The Gist

The Year MTV Took Over the Charts

In 1982, synth-pop came in strong, Hall and Oates crossed over into R&B, and Paul McCartney learned about racial harmony.

The former MTV logo.

Daniel Huntley/Flickr

Listen to Episode 810 of Slate’s The Gist:

Subscribe in iTunes RSS feed ∙ DownloadPlay in another tab
Slate Plus
members: Get your ad-free podcast feed.

In 1982, MTV started guiding Billboard’s taste in music. The year was filled with elaborate videos and cheesy ballads. Chris Molanphy takes us through all the hand claps and synth vibes of that year’s Billboard hits. Molanphy writes Slate’s Why Is This Song No. 1 column and hosts the podcast Hit Parade.

In the Spiel: The last time anything good happened to Donald Trump.

Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at Slate.com/gistplus.

Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook.

Email: thegist@slate.com
Twitter: @slategist