Pop Music in the ’80s

This is part of my Pop Music in the ‘80s series. The Rise of a New Sound By the early 1980s, pop music was undergoing a transformation away from the disco sounds that permeated the last half of the 1970s. The success of Michael Jackson, Prince, and Madonna had shattered racial and gender barriers while […]

This is part of my Pop Music in the ‘80s series. The Fight for Visibility: Race, Sexuality, and Breaking the Mold When MTV launched in 1981, it was a revolution in music consumption—but not an inclusive one. The network’s original format was overwhelmingly white and rock-oriented, largely shutting out Black artists under the guise of