Today we begin a new series on Mirror80! It’s one I’ve been excited about for quite some time now. I’ve made no secret of my love for ’80s music videos, and I’ve spent time discussing why they’re so dreamy. During the Decade of Decadence, the music video was a new outlet for expressing creativity, so artists tried just about anything and everything to make an impact. And some AMAZING visual styles resulted. Which is why today we launch ’80s Music Video Land! A couple times a month, I’ll be featuring a super-stylish 1980s music video, then delving into the visual style headfirst. Fashion, interior design, art–we’ll cover it all!
’80s Scientific Motifs
Science! This isn’t the first time we at Mirror80 have turned our attention to the slew of scientific visuals that permeated the 1980s. The rise of the personal computer, the development of Reagan’s “Star Wars” program, and a range of technological breakthroughs became a focus in the news, but these events also infiltrated pop culture and helped create a “scientific aesthetic.” Musicians such as Thomas Dolby and film directors like Martha Coolidge incorporated this look into their creative works. Today we celebrate ’80s scientific visuals, as well as the way they reflected society’s enthusiasm for (and concerns about) technology during the decade of decadence…
Why ’80s Music Videos Are So Dreamy…
Music videos from the 1980s sure were all over the place! I was recently watching my old VHS tape of videos I’d recorded as a pre-teen, and it dawned on me that music videos from this time period represented a huge variety of approaches and technological levels. This new medium of entertainment ushered in an exciting era of artistic expression. People were still trying to figure it all out. Some bands simply sang in front of a blank white screen, while others pioneered the latest in special effects. Some rented a smoke machine and hit “record.” Others acted out elaborate stories, treating each piece as a three-minute short film. And that’s why ’80s music videos are so magical…
