Sound Off!

80'S ROCK CLICHÉS
by George Dionne

The eighties were a simple time for rock music. You could wear tight, glittery spandex, torn and tattered t-shirts, a ton of make-up, and teased bangs six inches high. You could wear a suit jacket with jeans and a pastel t-shirt, a skinny tie, and be as clean cut as the guy next door. You could dress in all black, worship Satan, and spit blood. Either way, you were still cool. If it wasn’t a bands look, image, or gimmick that was being recycled over and over again, it was the music. It seemed that certain themes, subjects, ideas, and song titles were used quite a bit back in the eighties. Below you’ll find a fun list that I compiled of some of my favorite eighties rock clichés and a couple of examples for each. Every now and then you’ll see them pop up in one of my reviews as an “80s cliché alert”. The next time you dust off those old LPs and cassettes, see how many you can find.

1. A song named after the band
Ex: Iron Maiden, Big Country

2. A song named specifically for a woman
Ex: Sara, Amanda

3. A song about a car, usually loaded with metaphor
Ex: Slick Black Cadillac, Panama

4. A song about gypsies or titled with gypsy
Ex: Gypsy Road, Cry of the Gypsy

5. A song about a stripper or hooker
Ex: She’s a Beauty, Maneater

6. A song with the word ‘rock’ or a derivative in its title
Ex: Rockin’ Into the Night, I Wanna Rock

7. A song with a futuristic or sci-fi theme
Ex: Future World, Mr. Roboto

8. A band that has Vinnie or Carmine Appice in it
Ex: King Kobra, Black Sabbath

9. A song that’s supposed to be about one thing, but it’s really about sex
Ex: Living After Midnight, Dancing With Myself

10. A song that uses a popular idiom for its title
Ex: Easy Come Easy Go, Rock and a Hard Place

**Sound Off! is Rock-Is-Life.com's verison of Letters to the Editor.
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