I will forever remember the 80s as having the most crap music ever being played by some of the best drummers ever.

Gadd, Pocarro, Mason, Weckl... the list goes on and on. And what were they playing? This plastic byproduct of "jazz fusion" that just ruined what Weather Report and Miles started. I went through a 6-month love affair with that genre durring the 80s before I just couldn't take the sugar-coated jazz lite of it anymore. Listening to Lee Ritenour, Jean Luc-Ponty, Chick Corea, Spyro Gyra or Larry Carlton today makes me just wanna gag.

One guy's opinion...
 

I agree partly. But, in the 80s, bands like Autograph and Ratt were responsible for me looking elsewhere for music. And I stumbled upon Spyro Gyra's Freetime album which I found accessible and the more I listened to it, the more I liked it. I don't much care for the stuff you mentioned above anymore, but it was a stepping stone to get me into something other than rock and/or roll. I would have to say the 80s had a lot of bad music, but personally I think the rock side of things was worse than the "jazz" side.