The 80s megastar I choose to write this blog on is Madonna.

Madonna, born August 16th 1958, had went through some struggles in her youth. Born into a family of devout Catholics, her mother died when Madonna was only 4.. She began pursuing a career in the late 1970s, and had performed with a band called Breakfast Club before releasing her self titled debut album in 1983. She rose to fame by pushing the limits of sexuality in music videos and lyrics, touching on subjects that would otherwise be unaddressed.

I personally am a fan of Madonna, and I believe that the controversial things that she has done have helped the cause for feminism and have given women everywhere inspiration to express themselves in any way they wish, all while making music that was catchy, enjoyable, and memorable.

I’d also like to touch a little bit on my opinion of Van Halen.

I feel as if Van Halen were the innovators of my favorite music of the 80s… “hair metal”. I personally feel that if it wasn’t for early bands such as Van halen and Def Leppard there would be no hair metal.

Van Halen managed to create a sound unique and distinct to them, while also pushing the limits of sexuality with the lyrical content. I will always find Eddie Van Halen to be one of the most talented guitarists of the era (alongside many others of course) and I believe they had a huge impact on the world of hard rock.

Side Note:

Today in class, I wanted to argue (in a respectful manner of course) with you Dr. Baumer! I was shocked that nobody in the room really liked 80s rock as much as me for one, but one thing you said struck me: that you found 80s “hair metal” to be “inauthentic”. My opinion is that almost any genre of music can have productions that sound inauthentic, until you dig in deeper. i.e., some hair metal bands copied each other, which is where the inauthenticity sprouts, bands such as bon jovi or def leppard might’ve sounded alike, but when you dig deeper you find bands that sound different and authentic, such as Tesla or L.A. Guns who were (somewhat wrongfully) clumped into the category of “hair metal”.