List 10ish of your best/favorite 80's bands

U2
Duran Duran
Metallica
Van Halen
REM
Iron Maiden
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Slayer
Smithereens
The Cult

 

Replacements
R.E.M.
X
Talking Heads
New Order
Gang of Four
Psychedelic Furs
XTC
Pretenders

 

RATT
KIX
DOKKEN
BON JOVI
LOUDNESS
VAIN
BANG TANGO
EUROPE
FATE
GREAT WHITE
ANTHEM
QUEENSRYCHE
TNT

 

My 16 faves from the 80's in no particular order (they're either from the 80's or came in prominence in the 80's):

1. Japan
2. Killing Joke
3. Comsat/CS Angels
4. Joy Division
5. The Clash
6. Ultravox
7. XTC
8. Los Lobos
9. Level 42
10. Kate Bush
11. Marillion
12. New Order
13. Gang Of Four
14. Talking Heads
15. Psychedelic Furs
16. Echo & The Bunnymen

 

The Style Council
Aztec Camera
Everything But The Girl
Prefab Sprout
Sade
Swing Out Sister
The Blow Monkeys
Fine Young Cannibals
Dexys Midnight Runners
Matt Bianco

 

Scruffy The Cat
The Blue Nile
The Call
The Blue Aeroplanes
Rubber Rodeo
The Bangles
U2
The Police
The Pretenders
Smithereens

 

Pixies
Bauhaus
The Sisters Of Mercy
Bauhaus
Metallica
Hanoi Rocks
The Smiths
Depeche Mode
Yngwie Malmsteen
Big Black

I don't really know how to approach this because I can list hundreds of metal bands that I love as well as stuff that span all sorts of genres. I don't associate the 80s with only bands that fit in the "college rock" or "alternative" sound.

 

Name your top 10.
Lots of people associate the 80's with metal bands (for better or worse). It was one of the defining musical facts of the decade.

 

The Replacements
Game Theory
Crowded House
INXS
Prefab Sprout
Husker Du
The Smiths
The Go-Betweens
Pixies
The dB's
Survivor
Bucks Fizz
Hooters

 

XTC
Talking Heads
Dire Straits
REM
U2
Joe Jackson
Los Lobos
The Cars
Oingo Boingo
Depeche Mode
The Police
Pretenders

 

Los Lobos
Jane's Addiction
X
Camper Van Beethoven
Metallica
Replacements
Crass
Love and Rockets
Slayer
Meat Puppets
Prince
Siouxsie & The Banshees (if that counts)

 

The Smiths
XTC
Duran Duran
Spandau Ballet
The Go Betweens
The Church
Kate Bush
Gary Numan
OMD
Ultravox
Adam & The Ants
Depeche Mode
Soft Cell

 

No real order

Xtc
The waterboys
Sonic youth
The pixies
The replacements
The pretenders
World party (kinda more 90s but count)
Nick cave and the bad seeds
Tears for fears
Talking heads

 

Gang of Four
Big Black
Metallica
Slayer
The Cure
Bauhaus
Joy Division
Echo & The Bunnymen
Siouxsie & The Banshees
Sonic Youth

 

Love the waterboys and absolutely agree. Mike Scott is a genius! They're a top 5 act of mine

 

I'm limiting myself to bands whose first release came out in the 80s, so no pure punk leftovers for me, or (quint)essential 80s acts like Prince. Here are the first ones that sprang to mind:

Public Enemy
The Blue Aeroplanes
That Petrol Emotion
R.E.M.
Laughing Clowns / Ed Kuepper solo
Tall Dwarfs
Blam Blam Blam
Husker Du
Bilders / Builders / Bill Direen
The House of Love
The The

Plus a handful who kind of bend the rules:
The Triffids (first self-released cassette in 1978; first commercial release on a label in 1981; debut album proper didn't arrive until 1983)
The Teardrop Explodes / Julian Cope solo (first Teardrops album in 1980, but a couple of singles were released in 1979 - but I'd be more than happy to limit it to his solo output in that decade)
Kirsty MacColl (first single in 1979; first album in 1981)
Robyn Hitchcock with and without the Egyptians (solo career kicks off in 1981, but this ignores the Soft Boys - though I suppose I'm also ignoring the Saints for Ed Kuepper above)

 

Lot of bands listed here, all I really have to add off the top of my head is:

Was (Not Was)

 

Bad Brains
Misfits
Minor Threat
Black Flag
Dead Kennedys
Negative Approach
Hüsker Dü
Naked Raygun
Negative Approach
Operation Ivy

 

Smiths
Icicle Works
Chameleons
Big Country
Simple Minds
Depeche Mode
Go-Betweens
Connells
Waterboys
New Order

(offhand)

Edit: add Simple Minds, drop FYC

 

Talk Talk
Kate Bush
The Psychedelic Furs
Japan
New Order
Cocteau Twins
Laurie Anderson
The Smiths
Siouxsie & The Banshees
Simple Minds
The Go-Betweens
Bauhaus
Tears For Fears
OMD
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Duran Duran
Prefab Sprout
The Police
Danny Wilson
Altered Images
Split Enz
The Long Ryders
X
The Fall

 

Tears for Fears
Thomas Dolby
Bryan Ferry
Oingo Boingo
Donald Fagen
(Non sequitur) Pat Metheny

Bands I avoided in the '80s
Genesis
Prince
Michael Jackson
David Bowie

 

Minutemen
Replacements
Hüsker Dü
Joy Division
Death in June
Current 93
Meat Puppets
Waterboys
Green on Red
Squirrelbait
Naked Raygun
Spacemen 3
Birthday Party
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Bevis Frond
Butthole Surfers
The Cure
Tall Dwarfs/Chris Knox
The Chills
Madness
The Specials
Yo La Tengo

 

My favorite bands in the 80s.

10. Run-DMC
09. ZZ Top
08. Aerosmith
07. The Police
06. Queen
05. Talk Talk
04. Prince and the Revolution (or whoever he was playing with at any given point in time)
03. The Talking Heads
02. U2
01. R.E.M.

 

There must be an entire generation that considers Queen, Aerosmith, and ZZ Top 80's bands, though IMO by Dec. 31, 1979, the best of all three was already behind them.

 

Tom Petty
Dire Straits
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Bruce Springsteen
Talking Heads
John Mellencamp
AC/DC
Van Halen
The Cars
Paul McCartney