Interview with original MTV VJ, Nina Blackwood
February 19, 2011 Connect with Nina Blackwood on Facebook! It was August 1, 1981. A new cable channel launched with a completely new programming platform – music television that offered music videos introduced by on-air hosts called VJs. MTV was born, changing the music industry and becoming a driving force in the popular culture of the 80s and beyond. Among the original five VJs on the new MTV network was Nina Blackwood. She was the...
80s Anti-Valentine’s Day List
Not feeling the Valentine’s Day vibe? There’s not a bit of sap or saccharine in this mix of 80s anti-love songs. Instead, it takes a look at the darker side of love when things have left the hearts and roses stage (or was never there to begin with). It runs the gamut from cheating to lusting for your best friend’s girl to breaking up to plain ole sadism. Cuz, let’s face it, sometimes Love Stinks. Love Stinks, J. Geils Band...
80s Pop Love Songs
Nothing brings back memories of first loves and crushes quite like the music that was on the radio at the time. It has the power to take you right back to the time and place that you associate with that song. We’ve put together a list of 80s love songs that are guaranteed to do just that. Thanks so much to our Facebook fans for suggesting many of the awesome songs shown here. There are so many to choose from that it was hard to keep...
80s New Wave / Alternative Love Songs
If your 80s musical tastes tend more towards new wave and otherwise alternative music, this is the love mix for you. Here are 16 80s alternative love songs for your Valentine that are sure to have him or her melting with you. What did we miss? What is your favorite new wave love song? Send us an email and we’ll add it to the list. Click the song names below to see the music videos for these awesome new wave love songs. Here’s hoping...
The Dark Side of 80s Music
The 80s saw a dark, modern edge come into pop music. Some of it was intense and brooding, some of it was stalker-ish, and some of it was downright threatening. The tunes were danceable enough, but now that we look back on the lyrics of some of them, it sounds like a few of these writers needed to sit in a romantic time-out chair for a little while. For some of the artists of the 80s, relationships were less about tender feelings and...
Top 10 80s Songs Your Mom Forbade (and you listened to anyway!)
WARNING: LT80s tries to keep the site and our articles clean and quasi family-friendly whenever possible. However, the subject matter of this piece makes that impossible. Understand that this article contains content that is sexually explicit at times. If that is not something you want to read, hit the back button. It is easy to think back on the 80s as a more innocent time – a time when middle school didn’t include sexting, girls...
Military References in Heavy Metal
By Will Stroock There has never been anything like Heavy Metal. Featuring thundering power chords, lightning strike guitar solos, and ear splitting lyricists, by the mid 1980’s metal conquered rock and roll, dominating the airwaves and MTV. Some bands employed life sized dummies and sung before giant murals depicting great battles. Many bands used pyrotechnics to add to the impact of a live performance. Some even recorded cannon...
Choose Your Leppard
By Will Stroock Generation X is usually viewed as a monolith but there are major differences. If you were born in 1968, like my older sister, or 1973, like me, the cultural feel of your formative years is very different. This difference can be illustrated by the heavy metal band, Def Leppard. In many ways, Gen X can be divided into two groups with one simple question: which was your Def Leppard Album, Pyromania or Hysteria? Both were...
80s Cover Bands – Awesome Live 80s Music
Eastern US The Breakfast Club – www.thebreakfastclub.com GAZPACHO – www.gazpachoonline.com Power Balladz – http://powerballadz.com Amethyst – http://amethyst80s.com/ (New Jersey) / Read an article about Amethyst. 80 Waves – www.80waves.net (New Jersey) High In the Mid 80s – visit their Facebook page (New Jersey) Max Headroom – www.maxheadroomrocks.com | Facebook | Myspace (New Jersey) The...
The Importance of Metal
By Will Stroock In that dark, dark winter of 1988, when I was 14 years old and simultaneously failing most of my classes, on permanent lunch detention (no joke) and was unable to get any girl to go out with me, I found a movement that knew my pain. It was heavy metal. These guys had the solution for those teachers who hated me and preps that cared about grades; the finger. We all know the songs and videos and no recapping should be...
MTV’s Origins in the 80s
On August 1, 1981, something happened to cable television – something that would define pop culture, change generations, and shape an industry. That something had a name. The name was MTV. It launched at 12:01 in the morning, ushered in by John Lack (then the Executive Vice President of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment) saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll.” And so it began. Prior to 1981, MTV didn’t...
80s Literal Videos
With the launch in 1981 of MTV, music videos entered into the fabric of the lives of all of us that came of age in this totally amazing decade. Some of the videos were amazing, some were ground-breaking, some were funny, and some were downright weird. We love the Literal Videos series on Funny or Die, with its fresh look at some of our favorite music videos from the 80s. Enjoy the clever lyrics that reflect what’s happening in the...
Influential 80s New Wave Bands
The New Wave music genre gave us many amazing bands. One of the most interesting aspects of New Wave was the fact that it was so open-ended in terms of style. This meant that a wide range of groups were able to contribute to the genre thanks to it lacking a certain musical homogeneity. The most important aspects of New Wave weren’t a strict adherence to specific songwriting rules but rather an attitude and spirit that combined aspects...
Artist Highlight: Music’s a-ha Moment
I love a-ha. I love their sophisticated, uber-catchy pop songs. I love their iconic “Take on Me” video and lead singer Morten Harket’s bold & unforgettable falsetto. And I love, love that their farewell world-tour is called “Ending On a High Note.” These guys have a sense of humor to rival their musical chops. Mention a-ha to a thirty-something in the US, and the likely response will be a slow smile of recognition. Their fame...
Poison, Def Leppard & Cheap Trick – Summer 2009
By Ryan Zimmerman When I first heard Poison was coming to town on tour this summer, I was amped! I mean, the band I followed so passionately as a kid was coming to town, and despite my adoration of them back in the 80s, I had never actually seen them in concert. Then, I hear they are teaming up on tour with Def Leppard and Cheap Trick, so that was a no-brainer. I had to be there. That was one trifecta of teased hair and torrid talent...
