On the first look, the 1980s looks similar to other periods in the history of music, for example the 1990s, the 1960s and so on. But there is something which is different, the 1980s are not only a decade, it was a century. The development until the 1980s can be called 20th century. It started in the year 1900 and ended in 1980. There overall elements are car manufacturing, mass production, airplanes and the railroad. With the year 1980s this centuray has ended, and something new started, called information technology. Their main idea was the microchip, namely computers, CD-ROM, television, VHS videocassette and so on. The 1980s later evolved into the internet revolution which includes youtube, the World Wide web, WIkipedia and Google, but it all started in the 1980s with inventions like the Apple II and the IBM PC. It was the first time, that no longer industrial products like cars but information products like Movies, music and software became important. Most of the inventions of the 1980s like the Commodore 64, the Walkman or LISP workstations are today no longer relevant. They are replaced by something which is more powerful. But, in the 1980s it was totally new. That means, the Commodore 64 didn't replaced a homecomputer before, it was the first homecomputer ever.
Some people belief that the year 2018 is equal to the 80s and they are right. Everything feels like the same, only in details an improved is there. The reason is, that the 1980s didn't only start a new decade but it started the 21th century. According to a nominal definition the 21th century begins in the year 2000, but the 1980s looks very equal. So it makes sense to define the 1980s as the first decade of the 21th century. And today in the year 2018 we are living in the same century. That means, it is a post-industrial world full of computers, microchips, music and software. It is unclear how long this century will take, perhaps it will run until the year 2100 or later. Nobody knows what the future will bring. But what is a mistake is to compare the 1980s with the 1970s. There is major contrast between both. The 1970s can be seen like the 1960s and the 1950s as a classical example for the 20th century which was dominated by industrial production, cars and electric current. It is a very modern century with electric light, railroads and refrigerators but it's not the 1980s. That means, the Compact Disc wasn't invented, the walkman too, and computers are not a consumer product yet. If the youth want's to see a movie they will go to a car-cinema and not to a video rental store. And most television stations submitting their program in black/white without stereo sound. MTV wasn't invented yet, and Tetris is unknown. This will become possible only in the 1980s.
The 1990s
Somebody may argue, that the 1980s wasn't great and the 1990s had produced much better cultural artifacts. And indeed, the 1990s are about Windows 95, better popmusic (for example Eurodance), and the new invented DVDs player had a better quality then the VHS Cassettes of the 1980s. But a more objective look into the details shows, that the 1990s are only an improvement of the 1980's. They didn't invented new thinks, they only modified existing patterns. The homecomputers gets more memory, the music become more electronic and the movies contains better special effects. The difference between the 1990s and the 1980s are much smaller then the difference between the 1980s and the 1970s. The 1990s are only the second decade of the 21th century. It can be called an extension of the 80s.
The same is true for the 2000s and the 2010s. In all these cases, the technology was improved but not in a sense that one of these decaded started a new century which is different from the information revolution.