Ever heard of The Buggles? While you might not remember them, you will no doubt recall their iconic song, Video killed the Radio Star. The instalment of this column published on August 5, titled ‘And then they were gone – RIP, trusted friends’, chronicles the demise of the video. So, in keeping with that tune, surely a song has to be written about what killed the video.

So, how did I get to the demise of the radio star? Well, during the last two days, I was fortunate enough to see live on stage three iconic 1980s artistes – in my mind, anyway. Yes, I would have wanted to see them live in their heyday (and mine), nearly 40 years ago, but then that was not possible. The thing is that, although the artistes may have aged visibly (some more so than others), their commitment to their music has most certainly not diminished; it has remained unwaveringly unchanged. This made me wonder why the 1980s music has endured to the extent that it has. Is it just sheer luck?

But let me digress for a moment. Merely a week before I wrote this column, comic genius Gene Wilder passed away. One of his movies that you might recall, which I was particularly fond of, was the 1975 The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother. Wilder, of course, stars as the Smarter Brother, and his sidekick is a bug-eyed Scotland Yard detective with ‘photographic hearing’. Throughout the movie, Wilder, the older Holmes, constantly mocks any success achieved by his younger brother, Sherlock, whom he refers to as “Sheer Luck Holmes”.

So, is it just because of sheer luck that the 1980s music has endured? It made me quite curious – enough to investigate. While I was thinking about 1980s music, I also wondered whether there have been economic thoughts that have endured, or stood the test of time, if you will.

According to Decade Profile: The 1980s, “changes in music came thick and fast during the 1980s, and they were so diverse, original and at times controversial, it is often difficult to realise the scale”. Nothing on the music scene at the dawn of the 1980s alluded to that decade as having the makings of the monumental music era it was destined to be. It started quite ominously with the deaths of two highly influential musical figures, John Lennon, he of The Beatles, in 1980, and Bob Marley, the frontman of the Wailers, in 1981.

The 1980s was also a time of social and political change, aggravated by unemployment, riots and strikes. Many a musician of the time has described music as a form of escapism. It seems to all have started in 1981.

On Saturday, August 1, 1981, at 00:01 (Eastern Time, to be precise), MTV, an initialism of Music Television, was launched with the words: “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll.” The first music video, as you now know, was The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star. Quite interestingly, this was not a 1980s song. It was, in fact, written in 1977 and recorded by another band, only for The Buggles to record and release it on September 7, 1979.

MTV subsequently gave rise to an industry that began to invest increasingly in more extravagant videos. Artistes were simply not able to market their music without an accompanying music video. An inextricable bond was formed between the sound and the visual, and this has survived to this day. The increased power of music was not lost on the artistes, who, as a collective, were able to highlight the causes dear to them like no other.

You may recall the December 3, 1984, release of the single Do They Know It’s Christmas? by Band Aid, a collective of British and Irish musical artistes and acts at the time. Not to be outdone, the American, on March 7, 1985, followed suit with the release of the song We Are the World by United Support of Artists for Africa, which comprised imminent American musical artistes and acts. In the UK, the success of Band Aid inspired Live Aid, a dual-venue concert held on July 13, 1985, and an ongoing music-based fundraising initiative. On the day of the concert, held at Wembley stadium, in London, and attended by 72 000 people, concerts inspired by the initiative took place in the US, the Soviet Union, Japan, Austria, Australia and West Germany (prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall). According to records, it was one of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time, with an estimated global audience of 1.9-billion across 150 nations watching the live broadcast.

The 1980s was a time of constant change, with the birth of many genres that still influence the way music is made. The evolution of music television heralded a new direction for the industry.

It is apparent that the constant change and the evolving freedoms resulted in what The Decade Profile: The 1980s refers to as “the birth of many genres that still influence the way music is made”. It states that “new sounds, new images and new expressionism were the aims of most 80s musicians, and they were so successful in their aims that 80s music still sounds fresh and has an influence today”.

I can attest to this fact, having had the privilege to see Paul Young, Brian Ferry and the rock group Europe in action in recent days. They might have aged, but their music and the vigour of their delivery of the music have most certainly not. The lyrics to some of their songs are most profound – do not let the sometimes upbeat tempo of the music and the catchy melody fool you. I challenge you to find musical lyrics today that can match a song such as that of Young, Love of the Common People, which brings the message across: “Living on free food tickets; Water in the milk from a hole in the roof; Where the rain came through; What can you do?; Tears from your little sister crying; Because she doesn’t have a dress without a patch for the party to go; Oh; But you know she’ll get by.; ‘Cause she’s living in the love of the common people . . .” There are many more songs, but this was restored to my recent memory.

So, if the 1980s music has been able to endure, what if economics were able to achieve such longevity?

I think I might have found part of the answer in a book published on June 1, 1990. It is Todd G Buchholz’s New Ideas from Dead Economists: An Introduction to Modern Economic Thought. The message of the book is quite simple: “Human beings must make difficult choices. We are no longer in Eden.” As for which economic thought is the most telling and superior – well, there is none. It remains important for anyone who seeks an economic understanding of an issue to study its history and make his or her own assessment of the solution. The economic tools have long been identified and described – it is their application that is in dispute.

As to the undue criticism levelled against economists in their quest for attaining answers and sustainable solutions, I leave you with Buchholtz’ final observation: “For most of man’s life on earth, he has lived no better on two legs than he had on four. Give the economists a little credit for explaining and depicting the brief, shining moments when there has been a difference.”