4 Killer Artists From the 1980s Who Weren’t Afraid To Go Retro

The 80s took music in bold new directions and forged its own distinct identity from the decades previous to it. But some bands and artists fearlessly plunged back into past eras for their inspiration. These four artists either made a retro vibe their entire identity or just used older music styles in the 1980s to get them through an album or two. In any case, they proved the adage everything old is new again in exciting ways.

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Stray Cats

Come on, now, you had to know that these guys would be on the top of the list, right? Sporting black leather, gravity-defying pompadours, and perpetual sneers, Brian Setzer, Lee Rocker, and Slim Jim Phantom seemed beamed in from some 50s cautionary-tale movie about motorcycle gangs. But the look wouldn’t have mattered much if they didn’t have the goods as musicians and the songs to go with the chops. Stray Cats showed that there were clear connections between rockabilly, punk, and New Wave. In Dave Edmunds, they had a producer who, as an artist, tiptoed that line as well as anybody. Setzer originals like “Stray Cat Strut” and “Rock This Town” brought a distinctive 50s flair to 80s radio.

Marshall Crenshaw

Perhaps it was inevitable that Crenshaw’s music would feature an engagingly retro vibe. His first big break came as a member of the cast of Beatlemania, the late 70s musical featuring the Fab Four’s music. He later got to indulge his love of Buddy Holly when he played the seminal rocker in the movie La Bamba. But in between those two occasions of playing dress-up, Crenshaw charmed as a singer-songwriter who understood that classic songcraft never quite goes out of style. “Someday, Someway”, his debut single released in 1982, shone on the radio amidst all the heavily synthesized hits all around it. Crenshaw’s 80s albums come off as timeless, quite an achievement in an era when many songs became dated about a week or so after their release.

The Manhattan Transfer

The era between the fall of the disco trend and the rise of MTV, about three years or so at the end of the 70s and start of the 80s, allowed for all kinds of unusual pop hit singles to sneak through the gatekeepers. You didn’t need a hip video to make a dent. Nor did you have to bend to the prevailing sounds of the day, mostly because there wasn’t much consensus on what those sounds were. Hence, you end up with The Manhattan Transfer, known as a jazz vocal outfit, hitting the Top 10. They did so with “The Boy From New York City”. Their version of the song somehow sounds even more antiquated than the 1964 original by The Ad-Libs. To their credit, the group followed that up with success in the R&B genre, as they briefly went a bit more modern with their sound.

Billy Joel

Don’t say it, because we already know what you’re thinking. Billy Joel was one of the premier artists of his generation, often setting musical standards for how a singer-songwriter could sound in his era. But we’re focusing here on the 1983 album An Innocent Man. Joel was coming off The Nylon Curtain, a downbeat album that featured a somewhat torturous recording process. When he started writing songs for the follow-up, his new romantic relationships (including with Elle Macpherson and eventual wife Christie Brinkley) had him feeling upbeat. That then led him to reflect on the joyful music of his youth. An Innocent Man is meant to evoke those sounds, with Joel doing homages to The Four Seasons, Motown groups, and many other classic 50s and 60s artists.

Photo by Suzie Kaplan