10,000 Maniacs (named after the low-budget horror movie Two Thousand Maniacs) was formed in Jamestown, NY, in 1981 by singer Natalie Merchant and guitarist John Lombardo. The…
Browsing: 1980s Music
1927 formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1987. Guitarist and keyboardist Garry Frost had left Moving Pictures after their second album, Matinée (Frost had co-written Moving Pictures’…
With three million people unemployed, racists on the march, riots in the inner cities and the police Special Patrol Group (SPG) breaking heads on the…
20/20 was formed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by high school friends Steve Allen (guitar, vocals) and Ron Flynt (bass, vocals). They relocated to Los Angeles in…
The undisputed heroes of the early 80s skinhead scene, The 4 Skins were one of the mainstays of the second-wave of British punk commonly known as Oi! They endured major…
With their sample-driven dance music, the pioneering Manchester-based 808 State was one of the first house groups to release trance/ambient dance records. Formed in 1988…
A Certain Ratio (the name is a pointer to a Brian Eno song) formed in Manchester in 1977. The band’s original members were Simon Topping, Martha Tilson,…
The trio at the heart of A-ha met in 1980 in Oslo, Norway, and decided to concentrate on producing a commercial form of music. Travelling…
Sheffield band ABC revolved around Martin Fry (a onetime fanzine editor of a rag called Modern Drugs) and rose from the ashes of post-punk group Vice…
Despite initially forming in 1976 with a line up centred around vocalist Phil “Shonna” Rzonca and guitarist Dave Ryan, the Abrasive Wheels (the name was…
AC/DC was formed in Sydney, Australia, by ex-patriot Scotsmen Malcolm and Angus Young (brothers of George Young – one of the mainstays of 60s Aussie…
One of the numerous Southeastern bands nurtured in the Mitch Easter/Don Dixon pop bosom (both men played on the ban’s first album; Dixon also produced…
Fronted by exuberant vocalist Alison ‘George Cheex’ Roberts, Action Pact originated from Essex and took their musical cues from the likes of The Ramones, The…
Adam & The Ants started off in early 1977, one of a dozen bands trying to keep up in the wake of The Sex Pistols What…
The Adicts were a British punk quartet founded in Ipswich, Suffolk, in the late ’70s by lead singer Monkey (Keith Warren), guitarist Pete Davison, bassist…
Formed in 1984, The Adventures were a melodic six-piece group from Belfast. Founder member Terry Sharpe had previously been the lead vocalist and guitarist in…
Aerosmith was one of the most popular hard rock bands of the 1970s, setting the style and sound of American hard rock for the next…
The story of Australian power pop band The Affections began in Sydney in the mid 70’s when school friends Rob Smith, Rob Risio and George Ellis discovered…
Formed in 1987 in Cincinnati and rising up around the grunge movement, these neomope rockers released their first album, Big Top Halloween, on their own…
Age Of Chance were most notable for their cover of Prince’s Kiss, but there was a plank-like quality to their version that served as an adequate summary…