The 70's and 80's in Ireland

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Rose-tinted bullshít

Getting a job, any job, was hard. Getting a secure job with a decent wage was very hard.

Even then, getting a mortgage wasn't easy and you needed to be saving steadily with an institution for years before they'd even consider you.

I know a few people who bought a house on a single salary in late 80s/early 90s but none had it easy and were relying on old furniture donated by friends, etc. for the first few years and they'd be lucky to afford any "refurbishment" above a lick of paint for years either.

Anybody worried about likes on social media is a fool, but fools are not a new phenomenon

Also, once you'd jumped through the hoops of getting the mortgage, you then had the pleasure of paying 12-16% interest on it as well

The highest rate reached in each year is shown below – based on the average rates of “representative building societies” from the Central Bank via the CSO

1975 11.25%
1976 12.5%
1977 13.95%
1978 14.15%
1979 14.15%
1980 14.15%
1981 16.25%
1982 16.25%
1983 13.0%
1984 11.75%
1985 13%
1986 12.5%
1987 12.5%
1988 9.25%
1989 11.4%
1990 12.37%
1991 11.95%
1992 13.99%
1993 13.99%

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

I think that's an unnecessarily harsh take - certainly the 99% statistic.

99% of artists certainly weren't crap
99% of records released weren't
99% of individual records bought though - aka units shifted - I might be pessimistic but probably not all that far off either. There was (and is and always has been) a lot of very big selling absolute garbage.

I remember an interview with Thurston Moore when he was asked about why 80s music was so bad, he said that was wrong there were thousands of great records released in the 80s and he's right. But the vast majority of them weren't getting much in the way of promotion or radio play or sales, so outside of small devoted fan bases (no internet then of course) it was hard for people to even find out that these artists existed, and they sold in very small numbers.

Not sure why you'd include Enya in that list while Kenny Rogers has some good tunes.

We're going to have to agree to differ on that one.:pac:

Are people still slagging off James Last?

Well I didn't whether you like that musical style or not there was no doubt he was very talented indeed, my parents liked him, and it didn't make me run out of the room screaming like plenty of other stuff from that era I could mention... anybody who can keep a big band or orchestra going for years without state funding etc. must be doing something right as it costs a fortune.

fryup wrote: »

Yes but that's what i loved about 80's chart music - there was something for everyone, you watch any edition of TOTP's back then and you'd have anything from heavy metal, country music, electro pop, ska, reggae even the odd novelty song thrown in - all tastes were catered for.

That's why i believe the 80's was the best decade for music...i just regret not going to more concerts back then, cause as i said previously there's fek all talent out there these days.

I agree. I bought my first record in 1981 so lived through it. It was hugely diverse, particularly in the first half of the decade.

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

Peter Gabriel - So,

amazing album - still sounds contemporary all these years later

Every decade brings out a major musical art(ist)


30's Bing Crosby
40's Frank Sinatra
50's Elvis
60's Beatles
70's Abba
80's M jackson
90's M carey
00's Eminem
10's Taylor Swift

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

It was hugely diverse, particularly in the first half of the decade.

strangely it was after Live Aid in 85, that things started to gradually decline musically

Vestiapx wrote: »

I feel you must be wrong about the 90s

Massive sales in the US. Holds the record for the most #1s by a solo artist.

Vestiapx wrote: »

I feel you must be wrong about the 90s

Probably, a few contenders.

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

A lot changed after Live Aid. Three rising stars (all who played on the day) - Paul Young, Howard Jones & Nik Kershaw all released album #3 in 1986 and each one lacked the commercial success of their first two LPs. Tide changed for them.

That had a lot to do with the fact that that pop new wave thing of the early 80's was effectively over by that time and it was now the time of bands like U2. Not so much for Paul Young, mind you. But he was probably always going to experience a dip anyway.

But the binky bonky keybaord pop of Jones and Kershaw was part of a trend that was always going to die when the trend did.

Strangely enough, I've started to kinda enjoy some of Howard Jones' stuff in recent times, while I wouldn't have been drawn to it before. But christ, if I have a look at what passes for pop music in modern times, it would make me long for the days of early 80's pop music, like Jones and Kershaw.

Tony EH wrote: »

That had a lot to do with the fact that that pop new wave thing of the early 80's was effectively over by that time and it was now the time of bands like U2. Not so much for Paul Young, mind you. But he was probably always going to experience a dip anyway.

But the binky bonky keybaord pop of Jones and Kershaw was part of a trend that was always going to die when the trend did.

Strangely enough, I've started to kinda enjoy some of Howard Jones' stuff in recent times, while I wouldn't have been drawn to it before. But christ, if I have a look at what passes for pop music in modern times, it would make me long for the days of early 80's pop music, like Jones and Kershaw.

IMHO Howard Jones kept the quality up - even the unsuccessful albums as far as 1992's In The Running are decent. Human's Lib is brilliant. Nik Kershaw likewise (1989's The Works is surprisingly good). They just couldn't hit the top 40 anymore.

Paul Young's No Parlez was one of my earliest albums; always sad when I see it in a charity shop as it has good memories associated with it.

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

IMHO Howard Jones kept the quality up - even the unsuccessful albums as far as 1992's In The Running are decent. Human's Lib is brilliant. Nik Kershaw likewise (1989's The Works is surprisingly good). They just couldn't hit the top 40 anymore.

Sure. But the trend they were part of died, so the sales dried up. I haven't listened to much of their later material, but there is probably some decent stuff there. In the case of Jones, especially, because he was a guy who wrote and composed his own stuff. So, if he's capable of songs like 'Things Can Only Get Better' and 'Like to Get to Know You Well', then he's got to have some more good stuff in him.

It's just that when you are part of a scene, as it were, and people drift away from that, you kinda go out with the tide as well.

Does anyone remember Dark Towers? We had to watch it in school in the 1980s. That house / castle scared the hell out of me.

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Well, I would have to challenge that. I remember the 80s and you had dedicated cure heads and the like. Im friends with a guy in his 50s who still idolises Thin Lizzy.

(I could be missing context from earlier posts).

Doesen't everyone idolise Thin Lizzy?

Taylor swift could release an album
every 2 years if she wants to, she and Adele will be selling
albums for years to come
Dua lipa and the weekend have real musical talent and some of their music
is influenced by 80s music trends
There have always singers who have 1 or 2 hits and are forgotten
There's good music and songs being made still
I think the 80s were special in that a pop rock group needed to tour for years and be
able to play to a high standard
Many songs now are written by 3 writers
and the music is made using software on
a laptop using samples
no need to record real people playing a guitar or playing real drums
The 90s was the last decade when there was rock music in the charts
No one under 40 seems to be making rock
music anymore
If you look at old top of the pops you,ll
see a wide range of genres pop rock rap etc

fryup wrote: »

the only graffiti i remember is the H Block slogans, Brits Out, IRA, INLA, No Extradition etc etc

you really had to be careful what you said back in those days, if you said anything remotely pro-english round my way you would have been lynched

ACAB was always quite popular.

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Well, I would have to challenge that. I remember the 80s and you had dedicated cure heads and the like. Im friends with a guy in his 50s who still idolises Thin Lizzy.

(I could be missing context from earlier posts).

Of course there were dedicated fan bases, but when an act became very popular with 13-14yo girls in particular they were a very fickle audience and also tended to ensure that the act wasn't taken seriously by everyone else.

e.g. Teardrop Explodes, great early 80s band somehow got very popular with the teen girls for a while and probably didn't do their career any good.

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Guy I know imported a secondhand Triumph motorbike from the UK in the early 00s, had to take the union jack badges off it.

Where I grew up, we had a similar issue with the then much desired Reeboks as they had them embroidered onto a little fabric panel alongside the brand. They were usually inked over.

L1011 wrote: »

I'm actually amazed the rear lights on new Minis aren't smashed in certain areas to this day

Isn't it only British imports have the Union flag theme?

back when you had to actually go home to watch something as it played i recall the same episode of the sopranos two weeks in a row on RTE 2

fryup wrote: »

the only graffiti i remember is the H Block slogans, Brits Out, IRA, INLA, No Extradition etc etc

you really had to be careful what you said back in those days, if you said anything remotely pro-english round my way you would have been lynched

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Extradition would be too hard for them to spell

For years near where I grew up there was a slogan on a wall in huge letters, STOP TORCHOR IN H-BLOCK :rolleyes:

yep, and i bet you any money the guys who wrote those slogans supported British football clubs, read british newspapers and watched British TV..the hypocrisy back then was unreal (still is to a certain extent)