In 1986, Australian band Wa Wa Nee were in the unusual position of having a recording contract (with CBS records) but never having played a live…
Browsing: Music – 1980s
This Liverpool band formed in 1979 and kept modifying their name from release to release – Wah!, Wah! Heat and The Mighty Wah! Pete Wylie…
Formed in 1978, The Waitresses existed for the purpose of performing the witty, often female-oriented songs of guitarist Chris Butler, who had previously led a…
Releasing its first effort (a self-titled EP) in 1980, this Los Angeles punk dance band offered a serious version of Devo’s new wave. Led by…
The London-based new wave group Wang Chung had a handful of hits in the mid-80s, achieving their greatest popularity in America. Originally called Huang Chung,…
Australian band Ward 13 started out as a brash 1960s-influenced rock & roll band, working the Sydney pub circuit for 19 months before issuing the…
Founded in 1982 in Düsseldorf, Germany, Warlock gained popularity and some commercial success in Europe in the mid-1980s due to the personality and stage presence…
With a pair of double-platinum albums, Warrant were one of the most popular glam-metal bands of the late 80s. Formed in Los Angeles in the…
Warren Zevon was born in Chicago, the son of a Russian-Jewish boxer turned professional gambler. He spent most of his childhood in Arizona and California,…
This Australian band was formed in 1980 by Neil Murray (a white Victorian working in the Papunya region of the Northern Territory as a schoolteacher…
Was (Not Was) played contemporary R&B dance music, with lyrics that ranged from satire to completely bizarre. The group was led by Detroit-natives David Weiss…
Formed in the summer of 1979, this East London band forged a style with punk and psych roots. Their singles and albums were released on the Bridgehouse…
Scottish singer/songwriter Mike Scott started his own punk fanzine, called Jungleland, in Edinburgh in 1977. Two years later he formed a group called Another Pretty…
This Velvet Underground-inflected London band formed in 1985 around Pete Astor (vocals & guitar) and Dave Morgan (drums) following the dramatic (and very public) breakup…
Weather Report was among the earliest and most influential of all jazz-rock bands. The original unit was co-founded by Wayne Shorter (saxophone) and Josef Zawinul…
This rapid-fire band of jangly punk/poppers was formed in Leeds in 1984 by guitarist, vocalist and songwriter David Gedge and bass player Keith Gregory who’d…
Formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1985, Weddings Parties Anything were a gritty folk-rock band with distinct Pogues leanings and a very strong Australian colloquial flavour. Fronted…
Alfred Matthew Yankovic was born in Downey, California, on 23 October 1959. He graduated in 1975 from Lynwood High School as valedictorian of his senior…
Westworld (named after the 1973 film in which androids go on a rampage at a futuristic theme park) was founded in 1986 by former Generation X guitarist…
Sydney (Australia) band The Wet Taxis was formed in 1977 and issued an album-length cassette called Taxidermy in 1980, featuring Louis Tillett on vocals and keyboards,…