Can't slow down How 1984 became pop's blockbuster year
Book - 2020
The definitive account of pop music in the mid-eighties, from Prince and Madonna to the underground hiphop, indie rock, and club scenes. Everybody knows the hits of 1984--pop music's greatest year. From "Thriller" to "Purple Rain," "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" to "Like a Virgin," "Hello" to "Against All Odds," "Sister Christian" to "Love Is a Battlefield," "What's Love Got to Do with It" to "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," they continue to dominate advertising, karaoke nights, and the soundtracks for film classics (Boogie Nights) and TV hits (Stranger Things). But the story of that thrilling, turbulent time, an era when Top 40 radio ...was both the leading edge of popular culture and a moral battleground, has never been told with the full detail it deserves--until now. Can't Slow Down is the definitive portrait of the exploding world of mid-eighties pop and the time it defined, from Cold War anxiety to the home-computer revolution. Big acts like Michael Jackson (Thriller), Prince (Purple Rain), Madonna (Like a Virgin), Bruce Springsteen (Born in the U.S.A.), and George Michael (Wham!'s Make It Big) rubbed shoulders with the fermenting scenes of hip-hop, indie rock, and club music. Rigorously researched, mapping the entire terrain of American pop, with crucial side trips to the UK and Jamaica, from the biz to the stars to the upstarts and beyond, Can't Slow Down is a vivid trip to a thrilling, turbulent time when pop was remaking itself, and the culture at large, one hit at a time. Let's go crazy!
- Subjects
- Genres
- Popular music
- Published
-
New York, NY :
Hachette Books
2020.
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Edition
- First edition
- Physical Description
- xi, 468 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 375-446) and index.
- ISBN
- 9780306903373
- Introduction
- 1. WPLJ-FM, New York City, August 7, 1983
- 2. Supreme Court, Washington, DC, January 17, 1984
- 3. Newsweek: "Britain Rocks America-Again," January 23, 1984
- 4. Sunset Strip, Hollywood, February 25, 1984
- 5. Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, February 28, 1984
- 6. Castro Theatre, San Francisco, April 24, 1984
- 7. Island Records, London, May 8, 1984
- 8. The 13th Annual International Country Music Fan Fair, Nashville, June 4-10, 1984
- 9. WPIX Channel 11, New York City, June, 29, 1984
- 10. Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri, July 6, 1984
- 11. Mann's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, July 26, 1984
- 12. Matter No. 9, Chicago, Illinois, July-August 1984
- 13. New Music Seminar, New York City, August 6-8, 1984
- 14. Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, August 12, 1984
- 15. Radio City Music Hall, New York City, September 14, 1984
- 16. Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, September 21, 1984
- 17. EMI Records, New York City, November 13, 1984
- 18. SARM Studios, London, November 25, 1984
- 19. Westwood One, Culver City, California, April 20, 1985
- 20. Wembley Stadium, London, and JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, July 13, 1985
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
Review by Kirkus Book Review