XTC was a New Wave band from Swindon, England, active between 1976 and 2005. Though the band enjoyed some significant chart success (including the UK hits "Making Plans For Nigel" (1979) and "Senses Working Overtime" (1982)), they are more known for their long-standing critical success than for making hit records.
While XTC have not announced a formal break-up, in 2006 band member Andy Partridge announced that the only other remaining member of XTC, Colin Moulding, was no longer interested in writing, performing or recording music. Partridge has stated that he will not issue new recordings under the XTC banner without Moulding's participation; accordingly, he now speaks of XTC "in the past tense."
Gang of Four are an Englishpost-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill. In 2004, the original line-up reunited.
Depeche Mode (pronounced/dəˌpɛʃˈmoʊd/) are an electronic music group formed in 1980, in Basildon, Essex, England. The group's original line-up was Dave Gahan (lead vocals), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, vocals, chief songwriter after 1981), Andrew Fletcher (keyboards) and Vince Clarke (keyboards, chief songwriter 1980–81). Vince Clarke left the band after the release of their 1981 debut album, and was replaced by Alan Wilder (production, lead keyboards) who was a band member from 1982 to 1995. Following Wilder's departure, Gahan, Gore, and Fletcher continued as a trio.
Depeche Mode are one of the longest-lived, most successful and influential bands to have emerged from the New Romantic and New Wave era. They have had forty-five songs in the UK Singles Chart (giving them more charting singles without a #1 hit than any other artist), as well as one US and two UK #1 albums. According to their record company, Depeche Mode have sold over 72 million records worldwide.[1]
Japan were a British pop/rock group, formed in 1974 in Lewisham, southeast London. The band achieved success in the early 1980s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning new romantic movement.
The band debuted on record with 1978's Adolescent Sex and subsequently Obscure Alternatives, which both sold well in Japan and the Netherlands (where the single "Adolescent Sex" was a Top 30 hit), they also gained some popularity in Canada, but nowhere else. Though influenced by artists such as The New York Dolls, Roxy Music and David Bowie, both albums were widely dismissed by the British music press as being distinctly outmoded at a time when punk and New Wave bands were in ascendence. However, tracks such as "Suburban Berlin", "State Line" and "Rhodesia" suggested a creative depth and sense of melody to the band's output which would hint at their future direction.
Their third album, 1979's Quiet Life, heralded a significant change in musical style from the earlier largely guitar-based music to a more electronic sound, with more emphasis on Barbieri's synthesisers, Sylvian's svelte baritone style of singing, Karn's distinctive fretless bass sound and Steve Jansen's odd-timbered and intricate percussion work with Dean's guitar playing becoming increasingly sparse and atmospheric. Quiet Life was their last studio album for Hansa-Ariola, though the label would later issue a compilation album ("Assemblage") featuring highlights from the band's tenure on the label.
Their final two studio albums, Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980) and Tin Drum (1981) were released on the Virgin label, and continued to expand their audience as the band refined its new sound and, somewhat unintentionally, became associated with the early-1980sNew Romantic movement. Tin Drum in particular is critically regarded as one of the most innovative albums of the 1980s, with its startlingly original fusion of occidental and oriental sounds, and was a UK Top 12 album. Its unconventional single "Ghosts" reached #5 on the UK charts, becoming Japan's biggest domestic hit and one of only a very few such 'minimalist' songs to achieve such heights. Tin Drum was to be the band's final studio album as personality conflicts led to rising tensions between band members. Rob Dean had already departed towards the end of the "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" sessions, as his electric guitar work was increasingly regarded as surplus to requirements. During this period, Japanese multi-instrumentalist and experimental keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto was briefly implanted into the band's set-up to work directly alongside Sylvian on tracks such as Taking Islands In Africa.
The group's final UK performance came in November 1982 culminating in a six-night sell-out stint at London's Hammersmith Apollo. Japan's last ever performance was on 16th December 1982 in Nagoya, Japan. The band's final Hammersmith concerts were recorded to produce Oil On Canvas, a live album (and video) released in June 1983. Ironically, the band decided to split just as they were beginning to obtain long-overdue commercial success both in their native UK and internationally, with Oil On Canvas becoming their highest charting British album, reaching #5.
All of the band members went on to work on other projects, with varying degrees of success. By far the most successful is David Sylvian, who has recorded numerous solo albums and collaborations with noted performers including Holger Czukay, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Robert Fripp. A reformation of the band members in 1989-1990 (under the name Rain Tree Crow) was short-lived and produced only one eponymously-titled album which was released in April 1991. Once again, the band dissolved following frictions between Sylvian and the other members. The project was nevertheless a critical success. Jansen and Barbieri released the 1987 synth-pop album "Catch the Fall" under the name The Dolphin Brothers recalling much of Japan's sound, and worked together releasing electronic instrumentals under that moniker in the late nineties and early noughties both for Virgin and for their own label Medium Records. In 2005 and 2006 Steve Jansen and David Sylvian worked together again, releasing recordings under the name Nine Horses. Richard Barbieri went on to become a member of the British progressive band Porcupine Tree, who have just signed to Roadrunner Records (a major) and are enjoying critical success.
Bauhaus are an Englishrock band formed in Northampton in 1978 by Peter Murphy (vocals), Daniel Ash (guitar), Kevin Haskins (drums) and David J (bass). The band took their name from the GermanBauhaus art movement, originally going by the name Bauhaus 1919, dropping the latter portion within a year of the band's formation. With their dark, gloomy sound and image, Bauhaus is considered one of the first gothic rock bands. Bauhaus broke up in 1983. Peter Murphy began a solo career while the other members continued as Tones on Tail, and later, Love and Rockets. Both enjoyed greater commercial success in the United States than Bauhaus, but disappeared from the charts in their homeland. The band reunited for a 1998 tour, and again on a more permanent basis in 2005 with plans to record another album.
Simple Minds is a rock band from Scotland, which had its greatest worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early-1990s. The band, from the south side of Glasgow, produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s, and later went on to produce some politically inspired and critically praised work.
By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to experience broad mainstream success, R.E.M. was viewed as a pioneer of the genre and released its two most commercially successful albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), which veered from the band's established sound. R.E.M.'s 1994 Monster was a return to a more rock-oriented sound. The band began its first tour in six years to support the album; the tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by three band members. In 1997, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract in history. The following year, Bill Berry left the band amicably, with Buck, Mills, and Stipe continuing as a three-piece. Through some changes in musical style, the band continued its career into the next decade with mixed critical and commercial success. In 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The folks at One Long Groove.com have assembled a unique collection of videos and information about some fantastic artists that time has arguably passed but shouldn't have. If you agree, stop by the store - there's a good chance it's available for you.
“What is success?
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch Or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
