The 80s were the era of synth-pop/new wave/new romantic. Initially emerging from late 1970s punk, diverting into sub-genres and refining its sound until around 1987. Generally dark and touching music with a very intellectual text.
Also disco, when it first appeared on the scene was strongly associated with an LGBT audience, and the Moral Majority crusaders then absolutely denigrated it.
Good art is by definition subversive, and you won't find subversion in the Billboard Top 40. Which is why conservative criticisms of stagnation in art/science feel so blatantly hypocritical too.