Shiny and New

Ten Moments of Pop Genius that Defined the '80s

Dylan Jones, Simon Slater

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English

Orion
13 July 2021

Music; Rock & Pop music; Popular culture; Bargains

The Eighties were about big ideas writ large - new money, new style, gender fluidity, gay pride, attritional politics, the 'special relationship', nuclear fear, AIDS, cocaine, ecstasy, tabloid royalty, the rise of urban pop, and ultimately geopolitical chaos. Using a big narrative approach, Dylan Jones' history of the decade in pop frames the decade through some of its most important and popular hits, choosing records which either epitomised their time, or ushered in a new cultural shift. So we move seamlessly from

Rapper's Delight and the genre defining moment of hip hop into The Specials' spectral, Ghost Town; from ABC and the apotheosis of New Pop (The Look of Love) to Madonna's breakthrough moment with Like a Virgin, and so on. In the '80s each year brought a new twist as technology shifted and genres snowballed, MTV reigned supreme and the story of pop became globalised.

It was a decade of excess in all areas, especially ambition, but it was in the transcendent moments of pop perfection that the '80s found its true art-form.

Subjective and idiosyncratic, SHINY AND NEW takes us from downtown New York to post-industrial Manchester, in the first widescreen attempt to weave together the stories, the songs and events that re-shaped music and society.

By: Dylan Jones
Read by: Simon Slater
Imprint: Orion
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 232mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 26mm
Weight: 400g
ISBN: 9781474620062
ISBN 10: 147462006X
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 13 July 2021
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

New York Times bestselling author Dylan Jones has written over twenty books on subjects as diverse as music and politics and fashion and photography. In the 1980s, he was one of the first editors of i-D, before becoming a Contributing Editor of The Face and then the editor of Arena. He spent much of the next decade working in newspapers - principally the Observer and the Sunday Times - before embarking on a multi-award-winning tenure at GQ. A former columnist for the Guardian and the Independent, he is a Trustee of the Hay Festival, a board member of the British Fashion Council and in 2012 was awarded an OBE for services to publishing.