The multi-member Chumbawamba, whose line-up includes Harry Hamer, Alice Nutter, Boff Whalley, Mavis Dillon, Louise Mary Watts, Danbert Nobacon, Paul Greco and Dunstan Bruce, was originally an anarchist outfit formed in Leeds, England, out of a househ…

b. Nester Alexander Haddaway, Tobago, West Indies. A lightweight dance music artist licensed to Arista Records from his German home at Coconut/Logic Records, Haddaway scored a huge crossover hit throughout Europe with the anthemic "What Is Love" in 1…

Belgian commercial techno outfit created by producer Jo Bogaert, aka Thomas De Quincy. After playing keyboards in the indie outfit White Light in the mid-80s, Bogaert began working on his own dance music tracks, using various pseudonyms such as Nux N…

This four-piece band came together in 1989 when Christopher Barron (b. 5 February 1968, Hawaii; vocals) and Eric Schenkman (b. 12 December 1963, Massachusetts, USA; guitar) met Aaron Comess (b. 24 April 1968, Arizona, USA; drums) at the New School of…

A production team comprising Robert Clivillés (b. New York City, New York, USA) and David Cole (b. 1963, Tennessee, USA, d. 24 January 1995, USA), who first recorded as A Black Man And A Dominican with "Do It Properly" on their own label in 1987. As …

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 camp UK pop trio comprises the bald pated Fairbrass brothers Richard (b. 22 September 1953, East Grinstead, Sussex, England) and Fred (b. Christopher Abbott Bernard Fairbrass, 2 November 1956, East Grinstead, Sussex, England), plus Rob Manzoli (…

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…

Coming out of the grass-roots Gilman St. punk scene of the early-1990s Bay Area, Green Day exploded into the mainstream with their third album, 1994's DOOKIE. The trio's punk energy and pop hooks, influenced by first-generation punks like the Buzzcoc…

One of this UK band's principal assets is the androgynous persona of Pete Burns (b. 5 August 1959, Port Sunlight, England; vocals) who had fronted Liverpool's Mystery Girls in 1977, then Nightmares In Wax, in which he was accompanied by Mick Reid (gu…

The angst-ridden alt-rock that bands like Nirvana popularized in the early-1990s eventually branched off into a softer, more mature sound with such groups as the Goo Goo Dolls. Although they began as raw and rowdy Replacements-style rockers in the la…

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…

Along with such peers as Tonic and Matchbox Twenty, San Francisco's Third Eye Blind broke through at a crucial juncture in the '90s music scene. In between the twilight of grunge (from which they took some influence) and the ascendancy of nu-metal, T…

If you attended a major sporting event in the late '90s/early 2000s, chances are you heard either (or both) of Smash Mouth's smash hits "Walkin' On the Sun" and "All Star" blaring over the sound system. Although they have roots in California punk roc…

Beginning as just another Brit-pop band with promise, Blur has exceeded all expectations. Their debut release showed a flair for catchy guitar-based tunes, their next three effectively channeled various British music traditions to create an eclectic …

Eschewing everything but the pursuit of fun, Athens, GA's B-'52s burst onto the New Wave scene in 1979. Their mix of '50s/'60s kitsch and pure pop instincts produced some classic campy tunes ("Rock Lobster," "Private Idaho"). The band's popularity hi…

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 …

Norman Cook's first foray into the music biz came as the bass player for 1980s UK pop/rock band the Housemartins, but once he got into the DJ world, he hung up his bass for good. As Fatboy Slim, he was at the forefront of the mid-'90s "big beat" move…

b. 7 May 1969, Stockholm, Sweden. Cherry is the son of legendary jazz trumpeter Don Cherry and the brother of Neneh Cherry. Born in Sweden, Eagle-Eye was so named because when he was born he looked at his father with one eye. Cherry moved to New York…

Part Cyndi Lauper and part Madness, No Doubt came out of nowhere in 1995 and exploded on the alt-rock scene with their special brand of mainstream ska-rock. While the focal point of the group was unmistakably the sexy and hyperactive singer Gwen Stef…