Kind of a decade analysis thread. It seems like there is kind of a "purgatory" year at the start or end of the decade, whichever way you view it that ends in "0." Like 1990, 2000, 2010, 2020. Like in 1990, the songs King of Wishful Thinking and the year 2000 Bill Clinton was still in office. It almost always feels like the last decade, and even looking back the new trends of the decade didn't even begin to start a lot of the time. It's debatable whether those years even count as being the start of a decade or to include them in the decades' trends.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Very start of a decade year like 1980, 1990, 2000, ect.
- Thread starter tall_guy1
- Start date
Was there ever a Year Zero? So if Year 1 was the start of the very first century, then Year 100 should mark the end of that century. Each subsequent century should begin with Year xx01 and end with Year xy00 (where "xy" is one number larger than "xx"). 1801-1900, 1901-2000, 2001-2100, etc.
Doing it the other way, where a decade or century starts with xx00, seems right, but it isn't. If you're old enough to remember the turnover of the millennium, you remember all the hype about Year 2000 being when the new millennium started. That was wrong, but because of the hype and the hustle to fix old software to prevent it from breaking and "blowing up" the world, it's understandable that people would think that was the delineating point. That was a real problem -- I contributed to writing some of that old software myself decades earlier when nobody was expecting it would still be in use in 1999 -- but it didn't change the fundamental laws of mathematics.
Doing it the other way, where a decade or century starts with xx00, seems right, but it isn't. If you're old enough to remember the turnover of the millennium, you remember all the hype about Year 2000 being when the new millennium started. That was wrong, but because of the hype and the hustle to fix old software to prevent it from breaking and "blowing up" the world, it's understandable that people would think that was the delineating point. That was a real problem -- I contributed to writing some of that old software myself decades earlier when nobody was expecting it would still be in use in 1999 -- but it didn't change the fundamental laws of mathematics.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
From a radio programming standpoint, the "0" years aren't necessarily the hard and fast dividing point between decades. And that is because of listener perceptions.
Examples, using the format I know best, The Eighties Channel™:
"Heart of Glass" by Blondie is a song that a lot of listeners will swear up and down was released in the 1980s. It actually peaked in April 1979. Similarly, "One Way Or Another" peaked in August of that year.
The song so many associate with that decade because it was the first video shown on MTV -- "Video Killed The Radio Star" by the Buggles -- peaked in December 1979. In my opinion, if MTV had not chosen that for the launch, it would have remained an obscurity.
"Don't Bring Me Down" by ELO ... 80's song, right? Nope, peaked in September 1979. Other biggies that were released in that year but peaked in 1980: "Ladies Night" by Kool & The Gang, "Heartbreaker" by Pat Benatar, "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc., "Don't Do Me Like That" by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and "Rock With You" by Michael Jackson.
Speaking of Tom Petty, his "Free Fallin'" was released in 1989 but peaked in January 1990. Similarly, "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles, which peaked in March 1990 and "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette (peaked in June of that year).
And the misperceptions aren't confined to just that threshold ... I have had people swear up and down that Gary Numan's "Cars" was a hit in 1982 ... it was June 1980.
Examples, using the format I know best, The Eighties Channel™:
"Heart of Glass" by Blondie is a song that a lot of listeners will swear up and down was released in the 1980s. It actually peaked in April 1979. Similarly, "One Way Or Another" peaked in August of that year.
The song so many associate with that decade because it was the first video shown on MTV -- "Video Killed The Radio Star" by the Buggles -- peaked in December 1979. In my opinion, if MTV had not chosen that for the launch, it would have remained an obscurity.
"Don't Bring Me Down" by ELO ... 80's song, right? Nope, peaked in September 1979. Other biggies that were released in that year but peaked in 1980: "Ladies Night" by Kool & The Gang, "Heartbreaker" by Pat Benatar, "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc., "Don't Do Me Like That" by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and "Rock With You" by Michael Jackson.
Speaking of Tom Petty, his "Free Fallin'" was released in 1989 but peaked in January 1990. Similarly, "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles, which peaked in March 1990 and "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette (peaked in June of that year).
And the misperceptions aren't confined to just that threshold ... I have had people swear up and down that Gary Numan's "Cars" was a hit in 1982 ... it was June 1980.
And while "Cars," peaked in June of 1980 in the U.S., it actually reached #1 in the UK in the fall of 1979
While I won't debate the merits of starting from 0 or starting from 1, I will point out that while the sounds that topped the charts during the middle of the 70s, 80s, and 90s were not the same as the sounds that topped the charts durring the 00 year for each decade, you could hear what was going to happen further along in each decade if you were listening to some of the minor hits and non-charting singles that came out during each of those years. For example, the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight," peaked near the bottom of the top 40 in late December of 1979, but few realized then that what the Sugarhill Gang started would reach its zenith during the 1990s. And a lot of people didn't realize that what Joe Jackson, the Clash, and Gary Numan were doing in 1980, was going to presage a second (some would argue a third) British invasion of the U.S. charts that began in 1983 and lasted until 1986 or 1987.
So the late '70s were very similar to the '80s in terms of music.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
To a degree. But there was also the influence of softer, AC oriented music, some crossover Country, and the like in the early years of the 80's.
But, to make this relevant to your original point: There isn't any such thing as a "purgatory year" ... more like an ongoing transition and change of direction which cannot be pinpointed to a specific year.
No, the very end of the 70s was similar to the first half of the 80s. The second half of the 80s was quite different from the first half.
I've heard it said that "My Sharona" by The Knack was the beginning of a new era in music. 1979. I was a freshman in college. The Blondie song was also played a lot.
Here's a thought. Van Halen was considered an 80's band. However, Van Halen was released in 1978, Van Halen II was released in 1979 and Women And Children First was released in 1980. They got huge in the mid 80's but a lot of their music that you hear today was actually from the late 70's. There's not a line in the sand that separates one decade from another, musically.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Perception is everything. That observation is based on their biggest hits being "Jump", "Panama" and "Hot For Teacher" (all 1984) and "(Oh) Pretty Woman" and "Dancing In The Street" (both 1982).
With the exception of 1964 and the effect of the Beatles having several hits at one time on the charts early that year as a result of multiple record contracts, K.M. Richards' analysis is absolutely correct.
The album "1984" had different styles of music. "Jump" and "I'll Wait" were synthesizer music that was more typical of their 80s style. "Panama" and "Hot for Teacher" were metal like a lot of their 70s music.
As far as Rock eras, it seems like noticible transitions happened around the middle of the decades:
1954-ish: The birth of Rock & Roll
1964-ish: Beatlemania/Motown Sound/British Invasion/Garage Bands
1974-ish: Classic Rock/Disco
1984-ish: Synthesized Rock/Rap
I also think at the beginning of each decade, pop and rock music went softer, which warranted new, upbeat sounds by the middle decades:
1960-ish: Standards/Folk Music/Country Flavored Crossovers
1970-ish: Carpenters/Bread/America/Seals & Crofts
1980 ish: Gino Vannelli/Christopher Cross/Barry Manilow/Yacht Rock/Urban Cowboy Country.
1954-ish: The birth of Rock & Roll
1964-ish: Beatlemania/Motown Sound/British Invasion/Garage Bands
1974-ish: Classic Rock/Disco
1984-ish: Synthesized Rock/Rap
I also think at the beginning of each decade, pop and rock music went softer, which warranted new, upbeat sounds by the middle decades:
1960-ish: Standards/Folk Music/Country Flavored Crossovers
1970-ish: Carpenters/Bread/America/Seals & Crofts
1980 ish: Gino Vannelli/Christopher Cross/Barry Manilow/Yacht Rock/Urban Cowboy Country.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Yes, there are plenty of examples.
One more: Jane Child's "Don't Wanna Fall in Love" is a 1990 song that I thought for the longest time had come out in the mid- or late '80s.
So, do you play all of those "right sound, wrong decade" songs on your Eighties Channel? And what are your criteria? Just "It sounds like an '80s song to me" or do you poll listeners?
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Not broadly. The Petty and Roxette songs I referenced earlier are in. So are the ones by Blondie and ELO. The song @kevtronics mentioned is one of my Forgotten 45s. All of the songs that I identified as being released in 1979 but peaking in 1980 are ones that I cannot leave out.
We have several early New Wave songs in the Flashback Weekend library, largely by artists instantly recognizable to that audience (e.g., David Bowie, Talking Heads, Ramones). That show also has three Depeche Mode 90's songs in it and the one R.E.M. song from 1991 that sounds like an 80's song ("Shiny Happy People").
It does have more to do with the sound than any hard research. And there is some listener perception which needs no research to confirm, such as the Buggles song.
Again, most people think the exceptions are from that decade.
Last edited:
Also 1990-92: Hair Metal ballads, New Kids On The Block, Crossover Christian (Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Kathy Troccoli), Michael Bolton, Wilson Phillips, and holdover dance from the '80s (Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, etc.). Nirvana's "Nevermind" and Pearl Jam's "Ten" were released in late-'91, but the previous sounds remained for about one more year. Then grunge and "G-Funk" West Coast rap started to take over.
Nobody makes music by looking at a calendar. The songs and trends start and stop where they do.
That said, my friend Guy Zapoleon has become famous with his theory of music cycles, and this is absolutely worth a read:
www.linkedin.com
That said, my friend Guy Zapoleon has become famous with his theory of music cycles, and this is absolutely worth a read:
The Music Cycle- The Extremes is Here as Doldrums Approach - Guy Zapoleon, SVP of Programming, Research & Strategy for iHeartMedia
So, where are we in the Music Cycle I’m often asked…Well in September 2018 we’re solidly in The Extremes with the beginning of the Doldrums appearing, as CHR’s ratings are slowing In the Extremes/Doldrums phase, CHR radio has always depended on the winning formula of Pop + Rhythm + Rock balance of m