Hard rock Styx helped further cement heavy rock in the Midwest as a form of stadium rock. In 1978, Van Halen emerged from the Los Angeles music scene with a sound based around the skills of lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen. He popularised a guitar-playing technique of two-handed hammer-ons and pull-offs called tapping, showcased on the song "Eruption" from the album "Van Halen", which was highly influential in re-establishing hard rock as a popular genre after the punk and disco explosion, while also redefining and elevating the role of electric guitar. The opening years of the 1980s saw a number of changes
Motley Theatre Design Group and swatches of fabric. After the members of the Motley Group had retired, Michael Mullin, a professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, met Margaret Harris and expressed an interest in the University acquiring the over 40 years worth of designs that the group had accumulated. After negotiations with Sotheby's, who had been contracted to auction the items, the University of Illinois finally reached an agreement in April 1981 to purchase the entire collection. This resource on the history of 20th-century theatre is preserved intact for study; the Library has digitized the collection in its entirety to