The 1980s brought a new generation of fads and trends that changed the whole world, and most trends were set by the music industry. People emulated the style their favorite stars put off and were basically following everything a music star would do. This kind of praise for a music star has been going on for many decades, even back in the 1960s with The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and the new "mod" style. Also, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Doors are credited with the hippie lifestyle back in the 1960s and early 1970s. Yet, as time passed from the 1970s to the 1980s, music seemed to become more about which advertisers could capitalize the most on popular stars instead of the true meaning behind the words and what the music stood for to the artist. Music grew less progressive and more commercial from the 1970s to the 1980s due to the onset of the MTV generation, media propaganda, and the money hungry music industry.
             Since the launch of MTV in August of 1981, music changed from the freedom of artistic expression to advertisement filled commercialism. An example of this would be that when in the 1980s, some felt that the average music video would lose the music and be more focused on the story, image and style that improved the look of the music star or stars (Torr 192). This shows that not only was music beginning to lose the true meaning behind the words, visual effects were more important then the sound itself. This also shows that videos had become more important than the song itself and was the more important element in making the song process.
             Another example of MTV commercialism is shown through some of the actions of Michael Jackson, such as his Motown 25 performance where he performed the moonwalk, his Pepsi TV commercial, and his selling of the song "Revolution" to Nike for another TV commercial (Entertainment Weekly 93, 96, 101). All of these events took place from 19...