The 1980’s will be forever remembered as the decade of Madonna, Michael Jackson, and MTV. With the simultaneous rise of digital recording and the twenty-four hour video music network, artists found a new blended media outlet through which to express themselves; for the first time in music history, the expectations for visual artistry matched the expectations of musical artistry, changing the industry forever.

Millions of teenagers and young adults remember exactly where they were at 12:01am on August 1st, 1981—glued to the TV, watching the brand new music video network MTV air the very first music video: “Video Killed The Radio Star” by The Buggles. It wasn’t long before savvy artists recognized this new outlet as a means through which to reach the masses; if children of the 80’s don’t recall sitting up to watch the premiere of MTV, they definitely remember Michael Jackson’s breakthrough music video for his hit single, “Thriller.” Jackson and the album Thriller would go down in history as the best-selling album of all time (a record still unbroken in the millennium’s second decade.) But right on the heels of Jackson’s success rose other “visually friendly” artists, including Madonna (with debut hits such as “Lucky Star,” “Borderline,” and “Burning Up”) and Duran Duran (“The Reflex,” “Hungry Like The Wolf,” and “Save a Prayer.”) The latter even endeavored to bring the element of video to their live performances, becoming one of the first touring bands to utilize massive large-screen technology in performance to allow even those in the cheap seats to see Simon LeBon and John Taylor in all their glory. Other artists such as Wham!, Culture Club, and Cyndi Lauper would soon follow suit.

At the same time, artists such as Whitney Houston (“I Will Always Love You”), Lionel Richie (“Hello”), and Prince (“Purple Rain”) rose to mainstream prominence, the latter of whom became known as one of the era’s most prolific artists, not only for his commercial success but for his innovative music, lyrics, and subject matter. Additional artists blending R&B and pop for a more “contemporary R&B” sound include Jeffrey Osborne, New Edition, Club Nouveau, and DeBarge.  And yet some of the best selling albums of the decade still included dominant elements of rock and even the new burgeoning genre of heavy metal; Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC, and Def Leppard boast some of the best selling albums of the decade. Hard rock and heavy metal brought bands such as Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Cinderella, Metallica, and Anthrax to subculture popularity.  

By the latter part of the decade, the juxtaposing genres of teen pop (with the growing popularity of “boy bands”) and alternative music began to rise, with the earliest hits from New Kids on the Block charting at the same time as music from Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana. Also growing on the scene was a brand new version of music stemming from inner city African American communities—the next decade would see the simultaneous rise of the pop-oriented boy band; the raw and honest messages of hip-hop; and the Seattle-grown alternative subgenre of grunge all compete for space on the mainstream charts.