Decades Project
How Music was shaped in the 1980's
Many people think the 1980's was a revolutionary decade for music due to the political issues at the time , it was the decade that two key artists died, John Lennon and Bob Marley, both recognised for their different talents within music.
The 1980's holds the name for being quite a problematic decade due to the political issues such as , riots, unemployment and the miners strike which involved Margeret Thatcher. It is said since the 1980's was such a tough decade a lot of artists used music as escapism from the world, although this can be said about todays world too.
In the early 80's (1981) MTV released the first music video, "Video Killed The Radio Star" by the Buggles, from this point on the music industry started to almost rely on music videos to make sales and air music. In addition the early 1980's brought the CD in which made music a lot more accessible and portable, this also meant that people would listen to it much more in their day. Since the release of the CD it has sold 200 billion CD's up to 2007 proving that they would play an important role in the music industry.
Furthermore the Live Aid in 1985 was said to the most popular event of the decade for music, due to it showing poverty struck Ethiopia and artists with a range of different genres playing there such as Status Quo, Elvis Costello, U2, The Beach Boys, David Bowie and Queen. MTV recorded the must see event, the event was followed by The Band aid single 'Do They Know It's Christmas Time', this was top of the charts in 1984 Christmas time.
This was the decade Michael Jackson decided to become a solo artist rather than stick with the Jackson 5, he released Thriller which was also one of the first few music videos on MTV and became the best selling track of all time, which gave him the title King of Pop.
When Michael Jackson released the album Thriller, that came to a shock to everyone that the boy who was apart of the Jackson 5 had grown up and released a ground breaking selling album, also the track Thriller was one of the early music videos released with the first music video being released only 2 years before. Since Thriller was such a hit, that caused a huge decrease in racism at the time, however this also caused issues with supremacists against listening to 'black music' which led to protests. During this decade MTV were known for mainly playing white artists so the release of Thriller helped suppress this objection since they were playing a lot more Michael Jackson. Thriller sold an astonishing 40 million copies in its initial chart run.
N.W.A released Straight Outta Compton in the late 80's, it wasn't the only rap album of its time but it definitely made rap noticed all over the world, and it caused a turning point for rap. This album does almost the exact opposite of what Michael Jacksons album did for racism, as this just exaggerated violence, drugs and alcohol to the extreme. However it told the story of their everyday life and how hard it could be where they lived. The album was very low budget yet it still had a great success to say rap wasn't a very popular genre at the time. The album sold 3 quarters of a million copies before they went on tour.
Since in the 1970's music heavily relied on orchestra's the transition to the more synth sounding 80's was pleasant to most. In addition Michael Jackson heavily supported the efforts of the United Negro College Fund which specialised in helping young black people at a disadvantage go to college/university. Furthermore Michael Jackson also played a big role in the composition of "We Are the World" which sold over 20 million copies which made a profit of around 63 million dollars to go towards aid in Africa.
A lot of big artists today say Michael Jackson had a big influence on their upbringing and their style of music. This is mainly because Michael Jackson played a big role in changing peoples opinions on black people. He was one of the first black people to be on MTV and this opened a lot of peoples eyes to listen to music made by black people.
N.W.A are also a very inspiring group to many artists from their time to our time today, this is because they were one of the first groups in their time to speak to the unapologetic truth with no remorse, regrets or repentance. This influenced a lot of artists to come through talking about the hard lives they live and what they've done to survive, to a lot of people who live a life opposite to this, it's either interesting or a horror.
When Michael Jackson released the album Thriller, that came to a shock to everyone that the boy who was apart of the Jackson 5 had grown up and released a ground breaking selling album, also the track Thriller was one of the early music videos released with the first music video being released only 2 years before. Since Thriller was such a hit, that caused a huge decrease in racism at the time, however this also caused issues with supremacists against listening to 'black music' which led to protests. During this decade MTV were known for mainly playing white artists so the release of Thriller helped suppress this objection since they were playing a lot more Michael Jackson. Thriller sold an astonishing 40 million copies in its initial chart run.
N.W.A released Straight Outta Compton in the late 80's, it wasn't the only rap album of its time but it definitely made rap noticed all over the world, and it caused a turning point for rap. This album does almost the exact opposite of what Michael Jacksons album did for racism, as this just exaggerated violence, drugs and alcohol to the extreme. However it told the story of their everyday life and how hard it could be where they lived. The album was very low budget yet it still had a great success to say rap wasn't a very popular genre at the time. The album sold 3 quarters of a million copies before they went on tour.
Since in the 1970's music heavily relied on orchestra's the transition to the more synth sounding 80's was pleasant to most. In addition Michael Jackson heavily supported the efforts of the United Negro College Fund which specialised in helping young black people at a disadvantage go to college/university. Furthermore Michael Jackson also played a big role in the composition of "We Are the World" which sold over 20 million copies which made a profit of around 63 million dollars to go towards aid in Africa.
A lot of big artists today say Michael Jackson had a big influence on their upbringing and their style of music. This is mainly because Michael Jackson played a big role in changing peoples opinions on black people. He was one of the first black people to be on MTV and this opened a lot of peoples eyes to listen to music made by black people.
N.W.A are also a very inspiring group to many artists from their time to our time today, this is because they were one of the first groups in their time to speak to the unapologetic truth with no remorse, regrets or repentance. This influenced a lot of artists to come through talking about the hard lives they live and what they've done to survive, to a lot of people who live a life opposite to this, it's either interesting or a horror.
Sources Used
http://www.impactnottingham.com/2010/03/decade-profile-the-1980s/
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-web-thrillertrivia12feb12-story.html
http://www.allmusic.com/album/thriller-mw0000056882
http://www.allmusic.com/album/straight-outta-compton-mw0000653426
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/5645274/nwa-straight-outta-compton-at-25-classic-track-by-track-review
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/n-w-a/biography
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-web-thrillertrivia12feb12-story.html
http://www.allmusic.com/album/thriller-mw0000056882
http://www.allmusic.com/album/straight-outta-compton-mw0000653426
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/5645274/nwa-straight-outta-compton-at-25-classic-track-by-track-review
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/n-w-a/biography
No comments:
Post a Comment