Lecture 10: The 1980s: MTV; Pop Stars Flashcards
Controlled by record labels to bar and push forth different sounds (controlled the industry before the internet
Corporate Consolidation and Genre Proliferation
Illusion of choice in genre gets larger as fewer and larger corporations take over more
Corporate Consolidation and Genre Proliferation
Popularized music styles intentional, controlled from above
Corporate Consolidation and Genre Proliferation
Corporate consolidation: fewer and fewer companies controlling more
Corporate Consolidation and Genre Proliferation
Genre Proliferation: More differentiation and niches in genres
Corporate Consolidation and Genre Proliferation
Deregulation of entertainment industry led to an explosion in the growth of cable television
MTV
MTV “music television”: 1981
MTV
Mostly like the radio with visuals, music related news
MTV
Today mostly just programs
MTV
Music video becomes #1 method of music promotion
MTV
Music industry originally saw MTV as a threat to the industry, but it became the #1 way for young people to find their music in the 80s
MTV
Internal focus on white rock artists seen as exclusionary: multi-platinum black artists are not getting airplay on MTV initially
Music Genre / Race Biases
1982 Columbia forces MTV to air MJ’s Thriller vid or they wouldn’t let MTV play any of their other artists, forced inclusion from previous all white streak
Music Genre / Race Biases
Promoted second “british invasion”: in July 1983, 18 of the Top 40 were british
Music Genre / Race Biases
80s: country music becomes best selling genre in the United States with rock and pop influenced country superstars (Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire
Country and Rap
Rap music becomes multi million dollar buisiness
Country and Rap
MJ started with Jackson 5 in 1960s
MJ’s Thriller: 1982
Consciously incorporating music for white (heavy metal and new wave) and black (funk and rap) fans in song writing and execution made thriller best selling.
MJ’s Thriller: 1982
Also had featured guests like paul McCartney and Van Halen
MJ’s Thriller: 1982
Up tempo- synth and bass driven
MJ’s Thriller: 1982
Began recording in the early 70s
Born in the USA: Springsteen 1984
Music characterized by strong roots rock sound, working class
Born in the USA: Springsteen 1984
Song was originally critical of america but then became the anthem for america and used for political campaigns
Born in the USA: Springsteen 1984
1910s-20s
Irene and Vernon Castle were biggest stars of that day
Promotion: did theatre tours, appeared in silent films, magazine stories and books about how to dance, no radio
Production of Celebrity
1930s-40s:
Crooners like bing crosby and frank sinatra are on network radio and appear in films
Production of Celebrity
50s-60s:
Elvis on TV is how he explodes, the beatles on TV on the Ed Sullivan show
Production of Celebrity
80s:
MTV is biggest promotion
Production of Celebrity
Coordinated multimedia promotion (transmedia/vertical Integration) for new albums included:
Music vids, talk shows, movies, print media, radio
Production of Celebrity
1987 rolling stone Mag voted her 2nd place in best female singer and 1st place for worst female singer
Madonna and Controversy
Seen by the industry as mediocre talent but very hard working
Madonna and Controversy
Pop Culture studies analyzing her significance abound: feminist, postmodent performance artist, politically savy cultural subversive, container for multiple images
Madonna and Controversy
Like a Virgin (1984) Analysis: Strong image manipulation. Video shows her looking pure and impure to contrast looks.
Madonna and Controversy
Grew up middle class in Minneapolis Controlled entire creative process in home studio: wrote, sang, played almost all instruments, produced
Prince
Overtly sexual persona like madonna
Played with gender stereotypes
Prince
1980 broke out with album Dirty Mind, second album in 1982 “1999” hit big
Prince
Struggled with record company in 1990s, changed his name to a symbol so that he could put out music not under the Warner Bros while he was under contract with them
Prince
Career rebirth in 2000s
Prince
general recession
competition with other entertainment (home video, cable TV, video games)
increase in illegal copying
Early 80s Music Industry Recession:
Reasons
cut expenses reduce staff sign fewer acts reliance on a small number of multiplatinum artists to create profits increase prices of cassettes and LPs
Early 80s Music Industry Recession:
Industry Response
1960s cassette tapes introduced
1970s playback equipment improves
1984 prerecorded cassettes surpass vinyl discs in sales
Playback Technology
1983 five-inch compact disc (CD) introduced
increase profits: production costs the same, but sell for $13 compared to $8-9 for LPs •by 1988 CDs surpass vinyl discs in sale
Playback Technology
digital technology = new and more affordable devices for producing and manipulating sound
musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) specifications are developed
Production technology
pre-1925 sound waves are physically imprinted on material for playback
post-1925 electronic waveforms analogous to sound waves can reproduce the original sound
Analogue technology
sound waves are sampled, converted to 1s and 0s, stored as data; data is read by playback machine
many audiophiles complain that it lacks “warmth”; this is mainly due to low sampling rat
Digital Technology
Digital Samples
Digital sequences
Drum machines
Digital instruments
