Pop
The 1980s saw the reinvention of Michael Jackson and the emergence of Madonna, which arguably were the most powerful musicians during the time. Their videos became a permanent fixture on MTV and gained a worldwide mass audience. Michael Jackson's Thriller album from 1982 is considered to be the best-selling album of all time; though sales figures for the album vary, it is cited as selling as many as 110 million copies worldwide. Despite all the controversy surrounding Jackson during that period, he was indisputably the biggest star of the 1980s.
By 1980, the disco production of the 1970s, largely dependent on orchestras, is replaced by a lighter synthpop production. In the second half of the 1980s teen pop has its first wave. Bands and artists include New Kids on the Block, Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, Tommy Page, New Edition, Stacey Q, The Bangles, Madonna and others.
Prominent American Urban pop acts of the 1980s include Tina Turner, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Deniece Williams.
American artists such as Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Bon Jovi, Prince and Janet Jackson ruled the charts throughout the decade and achieved tremendous success worldwide. Their fame and commercial success lasts up to date.
Read more about this topic: Music History Of The United States In The 1980s
Famous quotes containing the word pop:
“Every man has been brought up with the idea that decent women don’t pop in and out of bed; he has always been told by his mother that “nice girls don’t.” He finds, of course, when he gets older that this may be untrue—but only in a certain section of society.”
—Barbara Cartland (b. 1901)
“I don’t pop my cork for ev’ry guy I see.”
—Dorothy Fields (1904–1974)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)