What was 1980s music about

Duran Duran is one of the more popular 80s bands that enjoyed the exposure that MTV gave them, too. Many experts have said that MTV is what made Duran Duran one of the most popular bands to come out of the s era. Bands that really made the most of video were acts like Duran Duran, Michael Jackson with his multi-million dollar epics Thriller was over 14 minutes long!

The s era also enjoyed a harder style of music. Good ol' Rock 'n Roll was a main staple of the 80s music. Popular rock bands like Van Halen, Def Leppard, and Aerosmith pumped out the decibels to the enjoyment of thousands, if not millions, of fans. It was also an era of a genre deemed Glam Rock. The next great revolution in music technology was billed as the wonderfully indestructible compact disc format.

Originally introduced in by Philips and Sony, the new format offered crystal clear sound quality, while according to the presenters on "Tomorrows World" being virtually un scratchable. So, with music videos, portable music, CD's and MTV all happening during the 80's it was another big decade of development for the music industry.

Article about: Music history of the s. African American. Alternative Music. Building bridges Bridges were being built, as if pop music was suddenly flush with tax dollars for infrastructure. Which, in a way it was, with all that CD-format conversion money suddenly flowing in.

And the story of the racial bridge in American music is woefully incomplete without the watershed moment of MTV giving in on programming Michael Jackson in the early 80s — though whether through outside boycott pressure or internal wisdom will always be up for debate. That white people liked black music had been no secret in the Motown and disco eras, but a cultural sea change had started to occur when MTV shifted from black-tolerant to African-American-dominated — a move that culminated in hip-hop becoming the pop music of today.

In the eternally white world of country music, remarkable changes were also afoot. The smooth countrypolitan flavor was nearing its end, leading to the so-called hard country resurgence that let George Strait , Randy Travis and Dwight Yoakam in the door. Reba McEntire, not yet uni-monikered, represented an aw-shucks brand of fresh Nashville feminism — a folksy but fierce bridge between the variety-show era and the sisters-doing-it-for-themselves age.

Which finally brings us — as all discussions of 80s music must — to synth-pop. The kids who grew up with the 80s as their wonder years have been conditioned to think of their entire upbringing as a guilty pleasure at best.

But survivors of the post-Me Decade carry a lot of it. Their heroes did regrettable things, like introduce too many synths into the sound and dance with a teenaged Courtney Cox.

The Linn drum and the advent of the sampler blinded everyone with science. Esteemed artists from Paul McCartney to T Bone Burnett have remixed and even substantially re-recorded albums from their 80s catalogues, allowing fans to re-evaluate the material free from the production techniques that define most 80s music. But we should resist the temptation to see synth-pop itself as a mistake.

The one-, two- and three-hit wonders that did it as their native artform did it wonderfully. That is not just a less Human League 80s but a less human version of the decade. The songs are what matter, one keeper at a time.

Our confusion about how to think about 80s music lies largely in the costume-party aspects. It also was related to the public having an increased disposable income and a want to imitate celebrity affluence. Changes in technology also contributed to the availability of music MTV , better ways to listen CDs and cassettes , and portability of music the Walkman and boom-boxes.

Lastly, a lot of these superstars' success can be accounted for through smart marketed by record companies and the artists' ability to look at themselves as brands. One trend in pop music during the decade was the re-emergence of older musicians who had once been popular as a part of a group or duo into their own solo careers. These artists had already experienced success during the s and s and a few of them had even tried becoming actors during that time.

They also came into successful solo careers after adapting to the new musical landscape. Cher, Tina Turner and Diana Ross all updated their looks to keep up with fashion, Lionel Richie made memorable music videos and adapted his soulful sound into the new style of pop music and Paul McCartney collaborated with other successful musicians to keep himself relevant. Part of the reason these artists were successful had to do with the fact that the Baby Boom generation was coming into adulthood and had an influx of disposable income to spend on the records of artists they had grown up listening to.

They brought a sense of nostalgia for the good old days of music and yet their songs and styles were updated, combining the best of both worlds.

The eighties was the decade of one hit wonders, where an artist would achieve massive success with one or two extremely popular songs and then seemingly fade away, never able to re-create their success. Part of this had to do with the expansion of the music industry, facilitated by MTV and technology. Record companies could now make just as much money by manufacturing one-hit artists in succession while not having to invest the time and money that would make a mediocre musician into a star with more longevity.

Trends were also changing more quickly and many artists could not keep up and adapt fast enough. As the world's society became more globalized, the pool of talent became bigger, making it easier to move onto the next new artist. The changes in technology and societal attitudes also meant that consumers' attention spans got shorter. Hip hop music originally had a difficult time breaking into the mainstream due to MTV's reluctance to show music videos of black artists.

After much criticism, the network started to embrace black musicians like Michael Jackson, whose videos were amongst the most popular, paving the way for hip hop artists like Run DMC and LL Cool J to usher in the era of commercialized rap music. As the genre gained traction on MTV, it gave the white middle class a glimpse into inner city culture and many conservative parents of the time were disapproving of the genre that had been called the "new rock n' roll.

Hip hop music sounded like nothing that had been heard before in mainstream music and the late s was thought of as the Golden Age, were everything seemed original and innovative. By the end of the decade MTV started airing the program "Yo! MTV Raps" making the hip hop and rap music a global phenomenon. Important hip hop acts like Run DMC and LL Cool J made the genre commercial and were style icons, the Beastie Boys made the music "white friendly" and added elements of rock music, and Salt-n-Pepa were female pioneers of the genre.

The New Wave genre began in the s and was popular until the mids. The focus of this music was on artistic themes and the sound was tied to punk rock, dance music, synthesizers and other electronic instruments.