Links to the Hindi song collections for the periods covered in this section:
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1980s (All) 1980s GEMs
Commentary:
In many ways, the 1980s were a “lost decade” for Hindi film music, sandwiched between the end of the Golden Era in the 1970s and the start of the Revival Period in the 1990s. The quality of the songs declined steadily from 1980 onwards, until it reached a nadir in 1987. The following year saw the release of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, whose soundtrack was like a breath of fresh air and, along with Maine Pyar Kiya the following year, it presaged the arrival of the Revival Period which was to come in the following decade.
An era ended in 1987 with the passing of Kishore Kumar, the last of the playback-singer triumvirate of Rafi-Mukesh-Kishore which had dominated Hindi music for decades. However, the duopoly of Lata-Asha still continued, although it would be finally challenged and eventually displaced in the coming decade.
Around the same time, the style of music and the standard methods of creating Hindi songs also started to change. Large orchestras became a thing of the past, as synthesizers or electronic keyboards started to be used instead, which enabled asynchronous recordings of different elements of the songs. This removed the need for an entire ensemble of musicians playing together (as well as the rehearsals that came before), taking away a very important creative element from the process. This probably accelerated the decline in the quality of the songs as well.
The following playback singers, music directors and lyricists began to establish themselves in the 1980s:
- Alka Yagnik, Anuradha Paudwal, Kavita Krishnamurty, S.P. Balasubramaniam, Sadhana Sargam, Udit Narayan
- Jagjit Singh, already a big name in ghazals, started singing in Hindi films, often composing the music as well
- Anand-Milind (sons of the Golden-Age composer Chitragupt), Raam Laxman, Shiv-Hari
- Javed Akhtar (previously part of the renowned Salim-Javed scriptwriting duo, now transitioning to lyric-writing).
Waiting in the wings were Kumar Sanu and Nadeem-Shravan, who would arrive with a bang the following year with Aashiqui.