start with a changing of values within the youth around the world. In the 60s, it was all about the Beatles and the “British Invasion.” In the 70s, young adults were looking for something to bring them to life. Our world was in the middle of the “youth revolution” and people wanted something from music to express their new found freedom. Folks began migrating to nightclubs by the thousands and dance music became the focus.
Disco was actually born in about 1975, but it needed a continue reading…
New Wave music began its rise to prominence in the late 1970s with punk music. The two genres were linked for a short time, then New Wave began to incorporate elements of electronic music and disco in the early 1980s.
New Wave bands quickly became as much about appearance as about sound, which allowed many of these groups to capitalize on the rise of music videos. In the early days of MTV, the channel focused heavily on New Wave bands, propelling the groups to stardom and giving continue reading…
The mainstream music media does not always give the British punk movement of the 1970′s the proper amount of credit that it is due. This is unfortunate because the movement was greatly influential on the new wave movement of the 1980′s which, in turn, was very influential on the current modern alternative scene.
The very loud and off the wall punk movement of prior generations was rude, obnoxious and like nothing that had been heard in music before. It truly was a counter revolution to the hippie and disco continue reading…