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 Songs: Tainted Love

80s songs are identifiable by the dominant sounds of synthesizers, instruments that wholly defined 80s music.

Even traditional rock bands were known to incorporate keyboards into their music, live performances, and music videos.

New wave bands, however, were completely tied to the synthesizer without exception. Soft Cell’s hit popsynth song, “Tainted Love,” adhered completely to the new wave synth sounds that were raging across the culture.

Tainted Love

The electronic sound of the synthesizer combined with the driving BIM-BIM, whip-cracking beat and love-takes-no-prisoners lyrics made “Tainted Love” an enormous success, perhaps the greatest one-hit wonder of the 80s – and the 80s were packed with one-hit wonders.

Composed by Ed Cobb and originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964, “Tainted Love” found worldwide appeal when Soft Cell recorded it in 1981. Since then, it has been covered and sampled by countless groups and artists, including a Marilyn Manson version and a sample in Rhianna’s 2006 song “SOS.”

However, the song remains a testament to 80s music. It soared to the top of the UK charts and was soon released in the U.S., where, although it took 19 weeks to hit the top 40, it spent 43 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.

The B-side of the single was another cover song, the Supremes’ Motown classic “Where Did Our Love Go?” There was also a popular remix of “Tainted Love,” which included a brief interlude of the B-side. Remixes were standard fare for 80s songs, and longer versions of new wave songs were popular in clubs.

80s Music Video: Tainted Love

There were several music videos created for “Tainted Love.” One featured Soft Cell’s Marc Almond and David Ball in an ancient Greek setting. Another shows Ball haunted by starry apparitions interspersed with images of Almond singing against a night-sky backdrop:

The song’s videos were not among the most memorable or heavily featured 80s songs on MTV. However, radio stations played the heck out of it, cementing it firmly among the pillars of 80s music.

80s Songs and One-Hit Wonders

Soft Cell was just one of many bands who lucked out when their 80s songs became worldwide phenomena. One-hit wonders were standard fare for 80s music, and while most musicians prefer a long, steady career, these fly-by hits catapulted songs like “Tainted Love” to fame and earned songwriters, producers, and performers a pretty penny.

Tainted Love remains one of the most important 80s songs. It helped define 80s music and its popularity continues through cover versions and sampling.

80s Music Defined: Like a Virgin (The Album)

The buzz was humming before the album hit shelves and before the first single hit the airwaves. People were whispering, talking, and shouting about the title track from Madonna’s upcoming album.

The year was 1984. MTV’s bad girl had the church ladies’ panties in a wad. But teen girls across the nation couldn’t get enough of her. And everyone awaited the much-anticipated release of her Like a Virgin album.

It was a disgrace to virgins and good girls everywhere! She was a hussy! A slut! A star! Madonna seduced the spotlight and cameras everywhere. She was (and is) an entertainer. She totally knew how to work a song, a video, and a stage.

And she knew how to put out hit after hit. Her Like a Virgin album was jam-packed with 80s music singles, and Madonna dominated the charts.

Anticipating Like a Virgin, Foremost Among 80s Albums

Leveraging off shock value and controversy, Madonna released her sophomore album in 1984, and the public was soaking it up before they heard her sing a single note. Chatter about the cutting-edge title, “Like a Virgin,” was mixed. Some said it was blasphemy. Others said it was brilliant.

Critics mostly dismissed the album, calling the title track a one-hit wonder, but once it became available, the public ate it up and Like a Virgin became a commercial success, an album so important to 80s music that it was celebrated twenty years later at the MTV Video Music Awards (and sealed with a sexy pair of kisses between Madonna and modern pop princesses Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera).

The album was dedicated to “all the virgins of the world,” and was a cacophony of disco and pop inspired hits like “Material Girl,” “Angel,” and “Dress You Up,” not to mention the title track, “Like a Virgin.”

80s Music and the MTV Generation

Madonna debuted the album’s first single by performing “Like a Virgin” at the first annual MTV Video Music Awards. Swathed in a white bustier (which would become one of her wardrobe staples) and a full skirt cinched with her signature “Boy Toy” belt, Madonna rolled around onstage, crooning the lyrics to her shocking new song.

The crowd went wild and MTV put the video for “Like a Virgin” into heavy rotation and so began a long, beneficial, and reciprocal relationship between Madonna and Music Television.

The Virgin Tour

If Like a Virgin was one of the most popular 80s albums, then the Virgin Tour was certainly one of the biggest concerts of the decade. 80s music had reached new heights thanks to MTV and the concerts exploded with the added television coverage.

A performance from her Virgin Tour of the song “Dress You Up” was captured on film and turned into a music video, which like all other Madonna videos, enjoyed heavy play. Concert goers flocked to big stadiums to see the Boy Toy live and in action.

With a full band, backup dancers, and a show that was completely choreographed, the concert was a hit, and eventually made its way to video.

Your 80s Music Collection

Your 80s music collection isn’t complete without the Virgin essentials:

Order the CD from Amazon

Or, download the album (or any of its singles) from:

80s Music

It’s been said before and it will be said again – the music of the 80s was pure awesomeness. There was something for everyone – metal and hard rock, rap and R&B, pop, country, and plenty of brand new sounds too. Hip-hop officially hit mainstream and became a force to be reckoned with. Dancing was a running theme throughout the decade and obviously, it relied heavily on 80s music, though it also infiltrated film, fashion, and television. MTV practically kicked off the decade, launching in 1981 and changing the face of the music industry forever.

No More Disco

Toward the end of the seventies, disco music was being mass-produced by record labels that were trying to cash in on the popular sound, making it generic and irrelevant. Plus, legions of rock fans and hardcore musicians protested the disco sound, bashing it as effeminate and fake due to its large gay following and use of electronic drum beats and synthesizers rather than real musicians.

80s Music and the Synthesizer

Disco may have died but the synthesizer survived well into the 80s. Every band had to have its token keyboard player, even rock masters Van Halen. The synthesizer and keyboards were so heavily used in 80s music that these instruments came to define the the sound of the decade. Plus, they were accessible and mass produced in a variety of sizes, so many smaller versions ended up under millions of Christmas trees throughout the 80s.

A New Wave of Sound

With synthesizers and keyboards permeating 80s music, new styles started to pop up, most notably new wave and synthpop. Defined as much by its post-disco dance sound as its style, which melded ultra-mainstream pop fashion with punk stylings, new wave music found a home in the dance clubs that were formerly discotheques.

Other genres emerged as well. Most notably, hip-hop entered mainstream thanks to a groundbreaking duet featuring Run-DMC and Aerosmith in the 1986 single “Walk This Way.” Alternative music has its roots in 80s modern rock. The techno and electronica genres also have roots in the 80s music that featured synthesizers and other electronic instruments.

Video Killed the Radio Star

On August 1, 1981, MTV (Music Television) launched and almost overnight changed the way musicians performed and marketed themselves. MTV also permanently altered the way the public viewed and listened to music. The format was simple and straightforward – music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The channel featured commentaries and introductions by its veejays (video jockeys) and camera-friendly stars started to rise, a phenomenon foreshadowed by the title of the first video that played on the channel: “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles.

The 80s Music Genre Craze

In the 80s, music started to split into smaller niches, which appealed to more targeted audiences. Genres become more defined in part because of the greater visibility that MTV’s platform provided. The sound of each genre became heavily tied to a particular style. Big hair and glam metal bands appealed to rockers. The goth predecessors, sometimes known as “mods,” were drawn to the alternative modern rock and new wave sounds. Pop music was associated with “preppies” and “fluffs,” who were sometimes viewed as followers due to their adherence to mainstream entertainment.

The 80s is one of the most outstanding decades in history, revered for the bulk, diversity, and originality of the music that was produced from 1980 to 1989. Cultural fads and icons like the walkman, boom box, and cassette (as well as the beloved mix tape) and the cultural phenomenon that was MTV helped propagated the popularity of 80s music, which was so totally awesome that we still listen to it and totally love it almost 30 years later.