1980s in music
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1980s in music is music created and performed in the 1980s. This decade saw the emergence of new wave, electronic music (e.g., synthpop) the use of the synthesizer, and the introduction of hip hop and sampling.
The decade began with a backlash against disco music and a movement away from the orchestral arrangements that had characterized much of the music of the 1970s. Music in the 1980s was characterized by electronic sounds accomplished through the use of synthesizers and keyboards, along with drum machines. The music channel MTV began the trend of the music video. The first video to be aired on MTV was Buggles's "Video Killed The Radio Star".
The term 'eighties music' is often used to describe a style of UK pop music common in the early and middle part of the decade, typified by artists such as Wham!, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. This excludes other forms of music composed during the decade, e.g. classical, and also typically excludes later pop music such as the emergent electronic dance music movement.
This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1980s.
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Events
- Michael Jackson revolutionized music with his best-selling album Thriller. Thriller, released in 1982, is the world's all-time best selling album with over 104 million sold copies. His mannerisms and trends were copied repeatedly, from the single-glove, to the various jackets he wore, and the now-famous moonwalk.
- In the United States, MTV was launched and music videos began to have a huge effect on the record industry. The first video aired was Video Killed the Radio Star by the British band The Buggles, and it proved oddly prophetic. Bands such as Duran Duran made lavish music videos which made MTV a cultural phenomenon. Early eighties groups such as Devo and Haircut 100 were pioneers. Pop artists such as Madonna and Michael Jackson mastered the format and turned it into big business.
- New Wave and Synthpop were developed by artists such as The Cars, Duran Duran, A Flock of Seagulls, Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, Japan, Soft Cell, Bananarama, New Order, and Tears for Fears, and become popular phenomena throughout the decade, especially in the early eighties.
- Heavy metal, Big Hair Bands and Glam metal, experienced extreme popularity in 1980s, becoming one of the most dominating music genres of the 1980s with artists such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Van Halen, Kiss, Twisted Sister, Aerosmith, Poison, Ratt, Skid Row, Hanoi Rocks, Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Queen, Whitesnake, Quiet Riot, Bon Jovi, Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, and Rush, all receiving extensive airplay.
- Thrash metal appeared and became an underground sensation originating mostly in the Bay Area (San Francisco), and New York City. A few of these acts, such as Metallica, Megadeth (formed in Los Angeles), Anthrax and Slayer (formed in Huntington Beach), managed to achieve mainstream exposure (especially during the early 1990s), and were frequently seen as alternatives to the poppier "glam metal" bands of the day.
- Extreme metal began, with bands such as Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Death, Possessed, Morbid Angel and gained prominence in the underground.
- House music was a new development in dance music mid-way through the decade, growing out of the post-disco scene early in the decade and later developed into acid house, a harder form of dance often associated with the developing late 1980s drug culture.
- Hip hop and rap music, introduced by urban youths of predominantly African American descent, debuted in the pop culture scene as early as 1979, with the Sugar Hill Gang's single release Rapper's Delight. MTV picked up on this movement with "Yo! MTV Raps", a one-hour show dedicated to hip-hop music videos.
- The Hip hop scene evolved to become a powerful musical force, bringing with it several dance styles. As hip hop artists such as Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow and N.W.A. gathered mainstream attention, hip hop's influence began to spread outside of Los Angeles and New York City, eventually taking off into America's shores during the 1980s in 1986.
- Alternative rock appeared as a then-aptly titled alternative to the mainstream rock trends of the day, with American bands such as R.E.M., The Replacements, Sonic Youth, They Might Be Giants, Camper Van Beethoven, the Violent Femmes and the Pixies, and British bands such as The Cure, The Smiths and Echo and the Bunnymen, as pioneers. This style of music was widely popular with college students and received almost all of its airplay from college radio stations, to the extent that it was known as college rock in the US for much of the decade.
- Top-charting artists of the 1980s include Pat Benatar, Billy Idol, Guns N' Roses, Robert Palmer,New Kids on the Block, The Police, Lionel Richie, Bananarama, The Go-Go's, Dire Straits, Duran Duran, Van Halen, Foreigner, John Farnham, Phil Collins, Huey Lewis and the News, Wang Chung, Tears for Fears, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Heart, Juice Newton, Culture Club, The Eurythmics, Def Leppard, Deacon Blue, Bryan Adams, Queen, Depeche Mode, U2, Simple Minds, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Cher, Rick Springfield, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Olivia Newton-John, Prince, Michael Jackson (the best-selling artist worldwide in the entire decade), Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Beastie Boys, Kim Wilde, Laura Branigan, The Cars and Bon Jovi.
- Records in aid of Ethiopian famine relief, by Band Aid ("Do They Know It's Christmas?") and USA for Africa ("We Are the World") topped the charts, while the Live Aid famine relief concert in London and Philadelphia attracted thousands of attendants and millions of television viewers. Other artists pushed for nuclear disarmament, racial harmony (Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney in a 1981 duet release: Ebony and Ivory), and AIDS awareness.
- American singer Prince, French band Indochine ("3e sexe"), Canadian singer Norman Iceberg ("Be My Human Tonight"), Spanish band Mecano ("Mujer Contra Mujer") became part of a worldwide movement of artists writing innovative lyrics filled with sexual innuendos reflecting the then-popular and highly fashionable androgynous style.
- In the U.S., contemporary Christian music gained popularity in the mid-80s with such crossover artists as Amy Grant, Kathy Troccoli, BeBe and CeCe Winans, Michael W. Smith, Stryper, and Petra.
- With increased commercialization of popular music, thousands of new bands from all over the country sprang up in opposition by performing aggressive, stripped-down punk rock with an even larger amount of political and social awareness injected into the lyrics. Known as Hardcore punk, it would go on to influence and create other musical genres well into the 21st century. Popular bands included Dead Kennedys in San Francisco, Minor Threat in Washington DC, Black Flag in Los Angeles and Reagan Youth in New York City.
- El General recorded a first album and reggaeton was born in Panama.
- Prince was credited with jump-starting the Minneapolis sound.
- Power Ballads became popular with bands such as Heart and Bon Jovi.
- The Hardcore Punk movement was started as a completely underground music including bands such as Minor Threat, The Dead Kennedys, and Husker Du. Hardcore also served as the springboard for indie rock as the independent network of record labels, publications and venues it developed quickly grew to encompass widely divergent styles of music made by like-minded artists.
- Weird Al Yankovic started his career, singing songs like Dare to Be Stupid (song) and Eat It.
- Electric Blues witnessed a revival, the most performer of which was Stevie Ray Vaughn.
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By year
- 1989 in music, 1989 in British music - Madonna releases the hit album Like a Prayer, Mötley Crüe release Dr. Feelgood which reaches #1 Nirvana releases their first album Bleach, and the release of Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814.
- 1988 in music - Living Colour releases first studio album Vivid; Bon Jovi releases New Jersey, which charts five consecutive Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the most ever for a hard rock album; Formation of the Traveling Wilburys, Death of Roy Orbison.
- 1987 in music - Michael Jackson releases the album Bad, which is the first and only album to have 5 consecutive #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Guns N' Roses releases Appetite for Destruction, which becomes one of the best selling debut albums ever, with 28 million copies shift whilst Def Leppard releases Hysteria. U2 releases the mult-platined album The Joshua Tree with the hits: "With or Without You", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Where the Streets Have No Name". Whitney Houston releases her second album Whitney, which become the first album by a female artist to debut at #1, with one of the biggest hit singles of 80s "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)"; Death of legendary record producer John H. Hammond.
- 1986 in music - Aerosmith re-records "Walk This Way" with rap group Run-D.M.C. which blends rock and rap music, introduces rap music to a mainstream audience for the first time, and marks the beginning of the resurrection of Aerosmith's career, one of rock's most remarkable comebacks; Bon Jovi releases Slippery When Wet which stays at #1 on the Billboard 200 for 4 weeks; Metallica releases their third album Master of Puppets; Death of Benny Goodman, Richard Manuel, Cliff Burton, Janet Jackson releases her breakthrough album Control, Madonna releases the hit album True Blue; Pixies form in Boston.
- 1985 in music - Death of Rick Nelson, Live Aid and Farm Aid benefit concerts, Whitney Houston releases her first self-titled album which becomes the most successful female debut album of all time. Duran Duran records A View to a Kill to the James Bond movie of the same name. This single remains the only Bond theme to go to Number 1 on the US charts, and the highest-placed Bond theme on the UK chart where it reached Number 2. The famous hard rock band Guns N' Roses was formed in Los Angeles, influential thrash metal band Megadeth release their debut album Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!.
- 1984 in music - Duran Duran was the first group ever to utilize a monitor in concert to project their performance. Death of Marvin Gaye, release of Bob Marley & The Wailers collection Legend, the best-selling reggae album of all time; Madonna releases Like a Virgin which goes Diamond; Akhnaten by Philip Glass premieres in Stuttgart, Prince releases the album and film Purple Rain, Tina Turner comebacks with Private Dancer', Van Halen release the Diamond-certified 1984, which contains the #1 single "Jump" and becomes their last studio album to feature David Lee Roth on vocals.
- 1983 in music - Death of Muddy Waters, New Order release "Blue Monday"; Def Leppard releases Pyromania, The Police's Synchronicity tour starts, Metallica releases their first album Kill 'Em All. Madonna releases her 5x Platinum self-titled debut album.
- 1982 in music - Death of Thelonious Monk, Lightnin' Hopkins, Glenn Gould, Randy Rhoads; Michael Jackson releases Thriller, the best-selling album of all time; Blondie disband; The compact disc is introduced.
- 1981 in music - MTV first airs; Death of Bob Marley.
- 1980 in music - Joy Division singer Ian Curtis commits suicide, Bon Scott dies, John Lennon is murdered outside the Dakota Building in New York City, accidental death of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, Death of Tim Hardin, Death of Vinicius de Moraes. U2 releases their first album Boy. Bryan Adams release his first album Bryan Adams. AC/DC releases Back in Black.
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See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "1980s in music" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on original research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
