Soulflower

James Brown- Funk/Soul

Otis Redding R&B/Soul

Rolling Stones- Rock

etc and etc

Surell

I have to agree with listener101, though i hate the 80s, it was an fairly diverse genre what with hip hop becoming more popular and therefore opening up the charts a little bit. It seems like up to a certain point musical exposure is fairly black and white, in the most literal sense. White people only liked their Rock and R&B, and certain black singers, and the Black community had Soul, Funk, and so on. That might be too much of a generalization though, I know some artists were certain breakthroughs or crossovers, but there seems to be a sort of barrier in popularity.

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listener101

Yes.

The 1980's can sound a little cheesy and naive in hindsight, but they were all really just having fun, doing their own thing, much of it new. The drum machines, synthesizers and digital technology were like brand new toys back then and some of the songs sounded a little toyish compared to the heavy, slick productions of today. The 1980's was the decade where personal computers and video games became mainstream. Digital technology went Supernova.

Afrika Bambaataa cited 1980's British new wave innovator Gary Numan as one significant source of his innovation and inspiration, as he (Bambaataa) helped build the the east coast DJ scene in the early 1980's. Rap and hip-hop became mainstream by the mid to late 1980's. The Billboard charts struggled to accommodate, but eventually gave in (they are pretty conservative after all).

1986

Walk This Way - Run D.M.C. #89

1989

Bust a Move - Young MC #42
Buffalo Stance - Neneh Cherry #36
Wild Thing - Tone Lōc #33


The 1980's were quite revolutionary, much like the late 1960's.

DriveYourCarDownToTheSea

I was actually thinking about the demographic angle not long ago.

Back in the 60's whites were a bigger portion of the population than they are now - and their music buying power was undoubtedly greater proportionally still. Since they tended to like rock/pop music (plus jazz and classical for the older generations) that's going to have an effect on what sells the most.

Nowadays you've got a more diverse population, and as a result, you've got a wider variety of what's the most popular - and more fragmentation in the industry too.

Back when I was a kid and teenager in the 70's, if you listened to or were aware of maybe about 30 bands, you covered probably what 70% of what the general music-listening population out there listened to. Nowadays the top ~30 bands are probably going to be familiar to maybe only 40% of the listening population (or even less). At least that's the impression I get.

Of course the internet has had a big effect too, but I get the impression the industry would still be more fragmented even without it.

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Stop and find a pretty shell for her
Beach Boys vs Beatles comparisons begin here

Pet_Sounds

As Oscar Wilde would say, the best thing about today's music industry is that anyone can become famous, and the worst thing about today's music industry is that anyone can become famous. Take a look at things like Rebecca Black and What Does the Fox Say.

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Everybody's dying just to get the disease

djchameleon

Viral videos isn't the same thing as being in the music industry though. What an awful analogy.

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Fame, fortune, power, titties. People say these are the most crucial things in life, but you can have a pocket full o' gold and it doesn't mean sh*t if you don't have someone to share that gold with. Seems simple. Yet it's an important lesson to learn. Even lone wolves run in packs sometimes.

Pet_Sounds

Those two weren't very good examples, because, as you say, neither of those artists are in the music industry. Gangnam Style is probably a better example.

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Everybody's dying just to get the disease

djchameleon

Psy has been in the music industry for a decade though and he's huge in South Korea before he even got popular with Gangnam Style.

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Fame, fortune, power, titties. People say these are the most crucial things in life, but you can have a pocket full o' gold and it doesn't mean sh*t if you don't have someone to share that gold with. Seems simple. Yet it's an important lesson to learn. Even lone wolves run in packs sometimes.

Pet_Sounds

But it was the viral video that popularized him here, and brought more K-pop to our attention.
Take One Direction. They came in third on the X Factor and then signed a £2,000,000 deal.

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Everybody's dying just to get the disease

djchameleon

K-pop was huge thanks to Youtube for a couple of years before Gangnam Style even came out.

On the other topic of those signing competitions, the acts that come out of them very rarely have any longevity.

Every year a new American Idol gets crowned. They put on one album or two and then they are completely forgotten about.


Did you forget about the existence of Star Search?
These singing competition shows aren't anything new.

__________________

Fame, fortune, power, titties. People say these are the most crucial things in life, but you can have a pocket full o' gold and it doesn't mean sh*t if you don't have someone to share that gold with. Seems simple. Yet it's an important lesson to learn. Even lone wolves run in packs sometimes.