80s Music - Pop, Popular Mainstream Eighties Music, Songs & Bands

The Official Cyndi Lauper website

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

On October 14, 1983, She's So Unusual was released, and became a worldwide hit. With help from Rick Chertoff, Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman (of The Hooters) as her primary studio musicians, She's So Unusual's popularity spread like wildfire. At the time, Lauper became popular with teenagers and critics, in part due to her hybrid punk image.

Lauper knew she could write songs, but the record company had a lot of material they wanted her to record. She altered a lot of the songs that were thrown her way, often changing the lyrics to suit her. (This would end up helping her in the long run financially as she could claim credit as a co-writer and collect royalties.)

An example is "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", 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 album's second single was the ballad "Time After Time". Lauper co-wrote "Time After Time" with Rob Hyman when her producer, Rick Chertoff, suggested to the band that the album could use one more song. The record label didn't have much faith in Lauper as a songwriter, but they gave her the chance to prove herself. Notably, "Time After Time" was one of the biggest hits of 1984. It has been covered by more than 100 artists.

Lauper came up with the title for "Time After Time" while reading TV Guide. "Time After Time" was the name of a 1979 science fiction movie starring Malcolm McDowell as a man who invents a time machine. She has also stated that the apartment that she shared with David in New York had a very loud alarm clock, and that's where the lyrics "the clock ticks and I think of you" originated.

Read More...

The Official Madonna website

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

In 1982, Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire Records, a label belonging to Warner Bros. Records. Her first release was "Everybody" on April 24, 1982. Her debut album, Madonna was primarily produced by Reggie Lucas.

Madonna's look and manner of dress, performances and music videos, became influential among young girls and women. Defined by lace tops, skirts over capri pants, fishnet stockings, jewelry bearing the Christian cross, and bleached hair, it became a female fashion trend in the 1980s. Her follow up album, Like a Virgin, became her first number one album on the U.S. albums chart; its commercial performance was buoyed by the success of its title track, "Like a Virgin", which reached number one in the U.S. with a six week stay at the top. The album sold 12 million copies worldwide, eight of which in the U.S. She performed the song at the first MTV Video Music Awards, wearing her then-trademark "Boy Toy" belt. Like a Virgin is listed by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the Definitive 200 Albums of All Time.

In 1985, Madonna entered mainstream films, beginning with a brief appearance as a club singer in the film Vision Quest. Its soundtrack contained her second U.S. number-one single "Crazy for You". Later that year, she appeared in Desperately Seeking Susan. The film introduced the song "Into the Groove", which became her first number-one single in the UK. Madonna embarked on her first concert tour in the U.S. in 1985 titled The Virgin Tour, with the Beastie Boys. In July that year, Penthouse and Playboy magazines published a number of black and white nude photos of Madonna taken in the late 1970s. Madonna took legal action to try and block them from being published, but when that failed she became unapologetic and defiant. At the outdoor Live Aid charity concert at the height of the controversy, Madonna made a critical reference to the media and stated she would not take her jacket off because "they might hold it against me ten years from now".

Read More...

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

The debut record to be released by the band was "Wham Rap!" in June 1982. It was one of the first ever singles by a British group to include rapping and was a double-A side with a Social Mix and Anti-Social Mix. The record was not playlisted by BBC Radio 1 in the UK, partly due to the profanity in the Anti-Social Mix. Subsequently the reissued UK release replaced the controversial lines in the first verse "B1, B2, make a claim on your name is all you have to do" and the opening two phrases of the second verse citing "Mr. Average". Additionally two videos were recorded for each set of lyrics. In 1983 on the UK pop show, Channel 4's The Tube, Wham! performed live the original song in full complete with the B1,B2 lines. This version was considered far better and was later released in the UK as the U.S Remix. Wham! Rap did not chart for the group but in October 1982, their song "Young Guns (Go For It!)" was issued. The song was an appeal from one youthful lad to his friend to not throw his life away so early on marriage. It also stalled outside the UK Top 40 but then Wham! got lucky when Top of the Pops scheduled them. An important weekly BBC chart show on television, it had to look outside the Top 40 to fill a gap created by an act which had pulled out of recording. Nearest to the 40 mark and still climbing, Wham! was summoned, and a phenomenon immediately began. The Top of the Pops performance of Young Guns is still considered a great moment in the group's history - critical acclaim given for the 'nightclub' feel of the dance routine by all four of the group.

The impact of Wham! on the public, especially teenage girls, was felt from the moment they finished their debut performance of "Young Guns (Go For It!)" on Top of the Pops. Michael wore espadrilles, a suede jacket slit open, and rolled-up denim jeans. Ridgeley stood behind him, flanked by backing dancers Dee C. Lee and Shirlie Holliman.

The performance was as much one of acting as it was of singing, with Michael playing the part of the pleading goodtime lad, and Ridgeley the guy who had been drawn into commitment. Afterwards, the song shot into the Top 40 at #24 and peaked at #3 in December. The following year (1983), Dee C. Lee began her work with Paul Weller of The Style Council, and was replaced by Pepsi DeMacque. Holliman and DeMacque would later record music as Pepsi & Shirlie.

Wham! followed up "Young Guns (Go For It!)" with the reissue "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)", a song about the joys of a leisurely life (the full version (U.S Remix) of which clocked in at almost seven minutes long); "Bad Boys", about a strained relationship between a rebellious teenage lad and his worried parents; and "Club Tropicana", a satire of the media's fascination with the elitist London club scene . Each song came with a memorable music video.

By the end of 1983, Wham! was rivaling Duran Duran and Culture Club as Britain's biggest pop act. Notoriety and column inches were duly achieved with their antics of placing a shuttlecock down their shorts, and their first album Fantastic reached #1.

Read More...

The Official Billy Idol website

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

Generation X signed to Chrysalis Records and released three albums before breaking up. Idol moved to New York and began working as a solo artist and working with Steve Stevens, soon becoming an MTV staple with "White Wedding" and "Dancing with Myself", the latter of which had originally been recorded with Generation X.

In 1983, in an effort to introduce Idol to American audiences not yet as familiar with him as those in England, "Dancing With Myself" was released in the U.S. in conjunction with a music-video (directed by Tobe Hooper, produced by Jeffrey Abelson, and conceptualised by Keith Williams) that played in heavy rotation on MTV for six months. That video, in fact, sparked a whole new era of feature film directors trying their hand at music videos. Along with "White Wedding," the "Dancing With Myself" video helped make Idol a household name in America.

"White Wedding" was rumored to be a "nasty put down" by Idol and then-girlfriend Perri Lister, directed at Idol's sister for thinking that getting married was the answer to getting pregnant. In the 2001 recording of VH1 Storytellers, Idol refutes that, saying his sister's wedding was simply inspiration for the song, which quickly took on its own form. Years after the video, Idol's sister is still married with three children. Idol and Perri broke up in 1990. They have a son together named Willem Wolfe Broad.

Soon after, Billy Idol was involved in a relationship with a woman of the name Linda Mathis (born and raised in Pasadena, California). Though there was a thirteen year age difference, they began seeing each other regularly. At the age of 19, Linda became pregnant, and chose to move in with her mother to have her child. Linda had the child on 21 August 1989, and named her child Bonnie Blue Broad.

Read More...

The Official New Kids on the Block website

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

After the failure of the first album, Starr had the group back in the studio for most of 1987 and 1988 recording their second album. Dissatisfied with the excessively bubblegum sound of their first album, the group wanted to have more input on their look, direction and song material. As a result, Donnie, Danny and Jordan received associate producer credit on the final product. The album's first single was "Please Don't Go Girl," a ballad released in the spring of 1988. Failure seemed destined a second time when the song became another that went unnoticed by the listening public, and Columbia Records made plans to drop the New Kids from the label. At the eleventh hour, however, a radio station in Florida began playing the song. Scoring listener approval, it soon became the most requested song on their play list. When Columbia caught wind of the positive response, they decided to keep the group on its roster and put more effort into promoting the single. National attention soon followed and it eventually climbed to #10 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart-becoming the group's first hit.

New Kids on the Block's second album, Hangin' Tough, was released to modest fanfare in September. In the meantime, the group began making national televised appearances on such music programs as Showtime at the Apollo, and Soul Train. They later landed a spot as an opening act for fellow teen-pop act Tiffany on the U.S. leg of her concert tour. Sales of Hangin' Tough steadily increased as the group's national attention slowly rose. At year's end, the album's second single "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" was released. The song was given a huge boost when MTV took notice of the group and began playing the video in regular rotation. By early 1989, it cracked the top five. The New Kids hit pay dirt with their next single, "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)," which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart in June. The group had been scheduled to open for Tiffany once again on a second tour, but their sudden popularity caused a reversal, and she wound up opening for them (although the two acts were technically billed as "co-headliners.")

More top five singles from Hangin' Tough followed into the summer and fall, including: the title track and "Cover Girl." Columbia Records also released the single "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)", from the groups previously overlooked debut album. The song went #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles on the strength of the group's popularity and effectively jump-started the sales of that album as well. By the end of 1989, Hangin' Tough had climbed to number one on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and had gone eight-times platinum. They, subsequently, became the first 'teen' act to garner five top ten hits from a single album.

Read More...

The Official Michael Jackson website

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958) is an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene at the age of 11 as a member of The Jackson 5 and began a solo career in 1971 while still a member of the group. Referred to as the "King of Pop" in subsequent years, five of his solo studio albums have become some of the world's best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995).

In the early 1980s, he became a dominant figure in popular music and the first African-American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. The popularity of his music videos airing on MTV, such as "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and Thriller-credited for transforming the music video into an art form and a promotional tool-helped bring the relatively new channel to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" kept Jackson as a staple on MTV into the 1990s. With stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of physically complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, pop and contemporary R&B artists.

Read More...

Excerpt taken from The Official Culture Club website

Culture Club were one of the biggest pop bands of the 80s, racking up seven straight Top 10 hits in the UK and nine Top 10 singles in the US.

Central to the band's appeal was the flamboyant front man Boy George, whose cross-dressing and heavy make-up created an image which was completely unique on the pop scene. George was also noted for his biting wit and frequently came up with cutting quips that won Culture Club media exposure on both sides of the Atlantic.

Although they drew influence from the 'New Romantic' movement, Culture Club were also inspired by the music and fashion of 'Northern Soul', which helped to create a broader appeal.

Culture Club grew out of the ashes of 'Sex Gang Children', formed by George and bassist Mikey Craig. Drummer Jon Moss and guitarist Roy Hay came on board, and by 1981 the band had been renamed.

Early in 1982 a deal was signed with Virgin Records, but success eluded them until the release of their third single in the autumn, the massive breakthrough hit 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me'.

Shortly after this Culture Club's debut album 'Kissing To Be Clever', climbed to No.5 on the UK charts, while another non-album single 'Time (Clock Of The Heart)' reached No.3.

The band's US success followed early in 1983 with the album and both singles riding high in the charts. A third single 'I'll Tumble 4 Ya' was taken from the album in the US, providing additional Top 10 success.

By the time their second album 'Colour By Numbers' was released in autumn 1983, Culture Club were the most popular pop group in the world. 'Colour By Numbers' spawned 'Karma Chameleon' a transatlantic No.1, which sold over five million copies worldwide. Meanwhile the album was kept off the US No.1 spot for six consecutive weeks by Michael Jackson's record-breaking 'Thriller'.

However the band's third album, 1984's 'Waking Up With The House On Fire', failed to repeat their earlier success with the critics and on the charts. Its lead single 'The War Song' was their final Top 10 hit of the decade on both sides of the Atlantic.

George began a long battle against drug dependence, confirming the group's break-up in 1987. That year he released his first solo single, a cover of the reggae classic 'Everything I Own', which rode a wave of public sympathy that culminated in a UK No.1.

In 1989 George embarked on a new dance orientated career having several hits across Europe with Jesus Loves You, which led on to him becoming established as one of Britain's leading club DJs. He returned the UK and US Top 30s in 1992 with the theme song to the hit movie 'The Crying Game'.

Jon and Mikey have established their own studios and Roy composes for movies and TV in Los Angeles.

Culture Club reunited in 1998, releasing the two-disc set 'VH1 Storytellers/Greatest Hits'. The first captures the band live in the VH1 studios tackling both old and new material while the second is a compilation of re-mastered hits. The band also had a No.4 hit in the UK that year with 'I Just Wanna Be Loved'.

Culture Club were the first band since The Beatles to achieve three top 10 hits from their debut album on the Billboard chart.

Read More...

Excerpt taken from The Official Howard Jones website

It was in 1983 that Howard Jones released his first single 'New Song' inthe UK. The expectation was that it might sell a few thousand copies andintroduce his fresh new music to an unsuspecting world. The reality wasquite different. The single steadily climbed the UK chart to peak at No. 3.Then came the second single 'What Is Love?' which reached No. 2 in theUK and the third single %u2026the enigmatic 'Hide and Seek' which showed thespiritual side of Howard Jones' writing. This was followed by the firstalbum 'Human's Lib' which came straight in at No. 1 in the UK in April1984, eventually going platinum and which took the synthesiser andHoward to a new plateau. This success spread across the globe with 'Human's Lib' going gold in USA, Japan, Germany, Italy and Australia.

The second album 'Dream Into Action' was even more successful spawning a series of hits including 'Like To Get To Know You Well', 'LookMama', 'Things Can Only Get Better' and the classic 'No One Is To Blame' which reached No.1 in the U.S. singles chart and has since had over 3million radio plays in USA.

Read More...

Excerpt taken from The Official Duran Duran website

1981 - Duran Duran releases their first single "Planet Earth" off of their eponymous debut LP. It enters UK Top 20, the album reaches #3 and sells in excess of 2.5 million copies.

Duran Duran tests the waters of the US by playing an extensive club tour, including a stint at the Roxy in Los Angeles and the Ritz in New York City.

The band makes the first extended video to accompany the dance mix of their song "Girls on Film". It is directed by Godley and Crème and meets with much controversy.

1982 - Duran Duran supports Blondie on their US tour. Their newly released record Rio spawns three UK Top 10 hits - "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Save a Prayer", and "Rio".

Carnival, an EP of extended re-mixes taken from the Rio album is released.

Spectacular music videos follow as the band goes to Sri Lanka with Director Russell Mulcahy to film videos for "Save A Prayer", "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Lonely in your Nightmare" then on Antigua to film "Rio".

Princess Diana declares Duran Duran her favorite band.

MTV grabs hold of "Hungry like the Wolf", which later becomes one of the 15 most played videos ever.

The US discovers Duran Duran and sends "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" into the Top 10.

1983 - "Is There Something I Should Know?" goes straight to #1 in the UK (only the fourth time that had ever happened in chart history) and reaches #4 in the US.

Seven and the Ragged Tiger, the group's third album, hits UK #1 and the first single, "Union of the Snake," explodes around the world.

Nick Rhodes produces the hit "Too Shy" by Kajagoogoo.

Simon and Nick are Guest VJs on MTV and Andy Warhol stops by to pay them a visit.

Duran Duran performs on Saturday Night Live and do a video signing in a Times Square store, where they are mobbed by fans and the police riot squad are called to control the crowd. Duran Duran releases a video album and the band performs on MTV's first ever New Year's Bash.

The group perform at the Prince's Trust Concert at the Dominion Theatre, where Prince Charles and Princess Diana were in attendance. Years later, it was revealed that the IRA had attempted to plant bombs in the lavatory of the theatre in an assassination attempt, but the plot was foiled.

Seven and the Ragged Tiger spawns two further hit singles, "New Moon on Monday" and "The Reflex," which becomes their first US #1.

The group appears on the cover of Rolling Stone, where they are christened the "Fab Five".

Duran Duran appears on the Band Aid charity record, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" along with Bono, Sting, George Michael, Boy George and others.

The band wins two Grammy Awards for best long and short form video.

Following this success, Duran Duran undertakes a major US arena tour. They are the first act to utilize live video cameras and screens in their show.

Hysteria reaches "Beatlemania" proportion. They break every existing merchandise record. During the tour, the mayhem is documented in the film Sing Blue Silver.

A show is recorded and results in the live album Arena, which also includes the Nile Rodgers produced single "Wild Boys" which goes to #2 in the US and #1 around the World.

Read More...

Excerpt taken from The Tears for Fears website

An omnipresent fixture in the early days of music video, Tears For Fears brought Orzabal and Smith into the pop music spotlight via their 1983 debut album The Hurting, a sophisticated collection of inward-looking, electro-tinged pop songs including "Mad World" (recently covered to enormous U.K. success by Gary Jules), "Pale Shelter" and "Change," all Top 10 hits in the band's British homeland. The Bath-based duo, longtime friends and prior members of youthful band Graduate, never anticipated the even greater success that would greet them next, however. 1985's Songs From The Big Chair was an international sensation, boasting three Top 5 singles in the U.S. alone (dual No. 1's "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" and "Shout," and "Head Over Heels") and catapulting the pair to superstardom.

In an attempt to satisfy the international demand for the band, the group then spent an extended period touring and promoting the new album around the world-a time that, as we would later see, would take its toll on the band in the days to come. Tears For Fears continued, and indeed when Big Chair's follow-up Sowing The Seeds Of Love emerged four years later, it soared into the Top 10 and offered the No. 2 smash "The Seeds Of Love." A joyous, profoundly Beatle-esque burst of rich melodic pop accompanied by an equally memorable video, it proved well worth the wait to those fans who'd been clamoring from more from Roland and Curt.

Read More...

The Official U2 website

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

Island Records signed U2 in March 1980, and "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" became the band's first internationally released single that May. The band's debut album, the Steve Lillywhite produced Boy, followed in October, and received generally positive reviews. Although Bono's lyrics were unfocused and seemingly improvised, a common theme was the dreams and frustrations of adolescence. The album included the band's first United Kingdom hit single, "I Will Follow". Boy's release was followed by U2's first tour of continental Europe and the United States. Despite being unpolished, these early live performances demonstrated U2's potential, as critics noted that Bono was a "charismatic" and "passionate" showman.

The band's second album, October, was released in 1981 and contained overtly spiritual themes. During the album's recording sessions, Bono and The Edge left the band due to spiritual conflicts, and U2 ceased to exist for a brief period of time. Bono, The Edge, and Mullen had joined a Christian group in Dublin called the 'Shalom Fellowship', which led them to question the relationship between the Christian faith and the rock and roll lifestyle. The album received mixed reviews and limited radio play. It did not sell well outside of the UK, which put pressure on their contract with Island and focused the band on improvement.

Resolving the doubts of the October period, U2 released War in 1983. A record where the band "turned pacifism itself into a crusade," War's sincerity and "rugged" guitar was intentionally at odds with the "cooler" synth-pop of the time. The album included "Sunday Bloody Sunday," where Bono had lyrically tried to contrast the events of Bloody Sunday with Easter Sunday. Rolling Stone magazine wrote that the song showed the band was capable of deep and meaningful songwriting. War was U2's first album to feature the photography of Anton Corbijn, who remains U2's principal photographer and has had a major influence on their vision and public image. U2's first commercial success, War debuted at number one in the UK, and its first single, "New Year's Day", was the band's first hit outside Ireland or the UK.

Read more...

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

Gibson spent years knocking on doors and handing her demos to every director, agent, and producer with whom she came into contact. Eventually, at the age of sixteen, with the help of manager of Doug Breitbart, she caught the attention of Atlantic Records, and thus began her successful pop music career.

Whilst performing around the United States at nightclub venues, Gibson was also recording what would become her debut album, Out Of The Blue. The album was recorded in a total of 4 weeks.

Four singles from Out Of The Blue reached the Top 5 of the Billboard Top 100: "Only in My Dreams," "Shake Your Love," "Out Of The Blue," and the number-one hit "Foolish Beat," followed by "Staying Together," which performed more modestly, reaching #22. "Foolish Beat" set a record for Gibson, making her the youngest female artist ever to write, produce, and perform on a Billboard number-one single, a record which stands to this day. By the time Out Of The Blue was established as a hit album, and she had considerable success in the UK, as well as in Japan and southeast Asia, with stadium tours.

Throughout 1988 and early 1989, Gibson was racking up studio time recording her second release. Electric Youth was released in March 1989, and spent 5 weeks at #1. The first single released, "Lost in Your Eyes," held the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks. Gibson achieved an additional honor of having both a #1 single and album charting simultaneously. She also shared ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Award 1989 with Bruce Springsteen.

Read more...

The Official Bangles website

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

When Susanna Hoffs joined the sisters Vicki Peterson and Debbi Peterson to form a band in Los Angeles in the waning days of December, 1980, the trio briefly christened itself The Colours, shortly renamed itself The Supersonic Bangs, but soon morphed its name to The Bangs. The band was part of the Los Angeles Paisley Underground scene, which featured groups that played a mixture of 1960s-influenced folk-rock and jangle pop with a more modern punk-ish/garage band undertone. In 1981 the threesome recorded and released a single (Getting Out Of Hand b/w Call on Me) on DownKiddie Records, their own label. In 1982 The trio were signed to Faulty Products, a label formed by Miles Copeland.

The early Bangles line-up of Susanna Hoffs (vocals/guitars), Vicki Peterson (guitars/vocals), Debbi Peterson (vocals/drums) and Annette Zilinskas (vocals/bass) recorded an EP in 1982 and a single, The Real World, was released. A legal issue forced the band to change their name at the last minute so they dropped the "The" from their name and added the letters "les" to the end to become Bangles. Their first EP was retitled Bangles and was released. In 1983 Faulty Products issued a 12 inch "remix" single of "The Real World" to radio and media however another setback came as the label folded. I.R.S. Records picked up distribution and Re-Issued the EP. What could have been yet another setback for the band came when Zilinskas left the band to focus on her own project, Blood on the Saddle. She was replaced by Michael Steele, formerly of the all-girl band the Runaways.

Read more...

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

After spending the winter of 1976-77 playing all over New England, developing, honing, and ultimately perfecting the songs that would become their debut album. The band caught the attention of Maxanne Sartori, a local DJ on WBCN-FM, who began playing their demo of "Just What I Needed." By virtue of that airplay, the band was signed to Elektra Records. "Just What I Needed" would turn out to be the first single from the band's debut album, The Cars, released in 1978 and reaching #18 on the Billboard Top LP's & Tapes chart. "My Best Friend's Girl" and "Good Times Roll" soon followed, charting on the Billboard Hot 100. The band commissioned famed Playboy artist Alberto Vargas to design the sexy illustration for the cover of their second album, Candy-O, released in 1979. Hits from that album included "Let's Go" and "It's All I Can Do."

A more experimental album, Panorama, was released in 1980, charting only one Top 40 hit with "Touch and Go". Rolling Stone described the album as "an out-and-out drag". In 1981, the Cars purchased Intermedia Studios in Boston, renaming it Syncro Sound. The only Cars album recorded there was Shake It Up. It was their first album to score a Top 10 hit with the title track, and had another hit in "Since You're Gone". Following their 1982 tour, the Cars took a short break and went to work on solo projects, with Ric Ocasek and Greg Hawkes both releasing their debut albums (Beatitude and Niagara Falls, respectively).

The Cars re-united and released their most successful album, Heartbeat City, in 1984. The first single, "You Might Think", helped The Cars win Video of the Year at the first MTV Video Music Awards. Other hit singles from the album included "Magic", "Hello Again", and "Why Can't I Have You". Their most successful single, "Drive", gained particular notability when it was used in a video of the Ethiopian famine prepared by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and introduced by David Bowie at the 1985 Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in London.

Read more...

The Official Genesis website

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

Genesis's highest-selling album, Invisible Touch, was released in 1986, at the height of Collins's popularity as a solo artist. The album yielded five U.S. Top 5 singles: "Throwing It All Away", "In Too Deep", "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", "Land of Confusion" and "Invisible Touch". The title track reached #1 in the United States; the only Genesis song to do so; however, it stalled at #15 in the UK. In 1987, Genesis became the first band to sell out four consecutive nights at Wembley Stadium.[28] Genesis were the first band to use Vari*Lite technology,[29] and the Prism sound system, all of which are now standard features of arena rock concerts.

Earlier that year, Collins viewed a spoof of himself on Spitting Image, a satirical British television show which used puppets to lampoon politicians and celebrities. He was impressed with the representation, and commissioned the show's creators, Peter Fluck and Roger Law, to work on the video for the "Land of Confusion" single. The video was formed as an ironic commentary on the Cold War, and played on the perception that the coalition's leaders were "trigger happy" with the nuclear "button". In addition to puppet representations of Banks, Collins and Rutherford, the video showed Ronald Reagan dressed as Superman. It was nominated for the MTV Video of the Year, losing to Gabriel's "Sledgehammer".

Read more...

The Official Eurythmics website

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

Eurythmics' commercial breakthrough came with Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (1983), whose hit single of the same name featured a dark, powerfully sequenced synth bass line and a striking video that introduced the now orange crew-cutted Lennox to audiences. The band's fortunes changed immensely from this moment on. The album became a huge British hit due to the title track, which later topped the American charts as well. Lennox was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Stewart recently revealed that the famous synth bass line in the song was discovered by accident when he inadvertently played a track backwards. Their previous single "Love Is A Stranger" was re-released and became a hit in its own right. The "Love Is A Stranger" video saw Lennox in many different character guises, which she later became known for in subsequent videos. The album's working title was Invisible Hands (as was a track left off the album), inspiring the name of UK indie label Invisible Hands Music - known for releasing music by Hugh Cornwell, Mick Karn and Hazel O'Connor[citation needed].

Touch, the rapid follow-up to Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), was released in late 1983 and spawned three major hits. "Who's That Girl?" was a top 3 hit in the UK, the video seeing Lennox as a blonde chanteuse and featuring cameos by Hazel O'Connor, Bananarama (including Stewart's future wife, Siobhan Fahey), Kate Garner of Haysi Fantayzee, Thereza Bazar of Dollar, Jay Aston and Cheryl Baker of Bucks Fizz, Kiki Dee, Jacquie O'Sullivan and "gender-bending" pop singer Marilyn, among others. The upbeat, calypso-flavored "Right By Your Side" showed a different side of Eurythmics altogether, and Here Comes the Rain Again (number eight in the UK, number four in the U.S.) was an orchestral/synth ballad (with orchestrations by Michael Kamen). Touch solidified the duo's reputation as being major talents and cutting edge musicians.

In 1984, RCA released Touch Dance, a mini-album of remixes of four of the tracks from Touch, aimed at the 'club market'. The remixes were by prominent New York name producers François Kevorkian and John "Jellybean" Benitez.

Read more...

Tina Turner Live in Concert website

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

In 1984, Turner staged what has been widely considered the most "amazing comeback in rock music history". In May, Capitol released the single "What's Love Got To Do With It" in the U.S. to promote the upcoming album. Only eleven radio stations had taken it to their playlists. Turner's manager, Roger Davies, forced Capitol to promote it more. Two weeks after its release, the song was on the play lists of over 100 radio stations. Eventually the single became a worldwide smash and in September, the song reached number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming the first of Turner's songs to do so. It still remains her only number-one American hit. At forty-four, she was also the oldest female artist to have a number-one single. The song hit the top ten in several European countries. Private Dancer was released that June and has since gone on to sell more than 11 million copies worldwide, though some sources stated the album has sold over twenty million making it her most successful album to date. Other than "Let's Stay Together" and "What's Love Got to Do With It", the album also yielded the hits "Better Be Good To Me", which hit the top five in the U.S. and the title track to "Private Dancer". Turner would later win an MTV Video Music Award, two American Music Awards and four Grammy Awards confirming Turner's year as "the comeback queen". In February of 1985, Turner embarked on her first solo world tour, The Private Dancer Tour, which toured for 170 dates in the U.S., Asia, Europe and Australia.

After the success of Private Dancer, Turner accepted the role of Aunty Entity, the ruler of Bartertown, in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Upon its release, the film grossed $36 million and Turner received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress. In July, Turner performed at Live Aid alongside Mick Jagger. In August, the first single "We Don't Need Another Hero" was released to promote the soundtrack for Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. The single became yet another international smash hit for Turner reaching number two in America and number three in England. The song received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. Shortly after the soundtrack was released and reached the top forty in the U.S. and #47 in Canada, it sold over one million copies worldwide. In October the second single, "One of the Living", was released. It later won a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. In November, a new single was released entitled "It's Only Love", a duet with Bryan Adams. It received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Read more...

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

Prince's 1984 album, Purple Rain (concurrent with the film of the same name) sold more than thirteen million copies in the US and spent twenty-four consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200. The Academy Award-winning film grossed more than $80 million in the US alone, and has proved to be Prince's biggest cinematic success to date.

Two songs from Purple Rain, "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy," topped the US pop singles charts and were hits around the world, while the title track reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Prince simultaneously held the spots #1 film, #1 single, and #1 album in the US. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for "Purple Rain," and the album ranks at 72 in the top 100 of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list; the album is also listed in The All-TIME 100 Albums of TIME Magazine.

It was the album's song "Darling Nikki" to which Tipper Gore overheard her twelve-year-old daughter, Karenna, listening that inspired her to found the Parents Music Resource Center. The center has enacted the mandatory use of a warning label ("Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics") on the covers of records that have been judged to contain language or lyrical content unsuitable for minors.

In 1985, after the U.S. Purple Rain Tour, which was a smash hit in the US and Canada, Prince announced that he would discontinue both live performances and music videos after the release of Around the World in a Day, which held the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 album chart for three weeks. Prince's ban on music videos supposedly ended when the album stalled in the charts and, after a video for "Raspberry Beret," then reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

Read more...

The Official Paula Abdul website

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

In 1987, Abdul used her savings to make a singing demo. Although her voice was relatively untrained, her exceptional dancing proved marketable to the visually-oriented, MTV-driven, pop music industry.

In 1988, Abdul released her pop debut album, Forever Your Girl. The album took 62 weeks to hit #1 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart - the longest an album has been on the market before hitting #1 - and spent 10 weeks there. The album eventually became multi-platinum in the spring and summer of 1989, and it spawned five American Top Three singles, four of them #1s (three in 1989 and one in 1990): "Straight Up", "Forever Your Girl", "Cold Hearted", "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me", and "Opposites Attract". A remix album, Shut Up and Dance, was also released and reached #7 on Billboard's album chart, becoming one of the most successful remix albums to date. The Grammy award-winning video for "Opposites Attract" featured an animated cat named MC Skat Kat. Abdul also went on a Club MTV tour where she performed songs from her album. Several other acts were also on the tour.

Read more...

The Official Sting website

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

Sting's first solo album, 1985's The Dream of the Blue Turtles, featured a cast of accomplished jazz musicians, including Kenny Kirkland, Darryl Jones, Omar Hakim, and Branford Marsalis. It included the hit single "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free". The single included a fan favourite non-LP track titled "Another Day". The album also yielded the hits "Fortress Around Your Heart", "Russians", and "Love is the Seventh Wave". Within a year, it reached Triple Platinum. This album would help Sting garner a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. The film and video Bring on the Night documented the formation of the band and its first concert in France.

Also in 1985, he sang the introduction and chorus to "Money for Nothing", a groundbreaking song by Dire Straits (he was given co-writer status and receives royalties based on his somewhat minor performance, supposedly because he reused his melody from The Police hit "Don't Stand So Close to Me" for his vocal parts. It is one of only two shared songwriting credits on any Dire Straits album). He performed this song with Dire Straits at the Live Aid Concert at Wembley Stadium. Sting also provided a short guest vocal performance on the Miles Davis album You're Under Arrest. He also sang backing vocals in Arcadia's single "The Promise" from their only album, So Red the Rose. He also contributed a version of "Mack the Knife" to the Hal Willner-produced tribute album Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill.

Sting released ...Nothing Like the Sun in 1987, including the hit songs "We'll Be Together", "Fragile", "Englishman in New York", and "Be Still My Beating Heart", dedicated to his recently-deceased mother. It eventually went Double Platinum. The song "The Secret Marriage" from this album was adapted from a melody by German composer Hanns Eisler, and "Englishman In New York" was about the eccentric writer Quentin Crisp. The album's title is taken from William Shakespeare's Sonnet 130.

Read more...

The Official Depeche Mode website

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia

In their early years, Depeche Mode had only really attained success in the UK, Europe, and Australia - however, this changed in March 1984, when they released the single "People Are People". The song climbed to #2 in Ireland and #4 on the UK and Swiss charts - and gave them their first #1 (in Germany). However, it belatedly reached #13 on the U.S. charts in mid-1985. Sire, the band's North American record label, released a compilation of the same name. In September 1984, Some Great Reward was released. Melody Maker claimed that the album made one "sit up and take notice of what is happening here, right under your nose." Some Great Reward saw the band experimenting with even darker subject matter, exploring sexual politics ("Master and Servant"), adulterous relationships ("Lie to Me"), and arbitrary divine justice ("Blasphemous Rumours"). Also included was the first Martin Gore ballad ("Somebody") - a concept that would be repeated on all following albums. The album was also their first to enter the U.S. album charts, and made the Top 10 in several European countries. In 1985, Mute Records released a compilation, The Singles 81>85 (Catching Up with Depeche Mode in the U.S.), which included the new singles : "Shake the Disease" and "It's Called a Heart".

During this period, in some circles, the band became associated with the gothic subculture, which had begun in Britain, and was slowly gaining popularity in the United States. There, the band's music had first gained prominence on college radio and modern rock stations such as KROQ in Los Angeles, and WLIR on Long Island, New York, and hence, they appealed primarily to a decidedly cultish, alternative audience who were disenfranchised with the predominance of "soft rock and 'disco hell'" on the radio. This view of the band was in sharp contrast to that in Europe and the UK, despite the increasingly dark and serious tone in their songs. In Germany and other European countries, Depeche Mode were considered teen idols, and were regularly featured in euro teen magazines, providing their detractors with more ammunition to use against them.

Read more...