Video Killed the Radio Star

4/25/13 Video Killed the Radio Star
The 80s: MTV, The King of Pop and Glam Metal
Understanding the 80s
SPANDEX & BIG HAIR
1 4/25/13 Culture in the 1980s
•  Politics
•  1981: President Ronald Reagan took office
•  1986: Chernobyl nuclear accident
•  1989: The fall of the Berlin Wall
•  Health and Economics
•  1981: First AIDS outbreak
•  1985: Nancy Reagan’s Just Say No campaign
•  1987: Black Monday stock market crash
•  Entertainment
•  1981: The launch of MTV
•  1985: Nintendo released the NES
•  VCRs and Cable TV hit the mainstream over the decade
The revolution will be televised
I WANT MY MTV
2 4/25/13 Ladies & gentlemen, rock and roll.
•  1981: MTV debuted
•  The format: VJs (video jockeys) playing music videos
•  Center of 80s and 90s pop culture
•  The music
•  New Wave and Synth Pop
•  Pop Icons
•  Glam Rock/Metal
•  Key 80s shows
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1984: MTV Video Music Awards (The VMAs)
1986: 120 Minutes
1987: Headbangers’ Ball
1988: Yo! MTV Raps
Synth and Dance Pop
•  Synth Pop: punk-ish pop made with electronic instruments
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Drum machines, synthesizers
Stark, minimalist, artificial
Developed along side of Techno
A few stars:
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Gary Numan, The Pleasure Principle
Duran Duran, Rio
Depeche Mode, Violator
Soft Cell, “Tainted Love”
…and countless 1-hit wonders…
3 4/25/13 Michael Jackson
•  “The King of Pop”
•  3rd best selling artist ever
•  Brilliant choreographer
•  Major philanthropist
•  Went solo with Off the Wall (1979)
•  Thriller (1983)
•  Best selling album ever…110 million sold
•  37 weeks at #1, 80 in the Top 10, and 7 Top 10 singles
•  Jackson on MTV
•  1st black artist to have a video (“Billie Jean”) played on MTV
•  “Thriller” elevated videos to the level of short films
Madonna
•  An icon of female empowerment
•  Sexually liberated fashion & dance icon
•  A master of media manipulation
•  Used controversy to reinvent herself
•  Emerged from NY’s dance culture
•  Music designed for club dancing
•  Highly choreographed shows
•  Broke out with Like a Virgin (1984)
•  Spurred on by her performance at the VMAs
•  2nd best selling female artist in rock
4 4/25/13 Sex, drugs and WAY too much eye-liner
GLAM METAL
Men In Tights
•  Glam Metal: (aka Hair Metal) pop metal glorifying booze, sex
and bad-boy behavior
•  “Led Zeppelin arena rock” meets “KISS showmanship”
•  An MTV-ready image: make-up, spandex, big hair
•  The Power Ballad: slow, epic songs “for the ladies”
•  Early stars:
•  Van Halen
•  Virtuoso guitarist Eddie, and party-boy Roth
•  “You Really Got Me”, “Eruption”, “Jump”
•  Twisted Sister
•  KISS in drag, battled the PMRC
•  “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, “I Wanna Rock”
5 4/25/13 The Sunset Strip
•  The LA scene was the sleazy center of Glam
•  Rows of night clubs featuring Hair Bands
•  Kicked off by Quiet Riot’s “Cum on Feel the Noize”
•  1st #1 Metal album, Metal Health
•  A few of the bands
•  Mötley Crüe
•  “Kickstart My Heart”, “Dr. Feelgood”
•  Poison
•  “Unskinny Bop”, “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn”
•  Guns n’ Roses
•  “Welcome to the Jungle”, “Sweet Child O’ Mine”
The PMRC
•  The Parents’ Music Resource Center
•  Led by Tipper Gore and “The Washington Wives”
•  1984: lobbied to regulate lyrics
•  The Filthy 15
•  Artists writing lyrics with violent or sexual content
•  Congressional hearings
•  Dee Snider, Frank Zappa and John Denver testified
•  The result?
•  Parental Advisory stickers
•  A badge of honor for rebellious rock stars
•  Actually increased record sales
6 4/25/13 One word: Nirvana
THE DEMISE OF GLAM
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