Here are a few that weren’t mentioned:
Iron Maiden
Rush!!!
Dio
Metallica (Back when they weren’t ball lickers)
No discussion of 80s bands is complete without at least one mention of Wang Chung.
Then there’s Guns 'n Roses. Appetite for Destruction was one of the best albums of the decade. Hell, it’s one of the best albums ever.
And who is it that does that revolting cover of ‘I Want Candy’, anyway?
Let me just say that FenixTx would not have been able to cover “Ordinary World” without Duran Duran.
::bows head in silence::
Put me in the Replacements camp, too.
Anyone remember these guys?
Guadalcanal Diary
dB’s
X
Violent Femmes
English Beat…
I could go on and on…
Here’s one for ya: Edie Brickell and New Bohemians
Also: Laurie Anderson, Peter Gabriel, King Crimson II, Midnight Oil, Terence Trent D’Arby, Madnesss, Meat Puppets, Sugarcubes, Michelle Shocked, Suzanne Vega, World Party, 10,000 Maniacs, to name a few more.
Heh, I just picked up a CD called “I <3 Metal”, which is bunch of emo bands covering 80’s metal songs. It’s pretty good.
The 80’s had some good times:
Minor Threat
Fugazi
Bad Religion
Faith No More
Metallica
NOFX
Slayer
Ooohhh! Put me down as a Duran Duran fan. I even changed my last name to do them homeage. No, I am just kidding, I was lucky enough to be brought into the world with such a name.
Also:
New Order
The Cure
Depeche Mode
U2
Psychadelic Furs
Tears for Fears
…And too many more to name.
This music category is odd for me. I was an “'80s child”
because I was born in '80, but this stuff passed down to me through my older siblings.
Bad Religion, most definetly.
Dead Kennedys: great music, greater lyrics. You really have to sit down with the lyrics sheet to enjoy the great humor put into each and every song.
The Cure (Actually, just Killing An Arab)
The Misfits
Circle Jerks
Subhumans
Crass
[sub]yes, there is a trend here. no need to point it out, move along you business[/sub]
Yes! I always liked that song, though it’s incredibly weird.
I’m partial to “Afternoons in Utopia” myself, though. 
There was only one good 80’s band.
That band was Dire Straits.
All other bands were just filler.
[sub]And I don’t want anyone saying "but Dire Straits were a 70’s band! the moment someone brought up Talking Heads, all bets were off.[/sub]
Let’s not forget that throughout most of the 80’s Stevie Ray Vaughan was blowing the doors off the dump.
80s bands, yeah!
The ones that define the decade for me are:
The Smiths
Joy Division -> New Order
The B-52’s
Talking Heads
XTC
The English Beat
Pretenders
Chameleons UK
Some teenybop band just released a cover of “Please Please Tell Me Now” (or whatever the Duran Duran song was called). Scary. But still not as scary as Westlife covering “Seasons in the Sun”.
I’m not sure I’d classify Laurie Anderson as a “band”, mack, but I own heaps of her stuff and still enjoy listening to it.
I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Frankie Goes to Hollywood – did anyone besides me buy their second album?
Yep–we must have been the only two. I saw 'em in concert at the Bismark Theater in Chicago–must have been around '86-87.
Also, in reference to mrvisible–I just saw Billy Bragg last September and he was awesome!
Here’s a few others:
The Go-Go’s
Night Ranger
Rick Astley (God help me)
The Communards
Bronski Beat
Yaz
Oh man…Yaz’s (or Yazoo’s, depending on what country you were in) Upstairs at Eric’s was the album of my high school years. Everyone owned it; everyone played it constantly. Good stuff.
featherlou: My favorite 80’s romantic song was FGTH’s “The Power of Love” (not to be confused with Huey Lewis and News’s song of the same name).
A slight hijack on my own thread to say a big ‘Right on!’ to everyone who posted. I didn’t think this would last beyond five posts…honest! Lots of great mentions here. I’ll second the votes for:
Duran Duran, Flock of Seagulls, The Replacements…
non-band mentions like Michelle Shocked and Laurie Anderson…
and would like to add Scritti Politti, INXS, The Housemartins and (shudder) Bananarama (when Siobhan was still innit).
Ah yes… Gotta love The Ant. I just finished recollecting eight of his albums on CD since my cassette tapes bit the dust.
I was able to save five of my Twisted Sister tapes (converted to CD). Culture Club, Duran Duran and the B-52’s are next on the “Save to CD” list.
Hey! You forgot Men at Work! They RULED! Woohoo!
My other favorite is Dexy’s Midnight Runners. “Come On Eileen” still makes me really, really happy.
I’ve a show called “The Spandex Years” on WRUW which you can hear over the net by visiting the archive link at http://radio.cwru.edu .
Top 80s acts? Where to begin?
My fave, The Goddess Herself, Kate Bush (not a band, but she’s great dammit!)
REM
U2
Prince and The Revolution (his music went downhill after Wendy and Lisa left)
Pere Ubu
Devo
B-52s
BRUCE!!!
Madness (“One step beyoooooooooooond!”)
Siouxsie and the Banshees
The Cure
Depeche Mode
The Dead Kennedys
The Dead Milkmen
Dead Can Dance
This Mortal Coil
Throwing Muses
The Goddess Herself, Kate Bush
I better stop here…
Patty
I’m with Halber (huh, wonder how you picked your user name…) But I must add Sisters of Mercy, Psychic TV, Cabaret Voltaire, Dead CAn Dance, Janes Addiction, And Foetus. Oh, and Prince…