Re:Dark Age

[a k butler <akbutler@tiscali.co.uk>]

>Could anyone please explain to me why the Eighties are often referred to
>as "the dark age"?
>
>         Rainer

lots of possible reasons,
to do with music going flat and straight

i have theories:-

1) Style (and fashion) became more important than content (and music).
     ...and the music industry went with that in a big way
2) The sound at live music events took a drastic drop in quality (it 
really did,
    I was there). Partly because the pa equipment itself sounded 
worse (and still does).
3) any band going into a studio would find themselves presented with a drum
    machine as a replacement for their drummer.
4) It started to be considered that metronomic time keeping  was correct,
    and that anything else was wrong.
5) in the studio, it became "a really good idea" to remove all the 
dynamics from the music using compressors.
6) somehow related to the dominance of the Disco in the latter half 
of the seventies.

...or at least, that's how it seemed in the UK.

andy butler