This is part of my Pop Music in the ‘80s series. By the mid-1980s, pop music was no longer confined by borders. Advances in recording technology, an increasingly global music industry, and the cultural currents of post-colonial exchange made it possible for Western artists to look outward and for international sounds to flow inward. The […]
This is part of my Pop Music in the ‘80s series. By the late 1980s, the country music industry found itself at a pivotal crossroads. The pop-country flirtations that defined the decade were beginning to shift, and Nashville, long seen as both the guardian and gatekeeper of country tradition, was quietly reinventing itself. This transformation
This is part of my Pop Music in the ‘80s series. Throughout the 1980s, country music flirted with the mainstream in increasingly ambitious ways. While some artists doubled down on tradition, others aimed for mass appeal, and many succeeded. The result was a decade where country not only crossed over into pop radio, but also
This is part of my Pop Music in the ‘80s series. Tradition Reimagined By the 1980s, country music had become a field where women’s voices were increasingly prominent, not just as vocalists, but as storytellers, innovators, and industry powerhouses. Amidst a landscape still shaped by male dominance, a generation of women emerged to both honor
This is part of my Pop Music in the ‘80s series. By the mid-1980s, country music had a reckoning on its hands. The glitzy polish of the Urban Cowboy era had helped the genre reach new audiences, but it also left many longtime fans and artists questioning what “country” even meant anymore. For some, the
This is part of my Pop Music in the ‘80s series. When Urban Cowboy hit theaters in 1980, starring John Travolta in tight jeans and a cowboy hat, few could have predicted its cultural aftershocks. The film launched a new Hollywood subgenre, but it also reshaped the public image of country music. Suddenly, country wasn’t
This is part of my Pop Music in the ‘80s series. By the end of the 1980s, hip-hop was no longer a fringe movement confined to block parties, dance circles, and independent record shops. It had broken into the mainstream, challenged dominant narratives, and begun to redefine pop culture itself. One of the pivotal catalysts
This is part of my Pop Music in the ‘80s series. Movement as Expression Before hip-hop was a chart-topping genre or a political platform, it was a party. And at those early Bronx parties in the 1970s and early ‘80s, dancing was more than a mere background activity, it was the whole party. As hip-hop
This is part of my Pop Music in the ‘80s series. By the mid-1980s, hip-hop had firmly established itself as a commercial force, but for many artists, the music gave them a platform for social and political expression. This era saw the emergence of conscious rap, a movement within hip-hop that aimed to educate, inspire,
