I was thinking about bands that have had success that spanned the 70s and 80s and how they "adapted" to change. I'm a huuuuge fan of 80s music but there are some bands whose body of work from the 70s is superior to their work from the 80s, including Heart, ZZ Top, and Aerosmith.

Is there a band that was "ok" in the 70s that blossomed in the 80s? Or any other bands aside from the ones I mentioned that were better in the 70s vs the 80s?

Journey
Cheap Trick
Van Halen
AC/DC but a lot of debate there

Van Halen is the first one I thought of.

Bands whose songs I personally liked in the 80s more than 70s are probably:

Van Halen
Queen
Boston
Journey


Im probably 5050 on Queen being better , worse, or the same but I think a case can be made that early to mid 80s Queen was indeed better than 70s Queen.

(Side note...nobody will ever convince me there was a greater front man than Freddie)

The other 3 I feel pretty good about saying as a personal opinion i enjoy more of their 80s stuff over the 70s. Now whether they actually GOT better is a matter of interpretation.

Journey is a great example of a band that spanned both decades well. Personally I'd prefer their earlier stuff with Greg Rollie to the newer stuff with Jonathan Cain, but that's just a matter of taste.

I'd include Rush as a band that did well in both decades.

Orlando Ayala Cant Read said:

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Bands whose songs I personally liked in the 80s more than 70s are probably:

Van Halen
Queen
Boston
Journey


Im probably 5050 on Queen being better , worse, or the same but I think a case can be made that early to mid 80s Queen was indeed better than 70s Queen.

(Side note...nobody will ever convince me there was a greater front man than Freddie)

The other 3 I feel pretty good about saying as a personal opinion i enjoy more of their 80s stuff over the 70s. Now whether they actually GOT better is a matter of interpretation.

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Mick Jagger might have an argument, but in either order it's probably a 1a/1b scenario.

Plant

gggmann said:

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I prefer their 1st two albums, but The Cars had a good run in the 80's.

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Yep. Early Cars was my favorite, but they had a lot of good songs in the 80s.

The Cure is who I thought of for this topic.

Great topic ... I was actually thinking about a similar topic the other day in terms of bands that changed significantly due to personnel changes -- i.e. the Doobie Brothers with Michael McDonald or Chicago using David Foster as a producer.

But all the bands I THOUGHT got better in the '80s actually didn't when I looked up dates vs. going by memory. The only one I could make a case for was Toto, which had a couple of hits in the late '70s but really broke through with Toto IV in 1982.

That's kind of a weak example, however, since the debut album didn't come out until 1978, so it's not like they had a full decade.

Generally speaking, I think the '80s were a little rough on '70s artists, especially when new wave and MTV changed pop music.

Dire Straits adapted well (despite Money for Nothing). Foreigner 4 is a solid album from 80s (early), although they didn't last too far into the 80s. Billy Joel had quality albums during 70s and 80s. Tom Petty transitioned extremely well 70s to 2000's. Scorpions and Bob Seger also.

maroon barchetta said:

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Rush had some good albums in the 70's. And some of their later 80's stuff was not as well-received by the fans of that 70's Rush music.

But it's hard to argue against Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures, but released in the early 80's.

The next few were more synth heavy and that turned some fans off but they adapted and changed. They didn't do an AC/DC and put out the same album every time. It ended up working for them.

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Rush had pretty well defined four album sub arcs ....which had little to do with the sounds of that time outside of Rush. They were not trend followers much at all especially early on (pre 1984). But every four albums they would kind of redirect in another direction. The last 4 were spread out so much they are less connected of course.

Rush
Fly By Night
Caress of Steel
2112

A Farewell to Kings
Hemispheres
Permananent Waves
Moving Pictures

Signals
Grace Under :Pressure
Power Windows
Hold Your Fire

Presto
Roll the Bones
Counterparts
Test for Echo

Vapor Trails
(Feedback EP)
Snakes and Arrows
Clockwork Angels

Mathguy64 said:

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For me Rush was 5 distinct eras

Hard rock
Concept rock album
The synth era
Rush 2.0 back to a rock trio and no synths
Touring and having fun with R30, playing Moving Pictures again, CA and R40

I wish Geddy and Alex could find a way to do a Vegas residency with a rotating guest drummer. There are plenty who would happily hop on a kit for a stint. They could even do a main session drummer and have a rotating guest come in for 3-4 sings so that the guest didn't have to learn the full set.

I would pay massive money to see that.

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At The Sphere

GrapevineAg said:

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Journey is a great example of a band that spanned both decades well. Personally I'd prefer their earlier stuff with Greg Rollie to the newer stuff with Jonathan Cain, but that's just a matter of taste.

I'd include Rush as a band that did well in both decades.

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I'm not sure you can discuss Journey without mention of Steve Perry's vocals. Once he took the mic their music changed from progressive rock to power ballads and they became one of the most popular bands in the World.

Mathguy64 said:

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For me Rush was 5 distinct eras

Hard rock
Concept rock album
The synth era
Rush 2.0 back to a rock trio and no synths
Touring and having fun with R30, playing Moving Pictures again, CA and R40

I wish Geddy and Alex could find a way to do a Vegas residency with a rotating guest drummer. There are plenty who would happily hop on a kit for a stint. They could even do a main session drummer and have a rotating guest come in for 3-4 sings so that the guest didn't have to learn the full set.

I would pay massive money to see that.

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Yep a Vegas thing would be great.

And maybe a residency would not normally be at the Sphere but imagine a show there with some of the incorporated graphical elements they could do. Maybe a full immersive 2112 show for example.

But I'd take just a regular concert set in residency at the Caesars Forum or anywhere and I like the idea of bringing in different drummers in tribute like the way Foo Fighters did for that concert honoring Taylor Hawkins was really cool.

Nice

bonfarr said:

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GrapevineAg said:

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Journey is a great example of a band that spanned both decades well. Personally I'd prefer their earlier stuff with Greg Rollie to the newer stuff with Jonathan Cain, but that's just a matter of taste.

I'd include Rush as a band that did well in both decades.

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I'm not sure you can discuss Journey without mention of Steve Perry's vocals. Once he took the mic their music changed from progressive rock to power ballads and they became one of the most popular bands in the World.

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I had no idea Journey had two lead singers before Steve Perry and then Asian Steve Perry.

YouBet said:

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bonfarr said:

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GrapevineAg said:

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Journey is a great example of a band that spanned both decades well. Personally I'd prefer their earlier stuff with Greg Rollie to the newer stuff with Jonathan Cain, but that's just a matter of taste.

I'd include Rush as a band that did well in both decades.

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I'm not sure you can discuss Journey without mention of Steve Perry's vocals. Once he took the mic their music changed from progressive rock to power ballads and they became one of the most popular bands in the World.

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I had no idea Journey had two lead singers before Steve Perry and then Asian Steve Perry.

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He's technically a Pacific Islander.

maroon barchetta said:

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YouBet said:

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bonfarr said:

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GrapevineAg said:

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Journey is a great example of a band that spanned both decades well. Personally I'd prefer their earlier stuff with Greg Rollie to the newer stuff with Jonathan Cain, but that's just a matter of taste.

I'd include Rush as a band that did well in both decades.

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I'm not sure you can discuss Journey without mention of Steve Perry's vocals. Once he took the mic their music changed from progressive rock to power ballads and they became one of the most popular bands in the World.

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I had no idea Journey had two lead singers before Steve Perry and then Asian Steve Perry.

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He's technically a Pacific Islander.

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Asians live in the Pacific. Close enough.

beanbean said:

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Every time I listen to Fool in the Rain by Led Zeppelin, I wish I could've heard what the 80's version of them would've sounded like. Because to me that song was them transitioning into the 80's.

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Such a great beat. Jeff Porcaro combined it w/ the Purdie shuffle for "Rosanna" which became another iconic shuffle beat.