American Music Artists 1980s. With it being african american music appreciation month, we decided to count down the 50 most important black music artists of all time in the united states. Agency and identity musical crossroads uses objects to explore the ways in which african american musicians and music lovers exercised personal agency and asserted their identities even in the face of daily humiliation and oppression by the american mainstream.
Rock music continued to enjoy a wide audience. Band, stevie wonder, kool & the gang, yarbrough and peoples, smokey robinson, rick james, diana ross, lionel richie, earth, wind & fire, dazz band, evelyn king, marvin gaye, mtume, debarge, midnight star, and freddie jackson. From the king of pop to billy ocean, the decade provided a variety of talented artists that have set the standard for pop music, r&b, rap, and rock.
Hip hop music originally had a difficult time breaking into the mainstream due to mtv's reluctance to show music videos of black artists.
From the king of pop to billy ocean, the decade provided a variety of talented artists that have set the standard for pop music, r&b, rap, and rock. The birth of mtv also helped propel many new young stars into the stratosphere, and artists from all walks of life, including many women, took the music world stage. Pop music was a defining musical genre in the 1980s. This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1980s.