Timeline of trends in music (1980-1989)
See also: List of years in music, Timeline of trends in music to 1899, Timeline of trends in music (1900-1949), Timeline of trends in music (1950-1969), Timeline of trends in music (1970-1979), Timeline of trends in music (1990-present)1980s
- 1980
in music
- International trends
- Alternative
rock and post
punk artists like Joy
Division (Closer),
The Specials
(More
Specials) and U2
(Boy) achieve
some popularity with influential releases; they are accompanied by
popular punk and New Wave releases from Devo
(Freedom
of Choice), Talking
Heads (Remain
in Light), The
Pretenders (Pretenders),
The Clash
(London
Calling) and The
Jam (Sound Affects)
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- Hank Sapoznik, The Klezmorim, Kapelye, Andy Statman and the Klezmer Conservatory Band emerge at the forefront of a klezmer revival among Jews in Israel, the US and UK.
- Artists like Wilfrido Vargas help popularize merengue, drawing on a large Dominican minority internationally in cities like New York
- Talking Heads' Remain in Light is the beginning of worldbeat music
- Alternative
rock and post
punk artists like Joy
Division (Closer),
The Specials
(More
Specials) and U2
(Boy) achieve
some popularity with influential releases; they are accompanied by
popular punk and New Wave releases from Devo
(Freedom
of Choice), Talking
Heads (Remain
in Light), The
Pretenders (Pretenders),
The Clash
(London
Calling) and The
Jam (Sound Affects)
- Music
of Argentina
- Cuarteto undergoes a popular revitalization
- Music
of Australia
- The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) begins broadcasting, leading to a revival in traditional aboriginal music
- Music
of Canada
- Artists like Figgy Duff inspire a resurgence in popularity of Newfoundland and other Maritime musical traditions
- Music
of China
- Rangzen Shonu helps lead a merger of Tibetan and Western rock and pop music; recordings by Mickey Hart and Philip Glass (Koyaanisqatsi) help further fuse Tibetan, New Age and Western classical music. One year later, Alain Presencer's The Singing Bowls of Tibet proved an influential fusion of Western and Tibetan forms
- Music
of Finland
- Even while its hipness fades worldwide, opera experiences a massive revival in Finland
- Music
of Germany
- Alt-folk group Biermosl Blosn appear on Bavarian TV playing the national anthem with words attacking then-President Franz Josef Strauss, leading to increasing attention and controversy of the new wave of folk music
- Music of Japan
- Music
of Korea
- T'ong guitar music becomes soft and ballad-oriented, fueling the grow, alternative Norae Undong rock movement
- Music
of Martinique and Guadeloupe
- Kassav's popularity grows in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti and Paris; the band and its imitators help invent a style of music called zouk, which will soon explode across the Caribbean, Africa and other parts of the world
- Music
of Mexico
- Colombian cumbia begins to dominate Mexico's popular music scene
- Music of Iceland
- Music
of Portugal
- "Chico Fininho" by Rui Velosa marks the beginning of a distinct rock sound in Portugal
- Music
of Thailand
- A form of Thai pop called string develops
- Music
of Trinidad and Tobago
- The Network Riddum Band's Breaking Out marks the peak of rapso's popularity in Trinidad and abroad
- Music
of the United States
- Casper's "Groovy Ghost Show" is the beginning of recorded hip hop from Chicago
- Hardcore punk rock begins its golden age, centered in California and Washington DC
- International trends
- 1981
in music
- International trends
- Pop musicians Phil Collins (Face Value), Rick Springfield Working Class Dog), Hall & Oates (Private Eyes) and The Carpenters (Made in America) are extremely popular and dominate the year's sound
- Peter Gabriel (Peter Gabriel (3)), Brian Eno (My Life in the Bush of Ghosts), David Byrne (The Catherine Wheel) and Bob Marley (Uprising) help to popularize world music; Marley dies this year.
- African-Belgian artists like Princesse Mansia M'Bila, Cécile Kayirebwa and Dieudonné Kabongo create a vibrant world music scene in Belgium
- Daniel Ponce and 125,000 other Cubans expelled by Fidel Castro; many, including Ponce, bring songo to New York, fuelling the development of timba and other forms of salsa
- Music
of Colombia
- Joe Arroyo and La Verdad help make Colombia a center for salsa music
- Music
of Germany
- German musicians Kraftwerk (Computer World) help define what is later known as electronica
- Music
of New Zealand
- Roger Shepherd forms Flying Nun Records in New Zealand; the record label will go on to dominate kiwi rock
- Music
of the United Kingdom
- Dick Gaughan's Handful of Earth is released; it is widely considered one of the best modern Scottish folk albums
- The record label Fflach Tradd is formed by Richard and Wyn Jones of Ail Symudiad; the label goes on to play a central role in the Welsh roots revival; Dafydd Iwan's first hit, "Yma O'Hyd (Still Here)", is a major breakthrough for the Welsh language singer-songwriter scene
- Music
of the United States
- MTV first airs
- Grandmaster Flash's "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" revolutionizes DJing
- Captain Rapp and Disco Daddy's "Gigolo Rapp" is the beginning of recorded West Coast rap
- International trends
- 1982
in music
- International trends in music
- The unexpected chart success of The Clash (Combat Rock), The Go-Gos (The Beauty and the Beat) and The Bangles (All Over the Place) reflect an increasing popularization of punk-influenced pop music
- Music of Iceland
- Music
of Jamaica
- Jamaican musicians like Yellowman (Mister Yellowman), and Sugar Minnott (Good Thing Going) kickstart dancehall music
- Music
of the United Kingdom
- The Straycats' Built For Speed surprise popularity brings about a brief renaissance in rockabilly
- Alistair Anderson's Steel Skies is an innovative album that helps bring Northumbrian smallpipe music to mainstream audiences
- Bhangra artists like Alaap and Chirag Pehchan are the most popular musicians in the British Asian community
- Duran Duran's Rio sets the stage for the dominance of New Romantic synth pop and New Wave music by 1984 -- Soft Cell (Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing) and A Flock of Seagulls (A Flock of Seagulls) also release influential albums.
- Music
of the United States
- Afrika Bambaataa releases Planet Rock, an early hip hop album that mixed rapping with electronic beats; it became one of the most influential hip hop recordings of the decade, influenced countless genres, including the emerging electro hop and Miami bass scenes
- House music emerges from the club scene in Chicago and Detroit; a hip hop-influenced variant, hip house, also emerges
- International trends in music
- 1983
in music
- International trends
- Montserratian soca band Arrow releases "Hot! Hot! Hot!", which is the first major worldwide hit for soca
- Music
of Ireland
- Traditional set dancing undergoes a major revival of interest
- Music
of New Zealand
- Flying Nun Records releases The Clean's Boodle Boodle Boodle and Great Sounds Great and a compilation called Dunedin Double which establish the Dunedin Sound
- Music
of Switzerland
- Ex-Trem Normal release "Warum" and "Welcome to Switzerland", which establish a new wave of distinctively Bernese rock
- Music
of the United Kingdom
- The Cocteau Twins' Head Over Heels defines dream pop and is arguably the beginning of all the styles of late 1980s and early 90s British rock, including twee pop, Britpop, noise pop and shoegazing.
- Robin Morton's A Controversy of Pipers, featuring six of the top bagpipers in the world, is released to great acclaim
- Electropop is also big, with New Order's Blue Monday a big hit, hits from Yazoo and Bronski Beat all contributing to the sound.
- Music
of the United States
- Several bands important in the future development and popularization of thrash metal form, including Megadeth, Metallica and the Red Hot Chili Peppers
- heavy metal begins its run of mainstream chart success with hair metal and pop bands like Mötley Crüe (Shout at the Devil), Whitesnake (Saints & Sinners), Van Halen (Diver Down), W.A.S.P (Animal (F**k like a Beast))), Quiet Riot (Metal Health) and Def Leppard (Pyromania) being most popular.
- Some West Coast rap artists begin to achieve local stardom; these include Ice-T and Toddy Lee
- DJ Marley Marl's technical innovations influence hip hop and Electro, and future genres of electronic music (including techno)
- The Clark Sisters' "You Bring the Sunshine" is a crossover hit and marks the beginning of the popularization of the Detroit Sound in gospel music
- R. Carlos Nakai's Changes launches a revitalization of Native American flute music; this was a major influence on New Age music
- International trends
- 1984
in music
- International trends
- Tina Turner (Private Dancer), Madonna (Like a Virgin) and Cyndi Lauper (She's So Unusual) dominate the year's sound with dance-oriented singles and ballads of female empowerment
- Tabou Combo's 8eme Sacrement makes compas into a major international best-selling genre
- José Alberto's Noches Calientes is the beginning of salsa romantica
- Thrash-influenced bands like Dokken (Tooth and Nail), Celtic Frost (Morbid Tales), Hellhammer (Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D), Mercyful Fate (Don't Break the Oath) and Helloween (Helloween) come to dominate the European metal scene.
- Menudo (Reaching Out) reaches the height of their fame, breaking into markets in Asia and elsewhere
- 3 Mustaphas 3 begin popularizing Jewish klezmer revival
- Music
of Austria
- Roland Neuwirth's Die Extremschrammeln use American blues and Viennese schrammelmusik to form what becomes known as the Danube New Wave
- Music
of the United Kingdom
- New Wave bands like The Cars (Heartbeat City), General Public (All the Rage), Spandau Ballet (Parade), Adam Ant (Strip) and A Flock of Seagulls (The Story of a Young Heart) achieve their greatest mainstream success.
- Pop phenomenon of the year is Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
- Music
of the United States
- Stryper's The Yellow and Black Attack is the first Christian metal album and sets the stage for later Christian artists in punk, hip hop and other genres
- The peak of electro hop begins with artists like Egyptian Lover and World Class Wreckin' Cru
- Releases from Run-D.M.C and the Beastie Boys begin fusing hip hop and rock and roll/heavy metal
- Music
of Vietnam
- The Maison des Cultures du Monde helps lead a revival in roi nuoc (water puppetry)
- International trends
- 1985
in music
- International trends
- Aerosmith begins its return to popular acceptance with Done with Mirrors
- Zouk has become an international success, influencing merengue and compas, along with most other forms of Latin American music
- Chart success helps to jumpstart the careers of Sting (The Dream of the Blue Turtles), Wham (Make It Big) and Prince (Around the World in a Day)
- The Rock in Rio festival brings about the dominance of rock and roll in Brazil and other Latin American countries
- Live Aid starts the trens for charity festivals and records, and catapults a number of notable acts to prominence, such as U2, Simple Minds and Phil Collins.
- Music
of Brazil
- Lambada, having moved its center of innovation from Belém to Salvador, becomes a local favorite dominated by light pop rhythms and synthesizers
- Music
of Ireland
- The Pogues' Rum Sodomy & the Lash is an influential fusion of Irish traditional music of punk rock
- Music
of Jamaica
- Wayne Smith's "Under Me Sleng Teng" is the first ragga recording
- Music
of Spain
- Ketama's Ketama is an influential nuevo flamenco album which fuses rock and roll and salsa with traditional flamenco
- Music
of Thailand
- Thai-Cambodian musicians in Surin begin electrifying kantrum music
- Music
of the United States
- Releases by Bruce Springsteen (Born in the U.S.A), John Fogerty (Centerfield), Rick Springfield (Tao) and John Cougar Mellencamp (Scarecrow) reflect a popular emphasis on heartland roots rock and roll
- European New Wave pop musicians European like a-ha (Hunting High and Low) and Simple Minds (Once Upon a Time, "Don't You (Forget About Me)") achieve their greatest success in the United States
- The end of the golden age of hardcore punk rock
- Releases by Hüsker Dü (New Day Rising), The Replacements (Tim), The Pogues (Rum Sodomy & the Lash), R.E.M (Fables of the Reconstruction) and Talking Heads (Little Creatures) help define alternative rock
- Rappers like LL Cool J (Radio) and Kurtis Blow (America) help bring rap closer to the mainstream than ever before; LL Cool J is especially known for organizing rap into traditional song structures
- Zydeco musicians like Rockin' Sidney (My Zydeco Shoes Got the Zydeco Blues, "My Toot Toot") and Buckwheat Zydeco (Waitin' for My Ya-Ya) engender a brief surge in zydeco's popularity
- The mainstream success of Amy Grant (Straight Ahead, Unguarded) begins, marking the peak of popularity for Contemporary Christian Music (CCM).
- Ice-T's "6N' Da Mornin'" is the first nationally successful West Coast rap single, and is often considered the beginning of modern gangsta rap
- Music
of the United Kingdom
- Frankie Goes to Hollywood is one of the year's biggest bands.
- International trends
- 1986
in music
- International trends
- Paul Simon's Graceland with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens launches the mainstream popularity of world music
- Wimme Saari begins performing Saami joiks, beginning a roots revival of the form
- Music of Iceland
- Music
of Mexico
- Grupera, a mixture of cumbia, ranchera and norteña, becomes popular
- Music of the Philippines
- Music of Trinidad and Tobago
- Music
of the United Kingdom
- Robin Huw Bowen begins his professional music career by joining Mabsant; he will go on to become one of the most influential musicians of the Welsh roots revival
- Music
of the United States
- Country musicians like Dwight Yoakam (Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc), Randy Travis (Storms of Life) and George Strait (#7) bring about a honky tonk revival.
- 2 Live Crew's 2 Live Crew Is Who We Are begins the popularization of Miami bass
- John Trudell's Aka Graffiti Man launches the field of Navajo spoken word poetry
- A group of Mexican-American women around Los Angeles invent a form of music called tantra, which will soon evolve into trance music
- Music
of Vietnam
- A new government in Vietnam allows for a resurgence in popular religious-oriented music like hat chau van
- International trends
- 1987
in music
- International trends
- U2 (The Joshua Tree) and R.E.M (Document) release albums that signify a move back towards politically and socially aware music
- Noise pop emerges with releases from Jesus & Mary Chain (Darklands) and Yo La Tengo (New Wave Hot Dogs)
- The term world music is first used as a marketing category to describe several dozen kinds of folk music from around the world; the term immediately draws criticism from artists like David Byrne, who eventually dismissed it as "a way of relegating this 'thing' into the realm of something exotic and therefore cute, weird but safe, because exotica is beautiful but irrelevant; they are, by definition, not like us".
- The Gipsy Kings' "Djobi Djoba" and "Bamboleo" mark the commercial emergence of Sevillana, a pop-oriented flamenco music, in Europe
- Music
of Belize
- Punta becomes the most popular form of Belizean music, aided by the release of Punta Rockers, a compilation featuring Pen Cayetano, Andy Palacio and Sounds Incorporated.
- Music
of Greece
- Nikos Xydhakis and Eleftheria Arvanitaki's Konda sti Dhoxa Stigmi is an influential album in the development of an orientalized form of Greek pop music
- Music
of Spain
- Pata Negra's Blues de la Frontera incorporates rock and blues into Andalucian flamenco music
- Music
of Taiwan
- Martial law is lifted, helping give impetus to a revival in traditional and aboriginal musical forms
- Music
of the United Kingdom
- Gothic rock's popularity peaks with bands like Sisters of Mercy (Floodland), Fields of the Nephilim (Dawnrazor), Mission UK (The First Chapter) and Peter Murphy (Should the World Fail to Fall Apart)
- New Musical Express releases C-86, the beginning of twee pop.
- The UK charts are dominated by pop hits produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
- Edward II & the Red Hot Polka's Let's Polkasteady is the first album to fuse reggae with English folk music
- Najma Akhtar's Qareeb is a popular jazz/ghazal fusion
- Music
of the United States
- Guns 'N Roses releases Appetite for Destruction and dominate the American music scene for the year with an arena rock and thrash metal-influenced sound; in Europe, Celtic Frost's (Into the Pandemonium) influence and sales peak
- Ian MacKaye's Embrace LP Embrace and Rites of Spring's EP All Through a Life are said to be the beginning of emo music, based around MacKaye's Washington DC label, Dischord Records
- Guy's Guy is often considered the beginning of New Jack Swing
- Los Lobos' "La Bamba" and Linda Ronstadt's Canciones de Mi Padre surprise success revitalizes Mexican-Texan music
- International trends
- 1988
in music
- International trends
- Songhai, a group consisting of Toumani Diabate, Danny Thompson and Ketama
release Songhai, an influential world
music album
- Ali Farka Toure (Ali Farka Toure) brings blues music to international audiences, especially in Africa
- Oliver Lorsac visits Bahia, Brazil and learns of what eventually becomes known as lambada; he brings it back with him to France
- Goran Bregovic's "Ederlezi" is a surprise hit in its native Macedonian Gypsy community and abroad; the song comes from the soundtrack to Emir Kusturica's film The Time of the Gypsies
- Music
of Algeria
- Rai's popularity and influence in Algeria and among immigrants in France help to begin breaking into the mainstream there, and elsewhere in Europe, including future-superstar Cheb Khaled (Kutche)
- Music
of Croatia
- Vjestice is the first band to mix rock and roll with Croatian folk music
- Music
of Egypt
- Hamid el-Shaeri's "Lolaiki" is the first major hit for al-jil music
- Music
of Estonia
- Some 300,000 singers gather at a rally in Tallinn to demand independence from the Soviet Union
- Music
of Germany
- The formation of R&S Records in Ghent, Belgium and Frankfurt, Germany (as well as important labels in Chicago and Detroit) and the recordings of seminal tracks like "Energy Flash" (Joey Beltram) mark the formation of trance music out of acid house.
- Music
of Iceland
- Led by The Sugarcubes, Icelandic rock music begins to enjoy popularity elsewhere, primarily in Europe
- Palestinian
music
- Thaer Barghouti's Doleh is an influential recording among the youths of the Intifada
- Music
of Romania
- Taraf de Haidouks begins recording, bringing much international attention to Romanian folk music
- Music
of the United Kingdom
- Morrissey leaves The Smiths for a solo career, going on to release albums that reflect the beginning of a new psychedelic-pop sound in the UK
- The "Summer of Love" in the UK marks a boom in house music
- My Bloody Valentine's Isn't Anything is released, commonly considered the first shoegazing album
- Aswad's "Don't Turn Around" is the first chart-topper from a British reggae band and marks the peak of popularity for mainstream reggae
- Music
of the United States
- End of the golden era of East Coast rap, including Eric B. & Rakim (Follow the Leader) and Slick Rick (The Great Adventures of Slick Rick)
- Releases from Sonic Youth (Daydream Nation) and Jane's Addiction (Nothing's Shocking) begin to bring indie rock towards the grunge explosion
- k.d. lang (Shadowland) and Tracy Chapman (Tracy Chapman) release albums that help to kickstart a new female singer-songwriter scene
- Industrial music begins to move into the mainstream with the success of bands like Ministry (The Land of Rape and Honey), My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (I See Good Spirits & I See Bad Spirits), Skinny Puppy (VIVISect VI), Front 242 (Front by Front) and Nine Inch Nails (Pretty Hate Machine)
- Debut singles by Gang Starr ("Words I Manifest") and Stetsasonic ("Talkin' All That Jazz") are often considered the beginning of jazz rap
- 1989
in music
- International trends
- Black metal emerges out of thrash with bands like Anthrax (State of Euphoria) and Sepultura (Beneath the Remains)
- Music of Norway
- Music
of Ukraine
- The first Chervona Ruta, a festival of traditional Ukrainian folk music, is held
- Music
of the United States
- N.W.A releases Straight Outta Compton, defining gangsta rap and bringing it out of urban ghettos to mainstream audiences; De La Soul releases 3 Feet High and Rising, a pivotal album in the development of alternative rap later in the next decade, while Kool G Rap's Road to the Riches defines what eventually is known as Mafioso rap
- Clint Black's Killin' Time sweeps country music, reflecting a move towards pop-oriented country
- Bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Mother's Milk), Faith No More (The Real Thing) and Fishbone (Truth and Soul) bring funk metal to its commercial pinnacle. Many of these bands, along with Anthrax, Ice-T and others also fuse hardcore hip hop with thrash metal and similar influences
- Psychic TV's Towards Thee Infinite Beast is the peak of the industrial-trance phenomenon
- International trends