Timeline of Trends in Australian Music - 1980s

1980s

The late 70s and early 80s saw the dominance of the hugely popular pub rock, typified by Mental As Anything, Matt Finish, Midnight Oil, The Angels, Cold Chisel and Icehouse. (See Australian Rock.)

In 1981, Men at Work's "Down Under" was hugely popular both domestically and in the U.S., with the single staying at #1 on the Billboard charts for 4 weeks. INXS also experienced big success with "What You Need" reaching the U.S. top 5, and the band selling over 1.3 million copies of their Listen Like Thieves album. (Creswell & Fabinyi, 1999)

The launch of MTV in America in 1981 ensured that Australians were exposed to the new generation of musical acts - and video clips - produced in the Northern Hemisphere. By 1983 Australian musical acts were making the transition from regular live performances to making promotional video clips - some acts for all of their singles.

In 1984, Midnight Oil's charismatic lead singer Peter Garrett ran for parliament with the Nuclear Disarmament Party. In the end Garrett narrowly missed out on winning a senate seat. In the mid-1980s, politics and music were increasingly entwined - the 1985 Live Aid concert was huge. Midnight Oil's Diesel and Dust album, featuring the "Beds Are Burning" single, broke the band in the US.

The mid 80s also saw the arrival of dance music and the synthesiser, for example the Rockmelons and Pseudo Echo. In 1987, Kylie Minogue hit the pop charts with a bang, "Locomotion" becoming the biggest selling Australian single of the decade and #2 in the UK, #3 in the US. (Creswell & Fabinyi, 1999)

There was a sudden burst of interest in female singer/songwriters in the late 80s, with Kate Ceberano, Wendy Matthews and Jenny Morris (actually a New Zealander) being popular. With Split Enz now defunct, Neil Finn started another project - the Mullanes, later to be renamed Crowded House. In 1987 "Don't Dream It's Over" peaked at #2 in the US.

Alternative music was well represented during the 1980s, with the formation of such bands as bands such as the Hoodoo Gurus, The Cruel Sea and TISM.

It has been said that Madonna and Michael Jackson, American singers who were both quite popular in Australia during this time, are major influences for Australian music from the 1980s onwards: in terms of the topics of the songs (nearly every song recorded since 1990 are related to love), the video clips, and the actual styles of music.