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Essay about 80's Music

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Music and the Eighties
One of the best known decades for music was the eighties. During this generation, there were a number of landmark events. This decade set a standard for music to evolve from for years to come. One of the most recognized advancements was Mtv. It was first debuted on August 1, 1981. This gave way to the first video jockey (VJ). A video jockey was someone who announced videos and told a brief synopsis of the band. Mtv was an outlet for music videos and a gateway for musicians to get their music to the fans. When it first aired at 12:01 am, the first words were, “Ladies and Gentlemen, rock and roll”. The first video played by Mtv was, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles. The digital phase wasn’t …show more content…

Mtv has been going strong for almost 30 years. In the beginning, they were told they played too many videos, now they are known for not playing enough videos. Mtv also made way for many music shows. Because of its recognition, more music videos were being played by other stations. Some of these were HBO’s Video Jukebox, WTBS aired Night Tracks, ABC came out with ABC Rocks and VH1 got its start. There was a lot of history making events in the eighties with music. In 1980, the legendary John Lennon of the Beatles was murdered. On May 11, 1981, the popular Reggae music star, Bob Marley died. In 1982, Michael Jackson’s album, Thriller is released. In 1983, the first music CD is sold. In 1984, Marvin Gaye dies, Prince’s first film, Purple Rain is debuted, Michael Jackson gets burned in a Pepsi commercial and Tina Turner makes a comeback. In 1985, Whitney Houston releases her first album and the popular song, “We Are the World” is produced. In 1988, music CDs outsells vinyl records. In 1989, Milli Vanilli wins the Best New Artist Grammy and then has it taken away because they were caught lip synching. It’s hard to talk about music today without bringing up music from the eighties. Some of the artists today got their ideas and musical talent from watching their idols from that decade. For example, Usher credits his dancing and musical talent from Michael

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