1983 - Year of Pop 3/9
Audio 48:30
Michael Jackson, 1972, in Los Angeles.
© Getty images / Michael Ochs Archives
By: Cécile Poss
53 mins
1983, Léopold III, Hergé and Louis de Funès leave us.
Nazi executioner Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia.
In Poland, the opponent of the communist regime Lech Walesa wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
And on radio and TV around the world, we only talk about one man, a certain Michael Jackson.
Publicity
On December 2, 1983, television screens were stormed.
Michael Jackson, the king of pop, has just revolutionized the world of music.
He broadcasts for the first time the clip of his hit "Thriller", released the previous year.
A real bomb.
It must be said that music videos are in fashion.
In 1981, we even launched a TV channel exclusively dedicated to their broadcasting, MTV.
The cover of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album.
© AFP / Archives
Advertising is also becoming more important, more cinematic and the decade will also be one of excess.
And who better, in France, than Serge Gainsbourg to represent all the excesses?
Man has become a character in himself, and he dares everything.
Speech is freed, we talk more often about sex.
And we often sing about sex.
The music becomes sulphurous, provocative.
If there is one who excels in this area, it is of course Madonna.
Singer Madonna, in 1984 © Getty Images / Michael Putland
The cinema is also affected by this wave of sexual and erotic liberation.
We remember for example the famous "9 and a half weeks".
The cult of bodies brings dance into the realm of sexy, with “Dirty Dancing” or “Flashdance”.
Pop also penetrates France: Étienne Daho, Rita Mitsouko, Desireless are a clever mix of pop and variety, and the essential quartet Jean-Jacques Goldman, France Gall, Michel Berger and Daniel Balavoine make pop with a note rock.
Throughout the decade, they share the place of number one of the French tops.
These artists modernize French song as we have not done since Brel-Brassens-Barbara.
In the 80s, a whole new genre also appeared: the animated ones, that is to say a myriad of cartoons, many of which are from Japan: Candy, Goldorak, Captain Flam, Bioman, The Knights of the Zodiac or even Dragon Ball Z. The heyday of manga has only just begun.
Japan's influence doesn't stop with cartoons.
The country will also seize the video game market.
Video games that become real artificial intelligences thanks to algorithms that allow interaction with players and that conquer the world.
With:
Gilles Banneux,
journalist specializing in video games -
Yves Bigot
, Managing Director of TV5 Monde -
Bernard Dobbeleer
, journalist specializing in 20th and 21st century music -
Mathias Goudeau
, co-author of the documentary “The true story of the stars of the years 80 ”-
Dick Tomasovic
, professor of cinema and audiovisual arts at ULiège.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Culture
Music
Video games
Movie theater
On the same subject
Culture meeting
A hit, a story: "Billie jean" by Michael Jackson
Culture meeting
A hit, a story: "Like a Virgin", by Madonna
You tell me the news !
The beautiful story of TV credits, from Grendizer to Pokémon