Best UK band of the 1980's?

The Police...

 

Duran Duran

Darryl

 

Seriously? Page 5?

The Clash

 

The Clash. Technically they were an 80s band.

 

The Police and King Crimson (well, half of the latter anyway).

 

Maiden or Priest, for metal.

 

Technically, Jimmy Carter was an '80s president, too.

 

Come now. The Clash didn't break up in the first month of 1980.

 

Carter was president for the whole of 1980. 4/5s of the Mick Jones-era Clash albums were released during his presidency, and 3/5s of the Police catalog as well.

 

I guess Jimmy Carter was an 80s president then. Your point?

 

That the Clash and the Police were 70s bands.

 

Spacemen 3
Loop
The Fall
Jesus and Mary Chain
XTC
Chris & Cosey
The Mekons
Kate Bush
The Telescopes
The English Beat

 

If you count 1980 as part of the 70's this is true. I actually do; but almost nobody else here seems to. And if 1980 is counted as part of the 80's, then 3/5 of the Police's catalog was released in the 80's, and 3/5 of Mick Jones era Clash. Both the Police and the Clash had their biggest hits in the 80's, and both had huge MTV exposure. Even if 1980 is really the last year of the 70's, which I consider it to be, both bands still qualify as 80's bands on the basis of their hits. They are 70's and 80's bands. The Rolling Stones and Kinks should qualify as 80's bands as well.

 

The Beatles. Of course

 

My favourite: Level 42.

 

Honorable mention to XTC, the Police, and the Clash, but to answer the OP's question, it has to be the Smiths.

 

Hey, I've got it's evil brother

 

Is it mandatory for Iron Maiden fans to always post huge pictures of the admittedly colourful record sleeves, whenever they come up in conversation?

 

1- the waterboys (no question about it)
2- (U2 is from Ireland or they'd be here) smiths
3- xtc
4-tears for fears
5-peter gabriel (if solo acts counted) or act would be Echo & the bunnymen (though gabriel ranks much higher to me than echo).

 

It's hard with the pretenders since I think of them as Chrissie Hynde first (save for the debut they more or less kinda were) and she's from Akron....but if they'd count they'd be in my top 5.

It's kind of like the Jimi hendrix experience, I consider them American even though 2/3rds of the band were British and they broke/were formed in Britain.

 

A tie between The Fall and The Smiths. But there were tons of great UK bands in the 80's.

 

The Fall!!! 70's surely?

 

No.

Grotesque 1980
Hex Induction Hour 1982
Perverted by Language 1983
The Wonderful and Frightening World Of... 1984
This Nation's Saving Grace 1985
Bend Sinister 1986
The Frenz Experiment 1987
I Am Kurious Oranj 1988

And all the stand alone singles like How I Wrote 'Elastic Man', Totally Wired, Lie Dream of a Casino Soul, Look, Know, The Man Whose Head Expanded, Kicker Conspiracy etc.

If you can name another band that had 8 great albums in the 80's, a stack of absolutely essential singles, and a wealth of other material on Peel sessions, b-side etc then I will bow to your knowledge, but looking at the list above it is very difficult to pick anyone else as the best UK band of the 80's. I maybe like The Smiths more as a band but they only put out about half of what the Fall did (although the Fall did have a head start).

 

Are you a troll? Mostly yes.

Not to mention that apparently you think that A Momentary Lapse Of Reason is a masterpiece, an album by a UK band released in the 80s.