80's Mtv
By Mackenzie Henderson
MTV (Music Television)
At the end of the 1980's over 60% of american tv owners got cable service, and the most engaged network of all was MTV.Which made it's debut on Aug. 1, 1981. The music videos the network were playing made stars out of bands such as "Duran Duran" and "Culture Club" and made legends out of artists like Michael Jackson whose elaborate "Thriller"video helped sell over 600k albums in the first five days after it's first broadcast, and as the decade went on MTV also became a forum for those who went against the grain or were left out of the yuppie ideal.
Yuppie ideal
It is a slang word for young urban professionals , but in the 80's they were considered arrogant, undeservedly wealthy an obnoxious.
Also rap artist such as "public enemy" channeled the annoyance and frustrations that other urban african americans felt during that time into one of their famous albums"it takes a nation of a million to hold us back".
MTV's influence on americas youth
In the 80's teens and young adults across the country did their absolute best to copy hairstyles and fashion they saw in MTV's music videos, in this way artist like madonna became and still is a big fashion icon.
The creators of mtv
MTV 10 years anniversary 1981-1991 montage
comments
"Overall, I believe MTV was huge because of the upcoming stars. I feel they got lucky for what they accomplished. After all there was only one Michael Jackson and one Madonna. Two huge stars that influenced teens and young adults that happened to be around in the early 1980’s. I also feel it was huge that they could construct and edit a complete performance on video tape and to me that was the key to MTV's success."--step mom