You’re kidding me, right?
I’m going to encompass it into one sentence:
Euro-pop-trash.
Tune into any top 40 radio station in North America, and you’ll hear LOADS of the $#!t! Whigfield, Venga Boys, Hippy-Hoppy Dancey troupes (and I won’t even get into the girl & boy “bands”). Some of it is just TOO freaking happy, IMHO.
BTW: Loved Men Without Hats. HATED “Pop Goes The World”.
As a lover of the one hit wonders (I think my handle gives that away), I keep a special place in my heart for:
Taco
Wall of VooDoo
Boys Don’t Cry
Men Without Hats (they actually had 2, and I LOVE ‘Pop Goes the World’)
Harold Faltemeyer
Tim Buk 3
Murray Head
Corey Hart
Nena
Suzanne Vega (She had 2, and ‘Blood Feels Cold’ was terrific)
Maxwell (or is it Rockwell… must… wake… up)
(The fun part is letting you tell me what their hit was)
I’ll venture a guess, in order:
Puttin’ on the Ritz
Mexican Radio
Yes they do
Safety Dance, Pop goes the World
Axel F theme
Future’s so Bright
One night in Bangkok
Sunglasses at Night
99 Luftballoons
Luca
Somebodies watching me
And you need to add M to that list.
This is going to sound like The Outside Line from The Onion, but:
Meat Puppets, Minutemen and almost anything from SST. DOA!!!
And about a thousand local bands (weren’t they all local anyway?): Big Boys>>Cargo Cult, Scratch Acid… and if that wasn’t enough for those of you from Texas, just list every band at every Woodshock!!! Oh yeah, the Hickoids (though I’d much rather not have even heard about the drag races :rolleyes: ), but that’s probably getting a little too local.
Hey, dumb question, but is Spot up to anything nowadays?
Just an FYI -
Murray Head was(and I believe still is) a Broadway performer, who just happened to have a “crossover hit” with One Night in Bankok, from Chess.
I don’t believe there’s ever been a production of Chess, anywhere, oddly.
He was also Judas in the original London cast of JC Superstar.
But I know way too much about a lot of 80’s music acts. I have too much fun with most of the acts Michi mentioned…although I hated Men without Hats. And I notice no one’s yet mentioned any of the 80s rap acts:
Grandmaster Flash & Mel E Mel
Run DMC
Public Enemy…
LOL White girl strikes again! I can’t think of any others.
And I’m going to see Duran at the HOB at the end of this month. 
Bronski Beat!!!
English Beat!!!
Echo and the Bunny Men!!!
Fine Young Cannibals!!!
oh, those were the days…
Sorry Joel but I can’t take it back. Is my humble opinion and it aint about to change. I find the entire decade (with a few notable exceptions) lacking in creativity, innovation, and integrity. The whole music business was contrived and centered around making a buck. In many ways it’s worse in the 90’s and today, but at least now more and more independant record labels are allowing artists to have a voice. IMHO
I disagree Moe, the 1980s were a brilliant decade for independent labels - and back then, they were genuinely independent, not bankrolled by the majors as so many are today.
Put me on a desert island with nothing but the 80s catalogues of Postcard, Creation, Cherry Red, Rough Trade, and Factory records, and I’ll be a happy camper …
Do you mean Blood Makes Noise? I had the cassette single of that one. It had Luka, Marlena On The Wall and Tom’s Diner as the B-side.
Wang Chung! Wang Chung!
I would hardly classify them as an 80s band anyway. Although they had a MTV hit with “Burning for You” in 1981 and “Shooting Shark” in 1983 (the Club Ninja album with single “Dancing in the Ruins” was DOA in 1986), B.O.C. was very much a 70s band. Allen Lanier already had the band going when he was dating Patti Smith in the early 70s. Nearly all of their best (and best-known) songs come from albums released between 1972 and 1978.
Is no one going to mention all the “hair bands” from the 80s? I love 80s music, especially the hair bands. Skid Row, Motley Crue, Poison, Cinderella, Ratt, Slaughter, Twisted Sister, Faster Pussycat… I could go on and on. I just went to a concert a couple months ago and saw Slaughter, Dokken, Cinderella, and Poison and it was awesome!!!
The shit music they have now I can definitely live without. I miss the Headbanger’s Ball and all the music videos that Mtv used to show. I have to resort to watching all the videos that I taped 10-15 years ago because there’s nothing worth watching on Mtv anymore!
Let’s not forget…
Book of Love
Joy Division
The Smiths
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Roxy Music
Spandau Ballet
The Cult
OMD
New Order
Our house was broken into a few weeks ago, and the thieves stole a bunch of CD’s. But they missed my 80’s compilations ones 
–tygre
I, too, am, like, totally into the 80s thing. (And, apparently, commas.) I’m listening to the Fine Young Cannibals best of right now, and I’ve just finished listening to the entire XTC ouvre. I collect one-hit-wonders from the eighties – its fun to find out who’s still recording. Gary Numan is still touring, for heaven’s sake. (His latest album sounds nothing like his earlier work).
Nekochan- I have almost complete collections of most of those artists. (Well, except for Roxy Musci who, for some reason, I can never find used, and the Cult, who never pumped my nads. So to speak.)
However, I have few kind words for the hair bands of the later eighties. I purse my lips and level a steely gaze over my pence-nez at them! I waggle a disapproving finger! (OK, I can understand enjoying the cheese factor, but anything more than that…shudder).
And SoMoMom, it’s “gag me with a spoon”, not “myself”. Just in case you need to use this handy phrase in a business meeting or something. You never know.
What collections are people using? I like the “Living in Oblivion” five disk set. I’ve also got five of the “Just Can’t Get Enough” collection. I’ve also got a few of the English “A Kick up the Eighties” collections. It’s actually something of a challenge for me to find a collection that doesn’t completley overlap what I already have.
Sliv, note the “;)” following the statement. Duh! :rolleyes:
Nekochan, Get out of my head, you freak! I also love Aztec Camera, Echo and the Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, the Cure.
I was lucky enough to grow up near Canada, so I heard some pretty good radio in the 80s. Our Canadian friends will remember Platinum Blonde, the Spoons, the Parachute Club, 8 Seconds, Chalk Circle, Gowan, etc.
Sliv, My favorite compilation set is “New Wave Hits of the 80s”. It’s got some fairly obscure tracks. It’s the only place I’ve seen Sparks on a compilation.
Tommy Tutone, Check out Strib.com for one hit wonders. We have media player and I listen to strib.com a lot.
It took over a decade, but Chess performed here in Atlanta not too long ago. It was part of a nationwide tour I think, so everyone has a chance to see it (I was unable to get away… sigh).
And Public Enemy has a special place in my heart after hearing them perform with Anthrax for ‘Bring the Noise’ =)
I agree ruadh, but you left out I.R.S.
Speaking of Songs that make you change the radio station…
