Singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega emerged in the mid-1980s after serving an apprenticeship in folk music in New York’s Greenwich Village. Her introspective and gentle songs were immediately successful at a time when singer-songwriters weren’t popular. Her first two albums spawned hits…
The Blue Nile are famous for their lack of productivity. The Glasgow-based group were formed in 1981 and effectively broke up by 2006, and released a mere four albums during their quarter century tenure. Like many bands that emerged after…
Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal began their recording careers in a terrible band named Graduate, known for the track ‘Elvis Should Play Ska’. Resenting the control of the other, non-songwriting members, Orzabal and Smith formed the duo Tears for Fears.…
The entire 50 year history of Fleetwood Mac has essentially been one long soap opera, but the group’s storied history took a surprising turn last week. Long time guitarist Lindsey Buckingham left the group, supposedly for a dispute over set…
Drummer Rob Hirst, bassist Andrew James, and guitarist Jim Moginie started performing together in Sydney in 1971, covering Cream, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Led Zeppelin. They eventually added towering vocalist Peter Garrett and guitarist Martin Rotsey. The name Midnight Oil…
Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith were both members of the band Graduate, who played an awkward hybrid of ska and mod revival. When Graduate broke up, Orzabal and Smith formed Tears for Fears. It’s named after Arthur Janov’s primal therapy,…
My list of the ten worst songs of the 1980s has received thousands of visitors over the last couple of weeks. I’ve received comments accusing me of hating the 1980s, so I thought that I’d set the record straight with…
Illinois-born Michael Omartian is best known as a producer. He was the first person to produce number one hits in three different decades. His number ones include: He’s also notable as a session musican, playing on records by Steely Dan,…
Over the last couple of days, a treasure trove of Beach Boys outtakes has slipped out into the wild. It’s on Google Drive, archive.org, and other places. The leaked songs span the band’s career, but I’m most interested in the…
On New Year’s Eve 1974, Mick Fleetwood invited guitarist Lindsey Buckingham to join Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham insisted that his girlfriend Stevie Nicks was part of the package, and Fleetwood Mac’s tenth and most successful line-up was formed. The line-up of…
Warren Zevon emerged later than most of his LA singer-songwriter contemporaries. His work was often dark and nasty, like film noir in song. Zevon was born in Chicago – his father worked as a bookie for the notorious Los Angeles…
During ten anarchic years, The Replacements recorded a ton of wonderful songs, self-sabotaged their career, and never achieved the mass success they promised. The Replacements started as part of the hardcore punk scene of the early 1980s, but they were…
Talking Heads emerged from the mid-1970s CBGB scene, along with Blondie, The Ramones, and Television. Neurotic frontman David Byrne formed the band with drummer Chris Frantz. When the new band was unable to find a bass player, Frantz’s girlfriend Tina…
Rich Mullins is known for the gimmicky CCM hit ‘Awesome God’. But that’s an unfair reputation – dig deeper, and he’s one of the best songwriters to emerge in the 1980s. Mullins was born in Richmond, Indiana. He was a…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 3 The Look by Roxette Topped the NZ chart for 3 (non-consecutive) weeks from 7 May 1989. Roxette Roxette are a Swedish supergroup. Marie Fredriksson was already a solo star in Sweden, while Per Gessle…
Talk Talk‘s career trajectory is one of the most fascinating in rock music – over the course of a decade and five albums, they transformed from a generic synth-pop outfit to trail-blazers for post-rock. Keyboardist Simon Brenner left Talk Talk…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 7 Thrift Shop by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Topped the NZ chart for 6 weeks from 12 November 2012. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Like the last artist to appear in this column (Kenny Loggins!), Ryan…
Detroit’s Marshall Crenshaw started playing the guitar at age ten. At high school he started the band Astigfa – an acronym for “a splendid time is guaranteed for all”, a lyric from The Beatles’ /Being For The Benefit of Mr…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 8 Footloose by Kenny Loggins Topped the NZ chart for 4 weeks from 3 June 1984 Kenny Loggins Loggins was born in Everett, Washington, 40 km north of Seattle. He started his career as a folkie,…
In the 1980s hair-metal and synth-infusions represented the mainstream of rock, and a scrappy rock ‘n roll band from Minneapolis was relegated to cult status. Shortly after The Replacements broke up, Nirvana took aspects of their sound to the mainstream,…
CBS released Folkways: A Vision Shared—A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly in 1988. It accompanied a documentary of the same name, with famous musicians paying tribute to the two pioneers. The two artists are integral to the American musical…
I spent my teenage years enamoured by the pop tunes of Billy Joel. Joel has a touch of show-tune about his work, and his work has never been as critically acclaimed as his more celebrated contemporaries like Bruce Springsteen or…
Natalie Merchant recently released her sixth solo album, Keep Your Courage. It’s a good opportunity to revisit her catalogue. On this countdown, I rank her albums as a solo artist and as the lead singer of 10,000 Maniacs. I only…
The Bangles’ work has two facets. There’s the 1960s garage rock sound of their early singles and reunion work. And there’s the mainstream pop/rock of ‘Manic Monday’ and ‘Eternal Flame’. Susanna Hoffs formed a band with lead guitarist Vicki Peterson…
Of the indie guitar bands proffered by Dunedin’s Flying Nun label in the 1980s, Straitjacket Fits were the most likely to break through to a mass audience. The Fits were based around two vocalists and songwriters who were an unlikely…
Joni Mitchell peaked in the 1970s with a terrific sequence of albums, particularly from 1971’s Blue to 1976’s Hejira. But she also released six studio albums in the 1980s and 1990s. None of these compositions would force their way into…
The Bangles came from the Paisley Underground, an early 1980s Los Angeles scene indebted to the psychedelic 1960s. Paisley Underground also spawned Dream Syndicate and Green on Red, but The Bangles were the best-known band from the scene. They enjoyed…
Sparks are the world’s longest-running cult band. The only constant members are siblings Ron and Russell Mael, who grew up in Pacific Palisades, California. They emerged with the glam movement of the 1970s. Their single ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough…
Genesis formed in the 1960s, when Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, and Mike Rutherford met at Charterhouse School. By 1971, they’d found their classic quintet of vocalist Peter Gabriel, drummer Phil Collins, keyboardist Tony Banks, bassist Mike Rutherford, and guitarist Steve…
The Flight of the Conchords weren’t New Zealand’s first musical/theatrical duo. Auckland’s The Front Lawn were active from 1985 to 1990. Don McGlashan had already cemented his place in New Zealand music history, singing and drumming on Blam Blam Blam’s…
There are two prominent Sam Phillipses in popular music. This list isn’t about the Sun Records producer who worked with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Rather it’s about the idiosyncratic female singer-songwriter who launched her career in…
When Martin Phillipps passed away in 2024, the world lost a terrific, yet overlooked, songwriter. Phillipps, the son of a Methodist minister, formed The Chills in 1980. They signed to the Flying Nun label but were more sophisticated than most…
The son of novelist Raymond Hitchcock, Robyn Hitchcock has enjoyed an acclaimed career as an eccentric alt-rock and folk artist. He started his career with the new wave band The Soft Boys, best known for their 1980 album Underwater Moonlight.…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 8 Faith by George Michael Topped the NZ chart: from 6 December 1987 for 7 weeks. Wham! evolved from a partnership to a vehicle for George Michael. So it wasn’t surprising when Wham! disbanded and…
9 Into the Groove by Madonna Topped the NZ chart: for 6 weeks from 11 August 1985. Madonna was one of the best singles artists of the 1980s. Between 1985 and 1990, ‘Into the Groove’, ‘Like A Prayer’, and ‘Vogue’…
Neil Finn grew up in Te Awamutu, a provincial town in New Zealand. As a teenage guitarist, he joined his brother Tim in the art-rock band Split Enz. When the Enz switched gears to new wave pop, Neil provided their…
The Chills started on the legendary Flying Nun indie label during the 1980s. Martin Phillipps was the only constant member. His sophisticated writing was different from most of his post-punk labelmates. He was the son of a Methodist minister, growing…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 9 19 by Paul Hardcastle Topped the NZ chart: for 5 weeks from 7 July 1985. I was surprised that there’s a 5-week number-one hit from the 1980s that I’d never heard before. But I’d…
Richard Wayne Mullins was one of the most beloved figures in Christian Contemporary Music. He grew up in Indiana, the son of a tree farmer. Growing up he was influenced by Quaker values of peace and social justice, which permeated…
Don Henley was a star even before he began his solo career. He became the Eagles lead singer over the course of their 1970s tenure, fronting hits like ‘The Best of My Love’, ‘One of These Nights’, ‘Hotel California’, and…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 6 Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run) by Billy Ocean Topped the NZ chart: from 9 December 1984 for six weeks Billy Ocean is best known for a string of hits in the…
Don Henley emerged as the primary lead singer of the Eagles. He was nicknamed “Golden Throat”, and fronted their breakthrough hit ‘Best of My Love’ and their signature song ‘Hotel California’. When the Eagles split acrimoniously in 1980, Henley went…
In 2021, I assembled a list of my ten favourite Billy Joel songs. It included big hits and deep cuts, taken from his 1976-1983 prime. There’s been a lot of Billy Joel discussion in my household recently. My nine-year-old daughter’s…
Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly is barely known outside of Australia, but he’s one of his country’s most beloved musicians. His literate songs are plain and unadorned, often with a rock band or with touches of country and folk. Kelly has disowned…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 6 I’m Your Man Topped the NZ chart: from 16 February 1986 for 1 week Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael met at Bushey Meads School. They formed a ska band with school friends, before paring…
Congratulations to Rich Kamerman, who schooled the rest of us on famous drummers. Although Deke also scored a credible 27 out of 30. This week, your challenge is to identify an act by three songs that failed to make the…
It’s unusual for a solo artist’s work to overshadow their work with their previous band. But there’s a strong argument that Gabriel’s solo catalogue eclipses the progressive rock albums that he made with Genesis in the 1970s. Leaving Genesis after…
Musicians used synthesizers before Kraftwerk. Karlheinz Stockhausen experimented with them in the 1950s, while Switched-On Bach reached the top ten in 1968. Synths popped up on 1960s rock records by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, while Stevie Wonder also…
While Paul Kelly’s never broken big outside of Australia, he’s a beloved songwriter in his own country. He’s a member of the Order of Australia. His 1987 song ‘To The Door’ was included in the APRA list of Top 30…
It’s challenging to write about Canadian sisters Kate & Anna McGarrigle without discussing their family connections. The nature of this B-side makes it impossible. Kate McGarrigle was married to singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright III, known for songs like ‘Dead Skunk’. The…
General elections are held every three years in New Zealand and they’re due soon. Our electoral system is known as Mixed Member Proportional (MMP for short). Everyone gets two votes – one for a party and one for an electorate…
California’s Tom Waits is effectively the patron saint of this website. My Waits album ranking was the first post from this site to become popular, and it’s still one of its most-visited posts. With recently accounted reissues of Waits’ peak…
Nic Jones emerged in the fertile folk scene of the late 1960s. While contemporaries like Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, and John Martyn ventured into pop and rock music, Jones remained stubbornly traditional. His first two albums, 1970’s Ballads & Songs…
Introduction Kevin Shields and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig met in a karate competition in Dublin in 1979. They formed punk rock band the Complex with Liam Ó Maonlaí, but Maonlaí left to form Hothouse Flowers. Their classic lineup took a…
In 1979, The Soft Boys released their debut album, A Can of Bees. By 1985, the members of the now-defunct group were enjoying vastly different fortunes. Guitarist Kimberly Rew was enjoying an international top ten hit with his new group…
The members of The Cars were all experienced musicians when they formed. Drummer David Robinson had already played with another famous Boston act, Jonathan Richman’s Modern Lovers. The band’s two vocalists – bassist Ben Orr and songwriter Ric Ocasek –…
Boston quintet The Cars were arguably the quintessential New Wave band. They combined the back-to-basics approach of new wave, forward-thinking synthesiser textures, and bright power pop melodies. It’s not difficult to see influences from art-rockers David Bowie and Roxy Music…
They’re barely known outside New Zealand, but The Dance Exponents were reliable hitmakers in the 1980s. They kept enjoying success through the 1990s after they shortened their name to The Exponents. They weren’t edgy or pretentious, a pop/rock guitar band…
The late Tom Petty was a great singles artist – tracks like ‘The Waiting’, ‘Refugee’, and ‘Free Fallin” sound terrific blasting from cars and on classic rock radio. Petty had so many enjoyable hits through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s…
Irish rock band U2 peaked with their 1987 album The Joshua Tree. Their fifth record, it combined Bono’s fervour with a sweeping sound from The Edge’s effect-laden guitar and atmospheric production from Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. It’s also the…
Harry Hosono recruited keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto and drummer Yukihiro Takahashi to record a quickie cover of the 1950s exotica tune ‘Firecracker’. The trio quickly became superstars in Japan, and influential elsewhere. The austere electronica of Kraftwerk was a major influence,…
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in a hi-fi shop in Chelsea in 1981. Tennant had bought a Korg synthesizer and the pair bonded over their shared love of electro-pop singles like ‘Souvenir’ by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and…
The unlikely pairing of socially awkward Steven Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr, extroverted and four years Morrissey’s junior, formed the nucleus of The Smiths. Their witty and stripped-down music influential throughout their brief existence. Inspired by punk (according to legend, Morrissey’s…
Moody Glasgow pop band The Blue Nile have such a slim discography that everything they’ve recorded is to be treasured. Starting with 1984’s A Walk Across The Rooftops, they’ve only recorded three further albums, along with a solo record from…
Introduction Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in a Chelsea hi-fi shop in 1981. Both were interested in disco and electronic music and formed a duo, based on a shared love of the singles ‘Souvenir’ by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the…
The grandson of a Titanic survivor, Haruomi Hosono was the bassist for the Japanese band Happy End. During a jam session with Happy End, Hosono took a double-sized hit on a joint. The joint was tainted and triggered panic attacks.…
Manchester post-punk band Joy Division appeared so ordinary – in their music videos they look like four young civil servants playing music in their work clothes. But the music that they created was unique and deeply unsettling. Steven Morris’ drumming…
Aimee Mann scored her only hit single with her first attempt. She fronted Boston new wave band ‘Til Tuesday, whose debut single ‘Voices Carry’ reached #8 on the Billboard charts. Despite the immediate success of ‘Voices Carry’, it took a…
Neo-prog band Marillion took their name from JRR Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. They played their first show in London in 1978 – an all-instrumental lineup from which only drummer Mick Pointer was still around when they released their debut album in 1983.…
R.E.M. emerged in the wake of punk from Athens, Georgia, and started their career as an insular Indie band, with cryptic albums that enjoyed a cult following. But gradually they beefed up their sound, experienced airplay, signed up to a…
Formed around the songwriting talents of Durham’s Paddy McAloon, Prefab Sprout enjoyed some commercial success in the 1980s and early 1990s, but have been relegated to the status of cult band ever since. It’s a shame, as McAloon is a…
New Zealand is a lovely country, with lots of sheep and mountains, and it’s a good idea to come and visit us if you ever have the chance. Charles Thompson, however, made the right decision in 1986, when he opted…
Detroit’s Marshall Crenshaw doesn’t belong in the conversation of the most important musicians of his generation. Yet he’s a talented craftsman, whose deft guitar pop is likeable and accessible. He’s often compared with Buddy Holly, and his 1982 debut album…
Conventional wisdom suggests that Gordon Sumner surrendered his credibility when he left The Police, letting his pretentiousness overcome him as he dabbled in jazz and saved the rainforests. As a singles artist he couldn’t match the brilliant individual songs like…
When Ian Curtis committed suicide on the eve of an American tour, it marked the end of Joy Division. Guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook, and drummer Stephen Morris continued making music together as New Order. Sumner took over lead…
In 2007 Blender named Sting as the worst lyricist in pop music, accusing the former Police frontman of “mountainous pomposity (and) cloying spirituality”. I enjoy much of Sting’s music – The Police had a terrific run of singles and Sting…
Dunedin has a small population and is located in the deep south of New Zealand. But Dunedin’s Flying Nun record label produced a string of critically acclaimed and influential guitar bands throughout the 1980s, including The Chills, The Clean, The…
The dB’s came from the same era as R.E.M., and featured a similarly jangly sound. While R.E.M. became one of the biggest bands in the world, The dB’s remained a fringe act with critical acclaim but few sales. Despite forming…
Leaving Genesis after six albums, at the age of 25, Peter Gabriel’s solo career initially felt like an attempt to distance himself from his former band. It took him a couple of albums to find his feet, but his third…
Great music isn’t always synonymous with great lyrics – early Beach Boys records dressed up Mike Love’s mundane teen dramas with genius harmonies and sophisticated chord changes. Yes adorned Jon Anderson’s cosmic nonsense with their amazing instrumental chops. Perhaps the…
The three members of The Blue Nile all attended Glasgow University in the late 1970s. Vocalist Paul Buchanan studied medieval history and literature, Robert Bell studied mathematics, and Paul Joseph Moore studied electronics. The three members found their synth-drenched, sophisticated…
Liverpool’s second-most famous band, Echo & the Bunnymen arrived in the post-punk era; they released their debut single in 1979. Their early career mirrors U2‘s – both released their first four albums between 1980 and 1984. Both enjoyed mainstream success…
The 10,000 Maniacs formed in upstate New York in 1981. They were initially an eclectic new wave outfit, with interesting elements like dub and folk within their sound. By 1987’s breakthrough In My Tribe, it was clear that vocalist Natalie Merchant…
Joy Division‘s lead vocalist Ian Curtis took his own life on the eve of the band’s first US tour. The band rebranded as New Order – taking their name from a newspaper article titled The People’s New Order of Kampuchea.…
While there’s a natural progression between each of Talk Talk’s five studio albums, the distance between their 1982 synth-pop debut The Party’s Over and 1991’s jazz and ambient-influenced Laughing Stock represents one of the most stunning transformations in popular music;…
Split Enz first reached New Zealand’s attention with an appearance on the New Faces talent show in 1973, where they finished second-to-last. Their early material was too weird for the mainstream, comparable to early Genesis or Roxy Music, and Phil…
Billed as “the only band that matters”, The Clash released their debut single ‘White Riot’ in the iconic punk year of 1977. But they weren’t constrained by punk – their debut explored the reggae they heard on London’s streets and…
Robert Forster and Grant McLennan met at the University of Queensland. Despite McLennan’s lack of musical experience, they formed a band, combining the tunefulness of The Monkees with the edge of The Velvet Underground. Their first album was recorded as…
10,000 Maniacs have one of the most misleader monikers in popular music. From their name, you’d expect speed metal or punk. But instead, they’re a folk-rock band with socially conscious lyrics and Natalie Merchant’s oddly mannered vocals. The band were…
Breaking up Split Enz, Neil Finn retained drummer Paul Hester from the final Enz lineup and created a more streamlined band. They recruited Australian bass player Nick Seymour (brother of Hunters and Collector’s lead singer Mark) and secured an American…
Even if you don’t know him by name, you’ve surely heard Lindsey Buckingham’s work in the pop era of Fleetwood Mac. While Stevie Nicks was the public face of the band, Buckingham was the architect of their sound, the studio…
Before going solo, Peter Gabriel fronted the progressive rock band Genesis for six albums. His theatrical flair, croaky voice, and creative wordplay were all important ingredients in the the group’s artistic success. Only 25 years old, Gabriel announced his departure…
Congratulations to Paul from who scored the fastest time in scoring 20/20 in last week’s badly drawn song quiz from the 1960s and 1970s. This week we’re continuing into the 1980s. Again there are some amusingly macabre images. …
R.E.M. emerged from Athens, Georgia, part of a fertile scene that also produced The B-52s, Pylon, and Matthew Sweet. They played their first gig in 1980 when the four members were attending the University of Georgia. Drummer Bill Berry and…
Paul Simon’s songs are part of the American landscape, a thoughtful man documenting his inner dialogue in popular song. From Simon and Garfunkel songs like ‘America’ and ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ to solo songs like ‘American Tune’ and ‘Graceland’, his…
Queen formed in 1970 in London, originally a hard rock band with shades of progressive rock and metal. They adapted as musical fashions changed; they flirted with disco on 1982’s Hot Space and produced stripped-down, synthesizer-fuelled pop hits on 1984’s…
