I love the neo-80s aesthetic

[ProfJIM]

I don't know what it is, but it just speaks to me.
I love the stylized, neon soaked colors, the synth-driven music. The cars, most of the now idealized fashion.

I don't deliberately seek out stuff that uses this medium but I always seemed to be drawn too it.

Part of it is my love of John Carpenter movies, especially ones where he did the music like Escape from New York and They Live. Then the movie Drive came along and kinda re-vitalized it. I guess some of Planet Terror kinda did that too; that movie has always felt like a lost Carpenter 80s film to me.

Hobo with a Shotgun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssHEAOrAdCU) is a great example too. The color palette in that has a beautiful hyper-realism too it. The music is great too. It also made me discover an actual song from the 80s i didn't know exsited that has since become one of my favorites. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usFFKNRB2z8)

Even one of the bands I'm currently obsessed with, CHRVRCHES has a distinct 80s synth pop sound. And there is a whole mess of bands like Lazerhawk and Miami Nights '84 that are doing synch electro stuff called Outrun.

And has anybody here played Hotline Miami? That thing is crazy with style.

Here is a trailer for it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o9SUPgyZRY) and then like a short film based on it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9WSx7jZ-Rk)

I love retro graphics but then to take on this style too? Dream come true for me.

Anybody else aware of this stuff?

[M|X|Y]

yes, a lot of "shoegaze" rock is kind of like that. some of it isnt that good, but every now and then you'll find some good shit

[YoungRemy]

Then the movie Drive came along and kinda re-vitalized it.

Anybody else aware of this stuff?

(y)

I was making a long post about how Drive has that retro neo vibe and then I saw you had that covered.

i love the music in that movie...

[ProfJIM]

I seriously have to stop myself from watching it everyday.

Hotline Miami is heavily inspired by Drive, so much they thanked Nicolas Winding Refn in the credits.

It's like Drive meets Vice City meets Memento with super neon retro graphics.

[afronaut]

yes, a lot of "shoegaze" rock is kind of like that. some of it isnt that good, but every now and then you'll find some good shit

early Pains of Being Pure at Heart are kind of like that, in that they are shoegaze-y and also recall bands like the Cure and the Smiths.

That's the only one I can think of though, most neo-shoegaze sounds like the 90s to me, considering that shoegaze was mostly a 90s thing.


Jim, you missed a big one: Far Cry Blood Dragon fits pretty much every descriptor you listed. I haven't seen anything that out-80s that game.

[ProfJIM]

I meant to put Blood Dragon, but I thought up this thread this morning and just got to typing it out now so I forgot it. I have only played the demo. I hope to play through the rest of it soon.

The soundtrack is outstanding.

[TurdBerglar]

everything from the 80's seems very trashy to me. very over indulgent and style over substance. and everyone seemed to be trying really hard to be as white as possible.

the movies were great though, especially all those drenched in dystopia like blade runner, the first terminator and the alien movies. something about the stark grittiness lofi aesthetic I find very pleasing.

I remember the rapid transition from the 80's to the 90's. it only took like two years or less for the 80's to completely flip flop to the 90's. it seemed like a major and very noticeable transition. everything went from trying really hard to be a certain way(that weird Reagan whiteness), and to have a certain style to very lax and real/aware, do you own thing coolness.

then that whole 90's aesthetic became very forced just as the 80's aesthetic did and the cycle continued.

[Dorothy Wood]

I like 80s aesthetic to a point, but sometimes it was so overwrought. I like how 80s electronics look because they're mainly just functional with a lot of rectangles. I don't like the smoothing out that happened in the 90s.

I like early 80s the best, because things were sorta plain, but punctuated with outrageous. People wore clothes that fit them. I feel like when clothing manufacturing started getting outsourced, China just started trolling the U.S. with cheap boxy clothes. And now look at how horrible the majority of people dress. Oversize, ill-fitting, bad quality. At least in the 80s, even a plain t-shirt fit well and lasted. And I guess even the boxy clothes were made well then.

Most enjoyable 80s aesthetic for me will always be what you see in Less Than Zero.

And I was going to post this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyvhTIOJeJ4
but it's from '79, oops.

[Lyman Zerga]

i love 80s toys and bright colors, deal with it!

[ProfJIM]

This. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe76yA13I8s&feature=share&list=PLXNHsBkX9mEEksXxkMYIOMq_TIudsaAMp)

I've always wanted to see a new Sci-fi TV show that deliberately uses this cheesy 80s style.

Like Battlestar 1980 meets Space Mutiny. (Which used old Battlestar footage for its space scenes anyways)

[ProfJIM]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i82Eo_JiywY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqy98hcMV9w&feature=youtu.be

[Waus]

For sure.

http://www.pinterest.com/waywardwallace/disco-futurism-neo-futurism/

[ProfJIM]

^YES!

[roosta]

I quite like all the neo-80s stuff, music and visual-wise.

Com Truise does quite electro-ish stuff... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeBwHzKStck)

[ProfJIM]

Yeah, they have some nice stuff.

[ProfJIM]

Seriously, anybody here play Hotline Miami? I'm kinda obsessed with it.

[M|X|Y]

I watched a youtube video of it and the controlling on it looks unconfortable. You use a mouse, right?

Afro: Yes the shoegaze thing is supposedly based on the 90s aesthetic but I do hear the 80s here and there.

[ProfJIM]

I'm playing it on PS3

[afronaut]

I watched a youtube video of it and the controlling on it looks unconfortable. You use a mouse, right?

Afro: Yes the shoegaze thing is supposedly based on the 90s aesthetic but I do hear the 80s here and there.

Yeah now that I think of it there are more bands, like Wild Nothing, that do the whole shoegaze/dream pop thing but sound very 80s. I dig it for the most part.

[ProfJIM]

Wild Nothing video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm636VSQXUU)

Very neo-80s.