ABSTRACT
The 'mainstream' Welsh music of the 1980s continued largely on its straightforward rock trajectory but the advent of smaller labels such as Fflach, Anhrefn, and most notably Ankst, expanded the palette of Welsh pop music to include New Wave as more experimental music. Much the most important development which took place in Welsh media was the arrival of S4C, Sianel Pedwar Cymru, the independent Welsh Channel Four. Modern Welsh popular music was founded on a challenge to Welsh-language musicians to explore their creativity in their mother tongue, and perhaps to create a unified sense of Welshness in the process. The 1980s saw a great concentration of developments in Welsh popular culture. This was the decade of independent labels, the Welsh 'underground' scene, local 'scenes', recognition and support of Welsh bands by John Peel, and the beginning of a creeping bilingualism in Welsh pop.
