Navigating Musical Cliques: My Experience With Pop Music In Utah In The 80s

Pop music when I was a teenager was weird.

I mean it was good. We had bands like Queen, Boston, The Eagles and Styx churning out hits in the early 1980s. We had solo artists like Lionel Richie, John Cougar Mellencamp and Bryan Adams making it big as well.

The weird part was that it was taboo to like a band or a song that didn't fit into your perceived genre.

I liked all the old rockers like Queen and Meat Loaf. But I'd try to talk to some of the "Metalheads" about Metallica or AC/DC and they didn't have the time of day for me.

I could hang with the Madonna or Cyndi Lauper crowd, but my "Cowboy" friends had no interest in hearing my opinions about Alabama or George Strait (I loved them).

Sheena Easton and Prince were safe topics among many of my friends, but if I mentioned Run DMC or Tone Loc, they would send me packing.

In the Mid-1980s, a guy named Michael Jackson captured the pop world, but my macho buddies would accuse me of being "effeminate" if I mentioned that Jackson was really talented and an amazing dancer.

Somewhere along the way, most of that became what they call now "Classic," as in classic rock (Styx, Eagles, Queen, etc.), Classic pop (Madonna, Mellencamp, MJ, etc). and even classic country (Alabama, Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire).

Of course, they can't fool me. Classic is just another word for old.

But I guess I should embrace that. Hey, I'm not old. I'm classic.

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Here's a list of bands that were young and innovative. Now, they're classic.