I don’t remember (and I remember it well), people giving much attention in the 80’s to nuclear war. Not at all like the 70’s and 60’s. The Soviet Union influence and decline was already in motion. Sure you had songs like 99 luft-balloons, and Forever Young, but 80’s pop was super happy overall, and it really peaked just as the Soviet Union was collapsing, and it was, like rock before it, almost exclusively white. Music from the black community, and I won’t call it African American as that would leave out the UK and others, had popularity in the 80s/90s, but the most popular was happy and not edgy whether Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, or Whipme Houston.
But as the 80’s progressed, if you wanted "edgy" music, music that spoke to youth either disinfranchised, or wanted to be, and certainly through the 90’s and 2000’s, it came predominantly from the Black community, through rap, hip-hop, urban. In the 90’s it was Janet, Mariah and Darius (Hootie and the Blowfish), in the 2000’s it was 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, and Usher, and I would throw in Eminem for the genre. Have you looked at what the top artists are with the <=25 crowd for the last 10-20 years? ... Ed Sheeran is not their Who/Stones or even Depeche Mode. If you can’t take off your "I am offended by everything" hat, then just exit the conversation. Whether rap, hip-hop, urban, it reflects angst, anger, or just being rebellious ... what drove much of what all those old white audiophiles thought was great "popular" music in the 60s, 70s, 80s.
The rise of latin music to me more mainstream language agnostic is a combination of demographics, but more so readily available streaming like you-tube. Perhaps cultural reflection, but it it generally happy music, and people need that escape too.
.. and whether I am black, white, or pink with blue pokadots does not change the argument.
