they were starving for what the real experience was-- the messy, chaotic, fallible experience of being human. and the '90s gave complete, green-light permission for that to be explored. - you talk about this band a lot, then you go, "oh, wait a minute, you can't talk about the '90s "without this one! oh, and this one, and this one, and this one!" where there's so many monumental bands, one after another-- that's the '90s. - ♪ so take the photographs and stillframes in your mind ♪ ♪ hang it on a shelf, in good health and good time ♪ [fans screaming] ♪ tattoos of memories ♪ ♪ and dead skin on trial ♪ ♪ for what it's worth, it was worth all the while ♪ ♪ it's something unpredictable ♪ ♪ but in the end, is right ♪ ♪ i hope you had the time of your life ♪ [lively strumming]

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 had any problems 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 rap music. ♪ my life is over, so i might as well speak my mind ♪ pauley: heavy metal, it glorifies sex and violence. it hates authority, and adolescent boys love it. swaggart: this weird, beastly presentation 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 don't really know where you're going to go from that point, culturally or musically. announcer: for a while it seemed there was nothing 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 we knew we had something special. ♪ ooh, my little pretty one ♪ ♪ 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. ♪ crack that whip ♪ kasem: when you have the rotation of, say, 100 different videos being rotated over and over on mtv, they do a great job of exposing new 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. jennings: if you look at some of the groups 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 you want me, 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 you really want to 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 location," and their managers are the ones that went to the band members and said, "look, we really need to up the ante with these clips. we need to give this channel

something they've never seen before." ♪ moving on the floor now, 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 stone chose them as the best new band of the year, taking note of the swirling, dreamy, soaring quality of the sound. ♪ giant steps are what you take ♪ ♪ walking on the moon ♪ melvoin: it was incredible to see them, and i couldn't believe what i was hearing -- out of three people. i was shocked. man: i once read that you were called 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 it to me ♪ ♪ will you take the pain ♪

♪ i will give to you ♪ ♪ again and again ♪ ♪ and will you return it? ♪ [ cheers and applause ] what's new order, computer programmers or musicians? 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 got us out on the dance floor. ♪ i still find it so 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 have that much of an impact on the musical culture. it changed the entire dynamic 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 know. "now i'm going to go make a pop record," but it was going to be his version of pop. bowie: my songs always tend to 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 there's one group that's not happy with mtv. many black artists who have been told their music doesn't fit the format. james: that's what's happening. 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 infuse black music into their mix. i am just floored by the fact 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, because you said "music television." when are you going to start covering all genres of music? 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, motown's 25th anniversary. at that time "thriller" is out and "thriller" is doing well. but michael jackson couldn't get "billie jean" on mtv. ♪ she was more like a beauty 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 couldn't believe what you were seeing. questlove: i would say that the 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 like michael jackson because he can sing good, he's bad and he knows how to dance. he's so sexy and so gorgeous. he's exciting! michael jackson is the man of the '80s. graham: mtv starts to get pressure from cbs records, which was michael jackson's label. rock and roll in itself really 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 on mtv if you don't play this." they had to be essentially blackmailed into doing it. ♪ it doesn't matter who's wrong or right ♪ ♪ just beat it ♪ he was the artist that mtv really needed.

they didn't know they needed him, but boy, when we started to see the michael jackson videos, 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 tonight i'm going to party like 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 ♪ melvoin: prince loved the idea that he was taking his punk funk music and turning it on to a white audience, and that wouldn't have happened if not for mtv. ♪ this is what it sounds like when the doves cry ♪ when i was younger, i always said that one day

i was going to play all kinds of music and not be judged for the color of my skin but the quality of my work. ♪ i only want to see you ♪ ♪ only going to see you ♪ ♪ in the purple rain ♪ wilson: prince had a great androgyny. he blurred the gender line. he sings, he writes, he plays. every time i see him, it's just like, oh, really? okay, i quit! [ guitar solo ] hoffs: when he plays guitar, it's just part of his body in a way that i've never really seen before. and it's not contrived, it's just -- it's just happening. majewski: what was his music? was it r&b? you know, his music was just straight down the middle, mainstream, grab you by the throat, and balls, pop. ♪ we go down 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 start a fire ♪ ♪ you can't start a fire without a spark ♪ ♪ this gun's for hire ♪ he ends up doing, essentially, a concert video starring a then unknown courteney cox. it's like this weird re-creation of something that organically happens at a bruce springsteen concert. ♪ born in the usa ♪ if there was an artist in the '80s

who transcended the music video, he's the guy. he is the one guy that didn't actually need to do great music videos to still be a great artist. he's bruce springsteen. it was great music. ♪ born in the usa ♪

want to save on some of the biggest names in streaming on the network made for streaming? x marks the spot. now you can add the new xfinity streamsaver™ that includes netflix, peacock, and apple tv+. that's xfinity streamsaver™ for just $15 a month. all your favorites. all in one place. only from xfinity. for more watching and less spending... x marks the spot. do it all on the network made for streaming, and bring on the good stuff.

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 appears to me that the one on stage is what i would picture a modern woman to be. someone who is aggressive and soft at the same time, has a lot of strength and conviction, and can look good and still have brains. wild: you would think in the era of music becoming a visual form more than ever that it would all be about objectification, but there were a lot of strong women on that video screen.

♪ 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 they were the band. ♪ doesn't matter what they say ♪ ♪ and the jealous games people play ♪ ♪ hey, hey, hey ♪ gumbel: while the go-go's have always managed to look like they're having fun, they are to be taken seriously. they're the first female group ever to have a number one album, and they are at the top of the list of female rock stars whose impact within the industry is stronger than ever.

♪ the phone rings in the middle of the night ♪ ♪ my father yells, what you gonna do with your life? ♪ hoffs: i thought her voice was extraordinary, and cyndi was a very good visual content creator. i mean, those videos were so colorful and fun. this being march 31st, it's also 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. we're not the new go-go's, we're the new beatles." ♪ but i can't be late 'cause i guess 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 like, "they're okay for chicks. they can play okay for girls." we didn't understand why our gender mattered or why it defined us. people magazine this week says it will take an act of congress 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 she was doing 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, with the looks and the talent. this lady started out as a dancer, went to new york, 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 they had the boots, and it was kind of a mix of new wave punk with this other dance sensibility. ♪ 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. we are a couple weeks into the new year. 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 ♪ ♪ first star i see tonight ♪ ♪ star light ♪ ♪ star bright ♪ ♪ make everything all right ♪ ♪ star light ♪ peresman: all of a sudden there was girls around 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 around the country wearing crucifixes because of madonna. woman: what do you like about her? 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 her. ♪ oh oh oh oh oh ♪ in this wedding dress, rolling around on the floor. it kind of stopped everybody 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. melvoin: madonna had no doubt. she was like, "this is happening. get out of the way." [ indistinct shouting ]

♪ you've been hiding ♪ in the '80s, the videos were so expensive and so complicated, and you had to wear things 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. nancy wilson: it did feel like, i can't steer the ship anymore. where is it going? where are we headed? i think heavy metal is the true rock and roll of the '80s, and rock and roll was basically music made by people who were thinking with their crotches. [ indistinct 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 ♪ ♪ one step away from you ♪

♪ just a shot in the dark ♪ swaggart: you turn on your television set, and you see this weird, beastly presentation 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 may have contributed to 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 push back against 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 hot for teacher ♪ ♪ i got it bad so bad ♪ roth: who's going to decide what's a sexual content of a lyric? who's going to decide what is obscene same housewives who are spearheading the movement? 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 about the music i want to listen to. i don't need tipper gore 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? that's just the way it is. that's the way it always has been. elvis presley was not good for the children either.

good morning, everybody. 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 possible for the famine victims in ethiopia. ramsey: when tomorrow's 17-hour fundraising concert starts, 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, and i watched every second 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 group whose heart is in dublin, 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 could change the world. bono could change the world. ♪ sunday bloody sunday ♪ ♪ 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 not getting the message lost in the medium. 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 kurtis blow's 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 music that we used to play at all the block parties to slowly but surely hip-hop taking over.

[ hip-hop music plays ] 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 brought it to the forefront. ♪ a child is born with no state 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. ♪ smuggles, scramblers, burglars, 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 the record back. play that again. ♪ don't push me 'cause i'm close to the edge ♪

george: everyone knew the game had changed. and it really opened the flood gates for the next generation of rappers. [ indistinct rapping ] ♪ it's not michael jackson ♪ ♪ and this is not "thriller" ♪ lover: when run-d.m.c. came out, they were taking rock and roll music and putting it together with hip-hop, and making something brand-new out of it. ♪ you can't touch me with a ten-foot pole ♪ ♪ and i even made the devil sell me his soul ♪ chuck d.: run-d.m.c. kind of led zeppelinized hip-hop, because it was fit for an arena. knocking the scoreboard down. ♪ school girl sadie with the classy kinda sassy ♪ ♪ little skirt climbing way up her knees ♪ ♪ there was three young ladies in the school gym locker ♪ graham: aerosmith had sort of fallen off the map at that point, and it sort of brings them back into the fore, and it also breaks run-d.m.c. in a much bigger way because then you start to get more white kids listening to hip-hop. ♪ walk this way! ♪ ♪ talk this 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 here come the beastie boys, and we were afraid we were going to lose it. ♪ 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." [ indistinct rapping ] 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? ♪ brass monkey junkie ♪

♪ get funky funky ♪ questlove: "license to ill" spread really like wildfire, and introduced a lot of people to hip-hop culture. can you give us some definition of 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 issues, the issues being poverty, the issues being not having political power, you see what i'm saying, all of these issues, 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 and hip-hop. he came to 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 learned different rhythms, so i incorporated that in my rhyme style, not just a regular "toom, toom, toom." i was in between. "to-toom, to-toom, to-toom." ♪ to be all i could be and 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 the sound of something boiling under. public enemy literally said that we want to be music's worst nightmare. pemberton: public enemy's extreme politics has meant 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 really a desperate call to have us being heard. you talk about black all the time to a multiracial audience. 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. ♪ straight outta compton ♪ ♪ 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 leave, believe i'm stompin' ♪ ♪ but when i come back, boy ♪ ♪ i'm coming straight outta compton ♪

the moment i met him i knew he was my soulmate. "soulmates." soulmate! [giggles] why do you need me? [laughs sarcastically] but then we switched to t-mobile 5g home internet. and now his attention is spent elsewhere. but i'm thinking of her the whole time. that's so much worse. why is that thing in bed with you? this is where it gets the best signal from the cell tower! i've tried everywhere else in the house! there's always a new excuse. well if we got xfinity you wouldn't have to mess around with the connection. therapy's tough, huh? -mmm. it's like a lot about me. [laughs] a home router should never be a home wrecker. oo this is a good book title.

♪ i want my mtv ♪ george: people can talk about videos, but in the '80s the actual sound of what popular music was and what was accepted as a sound, a drum sound, or keyboard sound, or bass-line sound, changed profoundly over the course of the decade. ♪ she drives 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 love shack is a little ol' place ♪ ♪ where we can get together ♪ quinn: it was a time where everybody was getting involved

and everybody was expressing themselves loudly. we are having the best time ever. ♪ never gonna give 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 where's the rock and roll? ♪ 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 some sugar on me ♪ def leppard, fantastic record. ♪ pour some sugar on me ♪ 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: something new needs to happen here,

and it's got to be real-sounding. more garage, less produced. ♪ ♪ 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 can see you every night ♪ eventually radio and mtv came to them. the seeds of what will happen in the next decade are already all there by the end of the '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 could get why that band would become huge. [ indistinct singing ] peresman: it wasn't new wave. it wasn't a new romantic. they started calling it alternative music. ♪ it's the end of the world as we know 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 thinks it's about crazy haircuts, lots of makeup, insane clothes, and it was, but the thing about this music that lasts is that their songs were so good. melvoin: you can go back and listen to those records, from the engineering to the musicianship to the writing and performance of it and it surpasses most music. brown: everybody had a story, and they wanted to tell it.

the artists that were coming through the tv and into your lives. ♪ everybody wants to rule the world ♪ questlove: i'll say the music of the '80s is more effective than what came to us in the '60s simply because all of us were included this time. no decade was more effective in dance music and politics in different 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 ♪