Mixtapes and MTV
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Publication Date: 01 September 2025
RRP: $39.99
ISBN: 9781923192577
Format: Paperback
Size: 153mm x 234mm
Pages: 368
Category: Music

Mixtapes and MTV

Triumphs and Tragedies in 1980s Music

Tony Wellington

‘Tony Wellington writes passionately about music history. This book grooves like a mix of Adam & The Ants and Prince. What’s not to love?’ Stuart Coupe

PRAISE FOR VINYL DREAMS

‘A damn good read. [The 1970s were] a gender-bending ride, filled with good memories, good times.’ Suzi Quatro, rock legend

‘Tony Wellington writes with incredible insight, passion, and intelligence about music and the context in which it was created.’ Stuart Coupe, music journalist

‘In Vinyl Dreams Tony happily shines a forensic light on the finest musicians of the age, while gleefully exposing the fakes, the frauds and the febrile.’ Rob Hirst, founding member of Midnight Oil

‘A thrilling journey that meticulously charts rock music’s progress through the chaotic, fertile, high-energy, drug-fuelled innovations that make the seventies possibly its most exciting era.’ David Williamson, playwright

‘One thing I love about this book is how Tony Wellington humanises the rockstar. We all know the effect of great rock music on our mental and physical being is beyond magic, but those who create that magic are all too human. Tony takes us into that world and helps us understand how and why the songs we love so much were written by people reacting to the ever-changing world of the seventies.’ Jon Coghill, Powderfinger drummer

‘Wellington’s genial tone is never holier-than-thou, and by nature Vinyl Dreams will arouse discussion and dissent. His research is commendable, his illuminations manifold and his love for music palpable. Read it, and have your own private argument with him.’ John Shand, The Age/SMH

A decade of new sounds, new genres and new ways of experiencing music

For better or worse, the 1980s shifted the dial on expectations of what pop and rock music should be. The decade was more than just mullets and shoulder pads; it was also the heyday of synth pop, and the golden eras of both heavy metal and hip-hop. The two biggest-selling albums of all time hail from the 1980s: Michael Jackson’s Thriller and AC/DC’s Back in Black.

The Sony Walkman shifted listening from a shared to a solo experience, while vinyl records gave way to cassettes and then CDs. The arrival of MTV was cataclysmic, turning music into something to watch, not just listen to. Against a climate of political conservatism and ostentatious materialism, the music industry embraced the notion of charity rock. Powerful female performers took centre stage, while indie, new age, world music and acid house each staked their territorial claims.

Witty, vividly written and brimming with stories, Mixtapes and MTV charts the musical highs and lows of a tumultuous decade, one which saw the influence of corporate greed, the rise of the AIDS crisis and the fall of the Berlin Wall. From Duran Duran to Run D.M.C., Madonna to Metallica, Springsteen to Sinéad O’Connor, this book offers new insights into a decade that changed music forever.

Tony Wellington

Tony Wellington is a writer, photographer and artist. His works include Freak Out: How a Musical Revolution Rocked the World in the Sixties, Vinyl Dreams: How the 1970s Changed Music, Happy? Exploding Cultural Myths about Happiness and...

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