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| From | "Billy G. Spradlin" <bgspradlin@cablelynx.com> |
| Subject | Re: The 1984 Pantheon |
| Date | Mon, 17 May 2004 18:30:01 -0500 |
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MTV was really the dominator in 1984. It was right when the public's
fascination with Music Videos was at full blast, so many artists hitting thier
peak, along with AM Top 40 being reborn on the FM band as "Contemporary Hit
Radio" with the format dominating many markets again after many AM stations
abandoning the format in 1979-81.
The massive popularity of MTV, CHR and "Thriller" dictated to many artists to
concentrate on making albums that were full of possible hit singles (and
videos) instead of 1-3 "singles for the radio" and filler. To me the 1984 Hit
Parade was a fun time where all those factors came together as one - it was
fun, fresh and exciting again after a long dry spell, even when the videos
were
contrived and silly.
Billy
At 12:41 PM 5/17/2004 -0700, you wrote:
>On Mon, 17 May 2004, Kelly Cronin wrote:
>
>>>You know, really, though the springsteen stuff of that era was not (I think
) his strongest, that's not a bad pantheon to have enshrined, all things
considered. I mean, Michael Jackson was still black then, Prince and Madonna
were still making people either dance or tsk disapprovingly (and both were
great to me as a teen). And I still love love love "I'm on Fire." So some of
the clothes were gag-worthy, sure; but as top of the pops go, it's a hell of a
lot better than some eras could claim. Though I'm sure me being such a tender
age at the time had something to do with this revisionist history.<<
>
>Kelly:
>
>Nah, your age had nothing to do with it. I was almost thirty in 1984, but I
think that any year in which BORN IN THE U.S.A., MADONNA, LIKE A VIRGIN and
the
"Purple Rain" soundtrack were released--and the *seven* top-10 hits from
THRILLER were still all over the airwaves--stands on its own merits, and
justifies the pantheon status of those four artists just fine.
>
>I do agree that the clothes were silly. Thankfully, I had the good sense--or
advanced years--not to wear any of 'em.
>
>Chuck Limmer
>n.p. "Brilliant Disguise," Bruce Springsteen, TUNNEL OF LOVE
>
Billy G. Spradlin
http://listen.to/jangleradio
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