Binghamton University - Colonist / Pegasus Yearbook (Vestal, NY)

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Matt Mendelsohn Ken Brown GO G o e

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T'he Year 1 Music: Jackson, Bowie,and the Police goTop-40 She walks like a woman and talks like a man... The Kinks, 1971 I'm not like other guys... Michael Jackson, in his Thriller video, 1983 K.C. Casem would've been proud. Led by Motown's Michael Jackson, the reggae-oriented Police and former hard- rocker David Bowie, 1983 marked a time when everybody seemed to go top-40. In some regards this transition represented a positive change in current trends. Jackson's Thriller' served as a milestone for black musicians previously unable to get air- time on large commercial stations, including MTV. Artists such as Prince and Lionel Richie found themselves basking in the sea of opportunity that Jackson had parted for them. But by the same token, the return to top-40 also had its drawbacks.Op- portunistic bands led by Duran Duran and Men At Work were able to cash in on the renewed interest in AM music. If any one medium provided a showcase for the return to top-40 music in 1983, MTV was it. The success of the 24-hour music station opened a new door in the history of rock and roll. Some groups were able to use MTV creatively; other simp- ly exploited it. Clearly artists such as David Bowie and Michael Jackson were not to be overwhelmed by the new art form. They were able to enhance their music through video as seen in Michael Jackson's Beat It' and his 14-minute Thriller. Other notables included Peter Gabriel's Shock the Monkey, Billy Joel's Pressure, and Fleetwood Mac's Gypsy. However other groups could not avoid the temptation to let the images do the work. It often seemed as though Duran Duran's videos were completed long before the song was even finished. And then there were those artists, most notably Bruce Springsteen, who opted to stay away from it all and concen- trate solely on their music. While rock musicians grappled with the new art form MTV faced some problems of its own. Most notably was its inabili- ty to find its own focus. Viewers were often frustrated by the juxtaposition of artists like ACDC, Michael Jackson and Elton John. And because of the limited number of videos available it often seemed as though MTV would give airtime to any band on film. Still in its infancy, MTV's long term ef- fect on the music business cannot be judged for a few more years. Aside from MTV the single most dominant figure in the music business was Michael Jackson. His Thriller album was nominated for 12 Grammy awards indisputably crowning him as the musical king of 1983. Jackson's reign was continually challenged by the Police whose tour for their Synchronici- ty album must have set a world endurance record. Formally noted for their distinctive reggae sound the Police were able to make the top-40 transition quite effortlessly. And then there was Bowie. With Let's Dance the great artist finally tossed aside the personnas which he had so often donned and began a concert tour featuring just plain David Bowie. Other memorable albums of the year included Talking Heads Speaking In Tongues, U2's War, Rolling Stones' Undercover, their first studio album in two years and of course the soundtrack to Flashdance. Some of the year's less memorable albums came from previously consistent artists. Lawyers in Love' was a feeble attempt by Jackson Browne to get airplay on AM radio. Similarly Elton John, Paul McCartney and Paul Simon all missed the boat with their respective albums, Too Low for Zero, Pipes of Peace, and Hearts and Bones. Once again top-40 proved itself to be a deadly temptation for many artists. It also proved itself to be detrimental to AOR radio stations. For the first time in years top-40 made big gains on the hard and heavy format that had dominated the FM airwaves. New bands like Culture Club, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran and The Fixx helped make top-40 a viable radio format once again, no doubt confounding the top level executives that had to make the playlists. The most notable fatality was New York's WPLJ which began to second guess its own format finally succumb- ing to the pressure of top-40. On the other hand WABC pro- bably wished it had never folded two years ago. Top-40 wasn't the only musical format that made a com- eback in 1983. Rockabilly returned to the airwaves led by the Stray Cats and Dave Edmunds. Though the odds were not in their favor, some bands did put up a resistance to the musical trends of 1983. Aztec Camera, Continued on page 254 By Paul Lukas and MatthewMendelsohn