Exo

Disintegration is goth girl prom night panties dropping magic but Seventeen Seconds is the spin here. You guys are trying to get Big3 to like The Cure, remember?

Also...to answer the OP...the 80's did something that not many decades have been able to do and that was to get Iggy Pop to wear a shirt tucked into f*cking denim.

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Trollheart

Or just wear a shirt.

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Neapolitan

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TheBig3

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TheBig3

I told you guys it was corporate.

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bob_32_116

I think it was a mix of all three of those factors I have quoted in bold.I would add Yes and Genesis to that list.

MTV - because it suddenly became a requirement to look youthful and attractive in order to get the MTV watchers interested.

Technology and trend chasing - because so many artists got seduced by the possibilities of what you could do with computers and synthesisers. What they did not realise was that just because you CAN do something does not mean you SHOULD. Adoption of new technology is not a bad thing in itself, but it won't make something sound great that was not a great tune to begin with. Of course I am not referring to artists like Kraftwerk, where the technology was kind of the point.

Trollheart

Ok well this OP is pretty badly informed, at best.
Stevie Wonder I'm not too familiar with all of his work, but wasn't "I Just Called to Say I Love You" a number one hit in 1984? And then there's this:

(from Wiki: bolded text is mine)

The 1980s saw Wonder achieving his biggest hits and highest level of fame; he had increased album sales, charity participation, high-profile collaborations, political impact, and television appearances

Donna Summer, from Wiki again:

Summer received four nominations for the 7th Annual American Music Awards in January 1980, and took home awards for Female Pop/Rock and Female Soul/R&B Artist; and well as Pop/Rock single for "Bad Girls". Just over a week after the awards, Summer had her own nationally televised special, The Donna Summer Special,[18] which aired on ABC network

Joni Mitchell was a child of the sixties; nothing lasts forever. I can't speak of her as I don't know enough about her but I think perhaps she might have found it hard to fit into the new world of synths and DAT. She seemed to have reservations about Thomas Dolby producing one of her albums.

Earth Wind & Fire were very much a thing of the seventies soul explosion. When that began to wind down, good as they were, they probably found themselves in a similar situation to Joni. NLF again.

Elton John? Bowie? Queen? Aerosmith? Seriously? These artists had some of their biggest hits and best-selling albums in the 1980s, with Elton having major hits like "Blue Eyes", "I'm Still Standing" and "I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues", plus that memorable duet with George Michael; Bowie kicked the eighties in the teeth with a "remember me?" including "Ashes to Ashes", "China Girl", "Modern Love" "Let's Dance" and "Blue Jean" to say nothing of teaming up with the next band on your list for "Under Pressure"; Queen had "Radio Ga-Ga", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Another One Bites the Dust" and then there was this little aside, from Wiki again:

Queen chalked up a major international "first" by becoming the band to do for popular music in South America what The Beatles did for North America 17 years ago. Half a million Argentinians and Brazilians, starved of appearances of top British or American bands at their peak, gave Queen a heroic welcome which changed the course of pop history in this uncharted territory of the world rock map. In open-air concerts at temperatures of around 96 degrees, in stifling humidity, the ecstatic young people saw eight Queen concerts at giant stadia, while many more millions saw the shows on TV and heard the radio broadcasts live.

I could go on. Streisand is Streisand and at one point gouged witless fans of five hundred dollars per ticket, so I don't think she was worried. Many of the others - Diana Ross, Dylan, Aretha etc - were again of their time, though all of them had further hits.

In summation, I think you're being either very cruel or unfair to these artists or just trying to make a case by framing your evidence in a way that suits it. None of these artists "fell off badly in the 80s" as you like to say, not from what I've read and not from the evidence of sales and ticket numbers.

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SlyStone63

You already admitted you aren't familiar with his work so there was no point in you posting about it and acting like you know it all... Stevie's best selling album is Songs In The Key Of Life, it even received a Diamond, the majority of Stevie Wonder's top 10 hits were from the 60s - 70s, chart wise Stevie fell off in the 80s, Stevie's records from 1972-1976 were highly acclaimed and are even in the Grammy Hall Of Fame, Stevie earned a lot of awards throughout the 70s in many different categories, Now 80s Stevie Wonder, that was the exact opposite, maybe you should do some research about Stevie Wonder's career...

Donna Summer, best selling album is Bad Girls, 10 top ten hits throughout the 70s, gained her biggest awards throughout the 70s, I Feel Love has been considered a game changer, the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach No. 1 on Billboard's album chart: Live and More, Bad Girls and On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II, in fact you already proved my point when you listed some of her award success because they were a reference to her 70s material... Donna Summer in the 80s now? Exact opposite a massive decline.

Once again what's the point of you mentioning Joni Mitchell and you have admitted you don't know very much about her career? Your EWF comment makes no sense.

Elton John's most successful commercial period was from 1970-1976, his biggest hits, his top selling albums throughout his career such as GoodBye Yellow Brick Road, his albums between 1970-1975 were highly acclaimed and some are even in the Grammy hall of fame compare that to his 80s era... Big decline and even Elton referred the 70s as his golden years.

David Bowie, his classic period were the 70s, acclaimed works came from that decade, he had more top 10 hits in the 70s than he did throughout the 80s, Bowie even referred his 80s period as the "Phil Collins years, the majority of his best selling albums are from the 70s. His albums sales may have increased throughout the 80s but critically they weren't a success,

Aretha Franklin's peak was from 1967-1973 the majority of her top 10 hits were in the 60s - 73 her albums from the 1960s were even successful in the charts, her albums from 67-72 have been acclaimed as some of the greatest albums in popular music and she only had 2 hits in the 80s and one was due to George Michael who was at the peak of his career and who was a fresh young act. but in general if you compare her success from the 60s - the 80s then yes it is indeed a decline

Diana Ross... she fell off badly after Why Do Fools Fall In Love so what are you even talking about when you claimed she had further hits? 1980 was her peak but after 1981 she declined badly too, she hasn't had a hit since the early 1980s and the majority of her success came from the 60s - 81, after 1981 she didn't any success at all, no hits, failed albums critically and commercially

Aerosmith's decline has been acknowledged after their prolific run in the 70s, they didn't have any hits throughout the 80s (unless you count their RUN DMC collaboration a hit), their albums from 73-76 have been acclaimed as some of the greatest rock records in music.

Bob Dylan, 4 top 10 hits in the 60s, plenty of successful albums throughout the 60s and 70s, none in the 80s, I can continue if you want?



In summation, you clearly don't know very much about these artists I mentioned, you admitted that you don't know much about Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell and judging by your post about Donna Summer, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin etc you clearly don't know much about their careers either. There was no "framing" in my evidence at all because unlike you I actually know a lot about these acts and did my research, when you compare these acts who had their peak in the 60s or 70s vs the 80s... They indeed fell off badly throughout the 80s.

Norg

how about the artist from the 00's now in 2021 ...???

jadis

The point that Bowie had an artistic crisis during the 80s is the opposite of controversial unless you suddenly decide that commercial success is the only relevant factor. 1980's Scary Monsters, the last of his postpunk albums, is widely considered to be the last album of Bowie's golden era, maybe his last great album full stop until Blackstar.

Let's Dance is cute but very few would put it anywhere near his 1970s masterpieces. Absolute Beginners was a great one-off single but much of what he recorded during the 80s is painful to listen to today.