When people first think of the 80's, they think of the crazy fashions, the numerous dance crazes, cocaine, and Ronald Reagan. There was a great vital musical undercurrent that ran through that decade as well. This undercurrent would go on to influence the 90's alternative explosion and even a few of today's bands such as the Killers and Interpol.

The music I am focusing on from the 80's will not be the chart topping mainstream like Michael Jackson (as much as I like him, don't get me wrong). It will focus on the music that initially remained on the fringes and did not make much of an impact on popular culture until about a decade or two later. There will be several genres I will be covering in this hub, including punk, post punk, new wave, and goth.

The first genre I will be covering is the Punk movement. This was a direct retaliation of the excesses of the 70's such as glam and arena rock. The music and fasion were both confrontational and sharp edged. The attitudes exhibited by those in the punk lifestyle were anti-establishment, anarchaic, and in your face. A DIY ethos permeated all aspects of punk life, from the recording and distributing albums to creating the fasions.

The music was equally as caustic, with most songs not going past two minutes, and consisting of nothing more than a snarling singer, 3 chords, and a pounding rhythm, like a musical call to arms. Key artists of this genre include The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, The Damned, The Clash, and the Buzzcocks.

Eventually, some of the punk bands would begin to experiment and start to work pop influences into their music. Bands such as The Boomtown Rats, Gang of Four, Blondie, and even the Clash would start incorporating diverse musical styles such as reggae, funk, jazz, disco, and hip hop into their musical output.

While there was some new wave artists that managed to hit the top of the charts and become superstars such as Duran Duran thanks to their good looks and the advent of the music video as a promotional tool due to MTV proving that it is viable, most of the new wave artists were seen as little more than novelty in the US and generally not making a significant landing on the charts more than once and then settling for a cult following (despite being consistent hitmakers in the UK and elsewhere in the world).

Artists of this genre, especially the one hit wonders, require further listening beyond the hits to really hear the musical masterpieces that were tragically overlooked at the time of release. Examples recommend for such musical exploration include Gary Numan, Thomas Dolby, Wall of Voodoo (and Stan Ridgeway's solo output as well), The Vapors, and Devo.

In contrast to the pop leaning experiments of new wave, there was a contrasting movement in the hierarchy of punk. Like new wave, it experimented with different musical styles, but rather than making the music more accessible, this experimentation made the music more complexand alienating in nature.

The styles experimented in this genre were more avant garde in nature, such as kraut rock, Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music album, and dub. The results produced chilling music such as Suicide (the song "Frankie Teardrop" still sends shivers up and down my spine) and Throbbing Gristle, atmospheric, ambient noise rock such as Sonic Youth, or songs of distant alienation from bands such as Joy Division and Wire.

This music was what would influence much of the 90's althernative and today's indie scenes. It was harder to get into the music but once you did, it was equally rewarding as the other genres.

Out of the post-punk movement, the goth movement was born. Bands such as The Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, and The Cure created a dark version of glam rock. One heavily influenced by Gothic Literature from the 18th and 19th centures andclassic horror movies (such as Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead - about the famous Dracula actor).

This movement was also equally known for the dark fashions and attitudes as much as the music. As time went on, this fashion and attitude sense would become the subject of many a parody. This should not, however, overshadow the beauty of the actual music. The music was gloomy, but beautiful and melodic as well, creating the concept that there is beauty even in gloom and darkness.

I have only scratched the surface with in this article. There were plenty more vital artists, band, and movements that happened during this vital time. However, I hope you, the reader, have enjoyed this introduction into the underlying musical movements of the 80's. Perhaps I will write more upon this depending on the feedback I get to this article. Thank you very much for investing your time in reading this and sharing my interest.