Terrapin_Station

I don't really agree with the premise aside from the fact that a lot of fans have issues with the stuff those artists put out in the 1980s. And the problem there, in my opinion, was simply that the new material was different and reflected popular trends. A lot of older fans don't want that. They want more of the same more or less.

Most of those artists were quite successful in the 80s, and personally I like the 80s music they put out. I tend to prefer when artists evolve rather than just giving me more of the same.

jadis

Yeah, the problem Bowie's and Stevie Wonder's fans had with their 80s work was that their heroes had "evolved". That their work was too new, too diverse and adventurous. Definitely not that it was 80s dross.

bob_32_116

It's perfectly possible to admire someone for "evolving", and at the same time say you don't like the direction in which they have chosen to evolve. Steven Wilson is a case in point. I don't much like either of his two most recent albums, but I certainly respect his right to change direction, and I would not have been happy if his later albums have been carbon copies of his earlier ones.

jadis

While I'm capable of grasping the idea of an artist who goes in new directions I'm not necessarily thrilled with but respect them anyway, I am also very sympathetic to Bowie fans who failed to appreciate his evolution from someone who kept reinventing himself by releasing brilliant records every year to someone who's stuck in a rut, doing the same commercial gunk as everyone else on MTV.

Scary Monsters didn't sound like Low, which didn't sound like Station to Station, which didn't sound like Diamond Dogs, which didn't sound like Hunky Dory. The problem with his Phil Collins years is that it's the opposite of that.

rubber soul

I have a little more respect for Stevie Wonder in the eighties than I do Bowie for the most part. While it's hard to get into either during that period you can respect the direction Wonder was going in. It's just that I'm not much of an Adult Contemporary person.


As for Bowie, like Jadis suggested, he seemed to be going the more commercial route. It's why I didn't like Let's Dance for example. Thankfully, he got some of his mojo back in the nineties and ended up doing some brilliant stuff at the end.

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Trollheart

The problem is that OP makes the accusation (that's not the right word but I'm having a brain freeze and can't think of what the proper word is) that these artists had "commercial or critical fall off". That could be read to mean they succeeded wildly in the charts but critics hated their work, ie they sold out, or that the critics loved them but they had no chart or album sales success. If you accuse (again not the right word I know) an artist of that, it's hard to defend it because you're basically damned if you do and damned if you don't. I personally rate LD but not NLMD and I like SMASC but think Tonight is garbage. Nevertheless, Bowie had hits from them, big ones. He was never going to be able to (nor I think did he want to) maintain the sort of style he did in the seventies. That was then, this was, um, then too. You know what I mean.

But if OP's premise had been that they were commercially successful but vapid in terms of creativity, or vice versa, that might be an easier argument to take up. As it is, it looks (may be reading it wrong) as if he's saying what I said above: they either had chart success but their work was awful, or their work was great but got no recognition. He seems to apply both, choose as per artist. Which doesn't give them much of a chance if so. I'm really not sure what he's saying, but in terms of commerciality and popularity, well, see my previous post.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

The Batlord

Arguing about whether or not 60s artists successfully transitioned into the 80s makes me want to murder all the losers working at the record store in High Fidelity with a hammer.

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Trollheart

Nah, ya can't touch this.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

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 ...???