Classic Pop Presents Magazine 1984 MADONNA Prince Sade Wham! George Michael

1984 is a year that’s often spoken about as being unsurpassed in the world of pop. In 1984 things began to shift. Synth-pop still remained firm but elsewhere hi-NRG arrived via clubland and sophisti-pop charmed our ears thanks to a new cast of stars, some looking to the past for inspiration, and an intrepid few bent on changing the world for the future. We were indulged in everything from Weller’s modish jazz-pop with the Style Council and Sade’s lilting soul to Frankie’s audacious manifesto, Madonna’s breakthrough and Prince’s purple patch.

Inside, we speak to Simple Minds, Art Of Noise, Tom Bailey, Nik Kershaw, OMD, Trevor Horn, the late Steve Bronski and the cast of Band Aid, to survey their successes 40 years on. Elsewhere, we remember the inaugural – and highly eventful – MTV awards show, revisit two seminal films in Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense and Purple Rain, and indulge in the finest sleeve art of the year.

It was also the year pop came out and, as such, we take a look at the rise of hi-NRG and the brave gay artists that brought homosexuality overground, plus we go in-depth with the classic albums that punctuated the year and take on the tricky challenge of picking out the best of 1984’s singles – and more!