Ghostbusters, Murray received a Golden Globe nomi-
nation for best actor in a musical or comedy.
Murray used the clout he acquired fromGhost-
bustersto convince the film’s distributors, Columbia
Pictures, to help fund a long-standing project of his,
a film adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham’s serious
novel,The Razor’s Edge. Murray starred in and cowrote
the 1984 film, but it was neither a critical nor a com-
mercial success. Murray spent much of the next few
years out of the spotlight, only taking smaller roles in
comedies. It was not until 1988 that he took another
starring role, accepting the lead in the big-budget
comedyScrooged, a modern-day version of Charles
Dickens’sA Christmas Carol. The film was only a mod-
erate success. The next year, Murray reunited with
Ramis, Aykroyd, and Weaver forGhostbusters 2, which
became another summer hit, albeit not as successful
a hit as the original.
Impact Through his successful films of the 1980’s,
Murray showed that the methods of sketch and im-
provisational comedy could also be utilized in film.
His sarcastic yet likable persona helped make him
immensely popular with audiences.
Further Reading
Elder, Sean. “Bill Murray.” Salon.com. February 6,
2001.
Murray, Bill, and George Peper.Cinderella Stor y: My
Life in Golf. New York: Broadway, 2000.
White, Timothy. “Bill Murray’s Rumpled Anarchy.”
InThe Entertainers. New York: Billboard Books,
1998.
Michael Pelusi
See also Comedians; Film in the United States;
Ghostbusters; Murphy, Eddie; Television.
Music
Definition The many styles of popular music and
its subgenres
The 1980’s witnessed changes in music that reflected
changes in society as female artists and teen performers
gained prominence and as music styles and fashions from
around the world became increasingly popular. The music
of that time gave rise to clothing and dance fads that became
as much a part of the decade as the musical genres they rep-
resented.
By the early 1980’s, disco’s popularity was declining,
and other genres of the 1970’s were also slowing fad-
ing. However, various hard rock genres, including
heavy metal, remained a staple of most American ra-
dio stations. Also, rhythm and blues (R&B) took on
new relevance as up-and-coming and established
Motown artists released important albums. Music
styles and artists that came to prominence during
the decade seemed to offer something for everyone.
Launched in 1981, MTV offered a revolutionary
way (music videos) for bands and artists to reach
potential audiences throughout North America. A
form of pop music known as New Wave was one of
the first genres whose artists capitalized on the con-
cept of music television. However, with its emphasis
on the North American youth market, MTV ne-
glected the over-thirty demographic. In 1985, MTV’s
sister network, VH-1, was developed to showcase
more mainstream videos and aimed toward an adult-
oriented audience.New Wave The punk rock-inspired genre known as
New Wave comprised different styles that would
come to define the 1980’s and become the staple of
MTV rotations. With roots in late-1970’s England,
New Wave was often associated with synthesizers,
fashionable clothing, and androgynous singers, and
encompassing the subgenres of synthpop, new ro-
mantic, gothic rock, ska, post-punk, rockabilly, and
power pop, but the lines between these sounds were
not firmly drawn.
As the name suggests, synthpop bands featured
synthesizer keyboards, usually played in tandem
with the bass guitar to create musical tension and
build drama throughout songs. The Human League,
Depeche Mode, and Soft Cell were popular exam-
ples of the genre. Synthpop and other New Wave
bands enjoyed a great deal of Top 40 radio airplay
because their songs were rhythmic, danceable, and,
most important, unoffensive.
The New Romantic subgenre included groups
like Ultravox, Talk Talk, and Duran Duran. Though
some of these bands employed synthesizers like the
synthpop groups, their label grew from the way they
addressed romantic issues and the human condition.
Gothic rock artists were characterized by darker
tones—both musically and in terms of subject mat-
ter. Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Cure, and Bau-
haus exemplified the subgenre.
Post-punk bands did not feature synthesizers orThe Eighties in America Music 683