we'll be doing for tv what fm did for radio. man: there are some that have accused your videos as being soft porn. we like to call them tastefully smutty. a group that's never h had any prproblems saying how they feel, u2! -what are your dreams? -to rule the world.

[ music plays ] michael jackson is the man of the '80s. man: music that is all beat and talk. it's's rap music. ♪ my life is over, so i might as well speak my mind ♪ pauley: heavy metal, it glorifies sex and violence.. it hateses authorityty, and d adolescentnt boys lovev. swagaggart: thisis weird, beastly y presentatition that was birthed in the pit of hell.

move it back. officer: john lennon as he was entering his premise was shot by an unknown at this time white male. miller: the world has reacted with immense shock and grief to the first rock and roll assassination. it was like in one moment the '60s and '70s got murdered. man: in his life, has given more love than most men and women on the face of this earth. we're here to prove love is not dead, even though john is. graham: you know, you start the decade with the death of a beatle. you dodon't reallyly know whwhere you'rere going to oo fromom that poinint, culturary oror musicallyly. announcer:r: for a whwhile it seeeemed theres nonothing new on the horizon. announcing the latest achievement in home entertainment. the power of sight -- video.

the power of sound -- stereo. mtv, music television. [ rock music plays ] we are so excited about this new concept in tv. we'll be doing for tv what fm did for radio. [ music plays ] quinn: at the time the world was saying, we don't think anybody is going to watch videos over and over, but wewe knew wewe had sosomething spspecial. ♪ oohoh, my littltle pretty o ♪ ♪ my pretty one ♪ ♪ when you gonna give me some time, sharona? ♪ brown: mtv made you feel like those artists were in the room. you had a personal concert all day. ♪ crackck that whipip ♪ kasem: whehen you haveve the rorotation of,f, say, 100 didifferent vivideos being rotated over a and over on mtv, they do a a great job b of expoposing new a acts. ♪ here in my car where the image breaks down ♪ ♪ will you visit me, please ♪ ♪ if i open my door in cars? ♪ majewski: britain was ahead of the curve. they had a ton of videos in their inventory.

and that was what paved the way for this accidental second british invasion. jejennings: ifif you look k at f the grououps on popular charts in america today, you can't help asking, where on earth did they come from? well, the answer is the same today as it was two decades ago. they come from britain. the music isn't anything like the famous group that came from there, the beatles. you got to understand they were 20 years ago. we're a new generation, a new wave. ♪ you were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar ♪ ♪ when i met you ♪ connelly: by the early 1980s, new wave is used to describe sleek, dressy cool bands that are coming out of england. ♪ don't y you want meme, baby♪ ♪ don't you want me, oh ♪ graham: british artists all understood how to use visuals in a way that american artists didn't necessarily get that quickly. ♪ do yoyou really w want toto hurt me? ? ♪ ♪ do you really want to make me cry? ♪

boy george: ♪ "do you really want to hurt me?" is a good song. it's a song that old people like and young people like. so i think the proof is in the pudding. buy it and eat it. ♪ majewski: mtv actually met with duran duran's managers and said, "we're looking for kind of like james bond videos, on lococation," and d their mananagers are t ths that wenent to the b band mems and saidid, "look, we realllly need to o up the ae with thesese clips. wewe need to g give this c chl somemething theyey've neverr seen b before." ♪ m moving on t the floor no, babe ♪ ♪ you're a bird of paradise ♪ man: there are some that have accused your videos of being soft porn. well, excuuuuse me! [ laughter ] we like to call them tastefully smutty. ♪ her name is rio and she dances on the sand ♪ ♪ just like that river twisting through the dusty land ♪

♪ and when she... ♪ rodgers: when i first met duran duran, they were saying that they thought they looked like rock stars, so why not become rock stars? [ [ cheering ] ] ♪ don't stand, don't stand so ♪ ♪ don't stand so close to me ♪ man: why do you think we're so popular over there? sting: i think there's a tradition that goes back over the past 20 years from the days of the beatles and rolling stones where british bands seem to be better at it than americans. glenn: the police have sold 4 million albums in one year. rolling g stone chchose thems the e best new b band of thehe, tataking note e of the swiwir, dreamy, sosoaring qualality ofof the soundnd. ♪ giantnt steps arere what you take ♪ ♪ walking o on the moonon ♪ melvoin:n: it wasas incrediblble to see t, and d i couldn't't believe what i w was hearingng -- out t of three p people. i i was shockeked. man: i oncnce read that you w were calleded the pink floyd of the '80s.

what do you think of that? we're not at all. we're the cure of the '80s. ♪ and i know i was wrong when i said it was true ♪ ♪ that it couldn't be me and be her in between without you ♪ majewski: the holy trinity of alternative british music is the cure, depeche mode, and the smiths. all three of them started out as these fringe bands that by the end of the '80s were selling out stadiums. ♪ ...give i it to me ♪ ♪ will you tatake the paiain ♪ ♪ i will l give to yoyou ♪ ♪ a again and a again ♪ ♪ a and will yoyou return i i♪ [ cheeeers and apppplause ] what's newew order, cocomputr programmerers or musicicians? i'd say neither, actually. what are you, then? eh, bank robbers. ♪ how does it feel ♪ ♪ to treat me like you do ♪ ♪ when you've... ♪ majewski: in the u.k., disco did not suck.

it never sucked. and bands like new order combined it with the new synthesizer sound, and they gave us these incredible songs that gotot us out on the d dance flooror. ♪ i still f find it so o hard♪ ♪ to say what i need to say ♪ i like what's happening in dance places now over the last year or two. i think the music is becoming very healthy.

it has done wonders for the sagging record industry. it has made overnight stars out of rock groups whose records had been gathering dust. this year the first since 1978 business is finally up. and the reason is music videos. ♪ we had no idea that music videos would d have that t much of ann impactct on the mumusical cult. it c changed thehe entire dydyc of what you had to do as far as promotion was concerned. you had to be a performance artist as well as a musician. ♪ fox the fox ♪ ♪ rat on the rat ♪ man: the intelligent ones recognize that it's a marriage between the visual artist and the musician at this point. ♪ monkey ♪ ♪ don't you're going to shock the monkey ♪ hays: the man or the woman who finds the right combination will take it all. ♪ let's dance ♪ ♪ put on your red shoes and dance the blues ♪

rodgers: when david and i decided that we were going to work together, it was pretty clear to me that david wanted to make a commercial album, you u know. "now i'm going to go make a pop record," but it was going to be his version of pop. bowie:e: my songs s always ted to b be impressionistic or even have a surreal quality to them, and on this album is the first time that i really tried to adapt to a didactic kind of approach to some writing. ♪ if you should fall ♪ ♪ into my arms ♪ ♪ tremble like a flower ♪ spheeris: artists in the '80s, and david bowie, for that matter, realized if you want to make it, you got to be on mtv. man: but t there's onene group that's notot happy with mtv. many black artists who have been told their music doesn't fit the format. jamemes: that's's what's hahappening. we are being sat in the back of the bus television style. and if pittman gets away with this, then there are others cable shows that are going to try it. pittman: mtv doesn't exclude black acts.

what mtv does exclude is music that's not rock and roll. mtv came out with no consideration on how to o infuse black musisic into theheir mi. i am j just floorered by the fat that there are so few black artists featured on it. why is that? we have to try and do what we think not only new york and los angeles will appreciate but some town in the midwest that would be scared to death by prince or a string of other black faces. interesting. okay. thank you very much. when are we going to see anybody of color on mtv, bebecause you said "music television." when are you going to start covering all genres of musicic? whoo! music has no color. and it shouldn't have color. and i don't believe in that. what i do, i don't want it labeled black or white. i want it labeled it's music. [ cheers and applause ] ♪

1983, motown has this big tv special, mototown's 25th h anniversara. at thahat time "ththriller" it and "thriller" is doing well. but michael jackson couldn't get "billie jean" on mtv. ♪ she was m more like a beauty q queen ♪ ♪ from a movie scene ♪ lover: when the rest of the world was going crazy and he can't get on mtv -- michael jackson -- come on! ♪ [ crowd screaming ] graham: when he does that moonwalk, if you were sitting on the couch, by the end of it you were on the floor in front of the tv. you u couldn't b believe what you w were seeingng. quesestlove: i w would say t t the e moonwalk was really one of the first viral moments that affected rock history. the next week "thriller" started selling a million copies a week. i lilike michaelel jackson because e he can sing good, he's's bad and h he knows how to d dance. he's s so sexy andnd so gorgeo. he's exciting! michchael jacksoson is the mn of the '80s.

graham: mtv starts to get pressure from cbs records, which was michael jackson's label. rock andnd roll in i itself rereally was the thing that broke a lot of rules. and when you're very successful, you try to make your own rules occasionally. graham: as the story goes, cbs essentially said, "we will pull every other artist we have onon mtv if y you don't p play this." they h had to be e essentially blackmkmailed into doioing it. ♪ i it doesn't t matter whoho'sg or right ♪ ♪ just beat it ♪ he was the artist that mtv really needed. they didn'n't know they neededed him, but boboy, when wewe started t e ththe michael l jackson viv, it was just unbelievable. ♪ and no one's going to... ♪ questlove: then there's the domino effect. suddenly you see prince videos from warner brothers do the same thing. ♪ so o tonight i'i'm going totoy lilike it's 1999 ♪ pauley: prince wasn't just materializing out of nowhere. where was he before this video was done? prince was a huge star on black radio stations.

people -- he had a real underground cult following, and he was a very sexy, hot performer. ♪ the sweat of your body covers me ♪ ♪ can you, my darling, can you picture ♪ melvlvoin: princnce loved ththa that he wawas taking his punk funk music and turning it on to a w white audieience, and d that wouldn't have h happd if not foror mtv. ♪ this is w what it souounds le when thehe doves cry ♪ when i wasas younger,, i alwaways said thatat one dy i was goining to play y all kis of music and not be judged for the color of my skinin but t the qualitity of my wow. ♪ i onlnly want to o see you ♪ ♪ only gogoing to seeee you ♪ ♪ in the pupurple rain n ♪ wilson:: princece had a grereat androgy. he blurrrred the genender lin. he singsgs, he writetes, he p. everery time i s see him, it's jusust like, ohoh, reall? okokay, i quitit! [ [ guitar solo ]]

hoffs: whehen he playsys guit, it's jusust part of f his body in a a way thatt i've n never realllly seen bef. and it's's not contrtrived, it's just t -- it's jusust happenining. majewswski: what w was his mus? was it r&b?? you u know, his s music was st ststraight dowown the middddl, mainstreamam, grab youou by ththe throat, , and balls,s, . ♪ w we go down n to the river♪ ♪ and into the river we dive ♪ at this point a lot of it is about being there, which is why we haven't done too much of the video thing. a lot of it is -- it allows too much distance, like what our band is about is about breaking down distance. connelly: bruce was all about credibility and intelligence and integrity. so how would he translate his music and his attitude toward the world to what seemed like this frivolous world of the music video?

bruce is not going to be next to a winking model on a sailboat. ♪ can't s start a fire ♪ ♪ y you can't s start a fire withouout a spark k ♪ ♪ this s gun's for hihire ♪ he e ends up doioing, essentnt, a concert t video ststarring a t then unknowon coururteney cox.x. it's likike this weirdrd re-cren of something that organicalllly happenss at a a bruce sprpringsteen c co. ♪ b born in the usa ♪ if t there was a an artist in the ' '80s who transcscended the e music video, he'e's the guy.y. he i is the one e guy ththat didn't t actually need to o do great m music vids to stillll be a greaeat artis. he's brucece springsteteen. itit was great musicic. ♪ born n in the usa ♪

david bowie, mick jagger, billy joel, rod stewart -- all famous, all rich, and all men. rock and roll has been pretty much dominated by men until the last few years. ♪ you're a heartbreaker ♪ fox: pat benatar is hot, very hot. three albums in the past three years, all million sellers, and the latest album hit the top of the charts in just one month. her style is defiant, raucous, tough, and very sexy. ♪ we are young ♪ ♪ heartache to heartache we stand ♪

♪ no promises, no demands ♪ it a appears to o me that ththe onon stage is what i i would pictcture a a modern womoman to be.. someone whwho is aggreressie and soft a at the sameme time, has s a lot of s strength and conviciction, and can n look goodd and ststill have b brains. wild: yoyou would ththink in tha of m music becomoming a visual m more than evever that itit woull be aboutut objectifification, but therere were a lot of strog womemen on that t video screre. ♪ man: meet the darlings of l.a.'s new music scene, the go-go's. ♪ see the people walking down the street ♪ unlike earlier girl groups such as the ronnettes or the supremes, the go-go's write their own songs and play their own instruments. ♪ they got the beat ♪ ♪ they got the beat, they got the beat ♪ ♪ yeah, they got the beat ♪ majewski: that was as punk rock as it got for me. to see girls up there,

you know, not just singing backup or not just standing in some cool outfit in front of a band,, like thehey were the band.. ♪ doesn't m matter whatat they ♪ ♪ and the jealous games people play ♪ ♪ hey, hehey, hey ♪ gumbel: whwhile the gogo-go's e alwaysys managed toto look likeke they're h havi, they arere to be takaken seriou. theyey're the fifirst femalele p evever to haveve a number r one, and they are at the top of the list of female rock stars whose e impact witithin the iniy is stronger than ever. ♪ thehe phone rinings in t the middle e of the nigi♪ ♪ my fathther yells, , what yu gonna dodo with yourur life?♪ hoffffs: i thougught her voie was s extraordininary, and cycyndi was a a very good visual c content crereator. i mean, those videos were so colorful and fun. thisis being mararch 31st, it's alslso a monday. some of you might consider it a manic monday. you would be interested in knowing there's a hit song of the same name. we are joined by the architects of that song. they are the bangles.

you guys are very hot, yes? [ chuckles ][ sighs ] ♪ 6:00 already, i was just in the middle of a dream ♪ majewski: when the bangles came out, everyone was like, "oh! it's another go-go's." the bangles were like, "unh-unh. wewe're not ththe new go-g-g, wewe're the nenew beatles.s." ♪ but i canan't be latete 'cae i guess s i'll just... ♪ gumbel: lot of people call that a '60s sound. do you think so? that's our main influence. we don't go in and consciously say, "let's make this a buffalo springfield song." that seems to be the way the songs end up sounding. ♪ just another manic monday ♪ ♪ oh oh oh ♪ ♪ i wish it was sunday ♪ ♪ oh oh oh ♪ there's always a certain amount of people who will never take women as a group seriously. man: i mean, it's run by a very chauvinistic, i'd imagine, recording industry. hoffs: we concentrated on the music. we don't really worry about those things. we just keep writing songs. i think that there was a little bit of an attitude

lilike, "they'y're okay for chi. ththey can plalay okay for gi" we didn't understand why our gender mattered or why it defined us. people magazine t this week ss it w will take a an act of congs to keep this woman from becoming a mega star. whitney houston. ♪ how will i know if he really loves me? ♪ ♪ i say a prayer with every heartbeat ♪ whether she was doing a dance song or shehe was doingng a ballad. ♪ the greatest love of all ♪ ...it kind of stopped you in your tracks because you just couldn't believe that one woman could be blessed with that much, withth the looksks and the t . this lady y started ouout as a a dancer, wewent to new yor, went to paris, worked with bands, came back as a single, and is she hot. this is madonna! ♪ george: if you saw madonna then, she looked just like the girls who hung out at a club called the fun house.

all the girls there had the mesh thing, and d they had t the boots,, and d it was kinind of a mix of new w wave punk with t this other r dance sensibilitity. ♪ holiday ♪ ♪ celebrate ♪ i think madonna was able to use that core of dance music and use the style of the streets that were going on and evolve that into a pop career. wewe are a cououple weekss into thehe new year.r. what do you hope will happen not only in 1984 but for the rest of your professional life, what are your dreams, what's left? to rule the world. ♪ star light, star bright ♪ ♪ firstst star i sesee tonigh♪ ♪ star lighght ♪ ♪ star r bright ♪ ♪ make eveverything a all righ♪ ♪ statar light ♪ peresmanan: all of a a sudden there wawas girls araround that had the gloves with the fingers cut out, and the hair wrapped up in a net, wearing short skirts. there was like hundreds of thousands of jewish girls araround the c country weaearig crcrucifixes b because of f ma. wowoman: whwhat do you u like about he? i like the way she thinks about acting free.

she acts like a different attitude that no one else has. she dresses how she wants, acts how she wants, sings how she wants, she does what she wants. i think her appeal is that she is feminine, she is herself, she is sexual, but she's strong! she's an individual woman. rodgers: madonna understood the mtv phenomenon. she understood the vibe and the look and the sound. it all came together with her. everyone underestimates you. you keep giving them little surprises. if they get you all in one glance, then what's going to make them look again? ♪ ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, like a virgin ♪ ♪ feels so good inside ♪ peresman: when madonna sang "like a virgin" and started rolling around on the ground, people thought it was a career- ending moment for r her. ♪ oh oh oh h oh oh ♪ in this wedding dress, rolling around on the floor. itit kind of s stopped everyby in their tracks,

and was thinking, what is she doing, and why is she doing it? but literally by the next morning, she's the biggest star in the world. melvlvoin: mamadonna had no doubt. she was like, "this is happening. get out ofof the way."." [ indistinct shouting ]

♪ you've been hiding ♪ in the '80s, the videos were so expensive and so comomplicated,, and yoyou had to w wear thins that you would never dream of wearing before. at first it was a lot of fun to really get dressed up and pull in that corset, just wear tons of makeup and great big huge hair. you had to have that "sexy" kind of thing, you know? i'm coming out of a gold mold. ann has a welding iron, and she's this amazon welder woman or something. ann wilson: we felt lost in the theater of it. it got to the point where the videos were more important than the songs. nancncy wilson: : it did feeeel, i can't steer the shship anymor. where is it going? where are we headed? i think k heavy metatal is the e rorock and rololl of the ' ', anand rock andnd roll was s basy music c made by pepeople who wewere thinkining withth their crorotches. [ [ indistinctct singing ] ]

[bleep] like a beast! heavy metal, it is not something new in physics, it is rock and roll. loud, rude, it glorifies sex and violence, it hates authority, and adolescent boys love it. this is it. this is the hot stuff. [ heavy metal plays ] alan, turn it off for a second so we can talk. ♪ a shot in the dark ♪ ♪ onene step awayay from you ♪ ♪ just a a shot in ththe dark♪ swswaggart: yoyou turn onon your telelevision sete, and you u see this w weird, beastly prpresentationon that was birthed in the pit of hell. where do they get this information from that i am satan? do i appear to you to have horns? i know i'm a bit strange looking, but i haven't quite got horns and breathe fire, [ scary voice ] and i don't speak like that. phillips: critics say there's something seriously wrong with metal music, outrageous by design, that it t may have c contributeo a number of teenage suicides.

has rock and roll finally gone too far? a growing number of people think so, and today they took their case to a u.s. senate hearing. their complaint? that rock lyrics and videos are crossing the line into trash and smut. we are asking the recording industry to voluntarily assist parents who are concerned by placing a warning label on music products inappropriate for younger children due to explicit sexual or violent lyrics. wild: in the '80s, these artists who were pushing boundaries in different ways were bringing those messages and images into our homes, and that provided political opportunity to pusush back agagainst it. burnett: we can say they're senators' wives -- ooh! and they're messing around in washington, but they obviously have some real concerns. there's a lot that they do that i applaud because they are taking responsibility as citizens. i brought along two videos which i believe are representative

of the kind of presentation which caused the furor. ♪ got it bad, got it bad, got it bad ♪ ♪ i'm h hot for teaeacher ♪ ♪ i g got it bad d so bad ♪ roth: who'o's going toto decie what's a s sexual contntent of a lyricic? who's s going to d decide whwhat is obscscene same housesewives who o are spearheaeading the m movemen? in all candor i would tell you it's outrageous filth. if i could find some way constitutionally to do away with it, i would. fans felt, i'm capable of making my own decisions abouout the musisic i want to listeten to. i dodon't need t tipper gorere deciding that this is too obscene for me. so, the next witness will be mr. frank zappa. zappa: the establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of moral quality-control programs based on things certain christians don't like. i think you should leave it up to the parent,

because not all parents want to keep their children totally ignorant. you and i would differ on what's ignorance and educated. [ laughter ] simpson: the women didn't get the rating system they wanted, but they did get a commitment to begin applying a printed inscription on the packaging of albums, cassettes, and music videos warning that they contain blatant explicit lyrics. good rock and roll breaks all the rules, okay? thatat's just ththe way it i . that's the way it always has been. elvis presley was not good for the children either. good mororning, evererybody. i'm very pleased to announce live aid which, without a doubt, will be the largest pop concert ever held. majewski: live aid was the brainchild of bob geldof and midge ure. and the two of them were looking to raise as much money as p possible fofor the famie victctims in eththiopia. ramseyey: when tomomorrow's 171r fufundraising g concert sts, sellout crowds in the stadiums will be joined

by a television audience of perhaps 1.5 billion people around the world. ♪ come on, baby ♪ ♪ hitting the road ♪ ♪ come on now ♪ ♪ in the middle of the road, yeah ♪ wild: watching live aid on tv was my version of driving to woodstock, anand i watchehed everery second o of it. ♪ everything that is in the fight to be free ♪ ♪ so you don't have to live like a refugee ♪ ♪ don't have to live like a refugee ♪ ♪ all we hear is radio gaga ♪ ♪ radio goo goo ♪ ♪ radio gaga ♪ rodgers: the great thing about live aid, it showed that musicians, for me, seemed to be the most altruistic people in the world. a grououp whose heheart isis in dublinin, ireland.. [ cheers and applause ] whose spirit is with the world. a group that's never had any problem saying how they feel, u2. when u2 played live aid, things had changed.

rock and roll was getting serious. music coululd change t the wor. bono c could changnge the wor. ♪ sunday blbloody sundaday ♪ ♪ sunday bloody sunday. gibson: u2 formed ten years ago when its members were still school boys, is now arguably the hottest rock and roll band in the world. their last album, "the joshua tree," has so far sold more than 13 million copies worldwide. wild: u2 somehow in the video age were still developing and becoming a great band and maintaining that kind of connection with people and nonot getting g the messagat inin the mediuium. bono: we've spent the last ten years finding out how to be in u2. we'll spend the next ten years seeing what u2 can do.

right now, all around us, and so compelling you never miss the fact there's no melody, is a music that's all beat, strong beat and talk. it's rap music. [ rap music plays ] rap music began in harlem in the south bronx

on playgrounds like this one where people would gather to spin records and recite their own lyrics, their raps, over the instrumental section. come on, now. ♪ brakes on a bus, brakes on a car ♪ "the breaks" was kururtis blows biggest hit, selling 680,000 copies last year and hitting the top of the rhythm and blues sales chart. lover: as a young kid running around with the local dj crew, i watched the transition from all of the disco musicc ththat we useded to play at all thehe block pararties to slowly but surely hip-hop taking over. [ hip-hop p music playays ] woman: the music underneath rapping is called scratching, and it's a process of using two turntables and a mixer, making new sounds out of already existing albums. thing that gave life to music in the '80s for me was hip-hop because it took the sounds of the '60s and '70s and d brought itit to the fofor. ♪ a a child is s born withth no state e of mind ♪ ♪ blind to the ways of mankind ♪ ♪ god is smiling on you but he's frowning too ♪ ♪ because only god knows what you gonna do ♪

graham: "the message" was the first hip-hop song that wasn't just a party song. it was talking about what was going on. it was talking about urban decay. it was talking about drugs, crime, prison, all these things that were hitting communities really hard. ♪ smuggleles, scramblblers, buburglars, gamblers ♪ ♪ pickpockets, peddlers, even panhandlers ♪ ♪ you say i'm cool ♪ when "the message" hit, man, it was like, okay, put that down. what he just say? pull t the record d back. plplay that agagain. ♪ don't pusush me 'c'cause i'm c close to ththe ♪ george: everyone knew the game had changed. and it really opened the flood gates for the next generation of rappers. [ indistininct rappingng ] ♪ it's nonot michael l jackso♪ ♪ andnd this is n not "thrill♪ lover: when run-d.m.c. . came out, they w were takingng rock a and roll mumusic and puttining it togetether wiwith hip-hopop, and mamaking sometething brbrand-new ouout of it. ♪ y you can't t touch me with a t ten-foot popole ♪ ♪ andnd i even mamade the devl sellll me his sosoul ♪ chuck d.d.: run-d.m.m.c. kindf led zezeppelinizeded hip-hop,,

bebecause it w was fit for an arena. knockiking the scocoreboard do. ♪ school girl sadie with the classy kinda s sassy ♪ ♪ little skskirt climbibing way y up her knenees ♪ ♪ thehere was thrhree young l s in the schchool gym lolocker ♪ grgraham: aerosmith had sort of fallen off the map at that point, and it sort of brings them back intoto the fore,e, and d it also brbreaks run-d-d. in a much h bigger wayay because ththen you statart to t momore white k kids liststening to h hip-hop. ♪ walk this way! ♪ ♪ t talk this w way ♪ dow: run-d.m.c.'s latest album, entitled "raising hell", has sold more than a million copies in just 13 weeks, a first for a rap record. their album is called "license to ill." that's a stupid name for an album. [ laughter ] ♪ you wake up late for school and you don't want to go ♪ ♪ you ask your mom "please" but she still says no ♪ lover: hip-hop was our baby. this was our culture, this is our music, we created it, then h here come t the beastie , and d we were afafraid wewe were goining to lose e . ♪ you got to fight ♪

♪ for your right to party ♪ and then when we started listening to their music, they really were funky, and they could really get busy. we were like, "okay, all right." [ indidistinct rapapping ] rakim: beastie boys come out what people thought would be a pop hip-hop group. no, they were straight hip-hop. beastie boys was dope [laughs] you know what i mean? ♪ b brass monkekey junkie ♪ ♪ get funky funky ♪ questlove: "license to ill" spread really like wildfire, and introduced a lot of people to hip-hop culture. can yoyou give us s some definin ofof the l.l.?.? l.l. stands for ladies love legend of long and lean, lover of ladies, last of the red hot lovers. looking for a little. looking and learning and liking -- just a lot of l's. the guys only be talking about themselves. how much of a lover, how the women love him to death, how they can throw down, how good they can dance,

how bad they are, nobody better mess with me, and all of that foolishness. if they were to address the isissues, ththe issues b being poverer, the isissues beingng not havig polititical power,r, you sesee what i'm'm saying, all of thehese issues,s, they should be addressing this with their energy. ♪ planet earth was my place of birth ♪ ♪ born to be the sole controller of the universe ♪ chuck d.: rakim is the guy at emcee. he single-handedly changed the phrasing of rap music andnd hip-hop.. hehe came to t the world like a poet. ♪ it's hard on the boulevard ♪ ♪ so i bogart and never get scarred ♪ i learned different rhythms listening to jazz. i i learned didifferent rhrhy, so i incororporated ththat in m my rhyme ststyle, not just a a regular "toom, t toom, toom.m." i i was in betetween. "to-toom, , to-toom, t to-too" ♪ to be allll i could b be and d more ♪ ♪ and see all there is to see before ♪ what i am trying to do, i'm trying to set example for the little kids, you know what i'm saying, teach the babies, you know what i'm saying, try to lead them on the right path. ♪ yes, the rhythm, the ripple ♪

♪ without pause, i'm lowering my level ♪ questlove: the summer of 1987, "rebel without a pause" comes out. it was a call to arms. it was the sound of anger. it was t the sound o of somethg boililing under.r. public enemy literally said that we want to be music's worst nightmare. pepemberton: p public enemes exextreme polilitics has m met almost no radio air play, even on black stations. it's rap for a reason. they call it a mind revolution. ♪ a rebel in his own mind ♪ [ indistinct rapping ] "rebel without a pause" was heavily influenced by rakim and heavily influenced by what was just going on. it was reaeally a despsperate l to havave us beingng heard. you tatalk about b black all t e time t to a multiriracial audid. shouldn't you maybe be thinking about, who are the people i've got out here? haven't you got a responsibility to them rather than what you personally -- i have a responsibility to my people and my culture because my people and my culture have been brutalized and ignored for years

♪ mother standing in the welfare line ♪ ♪ the way that you survive is crime ♪ ♪ my life is over so i might as well speak my mind ♪ lover: ice-t is the first west-coast gangster act. reality rap. 6:00 in the morning, police at my door. ice-t did it way before n.w.a. did it. ♪ straighght outta cocompton ♪ ♪ crazy [bleep] named ice cube ♪ ♪ from the gang called niggaz with attitudes ♪ ♪ when i'm called off, i got a sawed off ♪ ♪ squeeze the trigger and bodies are hauled off ♪ ♪ you too, boy, if you [bleep] with me ♪ man: the los angeles rap group n.w.a. drew fire from police because its album, "straight outta compton", talked in brutal and vulgar language about retaliating against cops for their anti-gang sweeps in the l.a. area. lover: n.w.a. gave us a gritty, grimy, gang-banging streets of compton. this is what's going on with us. ♪ as i leleave, bebelieve i'm m stompin' ♪ ♪ but when i come back, boy ♪ ♪ i'm coming straight outta compton ♪

♪ i want my mtv ♪ george: people can talk about videos, but in the '80s the actual sound of what popular music was and whwhat was accccepted as a soundnd, a drum s sound, or keyboard sound, or bass-line sound, changed profoundly over the course of the decade. ♪ s she drives s me crazy ♪

♪ ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ like no one else ♪ ♪ ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ she drives me crazy ♪ ♪ and i can't help myself ♪ brown: coming to the end of the '80s was like watching a kaleidoscope. you open it up and you see a little bit of everything. ♪ the lovove shack isis a littttle ol' plalace ♪ ♪ w where we cacan get togeget♪ ququinn: it wawas a time where everybody y was gettining invod and eveverybody wawas expressg thememselves lououdly. we arere having the bestst time ever. ♪ never g gonna give e you up♪ ♪ never gonna let you down ♪ ♪ never gonna run around and desert you ♪ connelly: every audience needs to get fed. you know, we'd fed the pop audience, but t where's ththe rock andn? ♪ oh, we're halfway there ♪ ♪ oh, living on a prayer ♪

♪ take my hand, we'll make it i swear ♪ bon jovi comes in with a huge record. ♪ pour sosome sugar o on me ♪ def leppard, fantastic record. ♪ p pour some s sugar on mem♪ and that brings to bring that kind of music back. ♪ pour your sugar on me ♪ nancy wilson: at the end of the '80s everybody came to the same conclusion simultaneously: somemething neww needs s to happen n here, and it's got to be real-sounding. more garage, less producuced. ♪ ♪ i need an... ♪ peresman: there was music that was bubbling out of places like portland and seattle and bands like nirvana that weren't looking to fit in to what was being played on mtv or radio. ♪ i c can see youou every nigi♪ eventually radio and mtv came to them.

the seeds of what will happen in the next decade are alreadady all therere by thehe end of ththe '80s. college rock like r.e.m. was something new entirely. ♪ collar me, don't collar me ♪ ♪ i've got my spine, i've got my orange crush ♪ heilemann: the way that peter buck played the guitar and the way that stipe song, where the voice was incredible but you couldn't quite figure out what he was saying, it just kind of made them more alluring and more mysterious. you coululd get why y that bad would d become huge. [ indistinct singing ] peresman: it wasn't new wave. it wasn't a new romantic. they started calling it alternative music. ♪ it's s the end ofof the word as we knknow it ♪ ♪ it's the end of the world as we know it ♪ ♪ i feel fine ♪ ♪ fine, fine ♪ ♪ fine, fine ♪

[ cheers and applause ] this is the thing about the '80s. everyone t thinks it's's about y haircucuts, lots o of makeup,, insane clothes, and it was, but the thing about this music that lasts is that t their songngs werere so good.. melvoin:n: you can g go back and listenen to those e recor, from the e engineeringng to thehe musiciansnship to the writing and performance of it and it surpasses most music. brown: e everybody h had a sto, and they wanteted to tell l i. the artists that were coming through the tv and into y your lives.s. ♪ e everybody w wants toto rule the e world ♪ questlove: i'll say the music of the '80s is more effective than what came to us in the '60s simply b because allll of us were incluluded this t time. no decade was more effective in dance music and politics in d different g genres than the ' '80s. there will never, ever be another decade like it, ever. ♪ everybody wants to rule the world ♪

♪ there's a room where the light won't find you ♪ ♪ holding hands while the walls come tumbling down ♪ ♪ when they do, i'll be right behind you ♪ ♪ so glad we've almost made it ♪ ♪ so sad they had to fade it ♪ ♪ everybody wants to rule the world ♪ goldman:n: rock is p probably the most i important cultural e event inin the history of america, and out swarmed a whole generation of freaks. itit's what guguys seemem to get ofoff on, they like this high-energy sort of event. cornelius: and if the sight and sound of soul is your pleasure,