If you were designing your own pop music class, which three artists would you use to illustrate
the 1980s, and why do you think they are representative of that decade?
The artist I believe to be most representative of the 1980s is Michael Jackson. Referred to as the King of Pop, Jackson is recognised as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records, and during the 1980s, he attained a level of celebrity and success that remains unparalleled. The Thriller album, released 1982, saw Jackson seamlessly fuse Funk, Soul and Disco with the commercial-pop sound of the time, thus transcending genre, race, creed and gender to make him the first real pop crossover, and bringing black music back to mainstream radio. The album earned Jackson a record-breaking twelve Grammy award nominations in 1983. It won eight, making him the most awarded in one night in the ceremonys history. Thriller is also the best-selling album of all time worldwide, shifting an estimated 110 million copies to date.1 With his music video for the albums title track, Thriller, Jackson pioneered the medium, transforming it from a mere promotional tool into an art form. The videos heavy rotation on MTV also significantly boosted viewership of the then fledgling network. A performance of Billie Jean on Motown 25 saw Jackson premire his signature dance move, the Moonwalk. Actually taught to him three years prior by a thirteen year-old Soul Train dancer, the now iconic step became an overnight dance craze, and sealed Jacksons reputation as a dance legend. Released soon after, the songs video made Jackson the first black artist to be played on MTV. Teenagers everywhere began to sport a single white, rhinestone-studded glove, along with white socks tucked into black, patent leather shoes. Although not selling as well as its predecessor, Jacksons 1987 Bad album is still one of the worlds best-selling of all time, spawning five number-one singles on Americas Billboard Hot 100, and earning Jackson another record for artist with most number-one singles on the chart from one album.
Michael Jackson Photo Gallery. BBC China. http:// www. bbc. co. uk/ china/ learningenglish/ specials/ 1430 _ th jackson_photo/page7.shtml. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
The second artist I would have to mention is Madonna. Revered for managing to continuously reinvent both her music and image, Madonna achieved global recognition after the release of her second studio album Like a Virgin, in 1984. The title track, "Like a Virgin", topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six consecutive weeks,2 and attracted the attention of family organizations, who complained that the song and its accompanying video promoted premarital sex and undermined family values. Madonna further came under fire when she performed the song at the first MTV Video Music Awards where she appeared on stage atop a giant wedding cake, wearing a wedding dress and bridal veil, adorned with her characteristic "Boy Toy" belt buckle. The performance, in which Madonna simulated masturbation, is noted by scholars and by MTV as an iconic performance in MTV history.3 This pushing of sexual boundaries both lyrically and image-wise was to become a defining feature of Madonnas artistry. It was a feature seen again in her music video for Like A Prayer, which featured a dream about making love to a saint, (alongside many Catholic symbols such as stigmata and burning crosses), leading the Vatican to condemn the video. Like Jackson, Madonnas image quickly catapulted her to fashion icon status. Her style, consisting of lace tops, skirts over capri pants, fishnet stockings, jewelry bearing the crucifix, bracelets, and bleached hair, became a female fashion trend of the 1980s. By the end of the 1980s, Madonna was named as the "Artist of the Decade" by media such as MTV, Billboard and Musician magazine. 4
According to Robert Larsen in his book, History of Rock and Roll, Prince is "one of the most talented and commercially successful pop musicians of the last 20 years", producing ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career.5 It is true that one cannot deny Princes talent, him having written, self-produced, and played most, if not all, of the instruments on his recordings. So great is Princes song-writing ability that he has written for other artists including Chaka Khan, The Bangles,
2
Madonna Charts & Awards Billboard Singles. www.allmusic.com/artist/madonna-p64565/chartsawards/billboard-singles. Retrieved 24/02/2010 3 Vena, Jocelyn (12/08/2009). Can Lady Gaga Top These Iconic MTV VMA Performances? www.mtv.com/news/articles/1618580/20090812/lady_gaga.jhtml. Retrieved 12/01/2010 4 Taraborrelli, Randy J. (2002). Madonna: An Intimate Biography. Simon and Schuster. P 217. 5 Larsen, Thomas. History of Rock and Roll. P 243. Siegel, Robert.
and Sinad O'Connor, (for whom he wrote the 1990 worldwide number one, Nothing Compares to You). Princes third album Dirty Mind, released 1980, was produced, arranged, and composed primarily by Prince. The album is testament to Prince as a true innovator, seeing him blend rock and roll with New Wave elements in an exciting new fusion. As in the case of Jacksons Thriller and Bad albums, Dirty Mind seamlessly fused black and white musical styles, and showed that like Madonna, Prince was not afraid to push boundaries sexually, (as well as musically). After Tipper Gore heard her 12-year-old daughter listening to Prince's song Darling Nikki, she founded the Parents Music Resource Center 6, which eventually lead to the mandatory use of a warning label ("Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics") on the covers of records judged to contain language or lyrical content unsuitable for minors. Along with Billie Jean, Little Red Corvette from Princes 1982 album 1999 was one of the first two videos by a black artist played in heavy rotation on MTV.7 Prince's 1984 album Purple Rain sold more than thirteen million copies in the U.S. and spent twenty-four consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. At one point in 1984, Prince simultaneously had the number one album, single, and film in the U.S., marking the first time a singer had achieved this feat.8 The albums title track peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, and won Prince won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.
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6 7
Tipper Gore and Family Values: NPR Music. www.npr.org. Retrieved 18/07/2009. Buckley, Peter. The Rough Guide to Rock. 2003. Rough Guides Ltd. P 819. 8 Gulla, Bob. Icons of R&B and Soul: An Encyclopedia of the Artists who Revolutionised Rhythm. 2008. Greenwood Press. P 419.
Bibliography
Michael Jackson Photo Gallery. BBC China. www. bbc. co. uk/ china/ learningenglish/ specials/ 1430 _ jackson_photo/page7.shtml. Retrieved 16th July 2009. Madonna Charts & Awards Billboard Singles. www.allmusic.com/artist/madonna-p64565/chartsawards/billboard-singles. Retrieved 24/02/2010 Vena, Jocelyn (12/08/2009). Can Lady Gaga Top These Iconic MTV VMA Performances? www.mtv.com/news/articles/1618580/20090812/lady_gaga.jhtml. Retrieved 12/01/2010 Taraborrelli, Randy J. (2002). Madonna: An Intimate Biography. Simon and Schuster. P 217. Larsen, Thomas. History of Rock and Roll. P 243. Siegel, Robert. Tipper Gore and Family Values: NPR Music. www.npr.org. Retrieved 18/07/2009. Buckley, Peter. The Rough Guide to Rock. 2003. Rough Guides Ltd. P 819. Gulla, Bob. Icons of R&B and Soul: An Encyclopedia of the Artists who Revolutionised Rhythm. 2008. Greenwood Press. P 419.
