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Just how bright were the 80s?
- Thread starter Just Wrong
- Start date
At '80s rock gigs, I had to start slapping on an active bass with roundwound strings just to have any chance of being heard amid layers and layers of synths and HUGE drum sounds.
I don't mean funk slapping, but rather simply attacking the strings with a heavy thumb.
It was NOT the time for fingerstyle on a passive bass with flatwounds (my formative era)!
I don't mean funk slapping, but rather simply attacking the strings with a heavy thumb.
It was NOT the time for fingerstyle on a passive bass with flatwounds (my formative era)!
Nah, you just stepped on your own. It’s all good, like what you like.
I happen to think the vast majority of popular music in any era is mostly awful, but I’m an elitist prick.
Yes, it was awful. All of it. No one used a pre CBS P with 20yo flats any more, so any other bass tone can't possibly sound any good.
Smooth_bass88
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- Oct 31, 2006
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...there was the other side of the coin though whereby the bass was mixed obnoxiously low on a lot of records (...and justice for all), especially in the hard rock and metal genres. That scooped out tone didn't help the situation.
I don't dislike active bass, but I definitely dislike how many people chose to EQ their active basses in the 80s and 90s.
devnulljp
Supporting Member
He said the reason he played the way he did was because he couldn't afford a decent amp and couldn't hear himself, so up the neck he went
But, yeah, a lot of bright bass tones in the 80s. Not just the slappers either. Seemed like everyone was using bright roundwounds and a lot of top end.
I had the Aria Pro II and a Trace Elliot stack with an 8x10. Piano wire roundwounds for more spank.
Well, the thing with the 80’s and bass amp sounds is you have to realize what came before all the “hi-fi” stuff. Compared to today, yeah it’s pretty average. Compared to bass amp sounds of the 60’s and 70’s, the 80’s were lightyears ahead. I mean, I have a late 60’s Sunn 200s. In 1967 that is a perfectly giggable amp. Those who have played through one of those will know it’s not a bright sounding amp at all. Would not work for most popular music in the 80’s besides basic recording.
It’s funny, most bass amps in the 60’s and 70’s were designed to provide as bright of a sound as possible. They just couldn’t really.
It’s funny, most bass amps in the 60’s and 70’s were designed to provide as bright of a sound as possible. They just couldn’t really.
I have always liked Chris Sqier's tone. He absolutely killed it with "Owner of a Lonely Heart".
I lived through the '80s as a teenager - started listening to pop/rock music in August 1982 as an almost-12 year old. My general feeling is "not my favorite decade." I got into the music of the '60s and '70s as I got a little older, and always preferred recordings from that era to the contemporary stuff. To me it sounded thin and more artificial.
A friend 6-7 years younger than me heard me complaining about the '80s the other day and was like, "There is good music from that time - it's not all just one thing." And I (begrudgingly) had to agree with him. I got Journey's Frontiers on vinyl when it came out and then rejected it as "cheesy" or too popular or something, but in my 20s-30s I grew to love their music, '80s and otherwise. Def Leppard was my first concert (in Tokyo in 1984 - I was in the back row of the theater but loved it!) but I stopped listening to them, only to rediscover them in my 30s. Procession was my first Weather Report album (1983?) - I thought I was supposed to like them because Guitar Player magazine told me they were one of the best bands, but it went over my head. Blew me away 20 years later when I went back to it. Slightly later '80s? Kate Bush (Hounds of Love) and Peter Gabriel (Security, So) - saw PG in 1986 and 2023, Tony Levin is awesome! Even 90125 by Yes is kind of mind-blowing - I preferred The Yes Album, Close to the Edge, etc., but later on recognized 90125's brilliance. Oh, and how could I forget King Crimson?!! I had Discipline and Beat - fascinating music! Oh yeah, Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. I definitely preferred Roger Glover's sounds on Machine Head and Made In Japan, but getting to see them at Budokan in 1985 - who can complain?!! I still love the tracks Perfect Strangers and Knockin' At Your Back Door, even if my go-to might be Space Truckin' or Highway Star...
Love that he's playing with his fingers! It's like classic funk/r'n'b bass, but in a different frequency range - why not?!! He was like Stanley Clarke on steroids singing in a pop band.
Here's a bright '80s track:
A friend 6-7 years younger than me heard me complaining about the '80s the other day and was like, "There is good music from that time - it's not all just one thing." And I (begrudgingly) had to agree with him. I got Journey's Frontiers on vinyl when it came out and then rejected it as "cheesy" or too popular or something, but in my 20s-30s I grew to love their music, '80s and otherwise. Def Leppard was my first concert (in Tokyo in 1984 - I was in the back row of the theater but loved it!) but I stopped listening to them, only to rediscover them in my 30s. Procession was my first Weather Report album (1983?) - I thought I was supposed to like them because Guitar Player magazine told me they were one of the best bands, but it went over my head. Blew me away 20 years later when I went back to it. Slightly later '80s? Kate Bush (Hounds of Love) and Peter Gabriel (Security, So) - saw PG in 1986 and 2023, Tony Levin is awesome! Even 90125 by Yes is kind of mind-blowing - I preferred The Yes Album, Close to the Edge, etc., but later on recognized 90125's brilliance. Oh, and how could I forget King Crimson?!! I had Discipline and Beat - fascinating music! Oh yeah, Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. I definitely preferred Roger Glover's sounds on Machine Head and Made In Japan, but getting to see them at Budokan in 1985 - who can complain?!! I still love the tracks Perfect Strangers and Knockin' At Your Back Door, even if my go-to might be Space Truckin' or Highway Star...
Love that he's playing with his fingers! It's like classic funk/r'n'b bass, but in a different frequency range - why not?!! He was like Stanley Clarke on steroids singing in a pop band.
Here's a bright '80s track:
The 80s were my CowPunk years!
X, The Blasters, Los Lobos, Jason and the Scorchers, Rank and File, The Lonesome Strangers, Rockpile.
Life was GOOD.
X, The Blasters, Los Lobos, Jason and the Scorchers, Rank and File, The Lonesome Strangers, Rockpile.
Life was GOOD.
Wasn't that the era when he was doing the Ric-o-Sound thing and sending the neck pickup to an Ampeg rig but the bridge to a Marshall Plexi?
I like your response - thank you. A opinion that I can agree with.
SRV, Bruce Springsteen, Dire Straits, Metallica?
Just thinking about popular 80s music, it was all about experimenting with the latest technology such as synths, drum machines, and the super clean and crisp production techniques that made your parents' music sound "old." So bright tones were the rage.
Even in early death metal (e.g. 1989's Slowly We Rot album by Obituary) had very trebly guitars and it wasn't until the 90s that things started going in the opposite direction with down/drop tuning and EQing more bass and mids to thicken and kinda "dirty" up the 80s pristine sound to sound more "human/authentic" than like a machine.
Nowadays, though, anything goes and with amp modelers, you can get that 80s bright or 60s "thumpy dark" and pick what best fits the music.
And even looking at the brightly colored 80s instruments (like your typical 80s shred guitars)... they are such a product of a very specific span of time. They're not timeless like a sunburst Fender P would be. Even in 2025, 17- 71 year-olds play sunburst FSOs.
Even in early death metal (e.g. 1989's Slowly We Rot album by Obituary) had very trebly guitars and it wasn't until the 90s that things started going in the opposite direction with down/drop tuning and EQing more bass and mids to thicken and kinda "dirty" up the 80s pristine sound to sound more "human/authentic" than like a machine.
Nowadays, though, anything goes and with amp modelers, you can get that 80s bright or 60s "thumpy dark" and pick what best fits the music.
And even looking at the brightly colored 80s instruments (like your typical 80s shred guitars)... they are such a product of a very specific span of time. They're not timeless like a sunburst Fender P would be. Even in 2025, 17- 71 year-olds play sunburst FSOs.
Yup. And it was glorious!
My point being that bright sounding bass is neither restricted to the 1980s nor necessarily bad.
On a slightly different note, I’d like to point out that I’m probably a lot brighter now than I was in the eighties.
In the context of the era you referred to things did thin out in the 80's, doo wop was all but gone, Motown... ; ), but there was still some good rock and roll stuff coming out, much of it from the bands that were from those earlier times. The Dead for example became really great and refined in the mid 80's, not to mention their sound system : ) But maybe you had to experience their music live to get that. Nothing too bright about the bass there. Stevie Ray Vaughn showed up fast as a flash bulb, and then moved on in the blink of an eye, but not before I saw him five times on four tours, first time was 15 feet from him the whole show. Deep Purple did a great reunion tour in 84 or so, saw them at the San Francisco Cow Palace, their show was stunningly perfect.
But yeah, no more Janis Joplin, no more Elvis, no more Patsy Cline, no more Jimi Hendix, no more Jim Morrison, but I did in the 80's get to see Steppenwolf, Johnny Cash, Little Richard, Junior Walker and the All Stars, and made an older lady I worked with laugh so hard at me when she found out that I bought tickets to a New Years Cow Palace show with Jerry Lee Lewis in the line up, she's like, "he will not be there!, no way!"
And she was right too ; )
Yup. And it was glorious!
My point being that bright sounding bass is neither restricted to the 1980s nor necessarily bad.
On a slightly different note, I’d like to out that I’m probably a lot brighter now than I was in the eighties.
I've always rolled back the bass control to emphasize the mid-range and have always preferred a brighter tone. This trend is still in effect.
Depending upon the context, I do the same thing. …but I started playing in the eighties so, there you go!I've always rolled back the bass control to emphasize the mid-range and have always preferred a brighter tone. This trend is still in effect.
