Urban Cowboy was a 1979 film that romanticized the world of upscale, urban country fans and their lives and music. The music that comprised the soundtrack was modified outlaw and country-pop -- it was slick, highly polished music that celebrated the outlaw mythology and honky tonk song structure, but it was given a glossy pop production. (read more)

Urban Cowboy was a 1979 film that romanticized the world of upscale, urban country fans and their lives and music. The music that comprised the soundtrack was modified outlaw and country-pop -- it was slick, highly polished music that celebrated the outlaw mythology and honky tonk song structure, but it was given a glossy pop production. Consequently, the music appealed to a greater audience, even winning a number of pop music fans in the process. Following the success of Urban Cowboy and its soundtrack (which featured vocalists like Mickey Gilley and Johnny Lee), the country charts were dominated by acts that copied the style and sound of Urban Cowboy. Throughout the early '80s and well into the mid-'80s, Urban Cowboy was the sound of country music and it wasn't until the late '80s, when the neo-traditionalists came along, that it disappeared from the charts.(collapse)