Rock Music: 1980s
"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me": Rock Music in the 1980s
In relation to the introduction of MTV in 1981, rock music underwent a commercial transformation during the 1980s that met popular demand. These library resources portray the trends of the decade as well as the rock artists who embraced these changes and the ones who rejected them.
Books
Nöthin' but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion by Call Number: ML3534 .N67 2021ISBN: 9781250195753Publication Date: 2021-03-16
I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution by
Remember the first time you saw Michael Jackson dance with zombies in 'Thriller'? Diamond Dave karate kick with Van Halen in 'Jump'? Tawny Kitaen turning cartwheels on a Jaguar to Whitesnake's 'Here I Go Again'? The Beastie Boys spray beer in '(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)'? Axl Rose step off the bus in 'Welcome to the Jungle'? Remember When All You Wanted Was Your MTV? It was a pretty radical idea-a channel for teenagers, showing nothing but music videos. It was such a radical idea that almost no one thought it would actually succeed, much less become a force in the worlds of music, television, film, fashion, sports, and even politics. But it did work. MTV became more than anyone had ever imagined. I Want My MTVtells the story of the first decade of MTV, the golden era when MTV's programming was all videos, all the time, and kids watched religiously to see their favorite bands, learn about new music, and have something to talk about at parties. From its start in 1981 with a small cache of videos by mostly unknown British new wave acts to the launch of the reality-television craze with The Real Worldin 1992, MTV grew into a tastemaker, a career maker, and a mammoth business. Featuring interviews with nearly four hundred artists, directors, VJs, and television and music executives, I Want My MTVis a testament to the channel that changed popular culture forever.
Call Number: PN1992.8.M87 M33 2011ISBN: 9780525952305Publication Date: 2011-10-27
Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-Punk 1978-84 by Call Number: ML3534 .R495 2005ISBN: 0571215696Publication Date: 2005
Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year by
A Rolling Stone-Kirkus Best Music Book of 2020 The definitive account of pop music in the mid-eighties, from Prince and Madonna to the underground hip-hop, indie rock, and club scenes Everybody knows the hits of 1984 - pop music's greatest year. From "Thriller" to "Purple Rain," "Hello" to "Against All Odds," "What's Love Got to Do with It" to "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," these iconic songs continue to dominate advertising, karaoke nights, and the soundtracks for film classics (Boogie Nights) and TV hits (Stranger Things). But the story of that thrilling, turbulent time, an era when Top 40 radio was both the leading edge of popular culture and a moral battleground, has never been told with the full detail it deserves - until now. Can't Slow Down is the definitive portrait of the exploding world of mid-eighties pop and the time it defined, from Cold War anxiety to the home-computer revolution. Big acts like Michael Jackson (Thriller), Prince (Purple Rain), Madonna (Like a Virgin), Bruce Springsteen (Born in the U.S.A.), and George Michael (Wham!'s Make It Big) rubbed shoulders with the stars of the fermenting scenes of hip-hop, indie rock, and club music. Rigorously researched, mapping the entire terrain of American pop, with crucial side trips to the UK and Jamaica, from the biz to the stars to the upstarts and beyond, Can't Slow Down is a vivid journey to the very moment when pop was remaking itself, and the culture at large - one hit at a time.
Call Number: ML3470 .M363 2020ISBN: 9780306903373Publication Date: 2020-12-08
Are We Not New Wave?: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s by
"Are We Not New Wave? is destined to become the definitive study of new wave music." --Mark Spicer, coeditor of Sounding Out Pop New wave emerged at the turn of the 1980s as a pop music movement cast in the image of punk rock's sneering demeanor, yet rendered more accessible and sophisticated. Artists such as the Cars, Devo, the Talking Heads, and the Human League leapt into the Top 40 with a novel sound that broke with the staid rock clichés of the 1970s and pointed the way to a more modern pop style. In Are We Not New Wave? Theo Cateforis provides the first musical and cultural history of the new wave movement, charting its rise out of mid-1970s punk to its ubiquitous early 1980s MTV presence and downfall in the mid-1980s. The book also explores the meanings behind the music's distinctive traits--its characteristic whiteness and nervousness; its playful irony, electronic melodies, and crossover experimentations. Cateforis traces new wave's modern sensibilities back to the space-age consumer culture of the late 1950s/early 1960s. Three decades after its rise and fall, new wave's influence looms large over the contemporary pop scene, recycled and celebrated not only in reunion tours, VH1 nostalgia specials, and "80s night" dance clubs but in the music of artists as diverse as Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, and the Killers.
Call Number: ML3534 .C37 2011ISBN: 9780472115556Publication Date: 2011-06-07
Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s by
Teen People cofounder Lori Majewski and author Jonathan Bernstein's Mad World is a highly entertaining oral history celebrating the New Wave music phenomenon of the 1980s via interviews with 35 of the most notable artists of the period. Featuring members of Duran Duran, New Order, The Smiths, Tears for Fears, Adam Ant, Echo and the Bunnymen, Devo, ABC, Spandau Ballet, A Flock of Seagulls, Thompson Twins, and INXS, each interview begins with a discussion of their most popular song but leads to stories of their history and place in the scene, ultimately painting a vivid picture of this colorful, idiosyncratic time. Mixtape suggestions, fashion sidebars, and quotes from famous contemporary admirers help fill out the fun. "Here it is--the whole glossy, gory, glorious story of the 1980s new wave revolution, in one addictive chapter after another. These are the artists who lived it all out, whether it's Duran Duran making the 'Girls on Film' video or Kim Wilde finally explaining the 'East California' enigma. Mad World captures the wild enthusiasm of the moment, evoking a time of perfect songs, innovative style, and lipstick cherry all over the lens." --Rob Sheffield, contributing editor to Rolling Stone and author of Talking to Girls About Duran Duran
Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9781419710971Publication Date: 2014-04-15
Goodnight, L.A.: The Rise and Fall of Classic Rock - The Untold Story from Inside the Legendary Recording Studios by
A behind-the-scenes journey through the rise and demise of the '70s and '80s classic rock era Before disco, punk, hair metal, rap, and eventually grunge took it all away, the music scene in Los Angeles was dominated by rock 'n' roll. If a group wanted to hit it big, L.A. was the place to be. But in addition to the bands themselves finding their footing, their albums also needed some guidance. That came from a group of dedicated producers and engineers working in a cadre of often dilapidated-looking buildings that contained some of the greatest recording studios the music industry has ever known. Within the windowless walls of these well-hidden studios, legends-to-be such as Foreigner, Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar, Boston, the Eagles, the Grateful Dead, Chicago, Linda Ronstadt, Santana, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Loggins and Messina, REO Speedwagon, and dozens more secretly created their album masterpieces: Double Vision. Rumours. Hotel California. Terrapin Station. Damn the Torpedoes. Hi Infidelity. However, the truth of what went on during these recording sessions has always remained elusive. But not anymore. Longtime music-business insider Kent Hartman has filled Goodnight, L.A. with troves of never-before-told stories about the most prolific and important period and place in rock 'n' roll history. With music producer Keith Olsen and guitarist Waddy Wachtel as guides to the journey and informed by new, in-depth interviews with classic rock artists, famed record producers, and scores of others, Goodnight, L.A. reveals what went into the making of some of the best music of the past forty years. Readers will hear how some of their favorite albums and bands came to be, and ultimately how fame, fortune, excess, and a shift in listener demand brought it all tumbling down.
Call Number: ML3534.3 .H38 2017ISBN: 9780306824371Publication Date: 2017-09-19
Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 by
It was a musical revolution that happened in the midst of Reagan's 80s: a small but sprawling network of bands, labels, fanzines, radio stations and other subversives who re-shaped and re-energized American rock music with punk rock's revolutionary do-it-yourself credo. The music that resulted was deeply personal, always challenging and immensely influential. This book traces the arc of the American indie underground in the 1980s, from obscure beginnings to the point a decade later when the mainstream sat up and took notice.
Call Number: ML3534.3 .A94 2001ISBN: 0316063797Publication Date: 2001-07-31
Walk This Way: Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song That Changed American Music Forever by
The early 1980s were an exciting time for music. Hair metal bands were selling out stadiums, while clubs and house parties in New York City has spawned a new genre of music. At the time, though, hip hop's reach was limited, an artform largely ignored by mainstream radio deejays and the rock-obsessed MTV network. But in 1986, the music world was irrevocably changed when Run-DMC covered Aerosmith's hit "Walk This Way" in the first rock-hip hop collaboration. Other had tried melding styles. This was different, as a pair of iconic arena rockers and the young kings of hip hop shared a studio and started a revolution. The result- Something totally new and instantly popular. Most importantly, "Walk This Way" would be the first rap song to be played on mainstream rock radio. In Walk This Way, Geoff Edgers sets the scene for this unlikely union of rockers and MCs, a mashup that both revived Aerosmith and catapulted hip hop into the mainstream. He tracks the paths of the main artists--Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Joseph "Run" Simmons, and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels--along with other major players on the scene across their lives and careers, illustrating the long road to the revolutionary marriage of rock and hip hop. Deeply researched and written in cinematic style, this music history is a must-read for fans of hip hop, rock, and everything in between.
Call Number: ML421.R84 W35 2019ISBN: 9780735212237Publication Date: 2019-02-05
Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation by
Can't Stop Won't Stop is a powerful cultural and social history of the end of the American century, and a provocative look into the new world that the hip-hop generation created. Forged in the fires of the Bronx and Kingston, Jamaica, hip-hop became the Esperanto of youth rebellion and a generation-defining movement. In a post-civil rights era defined by deindustrialization and globalization, hip-hop crystallized a multiracial, polycultural generation's worldview, and transformed American politics and culture. But that epic story has never been told with this kind of breadth, insight, and style. Based on original interviews with DJs, b-boys, rappers, graffiti writers, activists, and gang members, with unforgettable portraits of many of hip-hop's forebears, founders, and mavericks, including DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Chuck D, and Ice Cube, Can't Stop Won't Stop chronicles the events, the ideas, the music, and the art that marked the hip-hop generation's rise from the ashes of the 60's into the new millennium.
Call Number: ML3531 .C5 2005ISBN: 031230143XPublication Date: 2005-12-27
Articles
- "Michael Jackson: Michael In Wonderland" by Stephen Demorest, Melody Maker, 1 March 1980
- "Joan Jett: Jett Set for Summer" by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 8 May 1982
- "Tina Turner: The Soulful Queen of Rock 'n' Roll Struts Back Into the Spotlight" by Mark Rowland, Musician, September 1984
- "Madonna: 'I Always Acted Like a Star Even Before I Was One!'" by David A. Keeps, Smash Hits, 17 January 1985
- "Prince: The Forum, Los Angeles" by Richard Cromelin, The Los Angeles Times, 20 February 1985
- "Live Aid, Saturday 13th July 1985: The Greatest Show On Earth" by Various Writers, Smash Hits, 17 July 1985
- "Guns N' Roses: Raising Hell in the City of Angels" by Paul Elliott, Sounds, 4 April 1987
- "Bon Jovi: No Slip Till Hammersmith" by Howard Johnson, Kerrang!, 30 October 1986
- "George Michael: The Lone Star State" by Adrian Deevoy, Q, June 1988
- "NWA: Welcome to L.A." by Mark Cooper, Sunday Correspondent Magazine, 1 October 1989
- Rock's BackpagesAn archive of music journalism and popular music writing of the last 60 years. Includes 38,000 articles on all subcategories of popular music.
Archival Materials
Jas Obrecht Collection, 1970s-2016
This collection contains audio interview recordings by Jas Obrecht for Guitar Player magazine. Some of the recordings include 1980s interviews. These interviews are with rock artists like Jeff Beck (FS-9, FS-10, FS-13, FS-14), Eddie Van Halen (FS-224, FS-225), Tom Petty (FS-28, FS-164), The Edge (FS-40), Jerry Garcia (FS-42), Billy Gibbons (FS-45, FS-46), Brain May (FS-147, FS-517, FS-518), Ozzy Osborne (FS-163), Otis Rush (FS-180, FS-181, FS-182), Carlos Santana (FS-183), Angus Young (FS-248), Malcolm Young (FS-249), Joe Walsh (FS-645, FS-646, FS-647), Steve Vai (FS-205, FS-206, FS-207), John Hammond (FS-406, FS-408), and Alan Lomax (FS-496, FS-497).
Jefferson Holt Collection, 1979-2004
This collection includes papers, photographs, concert ephemera, and audiovisual materials relating to the musical groups R.E.M. and Pylon. Jefferson Holt was the manager for both of these groups, and audio materials contain recordings of concert performances and interviews of the bands.
Audio
The Music Library holds more than 60,000 sound and video recordings you can check out. Use the library catalog to find their call numbers, then ask for them at the Music Library Circulation Desk.
- Use ALL FIELDS search.
- Refine your search (to CD, Vinyl record, Audiocassette, etc) with limiters on the left side of the screen
|
Ex. ALL FIELDS: Pat Benatar |
Ex. ALL FIELDS: Rock music |
Pay attention to the item's location; there are several collections on campus that have music materials.
When you find a recording you are interested in, click on its Subject tab to find similar items. If the item you want is checked out or we don't own it, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan.
Videos
Purple Rain by
Prince stars as "The Kid," a Minneapolis club musician, who struggles with both a tumultous homelife and his own smoldering anger while taking refuge in his music and his steamy love for sultry Apollonia Kotero. Semi-autobiographical.
Call Number: 65-DVD526Publication Date: 1984
This Is Spinal Tap by
Once upon a time, Spinal Tap had a big hit song. Now, nearly two decades later, Spinal Tap still clings to some glint of their lost glory as they embark on an accident-plagued tour across America. In Cleveland, the group gets lost underneath the stage. In Washington, they're accidently booked at an Air Force formal dance. And in a Chicago record store, no one shows up to get their autographs.
Call Number: 65-DVD1477Publication Date: 2000
Stop Making Sense by
A film of the Talking Heads in concert.
Call Number: DVD-618Publication Date: 1999Athens, GA: Inside Out by Led by the success of the B-52s and R.E.M., Athens, Georgia was the most happening music scene in the country by the mid 1980's. This documentary, comprised of a mix of interviews and live shows, is a love letter to the musicians and a time capsule of the small college town in the late 70s and early 80s, when Athens became a spawning ground for alternative music that would influence the entire country. This remarkable piece of music history depicts an artistic environment where creativity thrived, artists were nurtured, and bands co-existed in harmony and camaraderie instead of competing for glory. Live performances of R.E.M.'s "Swan H" and "Dream (All I Have To Do)" are included alongside performances and interviews from the B-52s and other dynamic performers from Pylon, B-B-Que Killers, Time Toy, Jim Herbert, Flat Duo Jets, Love Tractor, Kilkenny Cats, Squalls, and more.
Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2005
The Old Grey Whistle Test, Vol. 2 by
More vintage, never-before-seen in the U.S. music performances from the legendary British live music show including rock legends The Who as well as Roxy Music, Meat Loaf, The New York Dolls, Jim Croce, Tim Buckley, and many more.
Call Number: DVD-854Publication Date: 2006
Suggested Subject Headings
"Rock music -- 1981-1990"
"Glam metal (Music)"
"Heavy metal (Music)"
"Hip-hop (Music)"
"New wave music"
"Post-punk music"
"Rap (Music)"
"Synthpop (Music)"
Pictorial Works
Rap! by
Photographs of musicians and artists celebrate the newest American form of music, rap music, and are accompanied by lyrics from Tone-Loc, Public Enemy, Run DMC, and others.
