Rock Music in the 1980s

The 1980s was the decade when rock music producers took control of the creative process in the recording studio. Rock music producers were always an important part of the production of hit songs and hit records. Prior to the 1980s their role was primarily to capture the essence of a band and their songs on tape; as well as to coach the musicians in order to get the best out of them during recording sessions.

To make a "record" meant to make a permanent record of a musical performance. In the early days of recording this meant to put on vinyl what a band sounded like in a live performance. The role of rock music producers was greatly expanded in the 1980s because science was then heavily applied to song arrangement and production after the disco era had ended.

My band, White Summer, went into the studio in 1984 to record our fourth album. The studio was the old Motown Records Studio in Detroit; the same place where so many hit songs and hit records had been produced recording artitsts such as Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, The Four Tops, The Temptations, The Jackson Five, and Marvin Gaye. I felt as if I was standing on hallowed ground. It was exciting!

Our record label, Wheelsville Records, sent three rock music producers to manage our recording sessions. We were in for a big surprise as recording artists. The producers had only a slight interest in allowing us to project ourselves as recording artists; their focus was not to capture our natural sound on tape. They were there to apply strict, preconceived, scientific rules to the songs we had written from the heart.

All of the cool intros and endings we had lovingly created—and that we were most proud of—were thrown out the window right away. These producers told us that every song had to establish the main melody immediately. "Why?" I asked. The reply was, "People don't want to be surprised. They want what they expect. We have scientifically studied the hit songs and hit records of the past 20 years of rock music and 82% of the hit songs and hit records began this way."

Then they started cutting the guitar solos by the great Jimmy Schrader, the star of the band. "They are too long and nobody wants to hear them anyway," was the verdict. The fancy, original drum rolls I had created were nixed because "people want to hear the drum rolls they have heard before." All songs had to be cut to three and a half minutes or less because 87% of all hit songs and hit records by recording artists in the past were of that length.

Over 70% of all 80 s hit songs have the same arrangement, we learned, and ours had to conform (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, double chorus, vamp out to fade out). We were told to play some of our songs faster than we wrote them, and some slower, because over 90% of all hit songs and hit records by recording artists are at 110 beats per minute, according to these rock music producers.

The only victory we won was when we refused to have the whole band play to an electronic click track set at 110 beats per minute (musicians conforming to machines). We actually, in our naiveté, thought we were there so that the songs we had created, and the essence of the band's creativity, would be recorded. We could not have been more wrong.

This homogenization of rock music in 80 s hit songs is similar to the franchising of chain restaurants, motels and retail outlets. No matter where you are in America today, you get the same burger, the same room, and the same box store to buy electronics, office supplies, or hardware. Gone is the individuality and originality.

But music is art—not food, lodging or auto parts. In the late Sixties and early Seventies, many musicians could listen to a new record and tell you who was on drums or bass guitar immediately. Each player developed his own style that was a recognizable signature of him as a creative artist that would be left behind after he was gone from the earth.

On most of the 80 s hit songs everybody sounded the same except the singers—and sometimes the guitarists. The producers now decided what was to be played and how it was to be played. Music became a cult of the singer, whereas in the days of authentic rock music the singer was one of the guys, who maybe stood out a little. The backing tracks for the singer were increasingly played (unbeknownst to the public) by uncredited studio players brought in by producers who wanted the actual band members to be photogenic for marketing purposes above all else, whether they could play their instruments well or not.

A record company executive told me, "When they (his band of poseurs) have to perform these 80 s hit songs live, it won't make any difference how well they play because the crowd will be so happy to bask in their presence and too f****d up on drugs and alcohol to be able to comprehend what they are hearing. The important thing is that they were there. It is an event, a happening—not a concert for music. Those days are gone. " Something dear was lost.

 I have also published Hubs about:

My First Album of Original Rock Music

White Summer II

White Summer III

My Rock Band White Summer