Yes Johnny the 80s Are Still Quite Alive!

As a practicing DJ (in between gigs right now, thank God!), I often find myself wondering what all the fuss is about these days when new music hits the web. I have been fortunate to witness the many many gyrations or waves of genres for some time, but the major underlying mentality is (ironically enough) from the 1980s. Now before anyone gets too hurried to call me "crazy", I want to clarify that what I really mean is that the underlying mentality is European 80s. The world has seen many "British waves" over many different decades starting in the 60s (Beatles, Dave Clark Five, Rolling stones, etc), through the 70s (Police, Eurythmics, etc.) and obviously leading through the 80s (the list is endless almost). One point I want to make with all this verbiage, is that it hasn't been always "British". We have seen many groups from all over Western Europe since the 70s (ABBA-Sweden, A-ha-Sweden, Aqua-Sweden, Scorpions-Germany, Eiffel 65-Italy, Alphaville-Germany, etc) and we still are hearing plenty of groups today with 80s-esque undertones and lyrics/melodies. The problem is, Americans do not realize this because all the groups sing in English and with little to no accent (probably because most learned "Oxford English" in school versus "American English").

The genre called "Techno" (or in the old days "Electronica") is grabbing alot of attention globally in a time when most listeners are wanting for something "new" or "satisfying". Forget the Hip-Hop stuff, that genre has already been mostly played out (as it currently is morphing into something nobody is sure of). The latest trends in the Americas, for some time now, have been to be the last to acknowledge something good coming from other parts of the globe. Techno (there are many "versions and flavours") is commonly played in Clubs and Discos throughout Europe, Australia and South America and has been for some number of years. Many of the Techno artists are cross-enabled as "Club DJs" and produce often for both sides of the industry. These terms are also blurring, in large part, due to the underlying "beat" that permeates most of the tracks produced today. What once was "Rave" is certainly "Club" today and yet most "Techno" artists can easily play in "Club" environments (as well as produce music for Clubs to easily play/mix).

In my opinion, one of the best "Techno" artists of the day is "Darude" (from Finland). Although, there are many artists in this genre now (and for many years), "Darude" is bringing a "variation" of this to the mainstream and his work is starting to truly pay off. There are alot of subtle yet distinguishable past "influences" that can be caught in his music (to a older trained ear, in either case). I couldn't have been more blind to this until Darude informed me that he had produced some variations from the group "A Flock Of Seagulls" of the track "I Ran". I thought it was most illuminating that the 80s influences are still alive and vibrant in the minds of younger artists of today. Darude has released another album named "Label This" and it is an endeavour to make it difficult for "music critics" to force him into a "genre". I can understand his frustration that so many music critics of today are so "under-educated" that they can't function as critics unless ALL music is classified and catalogued by "genres". This is exactly what got the Music Industry into trouble to begin with! "Cookie cutter" mentalities that attempt (and often succeed) to make everyone conform to the same "label" that they are preassigned to. FORTUNATELY, most Europeans do not play "cricket" that way and thus the main reason why most "new" music has originated from, for many years now, Europe or Australia. Heck, even the Eastern Europeans are showing promise today with a few groups hitting European charts.

In any case, I am amazed how many 80s groups have re-formed in the last 2 years. With all the praise for The Police tour that has just recently subsided, as well as "The Regeneration Tour" (a slew of different 80s New-Wave groups that toured together), it is becoming more obvious than ever that the world is tired of the "cookie cutter" material and is again looking backward to the gifted artists of the past to pull them out of their coma. Needless to say, things were done alot differently in the 80s. Many groups conformed to their own beliefs then and made the Music Industry cater to whatever they were doing at the time. That is why music in the 80s was diverse, vibrant and entertaining.

I think we will see alot more of artists like Darude in the next year or two as people realize that they are getting tired of buying or listening to burned out music that just isn't even remotely entertaining anymore. Let's not even mention the fact that people will not be willing to "take a chance" with their money buying CDs or downloads that they realize they just don't like anymore. Darude and his peers have their work cut out for them, but I believe the underlying influences of the past will make them the "New New-Wave" of the near future.