U2's Bono was one of the few real rock heroes of the 1980s, leading the Irish band to international recognition with a charged, political approach to music. The band's early efforts brought a stadium-size presence to alt-rock, with Bono's expressive …

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 1982, The Pogues married the raw energy and political anger of punk with the structures and instrumentation of Irish folk. The scope of their brash approach belied the acoustic nature of their arrangements. Singer/songwriter Shane McGowan, …

Scotland's Simple Minds rose from the ashes of the punk group Johnny & the Self Abusers to experiment with art rock and electro-dance rhythms. Eventually their post-Roxy Music sound grew more anthemic and by the mid-'80s they achieved worldwide succe…

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…

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 …

The Clash was one of the first and most important British punk bands. In the 1970s, they were the Beatles to the Sex Pistols' Stones, and went on to incorporate elements from all the roots music they loved--reggae, rockabilly, soul, blues--without ev…

One of the most unpredictable and controversial artists to roil the 1990s, Irish siren Sinead O'Connor created a bold, emotional, and original style, in the process proving herself a first-rate writer--articulate, perceptive, and penetrating. She is…

Bob Dylan began as a Woody Guthrie acolyte, imitating the dust-bowl balladeer as faithfully as a baby boomer from Hibbing, Minnesota, could. It wasn't long before he found his own voice, spearheading the early-1960s folk revival as well as the singer…

XTC virtually defined the dividing line between punk and new-wave, adding punk's raw energy to their herky-jerky rhythms, funhouse arrangements and Beatles-influenced songcraft. In the early 1980s, bandleader Andy Partridge surrendered to his stage f…

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…

Pair a disciple of Oscar Wilde (Morrissey) with an innovator of the electric guitar (Johnny Marr) and you have the most clever cult band of the 1980s, the Smiths. Though they made some of the most effortlessly catchy music of the era, the tension bet…

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…

Talk Talk began as an early-1980s synth-pop band in the style of Duran Duran. It didn't take long for the group's aesthetic ambitions to come to the fore, though. By the mid-'80s, their music was full of jazz-tinged ambience and extended instrumental…

Formed in Rhyl, Wales, during 1981, this energetic pop outfit originally comprised Mike Peters (b. 25 February 1959; vocals/guitar), David Sharp (b. 28 January 1959; vocals/guitar), Eddie MacDonald (b. 1 November 1959; bass), and Nigel Twist (b. 18 J…

Van Morrison first came to notice as the powerful vocalist of the mid-1960s group Them ("Baby Please Don't Go," "Gloria"), and then with the solo hit "Brown-Eyed Girl." Morrison followed this success with two landmark albums, ASTRAL WEEKS and MOONDAN…

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…

The mercurial David Bowie is the original pop chameleon. He's been everything from inoffensive pop singer to glam icon to white soul man to art-rocker and more in the course of his long, prolific career. Although Bowie's first hit was 1969's "Space O…

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 …

As part of Britain's short-lived New Romantic movement of the early '80s, Spandau Ballet initially combined futurist electro-pop with disco and post-punk influences. They found their greatest success, though, with the adoption of a blue-eyed soul sou…