Mixtapes and MTV

For better or worse, the 1980s shifted the dial on expectations about what pop and rock music should be. But the decade saw more than just mullets and shoulder pads. It was also the heyday of synth pop, the golden age of heavy metal and hip-hop, and the beginnings of acid house.

Buoyed by the extraordinary success of Michael Jackson's Thriller (still the biggest-selling album of all time), the 1980s saw new ways of experiencing music. The Sony Walkman shifted listening from a shared to a solo experience. Vinyl records gave way to cassettes, then CDs. The arrival of MTV saw music, television and consumerism merge an unholy alliance, while record producers became the new gurus of chart success. Against a climate of political conservatism and ostentatious materialism, the industry embraced the notion of charity rock, saw powerful female performers take centre stage and witnessed the subcultural stirrings of what was to come in grunge.

Witty, vivid and brimming with stories, Mixtapes and MTV charts the musical highs and lows of a tumultuous decade, which saw free-market economics, the AIDS crisis and the fall of the Berlin Wall. From Duran Duran to Run DMC, from Madonna to Metallica, and from Springsteen to Sinead O'Connor, this book offers new insight into the decade that fashion (arguably) forgot but music did not.

'Tony Wellington writes passionately about music history. This book grooves like a mix of Adam & The Ants and Prince. What's not to love?' Stuart Coupe

About the Author

Tony Wellington is a writer, photographer and artist. His works include Freak Out: How a Musical Revolution Rocked the World in the Sixties, Vinyl Dreams: How the 1970s Changed Music, Happy? Exploding Cultural Myths about Happiness and a history of Noosa titled Noosa and Cooloola. He also co-authored (with John Shand) Don’t Shoot the Best Boy! The Film Crew at Work, and he has produced several photography books including, most recently, Wild About Noosa. For many years Tony worked in the film and television industry as a scriptwriter, director and editor, and he lectured in media studies and film. He also worked as a visual artist and book illustrator. He holds a degree from Macquarie University and is a former mayor of Noosa Shire. He has three children and lives in the Noosa hinterland with his wife.