MTV did change what younger people wanted in "music" on August 1st, 1981, creating an outlet for bands that LOOKED (and sounded) good on TV. But as others note, rock music started becoming pompous and self-important in the 1973-1977 years. And a lot of the founding bands of rock from the 1960s were getting long in the tooth. A lot of 15 to 22 year olds don’t particularly care about listening to what 40 year old guys want to say or sing about.
Then in the mid-70s here comes disco to throw a monkey wrench into everything. Suddenly you have to (as too many said on American Bandstand back in the day) "have a good beat and you can dance to it."
And as far as the 1980s are concerned you can’t minimize the impact of the Yamaha DX-7 synthesizer and early drum machines. Suddenly anyone with a little bit of talent could get amazing sounds and write songs. With synths leading the way, backed up by a little guitar in supporting roles, that’s what became popular (notwithstanding cool bands like Dire Straits).
And don’t forget the impact of TV shows like Miami Vice which was a "concept show" someone thought of and was even called "MTV Cops" by some.
Rock music faded away. It wasn’t relevant anymore for the most part. And we also weren’t in Vietnam anymore with a "counter culture" pushing boundaries and wanting theme songs to voice their anger, viewpoints, and outrage.
I have to say I enjoyed the first 5 years of MTV. Some (maybe most) of those videos couldn't even be made today featuring girls in bikinis or underwear as backdrops and scenery for music videos. LOL.
How did 70s rock music transition into 80s music?
80s music appeared to be a re-visitation of the beginning of Rock — when "singles" ruled the AM radio. In those early days, in the event that a craftsman had a hit, he/she could get to record an "collection" (when those modern LP records appeared). A LP could have two hits and 10 tunes of forgettable filler melodies. Most craftsmen were characterized by their hit singles.
The 60s and 70s saw an ascent in FM radio and AOR (Album Oriented Rock) which gave numerous specialists the opportunity to make bigger works, or gatherings of melodies which frequently remained all in all work, and empowered a more extended tuning in/focus time. Beside funk and disco dance hits, the 70s inclined towards Album Oriented Rock.
The 80s saw a swing away from longer works and AOR, and back towards snappy singles. I'd say MTV had a great deal to do with the progress to 80s music. ("Video killed the radio star"):
MTV presented many gatherings who had fantastic singles, yet probably won't have accomplished acknowledgment without MTV video openness: Squeeze, The Vapors, Duran, Adam and the Ants, the B-52s, The Cars — to give some examples. (Note, I said "may" — yet that is my hypothesis.)
MTV constrained many long settled stars — David Bowie, Rod Stewart, even The Rolling Stones — to make video-commendable tunes. (That is — SINGLES.)
Peter Gabriel is a story regardless of anyone else's opinion. He was genuinely known from his Genesis Days — yet those astonishing recordings of "For sure" and "Demolition hammer" certainly kicked him into the super frightening.
MTV — after a ton of asking, cajoling, and dangers — at last changed their bigoted whites-just strategy, and began broadcasting recordings by people like Michael Jackson and Prince — presenting various dark craftsman to a lot bigger crowd.
In outline, I think MTV during the 80s — and later the Internet and YouTube — abbreviated individuals' capacity to focus, made a market weighty on short snappy singles, and made it progressively hard for craftsman to make "collections" which would allow them an opportunity to introduce their bigger vision.
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@moonwatcher , for all the popularity of Michael Jackson in the 80's, and all the New Wave bands, that certainly drove the buying habits of youth, the top selling artists were mostly identifiable with rock. Not exclusively, but mostly, and certainly up to about 87/88. Things really shifted after that. |
@theaudiomaniac yes, New Wave was a neat off-shoot genre. I loved those sounds. I still love legitimate rock and roll and even a little Metal. Many YouTube channels out there say you CAN find rock music still being made today, but you'll have to go looking for it. It won't be found on FM radio. |
@bdp24 - Yep, speed would appear to be the GD's choice back in those days - just listen to the first GD studio album! Might also have been literal speed as they had to get it done fast! |
@moonwatcher , I would say rock has evolved. 21 Pilots, One Republic, even Imagine Dragons and Billie Eilish are essentially a modern version of rock for their popular songs. What I see the issue with modern music media (many younger writers) is their definition of rock is often more what I would call "rock noise" than rock. Look at the Billboard top 20 of the late 60's, early 70's. The majority of the songs are not what we would really call rock. |
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