The 1980s often get bad press, but they were full of great music. Admittedly many acts from earlier eras struggled to adapt to new technology and made weak albums. But many new acts thrived, and there was diversity; hip hop emerged, there was a fertile 1980s alternative rock scene, and exciting mainstream acts like Madonna and Prince.
Major 1980s acts that I would like to cover include Prince, Metallica, and Sonic Youth.
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The Bangles came from the Paisley Underground, an early 1980s…
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The three members of The Blue Nile all attended Glasgow…
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Even if you don’t know him by name, you’ve surely…
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Kate Bush was discovered by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour…
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Detroit’s Marshall Crenshaw doesn’t belong in the conversation of the…
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Dire Straits were a talented band at the wrong time.…
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Leaving Genesis after six albums, at the age of 25,…
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The Queen of Christian pop music, Amy Grant also enjoyed…
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Don Henley emerged as the primary lead singer of the…
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The son of novelist Raymond Hitchcock, Robyn Hitchcock has enjoyed…
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While Paul Kelly’s never broken big outside of Australia, he’s…
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Neo-prog band Marillion took their name from JRR Tolkien’s The Silmarillion.…
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Introduction Kevin Shields and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig met in…
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Joy Division‘s lead vocalist Ian Curtis took his own life…
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Introduction Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in a Chelsea…
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New Zealand is a lovely country, with lots of sheep…
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Formed around the songwriting talents of Durham’s Paddy McAloon, Prefab…
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R.E.M. emerged in the wake of punk from Athens, Georgia,…
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Run-DMC emerged early in the development of recorded hip hop.…
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The unlikely pairing of socially awkward Steven Morrissey and guitarist Johnny…
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Conventional wisdom suggests that Gordon Sumner surrendered his credibility when…
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Vocalist Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire formed The Stone…
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While there’s a natural progression between each of Talk Talk’s…
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Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith were both members of the…
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Suzanne Vega was born in Santa Monica, California. At the…
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Mike Scott was born in Edinburgh, the son of an…
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10,000 Maniacs have one of the most misleader monikers in…
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This page collects odds and ends from 1980s artists: Beastie…
Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
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