80's Music
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 completely in play back then. The screen would actually go black for a few moments in between videos while an Mtv employee would insert another VHS tape. Although Mtv was growing more popular, it still had criticism from other artists. It got a lot of negative attention for playing limited music by black artists. One of the black artists that were on the receiving end was, Rick James. Mtv actually banned the video, “Super Freak”, because it didn’t fit into their criteria for television. Believe it or not, but another black artist that had a hard time getting airtime was Michael Jackson. Michael was on the CBS record label at the time and the president of the record label made an announcement that if Mtv didn’t allow more black artists airtime, it wouldn’t allow them to play any of the videos from its labeled artists. So, with that, Mtv aired Michael Jackson’s, “Billie Jean” video. This gave Mtv much more popularity. After the video aired, Mtv started switching the focus from just Rock music to Pop and R&B. This also gave way for other artists, such as Whitney Houston and Prince. In 1983, Mtv notably was the first to air the popular rock band, Kiss without their stage make up. This was a first for the band, which gave
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 completely in play back then. The screen would actually go black for a few moments in between videos while an Mtv employee would insert another VHS tape. Although Mtv was growing more popular, it still had criticism from other artists. It got a lot of negative attention for playing limited music by black artists. One of the black artists that were on the receiving end was, Rick James. Mtv actually banned the video, “Super Freak”, because it didn’t fit into their criteria for television. Believe it or not, but another black artist that had a hard time getting airtime was Michael Jackson. Michael was on the CBS record label at the time and the president of the record label made an announcement that if Mtv didn’t allow more black artists airtime, it wouldn’t allow them to play any of the videos from its labeled artists. So, with that, Mtv aired Michael Jackson’s, “Billie Jean” video. This gave Mtv much more popularity. After the video aired, Mtv started switching the focus from just Rock music to Pop and R&B. This also gave way for other artists, such as Whitney Houston and Prince. In 1983, Mtv notably was the first to air the popular rock band, Kiss without their stage make up. This was a first for the band, which gave