By Brian Detering
Staff Writer

Most of today’s youth think of the ‘80s as the time when they were born and when everything sucked. ‘80s cars sucked, ‘80s style sucked, and ‘80s music sucked. But did it?

‘80s music gets an unfairly bad rap. Sure, there was a lot of pretty bad ‘80s music, characterized by the cheesy techno beats that sound like they were made on a children’s plastic keyboard bought from Toys ‘R Us and hilarious amounts of neon, but the fact is that the ‘80s are home to some great music. The music of the ‘80s spawned the birth of many of today’s genres.

Many of today’s rock bands either originated in or are heavily influenced by those of the ‘80s. The mid to late ‘80s were all about hard rock. ‘80s rock is immediately distinguishable by its heavy use of electric guitar riffs, fast beat and high energy and movement. Think ‘80s, think of the legends: Metallica, AC/DC, ZZ Top, Scorpions, Heart, Guns n Roses, Aerosmith.

Modern day hip-hop can be traced back to the ‘80s, when rap was first popularized as a legitimate genre. The ‘80s were home to rap in arguably its purest form. Before it was diluted by its own image and money, artists like Run DMC and Grand Master Flash were creating classics like “Raising Hell.” LL Cool J first started his career in the ‘80s. Unfortunately, the ‘80s also had some notoriously bad rap (cue “Ice Ice Baby,” from the abundantly talented Vanilla Ice).

‘80s rap was generally much more lyrically based than today’s rap. Artists used simple beats. If the rapping was bad the music would sound bad. Some of today’s rap artists sometimes rely too much on complex beats to make up for mediocre rapping (DMX’s new album “Grand Champ” for example).

And then there is techno. Techno is probably the most infamous of all ‘80s genres. The ‘80s were notorious for their cheesy Fisher Price techno riffs. However, using the computer to generate music was a novel concept, and this genre was still in its experimental stages.

The ‘80s are often looked down upon musically, but many of the genres listened to today had their birthplace in the ‘80s. Perhaps much of this music sounds cheesy today because these genres have since had a decade to evolve. Rap and techno were experimental styles in the ‘80s, not the musical hallmarks of today’s music. So before putting the next Audioslave or 50 Cent CD in the stereo, consider choosing a more old-school album. Try out some of the original rap, hard rock or techno; it might be surprising. Then again, it could just be crappy ‘80s music.