Retroverse Year

1989

The monoculture starts showing hairline cracks — hip-hop, adult contemporary, and hard rock each build their own empires while still sharing the same Hot 100. Madonna and Janet keep setting trends, but the underground is getting faster and the charts are getting stranger. The decade ends not with one sound but with a dozen futures competing for the dial. The decade ends not with one sound but with a dozen futures competing for the same radio hour.