8 weekdays with Bill Randall The 80s. A decade no longer than any other, but jam-packed with cultural shifts, lifestyle changes and the explosion of a youth movement which would be termed Generation X a few years later. Entertainment icons hyped excess, political responsibility and androgyny while American teens struggled for an identity amidst parallels of apathy and activism, innocence and awareness. All the while, their parents and the establishment bemoaned the entertainment industry s wild abandonment of traditional styles and substance. We were talking like Valley Girls, dressing like Boy George and worshipping Molly Ringwald.
Nothing captures the essence of a decade like music.
Like a snapshot of the times, music reveals all the details about life from political strife to value systems to downright disregard for authority, the music of the 1980s screams out to be heard. The decade kicked off with a disco legend at the top of the charts. Please Don t Go by KC and the Sunshine Band held the top spot. The last No. 1 of the decade was Another Day in Paradise by one of the 80s most successful artists, Phil Collins. In between those two songs were 10 years worth of well, you know.