The most commercially successful music in the '80s walked the line between Pop and Rock. Many artists mixed the traditional guitar rhythms found in rock music with newer, electronic sounds on the same album. Artists like Madonna and Michael Jackson had some of the biggest hits of the decade with albums like "Thriller" and "Like a Virgin." In time, much of the hottest music of the '80s would come to be commonly categorized as Alternative Rock.
New Wave was a genre definitively set apart from traditional rock styles and had its roots firmly planted in the new electronic sounds. Synthesizers became huge in the '80s, when complicated keyboards that could simulate every musical instrument imaginable as well as create other worldly sounds blended into the songs. Bands like Culture Club, Duran Duran and The Cure all gave the world hit music in the New Wave style. Musicians wielded the hand-held synthesizer as if it were every bit as cool as the electric guitar.
The music video had a lot to do with the genre of good old-fashioned rock bands of the '70s evolving into the Glam Rock bands of the '80s. Suddenly the young fans buying the albums, posters and concert tickets could see their favorite bands, up close and personal on MTV. Rockers underwent styling -- ripped jeans and t-shirts gave way to spandex, makeup and huge, sprayed hair. Glam rock bands included Loverboy, Poison and Motley Crue. Heavy Metal and Thrash Metal bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden looked much like Glam Rock bands, but the music was hard, fast and loud.
One of the most innovative and original styles to come out of the 1980s was Rap. Bands like The Beastie Boys and M.C. Hammer introduced the genre to a wider audience -- taking it mainstream and moving it from its underground position. Rap began as lyrical poetry laid down over simple backbeats, which evolved during the '80s. As the beats got more melodic and complicated, singing mixed in with the Rap and the genre became Hip-Hop. By the end of the '80s, Hip-Hop artists were some of the top-selling music acts in the world.