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The 80s Were… Weird…. About the Saxophone

Sound Field | September 23, 2026



The ’80s took the saxophone to a… weird… place. How did Careless Whisper become a meme? And how did the instrument that once defined cool become a punchline? A look back and the history of the saxophone, the “sax man”, and this classic jazz instrument.

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0:00 Intro
1:14 Saxophone Origins
3:56 The 80s
7:32 Smooth Jazz
9:21 And Beyond

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Written by Sound Field

Comments

This post currently has 18 comments.

  2. @Zlornick444

    September 23, 2026 at 7:58 pm

    It's John Coltrane's 100th birthday, right, so let's release a video about the saxophone and instead of celebrating one of the instrument's greatest player's and one of the most important musicians in American music history, we'll talk about how the instrument is a joke. Oh and we'll just throw in a dig about how his music is too complex for normal people. Yall ain't serious.

    Reply
  12. @ddogg9255

    September 23, 2026 at 7:58 pm

    It's great in noisier avant garde rock, too. Black midi (and Geordie Greep solo) features one often. Nothing else has the dynamics to cut through the baseline intensity, and be so responsive to genre bending.

    Reply
  13. @Beryllahawk

    September 23, 2026 at 7:58 pm

    What a fascinating history! I absolutely missed the meme-phase, outside of a single reference to a single clip of some sort. Then again I also barely registered anything about Clinton's campaign days.
    I feel like sax is also in some way more accessible to musicians – the one time I attempted to look for beginner instruments for my kid, the saxophones were among the least expensive options. So maybe it helps a lot that more folks can really get familiar with the instrument in the sense of direct experiences. But it's such a wonderful sound honestly. I'd never considered its similarities to vocals but that has to be one of the reasons I enjoy it a lot, I can rather literally hum along with at least some of what I'm hearing. Most other brass and "classic" wind instrumentation doesn't lend itself well to that – whether that's because my personal experiences have all been with larger works or because professional brass and wind players have magical breathing powers I don't know šŸ˜€

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