A different generation of music and a development of a different style. Though I am a late 80s kid, I would always have an ear for retro music. I personally started falling in love with Bob Marley’s music, Michael Jackson’s thriller video, Prince, Phil Collins and so much more music. This section covers the my personal collection of the 80s music

The 1980s saw the emergence of dance music and new wave. As disco fell out of fashion in the decade’s early years, genres such as post-disco, Italo disco, Euro disco and dance-pop became more popular. Rock music continued to enjoy a wide audience. Soft rock, glam metal, thrash metal, shred guitar characterized by heavy distortion, pinch harmonics and whammy bar abuse became very popular. Adult contemporary, quiet storm, and smooth jazz gained popularity. In the late 1980s, glam metal became the largest, most commercially successful brand of music in the United States and worldwide

Below I have shared some of my best collection from the 80s. Though there have been so many famous musicians during the 80s era, this is my personal list or my go to list. Hope you like it and get more to explore with time.

The era that I was able to correlate

In 1963, Bob Marley and his friends formed the Wailing Wailers. The Wailers’ big break came in 1972 when they landed a contract with Island Records. Marley went on to sell more than 20 million records throughout his career, making him the first international superstar to emerge from the so-called Third World.

Born on February 6, 1945, in St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, Marley helped introduce reggae music to the world and remains one of the genre’s most beloved artists to this day. The son of a Black teenage mother and much older, later absent white father, he spent his early years in St. Ann Parish, in the rural village known as Nine Miles.

One of his childhood friends in St. Ann was Neville “Bunny” O’Riley Livingston. Attending the same school, the two shared a love of music. Bunny inspired Marley to learn to play the guitar. Later Livingston’s father and Marley’s mother became involved, and they all lived together for a time in Kingston, according to Christopher John Farley’s Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley. Read more

MJ

Michael Jackson was a multi-talented musical entertainer who enjoyed a chart-topping career both with the Jackson 5 and as a solo artist. He released one of the best-selling albums in history, ‘Thriller,’ in 1982, and had other number-one hits on ‘Bad’ and ‘Off the Wall.’

Known as the “King of Pop,” Michael Joseph Jackson was a best-selling American singer, songwriter and dancer. As a child, Jackson became the lead singer of his family’s popular Motown group, the Jackson 5. He went on to a solo career of astonishing worldwide success, delivering No. 1 hits from the albums Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad. In his later years, Jackson was dogged by allegations of child molestation. He died in 2009 at age 50 of a drug overdose just before launching a comeback tour. Read more

N.W.A

A lot has changed in the quarter-century since the world was first introduced to N.W.A. Nowadays, Ice Cube is on the late-night circuit. Dr. Dre is a tech billionaire. And Compton is being hailed as the next Brooklyn. But like in 1988, relations between the police and Black communities are as strained as ever, and the racial politics behind the “Fu*k Tha Police” from N.W.A.’s first album are still relevant today. Here’s what the Boyz in the Hood are up to these days.

Born Andre Romelle Young, Dr. Dre continued his rise to mega-stardom after N.W.A. disbanded in 1991. A successful record producer, he helped launch the careers of Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent. But Dre became a household name in 2008 when he partnered with Monster Audio to launch his own line of headphones. And just in case the doctor wasn’t rich enough, Beats Electronic was acquired by Apple for $2.6 billion in 2014. It was Apple’s biggest acquisition to date and made Dr. Dre hip-hop’s first billionaire. His deal with the tech company was just the beginning. In 2015, he released Compton — his first album in 16 years. Read more

U2

Bono is the frontman and lead vocalist of the Irish rock band U2. He’s also known for participating in global charity efforts.

Born Paul David Hewson on May 10, 1960, in Dublin, Ireland, Bono is the son of a Roman Catholic postal worker and a Protestant mother—who died when he was just 14. He joined the band U2 in October 1976, when he was in high school and was dubbed “Bono Vox” (good voice). He was made frontman for the Irish rock band though his singing at the time was less compelling than his stage presence. Read more

Phil Collins

Phil Collins was one of the most successful musicians in the world during the 1980s, releasing thirteen U.S. Top Ten hits between 1984 and 1990.

Phil Collins became one of the most successful musicians in the world during the 1980s after replacing Peter Gabriel as the face of the band Genesis in 1975. Between 1984 and 1990, Collins released 13 U.S. Top Ten hits, including “In the Air Tonight,” “You Can’t Hurry Love” and “I Don’t Care Anymore”. Read more

Guns N’ Roses

In many ways, the rise of Guns N’ Roses into one of the world’s biggest bands in the late 1980s represents the quintessential Hollywood success story, a culmination of ambitions realized by five boys who left behind past lives and old names to reinvent themselves as rock royalty.

The first to Los Angeles were Steven Adler – born Michael Coletti – and Saul Hudson – soon to be known as “Slash” – in the early 1970s. As noted in My Appetite for Destruction: Sex & Drugs & Guns N’ Roses, Adler came with his big brother and single mom, who was seeking to rebuild her life after splitting from an abusive husband in Cleveland, Ohio. Read more

George Michael

Grammy Award-winning singer George Michael was one of the leading pop stars of the 1980s and 1990s. His 1987 album ‘Faith’ won a Grammy for best album of the year.

As a teenager, George Michael formed the band Wham! with high school friend Andrew Ridgeley. In 1984, the duo had their first worldwide hit with “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” Two years later, Michael went solo, releasing a hit debut album Faith, which has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. In 1998, Michael announced that he was gay after being arrested for lewd conduct in a public restroom. Read more

Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston was an American singer and actress whose first four albums, released between 1985 and 1992, amassed global sales in excess of 86 million copies.

Whitney Houston released her debut album at age 22 and scored three No. 1 singles. Whitney (1987) delivered four more No. 1s and earned Houston a Grammy, with later albums including I’m Your Baby Tonight (1990) and My Love Is Your Love (1998) as well as soundtracks to The Bodyguard (1992) and Waiting to Exhale (1995). With her marriage to singer Bobby Brown in 1992 and ensuing drug use, Houston’s career got off track. She eventually made a comeback with 2009’s I Look to You and also co-starred in the musical film Sparkle. Houston died from accidental drowning in a hotel on February 11, 2012. Read more

Metallica

Metallica, one of the biggest selling acts in American history, were born on October 28, 1981 when drummer Lars Ulrich and guitar player/singer James Hetfield got together via Ulrich’s LA Recycler newspaper ad. Soon, the two had recruited Hetfield’s friend and housemate Ron McGovney to play bass, Dave Mustaine to play lead guitar, and taken the name Metallica after a suggestion from Bay Area metal scene friend Ron Quintana. Their ascent was to be relatively quick, driven by sheer work-rate, effort and a rare musical chemistry. After hitting the opener’s circuit in LA (where they supported the likes of Saxon) they recorded their first ever demo No Life ‘Til Leather. The tape-trading circuit went crazy for it, and after repeatedly well-received shows in the Bay Area, Metallica found themselves relocating there after convincing bassist Cliff Burton to leave his band Trauma and replace McGovney.

East Coast metal merchant Jon Zazula pitched the band on an album deal with his indie label Megaforce Records and 1983 found them traveling to New York in a stolen U-Haul to record their first album. Shortly after arriving in New York in April 1983, Mustaine was replaced by Exodus shredder Kirk Hammett and the boys hit the studio for the first time. Read more

Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden are an institution. Over the course of 44 years they have come to embody a spirit of fearless creative independence, ferocious dedication to their fans, and a cheerful indifference to their critics that’s won them a following that spans every culture, generation, and time-zone. A story of gritty determination and courageous defiance of the naysayers, theirs has been an adventure like no other. And with the current Legacy Of The Beast tour selling out headline stadium, arena and festival shows across Europe and North, South and Central America with the band playing to close to two million ecstatic fans and attracting unanimously rave reviews, Maiden are showing no signs of slowing down any time just yet.

Founded by bassist Steve Harris in the mid ‘70s, Iron Maiden were already firmly established as heavy metal’s brightest hopes when they stormed the world with their third album (and first with vocalist Bruce Dickinson) The Number Of The Beast in 1982. It would kick off a decade of classic releases and dogged touring that would come to epitomise the unrelenting, uncompromising, unswerving commitment they are now so well known for. That marvellous decade would also yield seven new studio albums, one live album, seven World Tours, as well as the creation of Eddie – one of the most iconic and recognisable figureheads of our age and the calling card of the most impassioned fan-bases anywhere. Read more

Lionel Richie

Lionel Richie is an award-winning American singer-songwriter known for creating numerous hits, both with the Commodores and as a solo artist.

Born in 1949, singer-songwriter Lionel Richie grew up in Tuskegee, Alabama. He was a founding member of the Commodores, a top R&B act of the 1970s, before finding success as a solo artist with the No. 1 single “Truly,” from his self-titled debut album. More hits soon followed, including “Hello” and “Dancing on the Ceiling.” In 1985, he co-wrote the famine relief song “We Are the World” with Michael Jackson. Richie’s later albums include Louder than Words (1996) and Coming Home (2006). He enjoyed renewed chart success with his 2012 country album, Tuskegee, and was named a judge for the 2018 reboot of American Idol. Read more

Bon Jovi

Musician and actor Jon Bon Jovi is best known as the lead singer and founder of the rock band Bon Jovi.

Jon Bon Jovi knew in his early teens that he wanted to be a rock star. He formed the band Bon Jovi in the 1980s, which became popular for its power ballads, soaring guitar riffs and well-crafted melodies. Jon Bon Jovi has also acted in such films as The Leading Man and was a recurring character on TV’s Ally McBeal. Today he continues to perform with his legendary band Bon Jovi. Their recent albums include What About Now (2013), Burning Bridges (2015) and This House Is Not For Sale (2016). Read more

Bryan Adams

Bryan Guy Adams, OC OBC is a Canadian singer, guitarist, songwriter, photographer, and activist. Bryan Guy Adams was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, to British parents, Elizabeth Jane (née Watson) and Captain Conrad J. Adams, who immigrated to Canada from Plymouth, England in the 1950s. Adams rose to fame in North America with his 1983 album Cuts Like a Knife and turned into a global star with his 1984 album Reckless which produced some of his best known songs including “Run to You” and “Summer of ’69”. and in 1991, he released “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” from the album Waking Up the Neighbours. Adams also spawned the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles “Heaven”, “All for Love” and “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?”. Read more

Depeche Mode

On 5 February the single Enjoy the Silence / Memphisto / Sibeling was released. There were some different versions of Enjoy the Silence available – the Hands and Feet Mix, the Ecstatic Dub Edit, the Bass Line version, the Harmonium version which is close to the original demo, the Ricki Tik Tik Mix Promo Version and The Quad: Final Mix.

Sibeling, which is referring to the Finnish classical composer Jean Sibelius, and Memphisto, which is, according to Martin, the name of an imaginary film about Elvis as a devil that he created in his mind, are both instrumental tracks and weren’t recorded in any different versions. For the video for Enjoy the Silence the rare UK Promo Mix was used. Read more

Ozzy Osbourne

British musician Ozzy Osbourne fronted the heavy metal band Black Sabbath before embarking on a successful solo career. He later became a reality TV star with ‘The Osbournes.’

Ozzy Osbourne rose to fame in the 1970s as the frontman of the seminal heavy metal band Black Sabbath, delivering such iconic songs as “War Pigs,” “Iron Man” and “Paranoid.” He embarked on a successful solo career in 1979, earning attention for his outrageous public acts and drawing the ire of conservative groups. Osbourne later garnered a new legion of fans by starring with his family in the unlikely hit reality show The Osbournes. Read more