The Cure are an Englishrock band that formed in Crawley, Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several lineup changes, with frontman, guitarist and main songwriterRobert Smith—known for his iconic wild hair, pale complexion, smudged lipstick and frequently gloomy and introspective lyrics—being the only constant member.
The members of The Cure first started releasing music in the late 1970s. Their first album, Three Imaginary Boys (1979), and early singles placed them as part of the post-punk and New Wave movements that had sprung up in the wake of the punk rock revolution in the United Kingdom. During the early 1980s the band's increasingly dark and tormented music helped form the gothic rock genre. After the release of 1982's Pornography, the band's future was uncertain and frontman Robert Smith was keen to move past the gloomy reputation his band had cultivated. With the 1982 single "Let's Go to Bed" Smith began to inject more of a pop sensibility into the band's music. The Cure's popularity increased as the decade wore on, especially in the United States, where the songs "Just Like Heaven", "Lovesong" and "Friday I'm in Love" entered the Billboard Top 40 charts. By the start of the 1990s, The Cure were one of the most popular alternative rock bands in the world and have sold an estimated 27 million albums as of 2004.[1] As of 2007, The Cure have released twelve studio albums and over thirty singles, with a thirteenth album in the works.
Devo was also a pioneer of the music video, creating many memorable clips that were popular in the early days of MTV, although their use of the video medium dates right back to their very first appearance on stage at Kent State University in 1971, which was recorded with an early black-and-white portable video system.
Along with Elvis Costello and Graham Parker, Jackson was a part of the trio of British-based artists that challenged the punk scene and brought a New Wave sound to the United States in the late 1970s. He was popular for his power-pop and New Wave sound early on before moving to more eclectic, though less commercially successful, pop/jazz/classical musical pieces.
Elvis Costello (born Declan Patrick MacManus 25 August1954) is an Englishmusician and singer-songwriter of Irish descent. Costello came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s, and later became associated with the punk rock and New Wave musical genres, before establishing his own unique voice in the 1980s. Steeped in wordplay, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader than that of most popular songs, and his music has drawn on dozens of genres. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote, "Costello, the pop encyclopedia, can reinvent the past in his own image".[1]
Costello and Canadian jazz singer and pianist Diana Krall were married on December 6, 2003 at Elton John's estate outside London. Their first children together, twin sons Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James, were born December 6, 2006 in New York City.
The band's name comes from a particular beehive hairdo resembling the nose cone of the airplane of the same name. During their early years, wigs of that style were often worn by the band's female singers Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson.[1] The correct name for the band has long been "The B-52's," but in 2008 they dropped the apostrophe, with their official website, and Funplex album and single covers reading "The B-52s." However, the file tags on the digital releases of both of these retain the apostrophe. Both spellings could now be considered correct.
Wilson and Pierson formed the band with drummer Keith Strickland, guitarist Ricky Wilson (Cindy's older brother) and vocalist Fred Schneider after a drunken night at a Chinese restaurant and played their first gig in 1977 at a St. Valentine's Day party for friends. The B-52's sound is marked by the vocals and lush harmonies of Wilson and Pierson, and the generally spoken-word or sprechgesang vocals of Schneider.
The band's quirky take on the New Wave sound of their era was a combination of dance and surf music set apart by the unusual guitar tunings used by Ricky Wilson. Their costume thrift-store chic set them apart as well. During the Mesopotamia tour, the band's famous wigs were under the care of Jackie Slayton, one of Athens's leading artists and long-time friend of the band.[2]
Their first single, "Rock Lobster", recorded for DB Records in 1978 (see 1978 in music), was an underground success that led to the B-52's performing at CBGB's and Max's Kansas City in New York City. "52 Girls" was the B-side. Two versions of the single were released in the UK that featured the B-side "Running Around". The buzz created by the record in the UK, meant their first show in London at the Lyceum was packed in anticipation, with many UK popstars such as Green from Scritti Politti, Joe Jackson and others in attendance.
Their debut album, The B-52's, contained re-recorded versions of "Rock Lobster" and "52 Girls", along with six more originals and a remake of Petula Clark's classic "Downtown". It was eventually certified platinum.
The album had greater success overseas, especially in Australia, where it hit #7 on the back of three hit singles: "Planet Claire" (#43), "Rock Lobster" (#3) and "Dance This Mess Around". "Rock Lobster" gave the band its first entry on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
The follow-up, Wild Planet, reached the Top 20 on the Billboard 200 in 1980 and was certified gold. "Private Idaho" became their second Hot 100 entry; on January 26, 1980 the B-52's performed a breakout set on Saturday Night Live and were featured at the Heatwave festival in August 1980.
Party Mix! was released next, a remix album that took tracks from the first two LPs and presented them in extended forms.
Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1974 in New York City who were active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison. Auxiliary musicians also frequently made appearances in concert and on the group's albums.
The music of Talking Heads combined elements of punk rock, new wavepop, funk, world music and art rock. Frontman and songwriter David Byrne contributed whimsical, esoteric lyrics to the band's songs, and emphasized their showmanship through various multimedia projects and performances. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine describes Talking Heads as being "one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the '80s, while managing to earn several pop hits."[1]
In 2002, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Four of the band's albums appeared on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and the Channel 4 100 Greatest Albums poll listed one album (Fear of Music) at number 76. DigitalDreamDoor.com ranked them as the greatest new wave band of all time and ranked them #26 in its list of greatest rock/pop artists of the 80s. Their concert film Stop Making Sense is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of the genre.[2]
David Byrne (born May 14, 1952, in Dumbarton, Scotland) is an American musician and artist. He is perhaps best known as a founding member and the principal songwriter of the new wave band Talking Heads, who were active between 1974 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo projects on record, and worked in a variety of media, including film, photography, opera, and internet-based projects. His achievements have been recognized by Grammy, Oscar and Golden Globe awards. He currently lives in New York City.
During his time in the band, Byrne took on outside projects, collaborating with Brian Eno in 1981 on the album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, which attracted considerable critical acclaim and featured a groundbreaking use of sampling.
Byrne has a daughter, Malu Abeni Valentine Byrne, with Adelle Lutz. Byrne and Lutz divorced in 2004.
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."
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.
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.
The Fabulous Poodles were a British pre-New Wave band formed in 1975. Known for quirky stage antics, such as exploding ukuleles, as well as songs with funny lyrics.
The Fabulous Poodles started out just as the Poodles before adding the "Fabulous" prefix, a term reportedly coined by Frank Zappa. The band consisted of Tony De Meur on lead vocals and guitar, Richie Robertson on bass and vocals, Bobby Valentino on violin, mandolin and vocals, and Bryn Burrows on drums. Many of the lyrics for the bands songs were written by John Parsons.
The Fabulous Poodles were very heavily influenced by such British 60's acts as the Who and the Kinks. The band released three official records between 1977 and 1979 on Pye Records, their first being self named. It was produced by the Who's legendary bass player John Entwistle, who also played eight string bass on a few songs.[1] Their second LP, Unsuitable, featured their two best known songs, Mirror Star and Chicago Boxcar (Boston Back). In 1979 the Fabulous Poodles' final album, Think Pink was recorded and released, the title being the only lyrics to one of the songs, Pink City Twist. The Fabulous Poodles sold more records in the United States in 1979 than the Clash. In 1980 the Fabulous Poodles released their final single, Stompin' on the Cat b/w Anna Rexia and Don't You Lie To Me. The band broke up in 1980.
Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance club hits and a large gay following. The three disco albums she recorded — Portfolio (1977), Fame (1978), and Muse (1979) — generated considerable success in that market. These albums consisted of pop melodies such as "All on a Summer's Night" and "Do or Die" set to a disco beat as well as standands such as "What I Did for Love", "Autumn Leaves", and "Send in the Clowns". The latter song had been a hit twice with versions recorded by folk singer Judy Collins and jazz singer Sarah Vaughn.
During this period, she also became a muse to Andy Warhol, who photographed her extensively. Jones also accompanied him to famed New York City nightclub Studio 54 on many occasions.
Parallel to her musical shift was an equally dramatic visual makeover, created in partnership with stylist Jean-Paul Goude, whom she eventually married and by whom she had a son. Jones adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and angular, padded clothes. The iconic cover photographs of Nightclubbing and, subsequently, Slave to the Rhythm (1985) exemplified this new identity. To this day, Jones is known for her unique look at least as much as she is for her music. Her collaboration with Sadkin and Blackwell continued with the dub reggae-influenced album Living My Life.
In the mid 1980s, she worked with Trevor Horn for the conceptual musical collage Slave to the Rhythm and with producer Nile Rodgers for Inside Story (1986) - her first album after leaving the Island Records label. The well-received Slave to the Rhythm consisted of several re-workings of the title track (the single of which hit #12 in the UK) while Inside Story produced her last Billboard Hot 100 hit to date, "I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect For You)," one of several songs she co-wrote with Bruce Woolley.[5]Bulletproof Heart (1989) spawned the #1 U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play hit "Love on Top of Love - Killer Kiss," produced by C+C Music Factory's David Cole and Robert Clivilles. Although she has yet to become a truly mainstream recording artist in the United States, (with the exception of her featured work on the Arcadia hit single Election Day), much of her musical output is still popular on the Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play and Hot Dance Airplay charts and many of her songs are regarded as classics to this day. Jones was able to find mainstream success in the United Kingdom, scoring a number of Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart. To date, she has released 43 singles (commercial and/or promotional), including several non-album tracks.
Laurie Anderson (born Laura Phillips Anderson, on June 5, 1947, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois) is an American experimental performance artist and musician who plays violin and keyboards and sings in a variety of experimental music and art rock styles. Initially trained as a sculptor, Anderson did her first performance art piece in the late 1960s. Throughout the 1970s, Anderson did a variety of different performance art activities. She became widely known outside the art world in 1981 when her single "O Superman," reached number two on the UK pop charts. She also starred in and directed the 1986 concert film, Home of the Brave. [1]
She has also invented several devices that she has used in her recordings and performance art shows. In 1977, she created a "tape-bow violin" that uses recorded magnetic tape on the bow and a magnetic tape head in the bridge. In the late 1990s, she developed a "talking stick", a six-foot long, batonlike MIDI controller that can access and replicate different sounds. [2]
Lene Lovich (born March 30, 1949) is an American singer who first gained attention as part of the New Wave music scene of the 1970s and 1980s.
Lovich was born Lili-Marlene Premilovich in Detroit, Michigan to a British mother and a Serbian father. After her father had health problems, her mother took her and her three siblings to live in Hull, England.
Lovich met the guitarist/songwriter Les Chappell, who became her longtime collaborator and life partner, when they were teenagers. In autumn 1968, they went to London, England to attend art school. It was there that Lovich first tied her hair into the plaits that later became a visual trademark, though at first she did it to keep her hair out of the clay when studying sculpture.
Over the following decade, Lovich attended several art schools, busked around the London Underground and appeared in cabaret clubs as an "Oriental" dancer. She also travelled to Spain, where she visited Salvador Dalí in his home. She played acoustic rock music around London, sang in the mass choir of a show called Quintessence at the Royal Albert Hall, played a soldier in Arthur Brown's show, worked as a "go-go" dancer with the Radio One Roadshow, toured Italy with a West Indiansoul band, and played saxophone for Bob Flag's Balloon and Banana Band and for an all-girl cabaret trio, The Sensations. She recorded screams for horror films, wrote lyrics for French disco star Cerrone (including the sci-fi dance smash "Supernature," later recorded by Lovich in her own version and by Erasure, as a B-side) and worked with various fringe theatre groups. She was also one of thousands of audience members invited to sing along at the 1972Lanchester Arts Festival when Chuck Berry recorded the risqué "My Ding-a-Ling" for Chess Records.
Harrison played with Jonathan Richman in The Modern Lovers when he was an architectural student at Harvard University. Harrison was introduced to Richman by mutual friend and journalist Danny Fields, and the pair bonded over their shared love of the Velvet Underground. He joined the Modern Lovers in early 1971, playing on their debut album in 1972 (not released until 1976), and leaving in February 1974 when Richman wished to perform his songs more quietly.
Subsequent to his work with The Modern Lovers, Harrison joined Talking Heads; the latter band already had a single out when Harrison left the Modern Lovers to join them. While at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Harrison dated Elisabeth Post (now Elisabeth Post-Marner). Harrison confided in Post as to whether or not stay with the Talking Heads or become an architect at Harvard. Post advised that he stay with the Talking Heads and that he could always get involved with architecture later on in life. Harrison took Post's advice, and became part of a legend.
Harrison's soloalbums include The Red and the Black, Casual Gods, and Walk on Water. The last of these albums actually is credited to "Jerry Harrison: Casual Gods," apparently in an attempt to create a new "band" identity by linking it to the previous record.
Human Sexual Response were a Boston, MassachusettsNew Wave band that emerged in the late 1970s and continued through the early 1980s. They named the band after the groundbreaking, and now classic, Masters and Johnson best-seller.
Casey Cameron formed an all-kazoo band ("Kazoondheit") with her neighbors, among whom were Larry Bangor, Dini Lamot (brother of Larry and cousin to "Pecky" Lamot), and Windle Davis. The four became fast friends and soon formed an a cappella country-and-western band called Honey Bea and the Meadow Muffins, who played at parties and in the subway. Encouraged, the four decided to start a rock band.
Posting ads, the quartet met three musician/composers, drummer Malcolm Travis, guitarist Rich Gilbert, and bass player Rolfe Anderson. These seven became the original lineup of HSR, with Anderson being replaced on bass by Chris MacLachlan in 1980. Bangor was the main lead singer, though Lamot, Davis, and Cameron each sometimes sang lead.
Haysi Fantayzee were a Britishnew waveband of the early 1980s. Formed and fronted by white dreadlockedsingersJeremy Healy (also known as Jeremiah) and Kate Garner, and with Garner's boyfriend songwriter/producer/managerPaul Caplin in the background, the band had several UKhits in 1983 such as the singles "John Wayne is Big Leggy", "Shiny Shiny", and "Sister Friction". The band never broke through to the same kind of success in the U.S., although they did have some popularity there. Originally Caplin and Garner had intended to make music with just Garner performing, but then they met Healy (who at nineteen, was a few years younger than Garner) and decided to pair them up. The band used their artsy look as a selling point, making a crude video performance and using that instead of a demotape to sell the band to record companies. Their attention getting outfits were often designed by Garner. The two singers looked like distorted mirror images of each other, with similar hair and make-up. Their glamorous ragamuffin style was frequently compared to Boy George.More info available from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Church is an Australianrock band formed in Canberra in 1980. Initially associated with New Wave and the neo-psychedelic sound of the mid 1980s, their music later became more reminiscent of "prog rock," featuring long instrumental jams and complex guitar interplay.
The Church's debut album, Of Skins and Heart (1981), earned them their first radio hit "The Unguarded Moment". They were signed to major labels in Australia, Europe and the U.S. However, the U.S. label was dissatisfied with their second album and dropped the band without releasing the album. This put a dent in their commercial success, but they made a comeback in 1988, with the album Starfish and the American Top 40 hit "Under the Milky Way." Subsequently commercial success proved elusive, however, and the band weathered several line-up changes in the 1990s. The last decade has seen them settle on their current lineup, which features the original three founding members plus drummer Tim Powles.
A survey among readers of Melbourne newspaper The Age garnered 37,000 votes and the majority chose "Under the Milky Way" as the best Australian song of the last 21 years.
In 1978 McCulloch formed Echo & the Bunnymen with Will Sergeant (guitar), Les Pattinson (bass) and a drum machine (allegedly named Echo), making their live debut at Eric's later that year. In 1979 the Bunnymen exchanged the drum machine for Pete de Freitas on drums. With their line up solidified, the Bunnymen enjoyed critical acclaim in the late seventies and early eighties culminating with the release of Ocean Rain in 1984. McCulloch left to pursue a solo career under the impression the Bunnymen would be laid to rest if only temporarily. When the remaining Bunnymen continued using the name with a new singer the split became permanent with McCulloch referring to the band as "Echo & the Bogusmen".
In 1990 McCulloch achieved modest chart success with the album Candleland which reflected a more mature outlook on the world, owing to the recent deaths of McCulloch's father and Pete de Freitas. It yielded two Modern Rock Tracks singles, "Proud To Fall" (#1 for four weeks) and "Faith and Healing". The album Mysterio was released in 1992 as the public's interest in the former Bunnyman was waning. Shortly after, McCulloch left the public eye to devote more time to his family.
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
