80s Trivia – The 80s Fashion Edition

Few decades gave us as much fashion to choose from as the 80s.

From preppy to punk, style was everything and could involve wearing just about anything — from the hats we wore on our heads to the legwarmers we wrapped around our ankles.

80s fashion was busy and bright, fun and fierce, and like everything else in the 80s, it was larger than life.

What do you know about 80s fashion? Find out by taking this 80s trivia challenge.

Are you an 80s fashion maven or an 80s fashion failure? Answer each of the questions below, then scroll down to check your answers.

80s Trivia

1. 80s fashion was:

A. Big

B. Colorful

C. Busy

D. All of the above

2.True or False:

Dancewear became popular as streetwear during the 80s

3. 80s hair (and especially the bangs) was always worn:

A. Slicked back

B. Loose and messy

C. Big with lots of hairspray

D. Short and cropped

4. In the 80s, it was popular to:

A. Keep it simple – very few accessories and hardly any jewelry

B. Dress up your wardrobe with tons and tons of 80s accessories

C. Wear nice, classy jewelry

D. Put your jeans on inside out

5. One pair of 80s shoes made our feet stink and kept breaking:

A. Pumps

B. Thigh-high boots

C. Jelly shoes

D. Keds

6. To get your 80s hair out of your face, you might opt for:

A. Shaving it all off

B. A side ponytail

C. Braids

D. French twist

7. Celebrities have always started fashion trends. In the 80s:

A. Tom Cruise made Ray-Bans popular

B. Madonna made hoop skirts popular

C. Prince made baseball caps popular

D. Molly Ringwald made t-shirts popular

8. True or False:

In the 80s, accessories like hats and gloves were forbidden!

9. Popular 80s fashion trends included:

A. T-shirts worn under spaghetti-strapped sundresses

B. Oversized shirts

C. Bell bottoms

D. Floor-length skirts

10. Who was an 80s fashion icon?

A. Coco Chanel

B. Madonna

C. Margaret Thatcher

D. Ronald Reagan

80s Fashion Trivia Answers

1. (D) 2. (True) 3. (C) 4. (B) 5. (C) 6. (B) 7. (A) 8. (False) 9. (B) 10. (B)

80s Shoes We Hated to Wear: Jelly Shoes

They were a totally cute 80s fashion, but they made your feet sweaty and smelly. The plastic broke easily, and that meant you were always begging your mom to take you to the store to get a new pair. Yeah, they came in lots of colors and a few different styles. But out of all the trendy 80s shoes, we hated wearing jelly shoes the most — even if we did go through a gazillion pairs of them.

Stinky Plastic 80s Fashion

Why would anyone want to stick their bare feet into plastic shoes? Okay, so some people may have worn them with socks, which was fashionably questionable (at best), but what did we think was so stylish about stinky feet? And believe me, no 80s fashion smelled worse (except maybe Aqua Net hairspray). I remember sitting around the house, wondering what’s that foul odor? — only to discover it was coming from my own jelly shoes! It was totally disgusting!

But 80s Shoes Had to Be Cute

But they were soooo cute! And when it comes to fashion, it’s all about aesthetics. They make your feet smell? So what? They look awesome! Women have been wearing uncomfortable shoes for decades… centuries even, and 80s shoes were no different.

All of my jelly shoes were made mostly out of soft plastic, but the back piece was hard and it used to give me blisters — blisters that hurt! The plastic along the sides of the shoes was always breaking. Did I mention they were cheap? You could get a pair for under five dollars, which was a good thing since I always had to replace mine.

But on the playground, jelly shoes ruled. I remember all too well how much all the girls thought jelly shoes were the greatest 80s fashion ever. We flaunted them, and for about a season, we gave them top honor among all our other 80s shoes. But alas, the love we had for our jelly shoes did not last (thank goodness).

Rest in Peace, Jelly Shoes

I’m sure all my old jelly shoes are in a landfill somewhere, stubbornly NOT decomposing. This is one 80s fashion that I’m glad has been laid to rest and one pair of 80s shoes that I hope never comes back into style.

80s Singers: Cyndi Lauper

She was so unusual!

Cyndi Lauper put a new twist on pop music in the 80s. With her flaming red hair, quirky corsets, and layered skirts, plus tons of jewelry and makeup, Cyndi landed on the music scene and made a big splash reminding the word that girls only want to do one thing: have fun.

Her look was uniquely remarkable (she set fashion trends for all 80s people)  but it was her music that popped and bubbled – on the airwaves, on MTV, and on stage. With a one-of-a-kind voice crooning heartfelt and sometimes controversial lyrics, Cyndi Lauper’s music reached out and captivated the ears of music lovers throughout the world.

Here’s a look at one of the best 80s singers who defined the decade.

Cyndi Lauper Brief Biography

She was born Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper on June 22, 1953 in Queens, New York. Her father, Fred, was of Swiss descent and her mother, Catrine, was an Italian American. They divorced when Cyndi was just five, and her mother took Cyndi and her two siblings to live in Ozone Park.

Cyndi’s mom encouraged her to be creative and independent, which was a good thing, because Cyndi loved the arts. By twelve, she had already started dying her hair, wearing wild clothes, and was playing guitar and writing songs.

As a teenager, Cyndi was accepted to attend a special public high school for kids who had talent in the visual arts, but she eventually dropped out (she later earned her GED). Soon thereafter, she left home and ended up taking art classes at a state college in Vermont, but once she got homesick, she went right back to Ozone Park.

Before The 80s Music

At a young age, Cyndi became a fan of artists such as Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Beatles. By the middle of the 1970s, she had become a vocalist working with a number of cover bands in and around New York. She often sang hits by Jefferson Airplaine, Led Zeppelin, and Bad Company, as well as Janis Joplin.

But Cyndi Lauper wanted to sing her own songs.

She suffered vocal cord damage in 1977 and was told that she would never be able to sing again. After taking a year off singing, she started seeing a vocal coach who helped Cyndi get her voice back through proper vocal exercises and training.

How 80s Singers Are Born

Shortly after regaining her voice, Cyndi formed a band called Blue Angel with saxophone player John Tury and together they began writing songs and performing. They put together a demo, which led to a self-titled album that was produced on Polydor Records. It included one single that charted at number 37 in Austria. But that wasn’t enough. The band broke up and got into a legal tangle with their manager. For Cyndi, the lawsuit resulted in bankruptcy. She started working in high-end retail and thrift stores and singing in local clubs.

Despite the Blue Angel failure, Cyndi had started building a reputation for her wide singing range (four octaves), and perfect pitch. Plus, she clearly had a vocal style all her own.

She was singing in a bar in 1981 when she met David Wolff, who would become her long-term manager and boyfriend. He got her signed to one of Epic Records’ subsidiaries and Cyndi Lauper’s career started to take off. Within just a few years she would become one of the most hailed and recognizable 80s singers of all time.

She’s So Unusual!

She’s So Unusual was Cyndi’s first solo album, released in October, 1983. It was an instant worldwide success. She was warmly received by both pop music fans (teenagers) and critics, with her popularity helped by both her singing and her punkish image.

Though she was a songwriter, the record company had provided much of the material for the album. However, Cyndi often changed the songs, altering the lyrics to the way she wanted to sing them. This turned out to have financial benefits since she earned credit as a co-writer and collected songwriting royalties.

But Cyndi wasn’t changing the lyrics for money. She heavily altered the lyrics to what would ultimately become her most popular song, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” According to Wikipedia, “Lauper says the original lyrics of the song dealt more with a girl pleasing a man, therefore she changed the lyrics, wanting the song to be more of an anthem as she felt the original song seemed misogynistic.” The song had, in fact, originally been written for a man to sing.

The recording company did give Cyndi a chance to prove her songwriting abilities. The result was “Time After Time,” which she co-write with Rob Hyman. The song went on to become one of the biggest hits from the album, and since has been covered by more than 100 other artists.

Other singles from the album include “All Through the Night,” and Prince’s “When You Were Mine” as well as “She Bop,” which attracted controversy because the lyrics dealt with masturbation. The album was followed up with a tour and a year after its release, She’s So Unusual had launched Cyndi to stardom and artistic recognition among 80s singers. She’s So Unusual remained in the top 40 for over 65 weeks and sold over 16 million copies (worldwide).

Accolades

• The video for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” won the very first award for Best Female Video at the 1984 Video Music Awards.
• Cyndi graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in May, 1984 as well as the covers of Time Magazine and Newsweek, both with the headline, “Women In Rock.”
• She was selected as one of Ms. Magazine’s women of the year.
• In 1985, she won a Grammy Award for the Best New Artist.
• Also in 1984, she was given the New Directions Award by  The Women in Crystal Film Awards, an honor that recognizes creativity and originality.

Wrestling

The video for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” which quickly became an MTV staple, featured wrestler Captain Lou Albano playing Cyndi’s father. Her career was intertwined with the world of wrestling. She attended the 1985 Grammys with WWF celebrity Hulk Hogan; he played her “bodyguard.” Cyndi frequently appeared at WWF events, including the inaugural WrestleMania event. She also managed wrestler Wendi Richter and “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” would play as the two of them made their entrance.

Goonies

Cyndi’s next big hit was her single “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough,” off of the The Goonies Soundtrack, for which she was the musical director at the request of the film’s director, Steven Spielberg. The single earned her another Grammy nomination (for Best Female Pop Vocal) and the soundtrack itself reached number 73 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. As for the movie, The Goonies was wildly successful and became an 80s movies staple.

The video for “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough” featured the cast of Goonies, as well as several of Cyndi’s WWF friends, and The Bangles, a band Cyndi had recruited for the soundtrack. It was the first ever two-part video.

True Colors

Cyndi Lauper’s sophomore album, True Colors was released in September, 1986 and it rocketed to number four on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. For this production, Cyndi’s involvement was greater in both production and writing. The album included many guests and Cyndi herself co-write most of it.

True Colors was not as commercially successful as She’s So Unusual, but it did spawn three hit singles, “True Colors,” (the title track), “Change of Heart,” and a cover of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” Also, “Money Changes Everything” was mildly successful due to a live video that played on MTV. The album sold almost 12 million copies and in conjunction, there was an HBO concert special titled Cyndi: Live in Paris.

Since Cyndi didn’t write the single “True Colors,” she had no control over it and it ended up being licensed to Kodak for their television commercials. Proceeds from another single, “Boy Blue,” were donated to AIDS research.

Vibes

In 1988, Cyndi appeared in the film Vibes. She played a psychic searching for a city of gold. To prepare for the role, Cyndi studied finger waving, hair setting, and studied with psychics from Manhattan. It was produced by Ron Howard, and ultimately, was a flop though it did better as a video rental than at the theater. Cyndi recorded the song “Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)” and while the song fared well (hitting number 54 on U.S. charts and number 8 in Australia), it was not included on the movie’s soundtrack.

A Night to Remember

Cyndi’s final album in the 80s was A Night to Remember. It was released in May, 1989 and though critics gave it the thumbs up, it did not reach the same commercial success as her earlier albums and put out just one hit, “I Drove All Night.” It was originally written for and performed by Roy Orbison, however, his version didn’t come out until 1992.

Cyndi Lauper Trivia

A few final facts about Cyndi Lauper, one of the best-known and most-loved 80s singers:

• She was the first artist to have four singles reach the top five from a single album (She’s So Unusual).
• Cyndi had a prominent solo in “We Are the World.”
• Her mother appears in many of Cyndi’s videos, under the stage name “Catrine Dominique.”
• Due to medical problems and overworking, Cyndi was ordered to rest by her doctors in 1986. As a result, she wasn’t able to participate in Live Aid.
• Her first two album covers (She’s So Unusual and True Colors) were done by famous photographer Annie Leibovitz.

To date, Cyndi has put out eleven albums and more than forty singles and has sold over 25 million albums. Cyndi continues to tour all over the world and works supporting human rights and other philanthropic efforts. Here at Total 80s Remix, we love Cyndi Lauper. And by we, I totally mean “I.”

Who are some of your favorite 80s singers?

Remembering 80s Music Legend Michael Jackson

Any mention of Michael Jackson always takes me back to the first time I noticed him. I was just a kid, about ten or eleven years old, watching a little 80s TV with my parents. It was the Motown 25th Anniversary Special.

I didn’t know who the guy was, but when he suddenly glided backward across the stage, appearing to defy the laws of physics, I sat up and my eyes went wide. I remember that my parents, too, were astonished.

“Did he just do that?”

“What was that?”

“It had to be special effects!”

Michael Jackson had just debuted the moonwalk.

A Star Rises

The next thing we knew, Michael Jackson had taken over anything and everything that had to do with 80s music. He was everywhere – on MTV, on the radio, on tour, on a poster taped to the back of my bedroom door, and blaring on my boom box.

Every single song on that Thriller cassette was a hit. I watched Michael at the Grammys, his arms overflowing with awards. After the Pepsi commercial debacle, in which Michael’s hair caught on fire, I was concerned for his well being. I even remember his duet with Paul McCartney – “Say, Say, Say” – an 80s music video that I adored.

I tried and tried, but I just couldn’t get that moonwalk down.

80s Music Memories of Michael

The “Thriller” music video was, in my memory, Michael Jackson’s greatest achievement in the 80s. Everybody was talking about it and that was before it aired. The buzz got even louder once the video went into MTV’s rotation. It was unlike anything audiences had ever seen before. The theme (zombies) was wild, the choreography was incredible, and the song was packed with energy. The dancing was phenomenal.

Whenever “We Are the World” played, I remember feeling like someone had roped my heart and was tugging on it. My eyes would tear up and I’d sing along. I loved that video too – all those awesome 80s music stars in one shoot!

And “Billie Jean” was an 80s music staple. The song, the video, they were the thread with which the 80s were woven. Hearing that song today is like flying through time, back to the days of lunchboxes and leg warmers. Times were simpler then. It was the 80s. And it was my childhood.

I adored Michael Jackson. Everything from his smile to that sparkly glove enchanted me, and I especially admired his dancing. After all, my dream back then was to grow up and become a dancer myself. Michael Jackson was the best dancer I had ever seen.

Saying Goodbye

As much as I adored Michael, I wasn’t a rabid fan. I had Thriller and a poster, and I always watched his videos when they came on MTV or listened to his songs when they played on the radio. I followed the stories about him, too, but I don’t think I realized back then, while it was happening, just how monumental this artist was.

Last week, I first heard about Michael Jackson’s death on Facebook. It’s gotta be a joke, I thought. It was just one comment somewhere on my news feed. I hit refresh and couldn’t believe what I saw. Post after post from my Facebook friends were talking about how Michael had died from cardiac arrest but it was not confirmed and he had been taken to a Los Angeles hospital.

I stared at the computer, my jaw hanging open. I was dumbfounded.

80s Music Legend

Since that day, I’ve followed much of the news about Michael’s life and his death. I’ve listened to his music, watched his videos. I’ve sang along and I’ve cried, mourned. Here was a man-child who never had a childhood and never grew up. Has there ever been a human being more fascinating or enchanting that this modern day Peter Pan?

Michael Jackson wasn’t just a star. He was a supernova. His life and his career were riddled with soaring highs and devastating lows. He was unusual and eccentric. Scandals haunted him. And he was clearly troubled.

But one thing is undeniable. When Michael took the stage, everything changed. His shyness faded and a magical confidence took its place. It’s like when the music started and the lights went on, Michael went into metamorphosis. He changed and changed us.

We will always be able to dance and sing along with the musical legacy that Michael left us. His performances changed people’s lives and through music and through love, he will live on forever.

80s Videos and How They Killed the Radio Stars

On August 1, 1981 at 12:01 a.m., a new, unknown 80s TV station played an unknown song – no, not a song. A video. A music video. In fact – an 80s music video that was actually born in the 70s.

Which is just perfect because I’m an 80s kid who was also born in the 70s. Let’s just say I connect with 80s music like this.

“Video Killed the Radio Star” is historically recognized as the first music video to play on MTV, and it was an apt choice, for music television did indeed go on to kill the radio star.

Originally released in 1979, the song comes courtesy of British synthpop band The Buggles. The lyrics center on the golden age of radio (“back in ’52″) and tell the story of a radio star whose career is terminated when television becomes a reckoning force in pop culture (“pictures came and broke your heart”).

The video (and MTV) set the stage for all 80s videos to come and also told the story of the fate that would soon befall radio stars all across the world.

MTV Debuts 80s Videos

Isn’t it totally awesome that this, of all 80s videos, not only was the first music video that played on MTV, but also that it’s technically a 70s song? Now that’s foresight!

As mentioned, “Video Killed the Radio Star” went down in history as the first music video to air on MTV. However, most people don’t know that the video played again on the music television giant on February 27, 2000. This time, it marked the millionth video to play on MTV.

Thanks to MTV and the death of the radio star, this song (not the video) topped the 80s music charts and was later covered by several other recording artists. It’s even been parodied.

80s Music: A New Era

The Buggles’ Trevor Horn penned the lyrics and of the song, he said that he felt “an era was about to pass.” Maybe he was psychic! His co-writers included the other two members of The Buggles, both Geoffrey Downes and Bruce Woolley.

Horn also took inspiration for the song lyrics from a short story titled “The Sound-Sweep” by J.G. Ballard. In the story, a mute boy who lives in a world without music is tasked with vacuuming up stray music (garbage). The story takes a turn when he meets an opera singer hiding out in the sewers.

Both the lyrics and the music of “Video Killed the Radio Star” are nostalgic, and bring up images of days gone by.

Directed by Russell Mulcahy, the video also features guest singers Debi Doss and Linda Jardim, who provided the female vocals as well as Hans Zimmer, who appears for a flash on keyboard. As for the song, it was produced on the album Age of Plastic.

Love Those 80s Videos!

We love 80s music but we must remember that what made it so totally wicked were all those awesome 80s videos that were given to us by MTV and groups like The Buggles. Long live the 80s!

80s Movies: Flashdance

What a feeling we got watching Flashdance for the very first time back in 1983. This film had a profound impact on 80s style and altered the public’s perception of dancers and women, and specifically of women dancers. Oh, and it’s one of the best 80s classic movies.

Like many 80s movies, the film came with a theme song (“Flashdance… What a Feeling” by Irene Cara) that rocked up the charts and became one of the iconic hits of the decade.

Flashdance also changed the face of the musical, ushering in a filmmaking style in which music and dance is heavily featured but the performers don’t break out into singing at random points throughout the film. Instead, Flashdance gave us a more realistic twist on what a musical could be. And unlike most musicals, the film opted for gritty dance performances over traditional corny musical numbers.

80s Movies, Music, and Dance

Music and dance were essential components of many 80s movies. You had to have the big theme song, which got plenty of radio play and made soundtrack sales.

Some films were lucky enough to slip a few additional hits onto the soundtrack. Flashdance was one such film as the Flashdance Original Soundtrack also boasted hit song “Maniac” by Michael Sembello. Both the title track and “Maniac” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983, the year the film was released.

The dance numbers in the film were modeled after music videos, which were a relatively new phenomenon back in the early 80s.

80s Movies and Success

Flashdance marked the first collaboration for producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, who would go on to to make other 80s movies that were blockbusters like Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop.

When Flashdance first came out, the critical reviews were poor, but audiences loved it, and it became a box office smash, earning over $100 million.

Soon, girls were mimicking the fashion of the film, ripping their sweatshirt collars off and wearing them hanging off one shoulder, as is depicted in the movie’s poster. One particular performance in the movie, to the song “Maniac,” became iconic and has since been parodied, spoofed, and even attributed in a 2003 Jennifer Lopez music video.

In time, Flashdance came to symbolize 80s movies, packed with hot hits, cool fashion, and plenty of dance, plus a great storyline and highly sympathetic characters.

80s Fashion: The 80s Hair Side Ponytail

80s fashion involved more than just clothes and shoes and accessories. You totally had to have the hair that topped off the outfit. Big hair. Bold hair.

80s hair had to be big. Heck, what wasn’t big in the 80s? We doused our locks with Aqua-Net until our hair was thick and sticky. But at least our hairstyle was securely fixed. No wind could knock down that 80s hair!

But we didn’t always have time to tease our hair. Some styles took hours to master and involved wrangling with styling mousse, gel, a hairdryer, a curling iron, a crimping iron, and that unwieldy can of Aqua-Net.

When you had to run out the door, a ponytail was your only option. But it was the 80s, so if you couldn’t find your banana clip, you probably went with a side ponytail.

Quirky 80s Fashion

In the 80s, we just had to be different. We had to be bold. Everything was an overstatement. Our 80s fashion was no exception and neither was our 80s hair.

Hairstyles come and go, and in the 80s, styles came and went pretty quickly. The most popular 80s fashion, the one you totally HAD to have, was one you wouldn’t be caught dead in six months later.

It was like – one day you had to have pair of jelly shoes to be cool. Anyone who was anyone had a pair (or twenty pairs) of jelly shoes. But just a few months later, anyone caught wearing a pair of jelly shoes would be ostracised. All 80s fashion was like that, especially 80s hair.

80s Hair

80s hair styles went in and out. You changed your hair about as often as you changed your underwear, so like, every day basically.

One day it was feathered, the next day it was teased up to the sky. A week later, you slicked it back, and a month after that you pulled it up into a ponytail.

If it was the 80s, maybe you secured your ponytail with a scrunchy or a banana clip. More likely, you swept it up into a side ponytail.

The Side Ponytail

Ponytails have always been popular. They’re fast and easy. They get annoying strands of hair out of your face and neatly pulled back where they’re out of your way.

Anyone with hair past the chin can appreciate a simple ponytial. But you had to be a child of the 80s to appreciate the side ponytail.

80s hair came in many different styles and colors. The side ponytail could be teased up into a puff of curls, or it could hang loose. You could secure it with an old-fashioned rubber band, a scrunchy, or even a banana clip (more on those later).

It was all a part of 80s fashion – the shoes, the clothes, the accessories, and the hair. The side ponytail was a fast fix that kept your style current (trendy) and marked you as an 80s fashion victim.

80s hair and 80s fashion went through many fads and phases throughout the decade. The side ponytail was just one popular hairstyle. But there were many others. And we’ll totally be talking about those in future articles.

80s Fads: The New Wave Movement

80s fads were a dime a dozen. In fact, very few crazes that were born in the 80s lived beyond the decadent decade.

New Wave is just one of the many 80s fads that swept across the music scene. Though the new wave movement started in the late 70s, it took hold and grew to popularity in the 80s.

A hybrid of rock, punk, pop, and synth-pop, New Wave is a vague term. Sometimes it’s punk music. Other times, it’s a synthesizer-heavy pop band.

The Birth of New Wave

New Wave is one of the 80s fads that originated in Britain, though it’s unclear where the term came from. Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren used it as an alternate label for punk music. The term also referenced an avant-garde film movement out of France, which occurred during the 1960s.

Wherever the term started, it was adopted by British punk fanzines and later made its way into mainstream music publications. In the early days, New Wave and punk were used interchangeably as labels for anti-pop music. But by the end of 1977, new wave had come to define a more specific breed of underground music out of the UK.

In time, New Wave would evolve closer to pop than its punk predecessor, eventually becoming a genre for rock-based pop dance music.

Beware 80s Fads

In the U.S., punk music was mostly centered around the scene at popular New York club CBGB. Record producers were concerned that punk rock was just one of many 80s fads, so they set out in search of a better term to apply to this new genre of music. New Wave won the day.

Early New Wave artists included bands like The Ramones and The Talking Heads. Their music was experimental and they were anti-corporate, critical of commercial art, and particularly wary of anything that could be lumped in with mainstream 80s fads.

New Wave Music

New Wave music had a sound that was reminiscent of punk but had too much pop flavor for the punk genre. The New Wave scene was less centered around anarchy and far more experimental in its music artistry. Song lyrics tended toward complexity that was almost poetic.

Well-known artists who were associated with early New Wave include Nick Lowe, Patti Smith, Blondie, Elvis Costello, and Joe Jackson. Other artists, who were originally considered punk, were moved into the New Wave category.

Outliving most 80s fads, New Wave continued to evolve. In time, it marked a genre that was less noisy than punk. In fact, many New Wave songs were soft. They were usually heavily laden with synthesizers and New Wave bands were eventually manufactured by record labels.

In its maturity, New Wave came to include acts such as Spandau Ballet, Flock of Seagulls, Depeche Mode, and Soft Cell. Darker New Wave bands were considered post-punk. These included Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Cure, and The Psychedelic Furs.

According to Wikipedia: “Although distinct, punk, New Wave, and post-punk all shared common ground: an energetic reaction to the supposedly overproduced, uninspired popular music of the 1970s.” In many ways, New Wave was a rebellion against disco.

80s Fads Popularized By MTV

New Wave started falling out of favor it Britain just as it was taking hold in the U.S. during the early 80s.

In fact, MTV brought the New Wave movement its greatest success and longevity that surpassed most other 80s fads. Using the medium that was music video, British acts left Britain behind and swam across the pond to MTV and legions of new fans. British artists on independent labels outsold American artists on major labels and the phenomenon was called the “Second British Invasion.”

At this point, the term New Wave was used liberally to refer to almost every new pop artist that featured synthesizers or did not have long hair (and therefore was not a hair band). Groups that found themselves tucked under the New Wave umbrella included A-ha, OMD, and the Pet Shop Boys. Numerous one-hit wonders came out of New Wave, many of which were theme songs in Brat Pack films – Valley Girl, Sixteen Candles, and The Breakfast Club.

New Wave After the 80s

All good things come to an end and 80s fads are no exception, though we here at Total 80s Remix hope fervently that many 80s fads will see a revival (soon). By the end of the 80s, New Wave was becoming even more electronic and helped feed the development of house music and techno. The independent spirit of New Wave continued to influence music of the 90s, feeding styles such as college rock and grunge, as well as alternative rock.

By the mid-90s, the grunge fad had passed and New Wave saw a mini-rebirth with bands like Elastica and Smash. No Doubt and Gwen Stefani as a solo artist both encapsulated New Wave and cited New Wave as a dominant influence.

So it seems New Wave doesn’t fit in with most other 80s fads. In many ways, it lives on in the music of today. Rock it, enjoy it, and dance to it.

The 80s Timeline: 1989

The 80s timeline features pop culture happenings and world events that had a major impact on society.

1989 was the last year of the best decade in history, a bridge to the nineties, the final hurrah before we left oversized decadence behind and entered ten years of grunge.

So, who was born in 1989? And who died? What events that occurred in this year shaped the world as we know it today? This installment of the 80s timeline focuses on 1989.

1989 Births

Love Harry Potter? The actor who portrays him, Daniel Radcliffe was born in 1989. So was Hayden Panettiere of Heroes fame (save the cheerleader, save the world!). American Idol hopeful Sanjaya Malakar was born in 1989 and so was Idol winner Jordin Sparks. 1989 also gave us pop country sensation Taylor Swift and controversial hip-hop dancing man Chris Brown.

1989 Deaths

Many cultural icons were lost to us during our 80s timeline. In 1989, Spanish artist Salvador Dali passed away. We lost comediennes Gilda Radner from Saturday Night Live and Lucille Ball, the beloved and funny redhead. We said goodbye to acclaimed actors Bette Davis and Laurence Olivier, and boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.

80s Timeline: 1989 Events by Month

It’s a total joy to welcome new life and it’s a big bummer when we lose those we love. But plenty of other major events happened that were newsworthy. Here’s a look at the 80s timeline for 1989 by month:

January, 1989

• January 17 – It what was coined as the “Stockton Massacre,” Patrick Edward Purdy murdered 5 children, wounded 30, and then shot himself in Stockton, California.
• January 20 – George H. W. Bush became the 41st President of the U.S.A.
• January 24 – Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy is executed in Florida via the electric chair.

February, 1989

• February 10 – Ron Brown becomes the first African American to lead a major political party in the U.S.A. when he is elected as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
• February 11 – Barbara Clementine Harris becomes the first female bishop of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.
• February 14 – The first Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite enters orbit.

March, 1989

• March 4 – Time, Inc. and Warner Communications announce a merger that will ultimately form conglomerate Time Warner.
• March 24 – The Exxon Valdez spills 11 million gallons of oil in Alaska.
• March 29 – Rain Man wins best picture at the 61st Academy Awards.

April, 1989

• April 14 – The Keating Five (including John McCain) are accused as responsible for the Savings and Loan Crisis of the 1980s, which cost taxpayers in the U.S.A. almost $200 billion in bailouts.
• April 25 – The worlds smallest mobile phone, the Motorola MicroTAC Personal Cellular Telephone, is introduced.

May, 1989

• May 1 – Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World opens its doors to the public.
• May 2 – Hungary removes 150 miles of barbed wire fencing at its Austrian border, marking the first crack in the Iron Curtain.
• May 12 – In San Bernadino, California, a Southern Pacific Railroad freight train crashes on Duffy Street. Just thirteen days later, a pipeline explodes at the same section of the same street.

June, 1989

• June 4 – The Tiananmen Square massacre.
• June 12 – The Corcoran Gallery of Art pulls Robert Mapplethorpe’s gay photography exhibit.
• June 21 – 250 people are arrested by British police for celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge.
• June 23 – The 1989 Batman film hits theaters and becomes the highest grossing film based on a DC comic book until 2008′s The Dark Knight. (Yes, we LOVE Batman flicks).

July, 1989

• July 5 – Seinfeld premieres.
• July 14 – 200th anniversary of the French Revolution.
• July 19 – United Airlines Flight 232 crashes in Iowa. 112 people are killed, 184 survive.
• July 26 – Cornell student Robert Tappan Morris Jr. is indicted for releasing a computer virus, the first such indictment under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
• July 31 – Nintendo launches GameBoy in North America.

August, 1989

• August 14 – Sega Genesis launches in North America.
• August 16-17 – Woodstock ’89 festival.
• August 20 – Lyle and Erik Menendez shoot their wealthy parents in the family home, killing them.
• August 24 – Famous, record-setting baseball player Pete Rose accepts a lifetime ban from baseball due to allegations of illegal gambling. He is therefore banned from becoming inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

September, 1989

• September 5 – President George H. W. Bush holds up a bag of cocaine that was purchased in Lafayette Park (across the street) during his first televised speech to the country.
• September 6 – The South African general election, which is the last vote under apartheid, favors the National Party.
• September 21 – Hurricane Hugo hits South Carolina and inflicts $7 billion in damages.

October, 1989

• October 13 – On Friday the 13th, the Dow Jones plunges in a mini-crash of the stock market.
• October 17 – A 7.1 earthquake, strikes the California’s Bay Area and leaves 67 dead.

November, 1989

• November 7 – Douglas Wilder  of Virginia becomes the first elected African American governor in U.S. history and David Dinkins becomes the first African American mayor of New York City.
• November 9 – (Cold War) East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, and begins letting citizens travel freely to West Germany, and the next day, celebratory Germans start tearing the wall down.

December, 1989

• December 17 – The Simpsons premieres on FOX.

80s Timeline – Summary

Some of it was good (hello comic book movies!) and some of it was bad (Tienneman Square). Like most years, 1989 had its ups and downs. By exploring the 80s timeline, we can learn from history and continue to make the world a totally better place.

The 80s timeline is not meant for academia and is presented here for entertainment purposes only. Check an encyclopedia for further details on the events of 1989.

Music Television Shook Up 80s TV

On August 1, 1981, an obscure television station launched and changed the face of 80s TV forever.

In fact, MTV permanently changed the face of television and also helped revolutionize the music industry giving artists a visual platform and allowing audiences to connect with their favorite musicians 24/7.

The station had a huge impact on culture, introducing us to VJs, and providing a venue through which the public could get more entertainment, as well as the latest music news and events.

The station originally played music videos 24 hours a day. Eventually, new shows were introduced, but these focused closely on music. Later, MTV would divorce itself from its 80s TV music roots and expand its programming, primarily with reality shows that had nothing to do with music.

Video Killed the Radio Star

It happened at just one minute after midnight on August 1, 1981. The words “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll,” were spoken by co-founder John Lack. Next, the MTV guitar theme played as viewers were treated to a montage of public domain footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

The Apollo video with the theme song became an MTV staple.

Unlike the Apollo 11 moon landing, the launch of MTV was only witnessed by a few thousand people through a single cable system located in New Jersey. Hey, that’s how 80s TV worked!

Immediately after the first-ever promotion for MTV itself, the station aired its first video. The aptly chosen “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles has since become a historic video, both for being the first video to play on MTV and for its eerily ironic and predictive lyrics:

In my mind and in my car, we can’t rewind we’ve gone to far.
Pictures came and broke your heart, put the blame on VTR.

As it grew, MTV shook up the music industry. Artists could no longer get by with studio recordings and radio airplay. Establishing an image and a presence on MTV became essential to commercial success, and MTV even gained control over genre and artist popularity, helping some careers and genres (while being accused of hurting others) by putting them into heavier (or lighter) rotation.

Indeed, the radio star was dying.

“I Want My MTV”

After knocking the radio star out of its way, MTV embarked on over a decade of 80s TV domination before it slowly started moving away from music programming, a move that is now near completion (the station hardly ever plays music videos anymore).

Throughout the 80s, MTV grew to iconic status. Its core slogan “I want my MTV” could be heard uttered in homes and high schools across America as teens urged their parents to add the channel to cable packages. The slogan and MTV logo appeared on t-shirts, jackets, hats, buttons, and stickers, and even in one famous song (and music video) by Dire Straights, “Money for Nothing,” featuring Sting crooning the MTV slogan in the background.

80s TV for Teens and Music Lovers

MTV had a broad appeal, but mostly targeted teens and avid music lovers. Its original format was closely modeled after pop radio with young men and women, coined as VJs (for video jockeys) hosting and introducing videos.

The original MTV VJs were Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson, and Martha Quinn.

The VJs became celebrities in their own right, and MTV soon became a powerhouse in the music industry. First, the studios realized that the video medium had a positive impact on artists’ brand recognition and ultimately, could increase album sales. It didn’t take long before the record companies started investing in videos, creating clips that were designed and produced specifically for MTV.

MTV Today

Music videos have increasingly become accessible online. You can download them on iTunes or watch them on YouTube. It would, however, be wrong to assume that MTV shifted away from music programming because of the accessibility of videos online. In fact, one of the earliest shows to drive a wedge between music and music television was “The Real World,” which was first broadcast in 1992, long before the Internet had made its way into every home in America.

The station has received harsh criticism since it broke its promise to air music videos 24 hours a day. Based on reviews, it appears that artists and audiences alike are displeased with MTV’s modern programming, which has been criticized both for its lack of quality and its lack of music. Most people seem to prefer MTV in its 80s TV incarnation.

However, MTV did recently launch something that might be better than music television, and that is music internet. MTV Music allows website visitors to search and play videos at their leisure. And yes, it’s available 24 hours a day.

As for this 80s TV lover, I still want my old MTV back. I want MTV News at the top of every hour. I want better VMAs, live concerts, and up-close interviews with the hottest artists. Of the 80s.