Book Review: Into The Groove: The 1980s: The Ultimate Decade in Music History by Justin Lewis

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion

The 80s have been talked about my entire existence on this planet and well, that’s not a difficult accomplishment considering I am in my early 30s. When I was getting into classic rock, I was a 60s/70s purist and went yuck at anything released after that and clown on the era’s ridiculous clothing and hairstyles. Stupid right? Because eventually I’d catch the 80s bug just like everyone else. It wasn’t like I had no knowledge of 80s music. I grew up listening to a lot of Michael Jackson and Madonna. I loved watching my dad’s VHS tape recordings of old MTV and VH1 music videos. I loved John Hughes films and all those 80s comedy films. When I was a teenager I first found out about The Smiths and I really liked them. After years of hearing people raving about The Stone Roses, I got into their music too and wow it’s exactly what I love: 80s does 60s jangle pop. And these days, who am I obsessed with? Viktor Tsoi and Kino. I’d like to thank my Gen X friends for getting me more into 80s music and showing how awesome that decade was (well, definitely not politically anyway).

What I love most about the 60s is how dynamic of a decade it is, the wide variety of music released in just a 10 year time period. The same could be said of the 80s too. The 60s had the space race and the transition to colour TV and the 80s had music videos on MTV (and cable TV as a whole), the introduction of video games to a wider audience, and a change in formats from vinyl to CDs. You had new genres. In the 60s, all sorts of new rock subgenres were being created. In the 80s it was synth pop, electronic music, and hip-hop. Don’t worry rock music fans, the 80s was a time of heavy metal becoming a lot more heavy.

In Justin Lewis’s upcoming book Into The Groove, we dive right into the 80s, year by year and month by month, talking about the greatest hits of the MTV generation.A true time capsule of the vibrant decade. Because the author is from the UK, the book will naturally have a British focus, but there’s some international representation in the book from all over the world as you’ll see in this mega playlist I made of the songs discussed in the book:

As a fellow music journalist with a completionist mentality, always wanting to know everything about the eras and genres of music I’m writing about, this book quickly caught my eye.

It’s a very well-organised book that gives an overview of 80s music history month by month and year by year with all the years and months clearly organised and all acronyms like (ROTD – released on this day) being explained clearly at the start.

There’s a lot of focus on releases and new music, but there’s a lot of history and historical context mentioned in the book such as deaths of musicians, new technologies, new radio programmes, and historical concerts and festivals. Not only are the biggest hits talked about, but also some indie hits, obscurities, and b-sides. If you listen to classic rock radio, you’ll know that time is a filter and a lot of great stuff gets forgotten about. By talking about the deep cuts, we are preserving history and the memory of these great works of art. I’ve found some great tunes to add to playlists thanks to this book. It goes to show you that factual, straightforward writing can indeed be inspiring! I recently pointed out to my friend Emily from The Lipstick Pickup about The Specials using sitar in one of their songs and I’ve learnt that fact thanks to this book!

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A post shared by Emily Vardaman Walters (@thelipstickpickup)

No question about it, I’m giving this book a 5/5 star rating. Excellent read, all killer, no filler. It’s a factual trip down memory lane. If you love 80s music and you’re a fan of The Diversity of Classic Rock and its straightforward, comprehensive approach to preserving classic rock history and sharing the facts about rock and roll, you’ll love this book.

If you want to see more of Justin’s work, you can visit his website First Last Anything. If you want to buy a copy, you can buy it through the publisher, Elliott & Thompson.

What are your favourite songs from the 80s? Have your say in the comments section below! 🙂

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