Hit Parade: Point of No Return Part 2
b'After the so-called-but-not-really \\u201cdeath\\u201d of disco, dance music in the 1980s moved to its own beat. There was synthpop, electro, hi-NRG and house. But the scrappy genre that seemed to pull it all together was called freestyle\\u2014a breakbeat-tempo, Latin-flavored genre fortified with dizzying, proudly synthetic beats. Freestyle grew out of the clubs and streets of New York and Miami and briefly dominated \\u201980s dance-pop.\\n\\nFreestyle\\u2019s flagship artists were only medium-level stars: Shannon. Expos\\xe9. Lisa Lisa. Stevie B. Nu Shooz. Sweet Sensation. But these acts\\u2014most especially their yearning, floridly romantic, rhythmically hectic songs\\u2014punched above their weight on the charts and even affected the hits of superstars from Madonna to Duran Duran, Whitney Houston to Pet Shop Boys.\\n\\nJoin Chris Molanphy as he defines the byways of this bespoke dance genre and traces how it bridged the disco era into the hiphop era.\\n\\nPodcast production by Kevin Bendis.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'