I’m always searching out new artists and new sounds. It seems that more and more over the past few years I find artists that sound like they could have hit the charts 20 years ago in the 80s. I have also noticed 80s fashion becoming more popular with some of the kids today. Why is this? When I was in high school, which was almost 20 yrs ago, the 60s/70s were super cool. My friends and I listened to a lot of 70s bands like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, The Ramones, and others. Why? This has been a topic of conversation many many times over the years and it seems the same thing always comes up. Each generation wants something to call their own. Yesterdays fashion is just that, old, done with, its history. So why then look even further into the past for inspiration? It seems that after a decade or so we are removed enough from the past that the ideas can sound fresh again. We always look to the past to see what has been done before so we can build upon it. So it seems that these things may go in cycles, the new kids look about 10-20 yrs back for inspiration (because they don’t want to sound like what was recently done and be a copy cat), and that sound seeps into the music of today. There has to be something new about it though. If an artist just copies what was done 15 yrs ago then they are retro and its nothing new. If an artist takes the sounds from 15 yrs ago and puts it into the context of today’s popular sounds and technical capabilities, then whamo! a new sound is born. It seems that the most obvious influence coming from the 80s is the use of synths and keyboards, something that I always thought the 90s were lacking.
A couple of artists that I have run across who seem to do this quite well are Shiny Toy Guns and No Doubt on their album Rock Steady which Rick Ocasek of The Cars helped produce. The song Don’t Let Me Down sounds alot like The Cars.
