Definitive bands of the 80s

[Perplexio]

What are some of the bands you automatically associate with the eighties?

Some of mine...
Tears for Fears (Shout, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Head Over Heels)
The Outfield (Your Love)
Thompson Twins (King for a Day, Hold Me Now)
A-Ha (Take On Me)
Level 42 (Something About You & Running In the Family)
INXS (Don't Change, New Sensation, Need You Tonight, Never Tear Us Apart, Devil Inside, etc.)
Corey Hart (Never Surrender & Sunglasses At Night)
Loverboy (Turn Me Loose and Working For the Weekend)
Culture Club (Karma Chameleon & Do You Really Want to Hurt Me)
Laura Branigan (Self Control, Gloria, How Am I Supposed to Live Without You)
Men At Work (Down Under, Overkill, & Who Can It Be Now)
Icehouse (Electric Blue & Great Southern Land)
Midnight Oil (Beds Are Burning)

[Packercracker]

Definitely Tears for Fears, Ah-ha; the Bangles, Eurythmics, Wham!, Genesis, Huey Lewis and the News, Dire Straits

and some solo acts- Whitney Houston, Madonna, Tiffany, Michael Jackson, Richard Marx, Peter Cetera

[Hourman]

You're talking about the decade I went to high school and college, so I've got a lot of memories tied to specific songs

Flock of Seagulls
Morrissey
The Cure
The Smiths
Talking Heads
Run DMC
Kenny Loggins
Depeche Mode
Information Society
Power Station/Robert Palmer
Duran Duran
Prince
Sheena Easton
The Bangles
The Go-Gos
Taylor Dayne
Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
Stevie B
New Kids on the Block/and that boy band that Gerald Levert, Bobby Brown, etc. all came from
Boyz II Men
Culture Club
Huey Lewis & The News
Def Leppard
Bon Jovi
Poison/Ratt/Guns & Roses/Motley Crew/Whitesnake and the rest of the hair band sound
Tiffany/Debbie Gibson
Cyndi Lauper
Wham!/George Michael
Madonna
Richard Marx
Lionel Ritchie
David Foster
Night Ranger
The Greg Khin Band
Dire Straits
The Police/Sting
The Cars
The Eurythmics
The The
Don Henley
Glenn Frey (Miami Vice, anyone?)
Phil Collins
Bruce Springsteen

[Hourman]

A few more:

Human League
Tommy Tutone
Rick Springfield
Van Halen/Van Hagar

[Perplexio]

Belinda Carlisle should show up on the list too...

Back in the early part of the last decade I swear all those 80s MTV mall vixens started showing up in Playboy... Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, and Belinda Carlisle all made appearances, au naturale (with a little help from the airbrush) in Hef's mag within a span of about 3 or 4 years.

[KATH]

It's weird to see what people listen(s, ed) to in certain times of their lives...and how we all had our own, but yet similar tastes...who was big/popular...and perhaps Regional bias?  I know a LOT of the bands I was listening to at the time were, in fact, local bands...some got big; some didn't.  But we LIVED at the clubs back then, and I turned 21 the summer of '82  So, that could be the reason.   So, if y'all look at the list, and say "WHO THE **** IS THAT?"  Check 'em out...!  And--I look back and realize that a good chunk of 'em are Canadian, too.  I spent a lotta time in Windsor--across the border, where the Drinking Age is 19--we did that A LOT, just to be fair.  LOL!  I have a list...but do I think that any/some of 'em are "DEFINITIVE"??  Maybe...I KNOW AND REMEMBER WELL how much I loved a lotta those bands, though.  Okay...and one more thing--just because a LOT OF THESE BANDS WERE ONE HIT WONDERS, DOESN'T MEAN THEY WEREN'T AWESOME...!!

Huey Lewis & The News 
Billy Joel
Til Tuesday
Bad English
John Waite solo
Lone Justice
Rush
Asia
Scandal
Depeche Mode
XTC
U2 (through UNFORGETTABLE FIRE)
Saga
Journey 
The Look
Queen (until Radio Ga-Ga...WTF.)
The B-52's
The Romantics
Bittersweet Alley
Styx (until that MR. ROBOTO fiasco...jeesh)
The Knack
Siouxsie & The Banshees
The Cult
The Waitresses
The Cure
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Aldo Nova
Joan Armatrading
The Pretenders
The Buzzcocks
The Clash
Elvis Costello
Nick Lowe
Rh Factor
Bryan Adams
Toby Redd
Alison Moyet
Erasure
Ramones
Bruce Springsteen
Iggy Pop
Alice Cooper
New Edition
Bobby Brown solo
Johnny Gill solo
The Pogues
Split Enz/Crowded House
John Parr
Salt n Pepa
Taylor Dayne
SRV
Crowded House
The Waterboys
The Tubes
Duran Duran
X
Suicidal Tendencies
Skinny Puppy
The Rockets
Tommy Tutone
Greg Kihn Band
Icehouse
Metallica
Prince
Corey Hart
Madonna
Information Society
Chequered Past
Marshall Crenshaw
Concrete Blonde
Don Henley solo
Glenn Frey solo
Dexy's Midnight Runners (c'mon, Eileen...you know you love 'em. heh.)
Madness
Squeeze
INXS
The Boomtown Rats
Whitney Houston
GnR
Poison
Motley Crue
Whitesnake
Bon Jovi
Go-Go's
Bangles
Lita Ford
Pat Benatar
Heart
Living Colour
Belinda Carlisle (yeah, I don't think to list her solo sometimes...thanks Darrin.)
Stray Cats

...That's all I could think of before my sinuses said "Okay...that's ENOUGH"...heh.





YADA, YADA, YADA...

[Hourman]

Belinda Carlisle should show up on the list too...

Back in the early part of the last decade I swear all those 80s MTV mall vixens started showing up in Playboy... Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, and Belinda Carlisle all made appearances, au naturale (with a little help from the airbrush) in Hef's mag within a span of about 3 or 4 years.

Actually, a former (softcore) **** star did become a singer in the 1980s: Samatha Fox

And here's a one hit wonder who got my attention because the band was named after a Star Trek character: T'Pau

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwrYMWoqg5w&feature=related

And for those who just have to know what character: she was in the episode "Amok Time" in the original series, who was a member of the Vulcan ruling class, who was supposed to officiate at Spock's wedding -which, of course, turns into a fight to the death between Kirk and Spock.

[Saxman]

Being a HUGE Star Trek fan, I could never forget T'Pau, LOL!

Samantha Fox came out as a lesbian in recent years as is supposedly attempting a singing comeback.  Was she ever a **** actress or simply a "Page Two" (or is it "Page Three") British tabloid newspaper **** model?   I forget.

Lita Ford is still pretty hot!

What about REO?  I know some associate them with the 1970s, but they had their biggest hits in the 1980s before imploding and most of the band leaving Kevin Cronin to front a ghost band.  And NO, I'm no longer a fan, LOL!

[Perplexio]

What about REO?  I know some associate them with the 1970s, but they had their biggest hits in the 1980s before imploding and most of the band leaving Kevin Cronin to front a ghost band.  And NO, I'm no longer a fan, LOL!

I  consider the 70s and 80s REOs to be 2 separate bands.  I prefer the 70s version... heck I prefer the 4 albums they recorded WITHOUT Kevin Cronin over most of the stuff they recorded with him.  That being said, I do consider "You Get What You Play For" to be one of the best live albums I've ever heard.  As such I consider them much more a 70s than an 80s band.

[Saxman]

REO: I agree, much better without Cronin.  Now he IS REO, bad face lift and all!

[Charlie]

Let's not forget Dire Straits.  Knopfler's guitar work is sensational.

[YourZ]

I finished high school in 1980 and went off to travel Australia for some months.  The music I listened to while I travelled was limited to the few cassettes (remember those?) I picked up along the way and the only truly 80s one was Adam & The Ants first album, which I still think is a beauty.

There are a bunch of Australian bands that define the 80s for me, some known and some obscure, and include: INXS, Split Enz (although from NZ), The Church, Hoodoo Gurus, Midnight Oil, Spy Vs Spy, Bear Garden, Do Re Mi, Cold Chisel, Kam Sha, Straightjacket Fits and The Chills (more NZ bands), The Venetians, Real Life, Hunters And Collectors, Paul Kelly & The Messengers, The Sunnyboys, Icehouse, The Divinyls, The Boys Next Door (lead vocalist was Nick Cave) and the Bad Seeds.

On the international front, I was into bands like The Pretenders, The Smithereens, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Talking Heads, The The, Joe Jackson, The Jam, The Clash, Wall Of Voodoo, Echo & The Bunnymen, Tears For Fears, Psychedelic Furs, The Police, New Order, The Cure, Love & Rockets, Ultravox, The Pixies, Husker Du, The Mighty Lemon Drops, Woodentops and a bunch of other bands I've long forgotten.

[Perplexio]

There are a bunch of Australian bands that define the 80s for me, some known and some obscure, and include: INXS, Split Enz (although from NZ), The Church, Hoodoo Gurus, Midnight Oil, Spy Vs Spy, Bear Garden, Do Re Mi, Cold Chisel, Kam Sha, Straightjacket Fits and The Chills (more NZ bands), The Venetians, Real Life, Hunters And Collectors, Paul Kelly & The Messengers, The Sunnyboys, Icehouse, The Divinyls, The Boys Next Door (lead vocalist was Nick Cave) and the Bad Seeds.

I've heard of and enjoy several of those myself-- INXS, Split Enz, Cold Chisel, Hunters & Collectors, Icehouse, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.  Of those I especially enjoy Hunters & Collectors & Cold Chisel.  H&C's rhythm section is groovalicious and Mark Seymour is a solid songwriter with a distinct and enjoyable voice... and they have a horn section to boot! 

Cold Chisel! Love Jimmy Barnes man.  That cat has a voice on him like nobody's biznitch!  It doesn't get much more Aussie than those guys!  For their uptempo stuff my fave is probably Goodbye (Astrid) or the iconic Khe Sanh for their slower stuff I really dig When the War Is Over and Flame Trees.  That bit in When the War Is Over when Jimmy starts singing (I believe the final verse after Prestwich sings the first 2 verses) gives me chills.