We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.
‘A wholly successful endeavour carried along by waves of infectious enthusiasm’ Mojo
‘Fascinating’ New Statesman
The ’80s were about big ideas writ large – new money, new style, gender fluidity, gay pride, attritional politics, the ‘special relationship’, nuclear fear, AIDS, cocaine, ecstasy, tabloid royalty, the rise of urban pop, and ultimately geopolitical chaos. Dylan Jones’ history of the decade in pop frames the ’80s through some of its most important and popular hits, choosing records which either epitomised their time, or ushered in a new cultural shift. So we move seamlessly from ‘Rapper’s Delight’ and the genre defining moment of hip hop into The Specials’ spectral, ‘Ghost Town’; from ABC and the apotheosis of New Pop (‘The Look of Love’) to Madonna’s breakthrough moment with ‘Like a Virgin’, and so on.
Subjective and idiosyncratic, Shiny and New takes us from downtown New York to post-industrial Manchester, in the first widescreen attempt to weave together the stories, the songs and events that re-shaped music and society.
‘Fascinating’ New Statesman
The ’80s were about big ideas writ large – new money, new style, gender fluidity, gay pride, attritional politics, the ‘special relationship’, nuclear fear, AIDS, cocaine, ecstasy, tabloid royalty, the rise of urban pop, and ultimately geopolitical chaos. Dylan Jones’ history of the decade in pop frames the ’80s through some of its most important and popular hits, choosing records which either epitomised their time, or ushered in a new cultural shift. So we move seamlessly from ‘Rapper’s Delight’ and the genre defining moment of hip hop into The Specials’ spectral, ‘Ghost Town’; from ABC and the apotheosis of New Pop (‘The Look of Love’) to Madonna’s breakthrough moment with ‘Like a Virgin’, and so on.
Subjective and idiosyncratic, Shiny and New takes us from downtown New York to post-industrial Manchester, in the first widescreen attempt to weave together the stories, the songs and events that re-shaped music and society.
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use