Soundalike BANDS, especially gloompop

Cafe Society
1

I have a theory about 80s gloompop/electronica. Every band in that genre has another band that sounds exactly like it, (or sounds almost exactly like it but shares an exactly alike worldview.) My list so far is:



The Smiths       - Blue Clocks Green
Psychedelic Furs - Echo and the Bunnymen
Depeche Mode     - New Order
Pet Shop Boys    - Soft Cell
The Church       - Love and Rockets
OMD              - Erasure

(Psych Furs and Echo SOUND the least alike of these, but for me they combine cynicism with hope to the same degree more than any other bands.)

The only popular gloompop/80s electronica band I cannot find a pair for is the Cure, possibly because they are less electronic than the others. The band they sound most like is the Cult He… oops, I mean Syd Barrett. No band sounds more like the Cure than Syd does.

Any other entries in this list, or other soundalike bands?

2

I’m not sure if I would really draw a huge comparison between New Order and Depeche Mode, but that’s just me. If you want a more similar sound to DM, check out Camoflage, De/Vision, or (to a lesser extent) Mesh. All great bands and have striking similarities to DM at times.

Also, another band that sounds a lot like Erasure is Neuropa.

3

Woah, you just listed a bunch of my favorite bands.

I’d have to say that The Stranglers sound a lot more like Syd Barrett than The Cure does.