Entertainment For Lively Minds
ATM: Late eighties rock
Back in the late eighties, Mrs Doggo used to frequent a rock club in Birmingham. As a recent extra birthday present, I made up a CD of the songs I thought she'd heard in those days.
Whilst she was very nice about it at the time, she now tells me I've got it wrong. Those weren't the songs at all. No, she doesn't remember the names of any of the songs they played. But they weren't 'that bloody spandex rubbish'.
Well, I don't bloody know, then. I was an indie kid. This is like a foreign country to me. Can anyone give me any clues? This is what I know so far:
Good: Metallica, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, all the classic 70s rock
Rubbish: Van Halen, Bon Jovi etc
Just passable: Guns n Roses
Never heard before: Mudhoney, Dinosaur Jnr
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Faith No More? Slayer? Megadeath?
Were Def Leppard a bit Hair? Blue Öyster Cult? Dio? Queensryche? Candlemass? Rogue Male?
Ooh.I'll have to look some of those up.
Faith No More she likes but doesn't remember.
Slayer and Megadeth she didn't like (despite them being exactly like Metallica to my ear)
Blue Öyster Cult she likes (good umlaut work, Len)
The rest I shall have to try her out with.
Had this in the car coming out of the supermarket last night
I'm not a huge rock fan, and was a bit young for it at the time, but bloody hell it's a mighty tune.
Well, Doggo...
...I wouldn't agree with the bit about Maiden, who I think lost it a bit in the late 80s/early 90s. And as previously documented, I think Guns N' Roses were, for one album, one of the greatest hard rock bands ever to hump the planet while simultaneously attempting to snort coke out of its arsehole.
Mudhoney were just great. Either "Superfuzz Bigmuff" or "Piece of Cake" are worth owning. Get both, actually. They're aces.
Dinosaur Jr, for me, are a bit of a funny one. Some of their stuff's amazing. Some of it's a bit cack. Personally, in their original incarnation I'd only bother with "Bug". Strangely, they actually made their two best records after re-forming a few years ago: "Beyond" and "Farm". The former is my favourite.
It's worth looking into a few of the other Seattle proto-grungers like Green River, Soundgarden and co. Although Soundgarden didn't really hit their stride until "Badmotorfinger" (which is IMMENSE), there's some cherishable stuff on "Louder than Love".
Leaving that lot aside, you're probably already be familiar with the Oxford/Reading shoegaze scene, having been an indie kid at the time. Ride, Swervedriver, Slowdive, Chapterhouse and co, but that's all more early 90s than late 80s.
All the thrash royalty were releasing good records at the time you're talking about, but I dunno if that'd be of interest. Slayer's "Reign In Blood", Megadeth's "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good" and "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" and Anthrax's "State Of Euphoria" are all brilliant, as are any of Metallica's records pre-"Black" album.
And like Len says, Faith No More are amazing up to and including "Angel Dust". And Pixies, obvs. And the more obviously classic indie-rock bands like R.E.M., Hüsker Dü, Ver Sonic Yoof, The Replacements and co.
You've pretty much hit on ...
.. why I'm finding it frustrating.
Late eighties rock music was great. Pixies. Mudhoney. Husker Du. Early grunge. This stuff I know really well. But somehow it isn't what they played in the rock clubs of Birmingham.
I think the shoegazers are definitely too indie. This appears to be an era (1988/89) that just predates the grunge cross-over. Maybe all the above artists considered too punk and therefore ignored by British rock fans until 1990.
Whatever the reason, none of it's ringing any bells.
Perhaps it's a case of the rose-coloured earphones of memory. Nothing I play now is ever going to capture the feeling she got going clubbing with her best friend at the age of 23.
Most likely I'll never know the truth of what went on in that distant sticky cellar (until someone can find the original playlist).
Don't forget the British resurgence around that time
Little Angels, Quireboys, Thunder etc. A good night out guaranteed for all.
Yes, these
also The Wildhearts, The Almighty, Wolfsbane - that's what I imagine a late 80s rock night would entail.
Also The Black Crowes have been a guaranteed hit in rock clubs consistently for the past 20 years because you can, like, dance to it
The Crowes...
Have a fantastic back catalogue but every "rock" night I've been to only ever seems to play 'Hard to Handle'.
Once, just once, play 'Go Faster'. It rocks, AND rolls, like a mother!
Hard To Handle Hitmakers
Ours plays Hard To handle pretty regularly but often chucks in Remedy and Twice As Hard. I may even have heard Kicking My Heart Around at some point. In future I'll make a note to put down Go Faster on their request list that they always ignore.
Van Halen weren't rubbish...
Their first album is great, as is 1984. All their other records up to the departure of David Lee Roth have their moments as well, although they were very patchy.
The less said about that buffoon Sammy Hagar the better.
Here's Eruption, which for better or worse totally revolutionized rock guitar playing...
and Panama, which rocks.
and finally Jump, which was one of the best records of the 1980s.
For Worse
without a doubt. I want Riffs.
But Eddie had *tons* of riffs!
He should not be held responsible for the oafs that followed him...
I've got to agree. Roth era Van Halen are...
one of the greatest Rock bands ever. The first album and 1984 are pretty damn fantastic.
Great song, great intro, dubious video
undeniably life affirming
Dubious? Oh I dunno...
Guitars, chicks, comedy... What more do you need? :-)
If you can remember the 80s...
...you were probably there... or married with three young kids.
Late 80s Rock clubs?
Here's what I remember from my first visit to the Hastings Crypt in about 1988. I remember feeling more at home than the places that played Stock Aitken and Waterman-produced 12"s (3 minutes was more than enough, thanks) and house music.
As to the Crypt, well, its name indicated Gothy leanings, but there was broader menu. Fields of the 'Neph' and the Mission (of course), WASP's tender ditty F*ck Like a Beast, the emergent G'n'R, The Quireboys, the evergreen AC/DC and this, which got a few dancing/banging away.
*Tommy Vance voice* That was ZZ Top and this.... is Van Halen!
And late '70s pubs-with-a-decent-juke-box. In Macclesfield...
R.I.P Bear's Head.
First place I'd heard Be Bop Deluxe "Maid in Heaven", Lizzy doing "Whiskey..." and some others. Plus, and it was a major one, Ansells Bitter on a hand-pull before I even knew the difference between cask and keg...
Would that be The Bear's Head made famous in
several Macc Lads songs?
'fraid so
It's the licensed version of the old advert 'My bank has just been turned into a trendy wine bar'.
As someone who was weaned in Macc pubs in the late 70s, I am increasingly of the impression that I have been drinking with half the Massive at some time in the past, without knowing it.
Macc - late 70s
Me too! King's?
Er
Yes. Is this the point at which we take this conversation private?
try your good lady wife out with the following...
These are some long-lost golden nuggets from the late 80s early 90s glam rock heyday, before it was lain to waste by grunge:
- Blackout in the Redroom by Love / Hate (one of the best sleaze rock songs ever put to tape);
- Don't Treat me Bad by Firehouse
- Up All Night by Slaughter;
- All Lips and Hips by the Electric Boys;
- Gypsy Road by Cinderella;
- F.I.N.E by Aerosmith;
- Love in an Elevator by Aerosmith;
- Mean Man by WASP;
- Kickstart my Heart by Motley Crue;
- Dr Feelgood by Motley Crue;
- Shake Me by Cinderella.
That's a pretty awesome CD compilation right there...
Rather too much hair and Spandex for the OP, I fear.
Late 80's Maiden......
.....possibly my favourite LP of theirs - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son from 1988. And with 4 top 10 UK hit singles taken from it (okay, one was a live version but its a great album.) Here's the singles: