1980s: MJ: The King of the Decade
The 80s saw a new musical genre taking force: Pop music. Talking about the 80s in music is talking about Michael Jackson. Dubbed ”The King of Pop”, he was the first African-American, along with Prince, to have his music videos played on heavy rotation in the 1980s. Jackson became popular due to his dance moves, his disguises, and his talent as an artist. Jackson was accompanied by other stars of his time, such as Prince, Madonna, and Whitney Houston. All of them were also very representative musicians of their time.
Michael Jackson, along with Elvis Presley, is highly regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. His talent as a musician was evident in his choreographies and lyrics. Many people in the 80s wanted to be like him, and still now, many enjoy dancing out to his songs. Jackson is a very important figure for post-war music.
1981: I Want my MTV
At the start of the decade, the world of music had been shaken with the death of John Lennon. New musicians and opportunities, however, came in to compensate for such loss. In 1981, Americans tuned their TV sets as the voice of a VJ (video jockey) spoke the iconic words, ”Ladies and gentlemen, rock n roll!” What followed next was the first music video to air on cable TV. This new channel, Music Television (MTV for short), aired in 1981 for the first time. After that iconic presentation, it would continue presenting music videos by another popular artists, creating a new facet of music.
The launch of MTV completely revolutioned the music industry. It became an influential source of pop culture in and outside of the US, and brought fame to new artists. Michael Jackson, Prince, Duran Duran and Madonna are some acts that became very popular during this decade. MTV has lost much of its original spark, but its legacy remains longlasting.
1980s: Deaths and New Careers,Rock in the 1980s
The start of the 1980s saw an important tragedy for rock n roll: The death of Bon Scott, who’d been main vocals for AC/DC for many years. Luckily, the band didn’t gave up. With their new vocalist, Brian Johnson, they continued their career through the album Back in Black. The 1980’s continued on 70’s rock n roll trends, such as hard rock and arena rock, as well as the emergence of the glam metal subgenre. Queen, Def Leppard, Kiss, Mötley Crue, Quiet Riot, Scorpions, Europe, Twisted Sister, Poison and Whitesnake were the main exponents of the hard rock genre, while arena rock triumphed with REO Speedwagon, Styx, Rush, Journey, and Foreigner. Aerosmith and Alice Cooper saw successful comebacks in the 1980s. Ozzy Osbourne, from Black Sabbath, started his soloist career with Blizzard of Ozz. Glam metal was defined by the sound of Van Halen and Bon Jovi, as well as the rawer sound of Guns N Roses. Queen returned to guitar-driven hard rock in 1989.
Rock n roll was at its most extreme facet during the 1980s. All of the aforementioned acts influenced this form of music in many ways. Rock n roll music has emerged a lot since its origins in the 1950s, and will continue for the rest of the decades. For now, this names are sure to make true fans bang their heads.
1980s: From Bronx to America!
The Emergence of hip-hop
Hip-hop is another form of music that has been used as social commentary. However, a few decades ago, it still didn’t have the form it has today. Hip-hop emerged in the late 1980s in the barrios in the Bronx, New York, among Afro-American communities. During the latter half of this decade, it greatly became a commercial form of music with great influences on pop and funk. Run D-M-C- were the best-selling hip-hop group of this decade. In one occassion, they collaborated with Aerosmith, which earned them widespread fame. During this decade, hip-hop began implementing beatboxing as a way of creating melody through the use of the human body, and began incorporating social messages in its lyrics.
Hip-hop is now mostly associated with gold chains, trashy monologues, and social messages. From the first party Kool Herc threw on the Bronx in 1973, hip-hop has become a mainstream force in culture. However, if it wasn’t for the 80s, it’d probably remained stuck in the New York barrios.
