Focus On Music: Eighties Pop

It wasn't just the decade of Members Only jackets and jelly shoes, it was also the decade of the best music ever. The decade when greed was good, hair was high and everyone learned what a music video was. Prince, Wham!, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper and Culture Club!

Arcade games and video games had been growing in popularity since the 1970s, and by 1982 were a major industry. But a variety of factors, including a glut of low-quality games and the rise of home computers caused a tremendous crash in late 1983. For the next three years, the video game market practically ceased to exist in the US. But in the second half of the decade, it would be revived by Nintendo, whose Famicom console had been enjoying considerable success in Japan since 1983. Renamed the Nintendo Entertainment System, it would claim 90% of the American video game market by 1989.

Computers experienced explosive growth in the '80s, going from being a toy for electronics hobbyists to a full-fledged industry. The IBM PC, launched in 1981, become the dominant computer for professional users. Commodore created the most popular home computers of both 8-bit and 16-bit generations. MSX standard was the dominant computer platform in Japan. Apple was committed to resisting the tide of IBM PC clones. Graphical user interface and mouse started to become general features in computers after the middle of the decade

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