1980s New Romantics - Stadium Rockers- And Of Course The Video Stars!

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But album sales during this decade also reflected a taste for more established and mature sounds. In the 1980s, pop music's paranoid obsession with youth greatly disappeared. The generation born in the post - war years demanded music to satisfy and reflect its ever-maturing aspirations, traumas and fears. In 1985, Phil Collins'album No Jacket Required tapped into this market.

During the 1980s, albums evolved beyond simple pieces of vinyl sold in a nice cover. Video meant that albums became multi-media packages; images and songs shaped and defined as much by film as they once had been by music alone. Many up-and-coming bands were quick to realise the potential of MTV-exposure on the network could substantially fuel single and album sales. By 1983, no major record label was complete without its own video department. Michael Jackson was one artist who was quick to appreciate the power of video, which became not only an entertainment medium, but a vehicle for social change.

Jackson's Thriller was his most successful album of the 1980s, almost 30 million copies were sold. Released in December 1982, Thriller was Number One in almost every western country. including the US, where it spent 37 weeks at the top of the album chart. Just as 1980s pop music came to feed off the visual thrills of MTV, many of the top-selling albums of the decade were film soundtracks, such as Top Gun and Dirty Dancing.

The 1980s may have been an era for revolutionary new media technology, but many albums continued to reflect traditional rock 'n' roll ethics. Of all modern American guitar heroes, none filled the role of working-class kid made good better than Bruce Springsteen. Released in June 1984, Born in the U.S.A. was both a celebration and an uncompromising examination of American life. The album spent seven weeks at the top of the US charts.

The 1980s also saw a triumvirate of classic rock albums released by new bands. By 1987, following a series of grinding tours, Def Leppard had become stadium-rock kings. Three years in the making, Hysteria hit the US album charts at Number Ten in March 1988. Meanwhile, a former shoe salesman, Jon Bon Jovi, had been moulding his band into stadium headliners. Bon Jovi's album Slippery When Wet was released in 1986, by the end of the following year it had sold 8 million copies in the US alone. Guns N' Roses were the real bad boys of rock in the 1980s. Although their career was unruly and controversial, the band produced plenty of magnificent work, including their 1987 release Appetite For Destruction

About the Author:
For a great selection of 1980s music, visit www.essential-music.co.uk

Alll the cheese is here as well!

Thank you for reading, Ronnie Slade.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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