Guitar in the 80s
The 80s was a wild decade. I remember experiencing the dawn of new wave with all the asymmetrical haircuts, zippers, makeup, and lots of things exploding or breaking in slow motion. I also remember how lots of people were claiming that the guitar was dead. No more guitar rock for us, bring on the synth and the gated snare drum!
Though there were obviously tons of synth bands in the 80s, the guitar still had a role to play in this new music. I remember seeing the cool Firebird played by the guitarist for A Flock of Seagulls. And I remember seeing Dave Stewart playing a super cool Gretsch White Falcon. The guitar featured prominently in Robert Palmer’s music as well. And there were many bands still using this antiquated technology called the guitar.
Another genre reared its ugly head in the 80s, literally: Hair Metal! This genre featured pretty boys, ugly ones too, with long, teased hair, tight spandex pants, high healed shoes… And the pointiest guitars you’ve ever seen! Before this genre took hold, Eddie Van Halen had primed the gears with his “Super-Strat” guitar. What is a “Super-strat” you say?! Well, it’s a guitar in the shape of a Fender Stratocaster, but it in stead of the three single coil pickups it has one high powered humbucker in the bridge position, and some kind of super whammy bar like a floyd. And usually some kind of silly, pointy head stock.
Thus began the era of the pointy guitars. Companies like BC Rich, Jackson, and others began designing the silliest, pointiest body styles known to man and woman. Not to be outdone, more traditional guitar manufacturers like Gibson, Fender, Gretcsh, Guild and many others entered the fray. Pointy headstocks, pointy horns, strange new body styles were emerging and overtaking the old more traditional body styles. As a result, I remember seeing Les Pauls, Strats, Teles going for really good prices. Everyone was on the pointy bandwagon, and you could get these older, cooler guitars for a song – or a power ballad at least. But like a dummy I didn’t take advantage of this bear market for classic guitars of yore.
Enter the Indie and grunge eras. As the cycle of new wave was waining, Indie and grunge were on the move. I noticed Indie bands were buying up cheaper models of Fenders, Gibsons and other brands – and putting them to good use; guitars usually relegated to beginners or students were now being purchased by frugal Indie musicians on a budget. But they were also using the more traditional models as well because guitar music wasn’t dead after all.