Why do 80’s channels and compilations focus on the early 1980’s?

Because the further we moved away from the mid 70’s (our musical peak), the crappier music became.

By the end of the 80’s both the bridge and modulations were dead….with solos not far behind.

I just heard Mr. Roboto. Talk about some bullshi% music.

Also there are songs that I remember as being really popular that I never hear, at least on SXM 80s. Wasn't Stevie Wonder's I Just Called To Say I Love You a pretty big hit? I hear Madonna's Borderline a good bit but rarely ever Material Girl. Those are just a couple off the top of my head.

Because the early 80s had a very distinct feel that we contribute to the entire decade. The end of the 80s was really the beginning of the 90s in terms of cohesiveness. 1988 for instance had Public Enemy It Takes a Nation..., Pixies Surfer Rosa, Sonic Youth Daydream Nation. The early 80s had Michael Jackson, Madonna, Duran Duran, Go-Gos and the swan songs of the 70s bands like Yes, The Clash, Toto, Rush etc. Clothing fashion was the same way; early 80s was vans, parachute pants, those skinny leather ties, etc. Also, early 80s was fantastic time to be alive but we didn't realize it at the time.

I can say that some of the popular 80’s songs of today were never on the radio when I was listening as a kid in the 1980’s( and I listened a lot). Some of them I didn’t hear until I was a good bit older.

Because nostalgia is never accurate.

The late 80s got complicated across the board... AIDS, the Crack epidemic, economic recession... young people became disillusioned with their prospects and the "IDGAF" Gen X "Slacker" mindset was born, which in turn boosted grunge... cynicism began to rule. That's not fun,

The early 80s was a day-glo and chrome party... or that's how people remember it.

The Cosby Show was a lot more "feel good" than Roseanne.

And music began its march to being more divided into genres that wasn't as widely heard, anymore. Pop culture started on the road to fragmentation.

The early 80s was the last time when EVERYONE heard the same songs on the radio and then MTV. That started to become more rare with the exception of a few giant hits.

As far as the music industry... in the late 80s, Soundscan introduced its system to scan bar codes and track sales of music, and that caused a drastic change (clarification). Before that, agencies that tracked sales relied on self-reporting over phone from record stores... I knew people who worked at record stores, someone would call and say "hey... look, we really need that new 'Xxxxx' record to chart, it's a big priority for us... so do me a solid and make sure you report XXX sales there of it this week... and hey, you guys in the store are our guest at the Xxxx Xxxx concert next week, we'll send a limo to pick you up and you all get front row and passes and there's a party afterwards. Thanks!!!" That kind of got messed with ("Hey, can you scan that XXX times?") but the biggest thing is that soundscan for the first time included department stores and any place that sold music, like WalMart... and it made it too hard to get the sheer numbers to manipulate things. The result": the collapse of sales for hair metal bands was accelerated, because they were no longer as popular as believed... and Country and Rap turned out to be the biggest sellers BY FAR, but not in standalone record stores but through drug stores and WalMart, etc. Which meant those acts could demand the money they'd been getting cheated out of forever while creative accounting sent it to hair metal acts (or their managers, who had schemes cooked up that gave kickbacks to the record company reps) instead. That "one day the record company blew me off and Garth Brooks and LL Cool J posters were everywhere and were all they cared about" thing from rock acts was the result of that... Garth Brooks and LL Cool J, et al., WERE revealed to be the big money makers, not that it was decided they would be (which is kind of how things had worked before).

Anyway, I digress, but...

Music of the late 80’s was thin. Almost across the industry. You listen back and though there were some great songs, but they just don’t stick as well as those early 80s songs.

Early 80s = heavy production with fat synth and bass sounds filling up the mix with guitar/drum.

Late 80s =over production and over processed instruments with layers and layers of effects, thin guitars and more sparse mixes and more lighter style not as fat keyboards.

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I just heard Mr. Roboto. Talk about some bullshi% music.

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You may not like the music, but Styx looks like Nostradamus with that one.

Music did not die in the 80s. Music will never die!

Most people just fixate on the music they liked between 13-25 and that's all they listen to for the rest of their lives. I actually heard someone say something about how the 2010s was the best period for music, which made me laugh just because it progressively seems weirder but this was someone who's 30... that was their era, just like everybody before them said the same thing about their era.

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The early 80s had Michael Jackson, Madonna, Duran Duran, Go-Gos and the swan songs of the 70s bands like Yes, The Clash, Toto, Rush etc.

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Exactly.

Early vs Mid-Late was Day and Night. Early 80s was the last years of a smorgasbord of music styles AND quality composition and innovation.

The mid-80s held its own somewhat but by the last third of the 80s rock (as we knew it) had faded fast as the rap invasion began to trash up pop music.

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Also, early 80s was fantastic time to be alive but we didn't realize it at the time.

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The life-vibe was great too. I kinda knew it, but didn't realize just how quickly the music would deteriorate into SOS Hair, Rap, and lazy grunge by decade's end.