20th Century Music Audio Timeline Part 6: 1980s

New Wave/Synthpop

The 80s are the era of MTV, and if I had to pick the defining moment when the 80s kicked in, it would be the launch of MTV in 1981, even though it didn't really take off until a year or so later.

At the time of MTV's first airing, the American music scene was in a bit of a creative slump, and videos did not exist for a lot of American acts. In contrast, British television had been used to music videos for many years now and English bands were already very aware of the music video as an idiom, so MTV started showing lots of videos by English artists. This helped spawn the second New Wave, where British artists were extremely popular in America. "New Wave/New Music" became a blanket term for "young, androgynous, technology oriented British artists," many of whom had begun their careers during the punk era and had evolved out of the post-punk movement. There wasn't a unified sound to this group per se, they were instead characterized by a general risk-taking attitude. MTV would mostly air New Wave until later in the decade when they switched to metal and rock. Here is a Duran Duran video.

Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf



The second New Wave is also associated with synthpop. A lot of New Wave acts used synthesizers heavily.

Gary Numan - Metal (from The Pleasure Principle - 1979)



Many contemporary indie artists, such as The Strokes, Interpol, and the Killers, are influenced by the New Wave acts of this period.


Arena Rock

Arena Rock is basically rock with an emphasis on large anthemic hooks and choruses. It is best typified by Journey, who released Escape in 1981.

Journey - Don't Stop Believing



Alternative Rock

This is basically a blanket term to describe any kind of rock music that owes a debt to the punk aesthetic and ethos. It consists of many subgenres, including grunge, Britpop, indie rock, etc.

It rose to national attention during the 80s with a few acts like R.E.M. and U2, although it wouldn't really take off until grunge kicks in. R.E.M. releases Murmur in 1983, a commercial success.

R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe



By the middle of the decade, alternative was moving away from a punk sound to a more melodic line, as typified by bands such as Husker Du. At the end of the decade, it had already branched out into many various forms, including alternative pop like They Might be Giants to industrial pop/metal like Nine Inch Nails. It feels really weird to be even talking about those two in the same sentence.

They Might be Giants - Istanbul (1990)



Nine Inch Nails - Head Like a Hole (Pretty Hate Machine - 1989)




Metal (Glam Metal/Thrash Metal)

In the wake of Van Halen's success, a hair metal/glam metal scene sprung up around LA's Sunset Strip, with bands like Motley Crue. They took the makeuped look of glam rock acts like KISS to a new level. The music was heavy shredding metal with a pop influence.

Motley Crue - Girls Girls Girls



Many metal bands gained wide exposure by being featured on MTV and metal began to capture a wider audience than just young white males. Here is Def Leppard's video for Rock of Ages from Pyromania (1983).



In 1987 Guns n Roses released Appetite for Destruction.

Guns n Roses - Sweet Child of Mine



Thrash metal also developed around this time and is mostly associated with 4 bands: Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeath. Metallica released Master of Puppets in 1986, in the same year Slayer released Reign in Blood, which is described as "the heaviest album of all time." It also provoked allegations of Nazism because of the themes in the music and the artwork, which the band denied. Slayer's music also spawned a whole slew of submetal acts such as death metal, etc, which I do not have time to get into.

Metallica - Battery (Master of Puppets)



Slayer - Angel of Death (Reign in Blood)



Teenpop is Born (or revived, or whatever)

This is also the age of Madonna and Whitney Houston. Pop takes on a new sound as orchestra-heavy disco is replaced by a lighter synthpop as the new bubblegum music.

Madonna - Like a Virgin (1984)



In 1982 Michael Jackson released Thriller, which is still the best selling album of all time.

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean (from Thriller)



Hip Hop

The 80s are when Hip Hop's Golden Age (1986-1994, when the genre exploded onto the national scene and stopped becoming underground) kicked off, and its inception is usually attributed to Run DMC's album Raising Hell.

Run DMC - Raising Hell



Another notable name from the period is Grandmaster Flash, who is basically the guy who invented modern DJing techniques. He is now "immortalized" as a character in DJ Hero.