Led by depressive pop prince Robert Smith, the Cure have taken their legions of fans on a journey from post-punk to gothic to new wave to art rock, stopping only for refills of hairspray along the way. An amazing band both live and in the studio, the…

Depeche Mode (French for "hurried fashion") was one of the first and best of the British synth-pop bands, combining breathless, melodic pop with perky electronics. With main songwriter Vince Clarke's departure for Yaz, Martin Gore took the reigns, an…

In its crude initial formation in 1976, Siouxsie & the Banshees consisted of members of the "Bromley contingent," a group of notorious Sex Pistols groupies. In various permutations, the band survived for almost 20 years. Featuring core members Siouxs…

Along with Teardrop Explodes and Wah! Heat, Echo & the Bunnymen were part of the early-1980s Liverpool scene that was somewhat misleadingly dubbed "neo-psychedelic." While the Bunnymen bore elements of the Doors' dark, mysterious sound and decidedly …

Born in the early 1980s out of the ashes of U.K. post-punk pioneers Joy Division, New Order became one of the first electro-pop bands to find mainstream success in the US. Their single "Blue Monday" was a landmark in dance music, and subsequent recor…

Despite the band's name, the Love Generation touches that brought the Psychedelic Furs great acclaim came only after they'd established their initial style. Theirs was a dark, swirling sound that mixed Bowie-ish art-rock and post-punk guitars with Ri…

b. 11 July 1957, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England. The former Bauhaus vocalist set out on his solo career after a brief period as half of Dali's Car, with former Japan member Mick Karn (one album: The Waking Hour). Murphy was already famous in …

Formed in Canberra, Australia, in 1980, the Church, led by Steve Kilbey (b. 13 September 1954, England; bass/vocals), who emigrated with his family at an early age, originally comprised Peter Koppes (b. 21 November 1955, Australia; guitar/vocals), Ma…

Like many groups that achieved mainstream success in the 1980s, Australia's INXS was kinetically inspired by the British punk scene. Led by charismatic singer Michael Hutchence and the musically gifted Farriss brothers, INXS began as a new-wave rock …

Ultimately, Bauhaus became known as the godfathers of the goth scene, but their brief, prolific career (1979-1983) showed far more stylistic variation than their progeny might suggest. They mixed Bowie/Eno-influenced postpunk with dub, electronics, a…

Scottish brothers Jim and William Reid formed the Jesus & Mary Chain in 1984. With their monotone vocals, feedback-drenched guitar sound, and notoriously chaotic gigs, the band garnered plenty of media attention and then backed up the hype with their…

Though Chicago's Ministry is known as the archetypal industrial rock band, they actually started out as a dour synth-funk outfit before founder Alain Jourgensen really ratcheted up the noise and the gloom on 1988's THE LAND OF RAPE & HONEY. In so doi…

Led by Black Francis (AKA Charles Thompson), this Boston band reveled in the raw, loud energy of punk, but harnessed it in service of catchy melodies laced with bizarre lyrics. Their 1989 album, DOOLITTLE, is widely considered to be one of the best a…

This Athens band's initial mix of Velvet Underground strum, Byrds-like Rickenbacker jangle, and charismatically oblique singing, became the sound of the 1980s as legions of bands followed suit. But even as imitators codified R.E.M.'s approach into th…

Formed in the mid-1980s, the British electropop dance duo Pet Shop Boys neatly summed up the age of WALL STREET player Gordon Gecko's greed-is-good dictum and Ronald Reagan's trickle-down economics policy in one of their early singles, "Opportunities…

What do you do when your first album is the CITIZEN KANE of alternative rock? Spend the next two decades living in its shadow. Inspired by the Modern Lovers and the Velvet Underground, the Violent Femmes pioneered the use of acoustic instruments in p…

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith's debut album as Tears For Fears appeared smack dab in the middle of the '80s UK synth-pop invasion, but it was no mere pop trifle. THE HURTING is full of sophisticated production and accomplished songwriting, using the …

At the dawn of the 1980s, Duran Duran was part of Britain's "futurist" or "new romantic" scene, which merged glam-rock attitude with disco beats and synthesizers to form an intensely fashion-conscious variant on new wave. With their good looks and po…

The definitive post-Bauhaus Goth band, the Sisters of Mercy embarked on their dark journey in the mid-1980s, led by cavern-voiced singer Andrew Eldritch. An internecine rift resulted in legal action, with two members of the band breaking off to form …

Joy Division virtually defined the term "post-punk." They combined punk's rawness and iconoclasm with an artier sensibility that encompassed poetic lyrics, existentialism, and a dark moody mix of guitars and keyboards that was a major influence on go…