1. Why the 80s?
Synths are everywhere you look. The colours are bright, the prints all clash, the politicians are hated and nobody has any money. Sounding familiar? Well, probably not, as few of us were alive for any substantial part of the decade that began with the death of Lennon and ended with fall of the Berlin Wall. News reports have abounded which compare the current recession with the recession under Thatcher in the 80s, and the Tory government’s decision to make enormous cuts are reminiscent of Thatcher (Milk Snatcher)’s controversial economic policies. Even the riots of last year seem to imply that the classic UK problems with class are as strong now as they were in the 80s.
Based on this evidence, one could be forgiven for believing that the years between 1980 and 1989 were a time of unremitting misery, Maggie, and Metallica, but extensive historical research by our team has revealed that there was in fact much in these years worth salvaging – namely big hair, MTV, hip hop, a disregard for the flattering aspects of fashion, a national love affair with a princess, and retro computers (let’s face it, who can afford an iPad at the moment?). The economics and politics seem to be evoking the ghost of the 80s, so, like any culture section worth its salt we have taken it upon ourselves to conjure a revival out of thin air. The Pinter revival, the prevelance of electronic music and the recent film about Thatcher’s younger years are our inspiration, but we feel there’s still more to be done to bring back the true spirit of the 80s. It would be a shame to be broke without the bright colours, or deal with cuts without croptops. So follow us in digging out your scrunchies and getting down like a yuppie (knowing what that is is not a prerequisite) in order to brighten what is already a somewhat doomladen 2012.
After all, the 80s saw the invention of the internet, synthetic skin and video games. They were clearly onto something.
Barbara Speed
2. Synthly the best
Here’s a confession that’ll shock anyone who knows me personally: I used to really, really hate almost every single song from the 1980s. (I used to listen to a lot of Pink Floyd and Yes, so I thought the seventies were The Golden Age Of Music. Blame my dad’s record collection). Well, I’m now (slightly) older and (slightly) wiser, and as a result I’ve come to see the (slightly) bigger picture. Here’s the thing: most pop music is crap. So it shouldn’t be a total surprise that lots of pop music from the 80s is crap. But I’d like to put it out there that the best music from that much-maligned decade is better than the best music of, say, the last ten years.
Here’s an example: last week I saw a roomful of people going nuts to the Grace Jones version of ‘Love is the Drug’ from 1986. Is ‘Party Rock Anthem’ by LMFAO still going to be a floor-filler in 2040? I’d hazard a guess that the answer is ‘no’ – and if I’m wrong, God help us all. Quite apart from all the incredible and influential alternative music that the 1980s managed to produce in between episodes of Dynasty (Cocteau Twins, Pixies, Swans…), their pop is better than our pop. And in 30 years that skittery dubstep-lite rhythm that’s all over 95 percent of top ten songs today will sound even more dated than the whole Stock Aitken Waterman synths-and-drum-machines thing. Trust me on this one.
James Manning
The 80s was, undeniably, a decade of change. Music was no exception and the dynamic social climate led to some of the most respected and popular artists of all time. And Rick Astley. Legendary performers Michael Jackson and Madonna found their feet in the 80s, along with Prince and other purveyors of what was dubbed ‘contemporary R&B’. The decade also saw Bruce Springsteen release some of the greatest rock music of the modern age, with the seminal Born in the USA. But without sounding pretentious, the real value of the era lies away from the mainstream. Bands like the Pixies laid the groundwork for the grunge boom of the 90s and punk was taken to new places by Hüsker Dü and The Replacements.
Crucially, the 80s saw the emergence of two genres that would change music forever; hip-hop and electronica, as technological advances gave musicians hitherto unthinkable methods of production. Today, elements of these two genres are ubiquitous in popular music, with electro-influenced pop and (admittedly poor) hip-hop dominating the charts of recent years. While the defining images of the 80s may be of big hair, trashiness and cultural excess, it was unmistakeably then that the foundations of our music scene were laid. Maybe the direct relevance of the 80s has waned, but their influence lives on in the acts which delight our ears today.
Adam Piascik
3. Speaking of Spielberg
The films of the 80s have always been among my favourites. Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, the later two Star Wars films, the inimitable Airplane, An American Werewolf in London, Die Hard, The Princess Bride, Stand by Me, Who Framed Roger Rabbit – I mean, what a decade! For my money, it was one of the most exciting periods of filmmaking, and also a period of innovation, particularly in special effects. Tron was released in 1982, with groundbreaking CGI visuals that paved the way for the digital mayhem that dominates the multiplexes today (for better or worse).
And, of course, there’s Spielberg. The (original) fantastic Indiana Jones films came out in the 80s and revolutionized action storytelling, while E.T. overcame the odds to become one of the highest-grossing films of all time. This was probably Spielberg’s golden age but unfortunately his 80s style doesn’t work so well in the present day. The Indiana Jones fourquel, while fun, didn’t really carry the spirit of the originals, and Tintin was full of exciting Jonesian action but little of its heart. By contrast, the sobfest War Horse was positively mawkish in a way that E.T. never was.
Spielberg is just an example, but he’s indicative of a wider malaise as 80s directors fail to live up to their earlier success. And yet, weirdly, a revival of 80s filmmaking doesn’t seem to need the 80s filmmakers. This decade has been the darling of indie filmmakers for some time (see The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland), but now the blockbusters are getting in on the act. Tron’s basic CGI got an update last year in the long-awaited sequel Tron: Legacy, and Spielberg himself was homaged in J.J. Abrams’ original and heartwarming Super 8. The kids who watched films in the 80s are growing up and trying to make films that they would have watched as a kid: original, non-cynical and exciting films, with a heart that later films have lacked.
I don’t hold high hopes for an 80s revival – these homages to that decade are few and far between and are not even universally well-received. Still, in an age of franchises and brainless action they are a welcome relief, and a reminder of a past age where films really meant something to people.
Huw Fullerton
4. The Fall of man
Everyone loves the 80s That, I believe, is the rationale behind my superior’s decision that Cherwell ought to forgo a spread on the Olympics, or something much more relevant, in favor of covering the ‘80s revival’ we are currently undergoing, and have been, for the last ten, twenty years.
As stage editor, I really ought to be writing an article on Stoppard or Ives. But I have chosen to neglect these worthy genii, and turn my attention instead to the much less palatable Mark E. Smith, the only constant member of The Fall, a band often categorized as post-punk, though I’d personally opt for post-modern punk; pretentious perhaps, but then, the man has more in common with Beckett than Morrissey.
Upon announcing my intention to senior editorial to devote an article to The Fall, I was understandably met with quizzical looks and queries about Genesis Chapter 3. After clarifying, I was informed that dedicating a whole article to one band (or rather, one man) was deeply stupid. In my attempt to placate, I assured them that all would become clear; for The Fall, you see, are emblematic of the 80s, and er, I’ll put something about theatre in as well. Unfortunately, as any Fall fan will tell you (check The Guardian blogs), this band are about as far from yuppie culture and new romanticism as one can get.
Smith earned his cult following by trashing both, à la Copeland or Mamet. He soundly avoided anything that could have come close to commercial success in the age that gave us MTV, but remained the favorite of one John Peel. The Fall (despite the claims of aforementioned Guardian blogs) are not the best band in the world. They are not even the best band of the 80s – their musical ethos is neatly summed up by ‘if you’re going to play it out of tune, then play it out of tune properly’. Yet they are superbly listenable, combining arid wit with social observations and sheer nonsense.
The 80s will forever be associated with consumer driven counterculture, but it also spawned several subversive foils, and it is these that The Fall, with their wonderful weirdness and disdain for all things trendy, epitomize. Look them up.
And if anyone mentions 80s revival, remember , as Smith himself said: ‘Ours is to not look back, ours is to continue the crack’.
Charlotte Lennon
Though everyone but Haruki Murakami seem to be avoiding the decade as a setting for their novels, this year has a lot of anniversaries and reappearances from our favourite 80s writers.
Last week, 24 years after Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses was published and 23 after the fatwa against Rushdie was issued, four writers read passages from the novel at the Jaipur Literary festival in a show of solidarity with the novel. Rushdie did not attend himself, having been warned of the possible presence of several hired assassins.
Umberto Eco, the popular 80s author, recently published The Prague Cemetery, which seems to have disappointed everyone who read it and expected something as daring as the earlier novel. Don DeLillo, whose award-winning White Noise came out in 1985, has recently published his first collection of short stories, the fantastically named Angel Esmeralda. And Jeannette Winterson, whose 1985 semi-autobiographical novel Oranges are not the only Fruit was published to popular acclaim, has written a memoir, Why be happy when you could be normal? This year is also the 30th birthday of everyone’s favourite British teenager and diarist, Adrian Mole. Surely there can be no better pleasure in 2012 than reliving Adrian’s 13 ¾ year-old miseries as he wriggles in constant anguish and embarrassment, pining for the love of his life, Pandora.
Christy Edwall
7. Sweeney’s still cutting it
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Stephen Sondeheim has not really had a revival: it’s never been off the stage in the first place. Having premiered in London 1980, it’s travelled to Broadway and back several times (including a production which had no orchestra but where all of the characters simply played the instruments on stage), been made into a film with everyone’s favourite psychco, Jonny Depp, and most notably been performed last year by my own secondary school in Portsmouth. Luckily, for all of those who missed out on this appalling production, a thoroughly good one transfers to the West End in April, starring Michael Ball, fresh from donning a frock and ginger wig as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (not an obvious choice for a homicidal maniac) and Imelda Staunton as his pie making accomplice. From asylum loonies to a self-flagellating judge (they didn’t show that bit in the film) this play literally has it all and has quite rightly received rave five star reviews (that is, apart from the Daily Torygraph, who think Ball looks something like David Brent from The Office). Anyway, enough of my rambling. If life gets you down, go see it.
Daniel Frampton
