Tommy Hayes 
Do you remember your bedroom wall in the 1980s? If you were a Madonna fan, it probably changed every couple of years. First there were the posters from the debut album: lace gloves, layered bracelets, a street-smart grin. Then came the wedding dress, the pink gown, the whole Like a Virgin era. Then the shorter … Read more
Close your eyes and imagine New York at night in the late 1970s. The subway rumbles under the streets. Neon signs flicker over club doors. Inside, the music is loud, the dance floor is crowded, and a young woman from Michigan is somewhere in the middle of it all, dancing like her life depends on … Read more
Do you remember the summer of 1986, when a pop song started an argument that went far beyond pop music? It was playing everywhere: on car radios, in shopping malls, at school dances. The melody was bright and catchy, the kind you hummed without thinking. But the words were about something serious, and within weeks … Read more
Do you remember the first time you saw the video? It was 1985, and the television was showing a pink dress, a staircase, and a room full of men in suits, all of them offering jewels to a blonde woman who seemed both delighted and completely unimpressed. If you were a teenager that year, you … Read more
Do you remember the afternoons when MTV was the centre of the teenage universe? You would come home from school, drop your bag by the door, and switch on the television, and suddenly the living room belonged to music videos. The screen was full of colour, dancing, and singers who looked like they came from … Read more
Imagine a small New York nightclub in 1983. The room is dark. The stage is small. A young woman is singing with her mother, and in the audience sits a man who has spent his life listening for something he cannot quite describe. He has heard thousands of singers. He has built a record label … Read more
Think back to the summer of 1987. The windows are down. The radio is up. And from every car, every beach, every open window in the neighbourhood, comes the same sound: a burst of pure joy, a voice calling out for someone to dance with, and a chorus that makes it impossible to sit still. … Read more
Close your eyes and imagine a Sunday morning in Newark, New Jersey, in the early 1970s. The church is full. The organ is playing. The choir is singing, and somewhere in the middle of those voices is a little girl, barely tall enough to see over the pews, singing with a clarity that makes the … Read more
Picture a record store in 1985. The shelves are full of vinyl, the air smells faintly of cardboard and plastic, and a teenager is holding an album she has never heard, studying the cover. The photograph shows a young woman, smiling, elegant, calm, with a beauty that looks both classic and brand new. The name … Read more
Do you remember the sound of a radio countdown on a Saturday morning in the late 1980s? The presenter would count down the ten biggest songs in America, and week after week, as the numbers got smaller and the tension grew, one voice kept appearing at the top. It was not a surprise anymore. It … Read more