We all take pride in remembering the music that we loved that is looked back on as being historically significant. For every band we listened to that could be considered ground breaking or influential - there are probably 20 to 30 that, in retrospect, were positively embarrassing!
I look back on the music that I listened to in my youth with a rosy fondness. The highlights of the music I grew up with included Jean Michel Jarre, Guns n Roses, Nirvana, Queen, Crowded House & INXS. All of these can be considered to be influential & culturally important - especially to easily influenced teenagers.
However, what doesn't pop into the forefront of my mind when I think about the music I used to pump into my brain through my earphones or inherited 1970's Wharfdale speakers, are some of the lesser artists. Now i'm sat here writing, I am struggling to remember many of them, but I know that I used to listen to 'artists' like T'pau, Def Leppard, Europe, Go West & Milli Vanilli (really!?).
Possibly the worst culprits lurked on the compilation tapes that I used to avidly collect. There is one of these that sticks out in my mind more than the rest, i can't remember the name, but it included such classics as Star Trekkin - The Firm, The Chicken Song - Spitting Image & Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now - Starship. I'm sure that there were some other memorable items on there - but the names escape me for now. I now look in wonder how I survived this brain rot & actually discovered decent, credible artists!
Thankfully, even despite the recent 80's revival, time has forgotten most of these sources of noise pollution. I find it a little hard to digest that I used to listen to this stuff on my headphones for hours on end, know all the lyrics, every little riff and bassline. I am so incredibly glad that times have changed and that the general quality of music as well as audio has improved from those incredibly cheesey days!
I look back on the music that I listened to in my youth with a rosy fondness. The highlights of the music I grew up with included Jean Michel Jarre, Guns n Roses, Nirvana, Queen, Crowded House & INXS. All of these can be considered to be influential & culturally important - especially to easily influenced teenagers.
However, what doesn't pop into the forefront of my mind when I think about the music I used to pump into my brain through my earphones or inherited 1970's Wharfdale speakers, are some of the lesser artists. Now i'm sat here writing, I am struggling to remember many of them, but I know that I used to listen to 'artists' like T'pau, Def Leppard, Europe, Go West & Milli Vanilli (really!?).
Possibly the worst culprits lurked on the compilation tapes that I used to avidly collect. There is one of these that sticks out in my mind more than the rest, i can't remember the name, but it included such classics as Star Trekkin - The Firm, The Chicken Song - Spitting Image & Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now - Starship. I'm sure that there were some other memorable items on there - but the names escape me for now. I now look in wonder how I survived this brain rot & actually discovered decent, credible artists!
Thankfully, even despite the recent 80's revival, time has forgotten most of these sources of noise pollution. I find it a little hard to digest that I used to listen to this stuff on my headphones for hours on end, know all the lyrics, every little riff and bassline. I am so incredibly glad that times have changed and that the general quality of music as well as audio has improved from those incredibly cheesey days!