Post by scottstevens on Sept 3, 2018 18:31:30 GMT -5
Well, actually, let's not create the new one, let's name one that already exists but, to my knowledge, never has been given a proper name...and if it has been named and I've missed it, I'm very much open to learning that as well. A little backstory:
I grew up a child of the 80's..born in the 70's, and my formative years in the 80's were filled with an inundation of all kinds of music from just about every genre you could think of and some of the deepest stuff you'd could imagine. Years later it has allowed me to be called, by some, a musical "guru", etc etc. I'm not one to agree with that classification as I’m constantly learning new things about the music I thought I knew so much about. I believe you never stop learning on subjects like this.
In fact, just this evening, I came across the music video for the song “Silent Running” by Mike & The Mechanics, a song I’m so very much fond of but, to my surprise, never had seen the official video that was issued for the song. In my discussions (which oftentimes have no specific track to which we adhere, which makes it fun) with a great mentor and friend it brought me back to a question that I’ve never quite received resolution (for want of a better word) to.
What type of song is that?
I’ll go a little deeper into my meaning behind that. There is a certain type of song that, primarily, came from the 1980’s, that has a certain sound. I’m not speaking of lyrics. I’m not speaking of artists. I’m not speaking of videos, etc. It’s a “sound” …one for which I’m trying to provide a name (again, it may already exist, I just can’t narrow it down). In my music collection these are all songs that I’ve dropped into a folder called “80’s Dark”. To me, if you close your eyes, the sound, the ambience (?), the mental image of the song might lead you (it does for me) to images of the singer walking through a dark alley, around midnight, in a trench coat, singing the lyrics while walking in the rain in and out of the light of the streetlights nearby. I want to give that style…that sound….a term of its own.
More recently I’ve discovered that there’s a newer genre based, as best I can tell, on this type of music from the 80’s. It’s called “Synthwave” – Wikipedia gives it this definition: “Synthwave (also called outrun, retrowave and futuresynth) is a genre of electronic music influenced by 1980s film soundtracks and video games.” - Given its basis on the music I’m describing, I’m not certain I can classify the music that came out in the 80’s under that term. But what is it? I refuse to just say it’s a “ballad” because that doesn’t fit them all.
The closest I came to finding it was ‘Dark Wave” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_wave) but even that doesn’t really fit. So, on the encouragement of that friend with whom I’ve wracked my brain to figure it out, I asked about posting here because I’m to understand there are a great deal of intelligent people here capable of intelligent discussion. So, I’m appealing to all of you within that description. Presented here is a list of songs that, to me, don’t fit a specific, defined “niche” or “genre”, but all have certain dark, ethereal, brooding undertone to them. I want to give it a name….different from a genre or style that the bands performing the songs might be “classified” as….but…what’s the term I’m looking for? I’ve included some video links as well (just a few of the stand-out songs, in my mind).
Alan Parsons – Eye In the Sky -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNiie_zmSr8
Laura Branigan - Self Control –
www.youtube.com/watch?v=za5tFh99VjA
Mike & the Mechanics - The Living Years -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hr64MxYpgk
Mike & The Mechanics - Silent Running -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep7W89I_V_g
The Police - Every Breath You Take -
youtu.be/OMOGaugKpzs
Mr. Mister - Broken Wings -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKhN1t_7PEY
Till Tuesday - Voices Carry
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uejh-bHa4To
Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr9Oubxw1gA
Phil Collins - Another Day in Paradise
Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
Ah-Ha - Take on Me
Christopher Cross - Arthur's Theme
Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes
Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart
Lionel Richie - Hello
John Waite - Missing You
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Paul Young - Every Time You Go Away
Heart - These Dreams
Simply Red - Holding back the Years
Berlin - Take My Breath Away
Cutting Crew - Died in your Arms Tonight
Heart - Alone
Cheap Trick - The Flame
Martika - Toy Soldiers
Foreigner - Waiting for a Girl Like You
Spandeau Ballet - True
Genesis - That's all
Nena - 99 Red Balloons
Thompson Twins - Hold me Now
So….what is it? Can we give it a name (new or existing)?
Thanks in advance!
I grew up a child of the 80's..born in the 70's, and my formative years in the 80's were filled with an inundation of all kinds of music from just about every genre you could think of and some of the deepest stuff you'd could imagine. Years later it has allowed me to be called, by some, a musical "guru", etc etc. I'm not one to agree with that classification as I’m constantly learning new things about the music I thought I knew so much about. I believe you never stop learning on subjects like this.
In fact, just this evening, I came across the music video for the song “Silent Running” by Mike & The Mechanics, a song I’m so very much fond of but, to my surprise, never had seen the official video that was issued for the song. In my discussions (which oftentimes have no specific track to which we adhere, which makes it fun) with a great mentor and friend it brought me back to a question that I’ve never quite received resolution (for want of a better word) to.
What type of song is that?
I’ll go a little deeper into my meaning behind that. There is a certain type of song that, primarily, came from the 1980’s, that has a certain sound. I’m not speaking of lyrics. I’m not speaking of artists. I’m not speaking of videos, etc. It’s a “sound” …one for which I’m trying to provide a name (again, it may already exist, I just can’t narrow it down). In my music collection these are all songs that I’ve dropped into a folder called “80’s Dark”. To me, if you close your eyes, the sound, the ambience (?), the mental image of the song might lead you (it does for me) to images of the singer walking through a dark alley, around midnight, in a trench coat, singing the lyrics while walking in the rain in and out of the light of the streetlights nearby. I want to give that style…that sound….a term of its own.
More recently I’ve discovered that there’s a newer genre based, as best I can tell, on this type of music from the 80’s. It’s called “Synthwave” – Wikipedia gives it this definition: “Synthwave (also called outrun, retrowave and futuresynth) is a genre of electronic music influenced by 1980s film soundtracks and video games.” - Given its basis on the music I’m describing, I’m not certain I can classify the music that came out in the 80’s under that term. But what is it? I refuse to just say it’s a “ballad” because that doesn’t fit them all.
The closest I came to finding it was ‘Dark Wave” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_wave) but even that doesn’t really fit. So, on the encouragement of that friend with whom I’ve wracked my brain to figure it out, I asked about posting here because I’m to understand there are a great deal of intelligent people here capable of intelligent discussion. So, I’m appealing to all of you within that description. Presented here is a list of songs that, to me, don’t fit a specific, defined “niche” or “genre”, but all have certain dark, ethereal, brooding undertone to them. I want to give it a name….different from a genre or style that the bands performing the songs might be “classified” as….but…what’s the term I’m looking for? I’ve included some video links as well (just a few of the stand-out songs, in my mind).
Alan Parsons – Eye In the Sky -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNiie_zmSr8
Laura Branigan - Self Control –
www.youtube.com/watch?v=za5tFh99VjA
Mike & the Mechanics - The Living Years -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hr64MxYpgk
Mike & The Mechanics - Silent Running -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep7W89I_V_g
The Police - Every Breath You Take -
youtu.be/OMOGaugKpzs
Mr. Mister - Broken Wings -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKhN1t_7PEY
Till Tuesday - Voices Carry
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uejh-bHa4To
Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr9Oubxw1gA
Phil Collins - Another Day in Paradise
Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
Ah-Ha - Take on Me
Christopher Cross - Arthur's Theme
Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes
Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart
Lionel Richie - Hello
John Waite - Missing You
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Paul Young - Every Time You Go Away
Heart - These Dreams
Simply Red - Holding back the Years
Berlin - Take My Breath Away
Cutting Crew - Died in your Arms Tonight
Heart - Alone
Cheap Trick - The Flame
Martika - Toy Soldiers
Foreigner - Waiting for a Girl Like You
Spandeau Ballet - True
Genesis - That's all
Nena - 99 Red Balloons
Thompson Twins - Hold me Now
So….what is it? Can we give it a name (new or existing)?
Thanks in advance!