Archive | 1980s Music — State of Sound | The New Independent Voice of Music

1980s

ARCHIVE

ESSAY

‘Outside is America’: Was U2’s biggest failure one of music’s great Icarus moments, or the sound of a band blazing their own trail?

U2’s Rattle and Hum was one of the most savagely mauled albums of the 1980s. But for David Rea, aged fifteen in the year of its release, it was an exhilarating widescreen road movie through America.

7 March 2026

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The Smiths, The Stone Roses and The La’s: 7 guitar riffs that changed my life with Shapes Like People

Watch Shapes Like People’s Carl Mann play the riffs that changed his life. Inspired by everybody from John Squire to Johnny Marr, Carl explains the secret behind a classic riff and why simplicity is always best.

14 March 2026

FEATURE

Live Aid at 40: The story of a punk, a prime minister and a Britain now vanished (Part 2)

The extraordinary story of Live Aid recalls a very different Britain, which came together to help a faraway African nation. It is difficult to imagine the same thing happening today.

27 December 2025

A person with long hair, wearing a denim shirt and jeans, is leaning on a piano, holding their head with one hand and smiling. In the background, several people are sitting and standing, engaged in the same scene.

FEATURE

Live Aid at 40: The story of a punk, a prime minister and a Britain now vanished (Part 1)

The extraordinary story of Live Aid recalls a very different Britain, which came together to help a faraway African nation. It is difficult to imagine the same thing happening today.

20 December 2025

View from behind a drummer on stage facing a large crowd at a concert.