ABSTRACT
The 1980s was a decade characterized as selfish and excessive from global economics to interpersonal relations, but it seems to have been a tough decade for love, marriage, and relationships. Popular music provides young people with social stimulation and core values. While research on cultivation theory has dealt with television, a medium as pervasive as popular music may exhibit cultivation effects for its primary audience. Research on popular music and radio has found increasing homogenization and lack of diversity in the music industry. While love and sex were important subjects for print and electronic media, as thematic content the subjects of love and sex dominated popular music. Popular music, more than any other medium, is a constant companion and soundtrack for the activities of adolescents and young adults. Music is an important agent of teenage socialization in the United States and one aspect of a larger environment in which young people establish impressions about the human experience and social life.
