Ronald Reagan was re-elected by a landslide in November, 1984. A famous campaign ad that year declared it to be "morning again in America." Indeed, America was on the upswing, after almost twenty years of economic (and social) struggle. Things were far from perfect, but the economy was booming, optimism was high, and every aspect of American culture was becoming amplified.
In the late 1980s - no doubt about it - bigger was better. Lifestyles Of The Rich and Famous popularized the envy of Mega-mansions and exotic sports cars. Movies became Blockbusters; In sports, fashion, film, and music, stars became super-stars. Our hamburgers were super-sized. Even our hair got bigger.
MTV, now the center of the music universe, influenced more and more music videos to have the same production quality as any Hollywood movie. If you were a big-time musician, you had no choice but to be an actor as well.
Pop music matched the times: more production, more instruments, more technology. It was a much richer sound, but easily overloaded. It's a fine line between greatness and excess. These are the songs that stayed on the right side of that line.
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