Editor’s note: Arachnophonia is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
This special edition of Arachnophonia features contributions from students in Dr. Joanna Love‘s MUS 235 class: “I Want My MTV: Music Video and the Transformation of the Music Industry.”
All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.
Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by MUS 235 student Bianca and features . Thanks, Bianca!
Although most of us students at the University of Richmond aren’t as familiar with music from the 80s as we are with modern top tracks, special collections of older hits allow us to become familiar with timeless tunes, cranking up our headphone volume to the sounds of guitar riffs and boisterous snare drums, just as our parents must have done with their cassette tapes.
Sounds of the Eighties: 1983 is a CD collection of just that: 18 different pop “hits” from the year 1983. It was manufactured for Time-Life Music by Warner Special Products, a Time Warner Company in 1994. It features hit songs from Quiet Riot, The Fixx, Stray Cats, Dexys Midnight Runners, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Thomas Dolby, David Bowie, Culture Club, Marvin Gaye, Michael Sembello, Naked Eyes, Madness, Toto, Stevie Nicks, Greg Kihn Band, The Kinks, Kajagoogoo, and Spandau Ballet. Billy Altman, a Pop music writer for People and The New York Times, former editor of Creem, and executive producer of the award-winning Heritage Series, detailed the inside cover with short, catchy blubs about each band and the music of 1983 in general. Although this blog post will not be focusing in detail on all of the songs, it is important to analyze how the songs work together as a collection, how Altman portrayed each band and the overall music culture of the 80s, and how this CD can help further future academic research.
The cover photo of “Sounds of the Eighties: 1983,” courtesy of Michael Ochs Archives, Venice, CA and London Features International, Ltd.
While the CD features 18 different songs and bands from the year 1983, they are strikingly similar music-wise. The choice of tracks can be divided into two categories, with each song fitting into either category. The first category features upbeat tunes with a fast tempo, strong guitar or synth riff, loud straining vocals and thick musical texture, such as “Cum On Feel The Noise” or “Maniac.” Most of these songs are about a relationship with a woman, sung by a male singer. Upbeat, catchy, and dance-worthy, these hits all focus on a similar backing beat that remains constant. The other category contains slower, more soulful tunes, with a crooning singer, such as “Sexual Healing” and “Time (Clock of the Heart).” All of them focus on the object of a romantic desire, as the lyrics demonstrate a sense of longing and passion. Despite having the opportunity to portray a wide variety of music, the tracks are very homogeneous, as most feature a white male singer with similar styles of singing. Many follow the same form with an opening riff, short verses, catchy chorus repetition, and some sort of bridge or guitar solo. In essence, each song seems to be a slightly different version of the others, demonstrating a clear Pop sound of 1983’s music.
This homogeny directly contrasts what Altman writes about for his description of the 80s music scene. He highlights each band as distinctly unique, from Culture Club’s gender-bending persona, to the “nice guy’s band” of Greg Kihn, to Marvin Gaye’s “deep-cutting social commentary.” They joined the music industry in different ways and had diverse effects on the history of music in general. While Stevie Nicks had a long career with many top-chart hits, one hit wonders like Thomas Dolby are also featured. So why did artists from such diverse and different backgrounds end up creating hits so musically-similar, and what does this mean for academic study of 80s musical culture?
The answer is pretty simple: artists knew what the listeners wanted. The 80s ushered in an era of New Wave and synthetic instrumentation, forming a new Pop sound that teens could dance to. This homogeneity of sound and lyricism demonstrates that if one artist finds success with a musical concept, others will follow. Such is the case of the portrayal of a voyeuristic (or obsessive) gaze, for many hits over the decades feature an object of romantic obsession that the singer would like to “obtain.” This topic pertains to my specific research as a student studying the theme of voyeurism in popular music videos. I was drawn to Naked Eyes’ “Always Something There to Remind Me,” a track featured on this CD, as the epitome of a voyeuristic stalker: the main singer follows a famous woman, constantly vying for her attention and love, in a music video that was constantly featured on MTV.
Naked Eyes’ music video for “Always Something There to Remind Me,” released in 1982. Lead singer Pete Byrne is seen following a famous married woman to multiple public places and singing about her on the street.
However, through further research I found that the theme of voyeurism and unobtainable desire wasn’t unique to Naked Eyes but was prevalent in many songs from the 70s and 80s, from Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl” to Blondie’s “One Way or Another,” thus spanning genders and genres from Rock to New Wave Alternative. Obsessiveness as a lyrical and visual theme has continued to modern popular music, as artists such as Maroon 5 sing about “praying” on unsuspecting romantic interests.
Maroon 5’s music video for “Animals,” released in 2014. Lead singer Adam Levine is seen standing in the rain, gazing at a woman through her window. He continuously stalks her throughout the video.
At this point you’re probably asking, what does this have to do with Sounds of the Eighties: 1983? The key to understanding the connection is to look beyond the obvious. This collection of music from 1983 isn’t just the top tracks of that year but reveals how artists are compelled to use the successful ideas and themes of other artists, even if that idea does not necessarily represent their ideal musical sound. For instance, each artist on the CD ended up using the strong riff pattern and backbeat that arose in the 80s, despite coming from different musical backgrounds. Naked Eyes, a New Wave preppy British band is united with American Pop-Sugar sounding Maroon 5 with a voyeuristic male gaze, even though everything else about the bands is different. Thus, the takeaway from this CD isn’t the details of its musical soundtrack, but rather what is says about human nature’s drive to replicate what has come before. While ingenuity still remains idyllically, it is often much easier to copy what’s been deemed “successful” as opposed to risking it all on a novel idea. This insight therefore informs my research by demonstrating how the voyeuristic gaze spread throughout the decades of music, not because these singers were actually stalking unsuspecting romantic interests, but rather because it was a theme that proved interesting to listeners. Fascinated with the creepiness of The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” or Coldplay’s “Shiver,” fans unknowingly told artists that this theme works, even though in real life, no one really likes a stalker.
An image from The Police’s creepy video for “Every Breath You Take,” featuring lead singer Sting in black and white, staring gloomily into the camera.
This takeaway of homogeny of sound and meaning in popular music can extend to many other scholarly inquiries. For instance, one can look at not only the homogeny of Pop music, but other genres as well, such as Classical, Rock, Rap, or Country. Why do artists from each genre try to replicate what has already been done, building off of one another to create something “new”? This inquiry can also extend to the fields of Anthropology and Sociology, as both fields engage in studying what people do creatively as related to one another. Therefore, if you are curious about some aspect of musical homogeny, the continuation of certain musical themes over time, or human nature’s desire to replicate, listen to and read the inside cover of Sounds of the Eighties:1983. Disguised by catchy Pop tunes and upbeat backing tracks, this CD actually highlights a group of diverse artists who came together to form the synthetic Pop sound of the 80s. This sound reveals an innate desire to recreate what has been deemed successful, whether it be musical style or lyrical themes such as a creepy voyeuristic gaze. For some reason, music fans across the decades have loved the idea of romantic stalking. Personally, I find it a bit unsettling.
