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The 80s - Music’s Greatest Decade?

Series 1

With Dylan Jones

Duration: 58 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Two EnglandLatest broadcast: on BBC Four HD

Available for years

Eighties music is often dismissed as a joke - all drum machines and big hair. But - as acclaimed author Dylan Jones argues in this film – the 1980s should be looked on as the most creative, radical and innovative decade in pop.

This was the decade when the world-conquering genres of rap, hip-hop and modern dance music were launched, while guitar-driven indie flourished in a constellation of scenes spread out across the UK that sowed the seeds of Britpop. And a technological revolution was changing how music was made, filling the charts with a starburst of innovative records.

Meanwhile, the launch of MTV turned pop into a visual medium, allowing artists as varied as U2 and Eurythmics to take charge of how they presented themselves.

Featuring interviews with Nile Rodgers, Bananarama, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, Mark Ronson, Trevor Horn and Soul II Soul’s Jazzie B. Show less

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