The Sugarcubes

The Sugarcubes started as a very noisy, avant garde band called KUKL.  From those early albums it would've been laughable to think that singer Bjork would become virtually a household name by the 1990s.

Stray Cats

The only successful revivalists go all in. You have to. You can't be a weekend warrior and make a career of it. Stray Cats did it right and are one of the few to go retro with authenticity.

Bowie - The '80s

David Bowie started off the '80s with one of his best albums... and ended it with one of his worst. And in between those two points, he catapulted into international superstardom, mainstream success, and creative confusion. He'd rebound, though.

Jaz Coleman - Other Works

While on the subject of Killing Joke, it's worth mentioning lead singer Jaz Coleman has been a classical composer, as well. His symphonic interpretations of Pink Floyd, The Doors, and Led Zeppelin have topped the classical charts. But it's his works with the New Zealand String Quartet I find most pleasing.

Killing Joke

My introduction to Killing Joke came with the singles from 1985's Night Time album being played on the radio - Eighties, Love Like Blood and Kings & Queens. This album is a great mix of their earlier post-punk sound mixed with the new wave of the day. It manages to be relatively commercial without any conscious effort to be pop stars.

KJ are one of the few bands to emerge in the 1990s and 2000s even more ferocious and still pushing boundaries.

Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox has been nowhere near as prolific as her former Eurythmics partner, Dave Stewart, but when she does release something you know it will be immaculately produced and she'll be in fine vocal form.

Motörhead

What can you say... you either get 'em or you don't.

Bad Religion

More SoCal punk rock, from another venerable institution. Smart lyrics, fast tempos, and some of the greatest harmonizing this side of the Beach Boys.

Game Theory

Game Theory were kind of a quintessential 80s College Rock band.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Nick Cave, bard of Australia, another figure no one guessed at the start would become such a respectable elder statesman of moody music.

The Replacements

Picking a Replacements album post-Bob Stinson is probably sacrilege to many hardcore Mats fans, but "Pleased To Meet Me" is my favorite. From the opening rocker "I.O.U." to the alternative radio classic "Alex Chilton," this is just a solid album all the way through. Funny how so much music that topped the College Rock charts back in the day featured high school drop-outs.

Kraftwerk

One of the most influential groups of all time.  I can't even imagine listening to their Autobahn album in 1974.  While Tangerine Dream was also making pioneering electronic music at the same time, Kraftwerk gave a face to their music - a futuristic, robotic appearance that would be adopted by Gary Numan, Devo, Depeche Mode, Bowie and is still used by today's pop stars.

Young Gods

One of the first bands to make "rock" music with samplers. They made great use, in particular, of a Guns N Roses riff. But it never turned them into a one-trick pony. The music is powerful, yet expansive and very organic. Great stuff.

Banco de Gaia

Banco de Gaia is Toby Marks, who started out making trance-y electronic music, then added samples he'd collected from around the world to create some of the most unique, spacey, groovy electronica you're ever likely to hear.

Steve Kilbey

Steve Kilbey has been incredibly prolific over his career. He has more albums solo or with a collaborator than with main band, The Church. And unlike so many other artists who are prolific only because they don't seem to have a filter, Kilbey's work is incredibly consistent.

Zerra One

Zerra One was a short-lived band that just never found their audience.  They seemed to be perfectly positioned alongside other bands like the Teardrop Explodes, Echo & the Bunnymen, early U2, etc, but failed to chart with either of their 2 albums and disappeared all-too-soon.  Matter of fact, they never even had a CD release.  It's a shame because there's some great, edgy Alt rock between their albums and singles.

Icehouse

Icehouse had a long run of hits in their native Australia, but only ever reached international success with "Crazy" and "Electric Blue" in 1987. Unfortunately, those 2 singles featured videos with Iva Davies' jeri-curled mullet and put them in the "bad 80s haircut" club, along with Flock Of Seagulls.  In reality, Icehouse were more akin to late-period Roxy Music and I think all their albums are pretty solid.

Belouis Some

Belouis Some had 2 songs from their debut, "Imagination" and "Some People," that got heavy radio play.  They eeked out another 2 albums before disappearing to the dust bin.  "Imagination," in particular, still ends up on 80s compilations, probably due to it sounding very much like poppier side of The Cure.

Shriekback

Alt Goth Funk?  Shriekback are cool, sublime, sometimes dancey, sometimes dark.

Crazy House

Crazy House were poised for big things in 1987, with their major label debut coming after 2 LPs of quirky Alt Rock.  Their song "Burning Rain" started getting some buzz on Alt and AOR stations... and then they just collapsed, reappearing in 1989 under a different name and a reworked version of "Burning Rain" called "Perfect Crime" before disappearing into the forgotten bin.

Oingo Boingo

Growing up in Southern California, Oingo Boingo were a staple of Alternative radio.  Sometimes bands are bigger regionally than nationally, much less internationally.  That's a shame because Boingo was one of the most inventive, exciting acts of the 1980s.  Lead singer Danny Elfman, of course, subsequently found fame and fortune as a film composer.

Joan Jett (and the Blackhearts)

I say: Joan. You say: Jett. I say: Joan. You say: Jett. I say: Joan. You say: Jett.

Suicide

I hope when I say it's a good night for Suicide, it isn't taken the wrong way. Alan Vega passed away this year, maybe lost among the larger celebrity names. Or perhaps he was never going to be lauded by the mainstream anyway. No matter. They started dark, minimal and gritty... and never really changed much. Why would they?

Sa Dingding

Sa Dingding is often described as the "Chinese Bjork" and that could be an apt description, not because she sounds like Bjork, but because her unique vocals are often otherworldly.  And her music is also characterized by ever-shifting styles.  Some of SD's music verges on techno-pop, while at other times it is more organic, utilizing acoustic instruments.  But whether singing in Mandarin, Tibetan, or her own made up languages, it is definitely Chinese in sound and vision.

Juno Reactor

Juno Reactor is the long-running project from Ben Watkins, who kicked off his musical career collaborating with Youth.  JR started as a pretty straight trance act but much like Banco de Gaia, elements of world musics infiltrated and changed the music into something totally different, although recent albums have seen a return to a more trance-heavy sound.

Xmal Deutschland

Xmal Deutschland were a post-punk band from Germany that sounded like a perfect hybrid of Siouxsie & The Banshees and Cocteau Twins.  Sadly, they never garnered the attention they deserved and by their final album, 1989's "Devils" most of the original members had gone.  They had a bit more rhythmic kick than most 4AD groups, but still fit pretty well with the stereotypical 4AD sound.  Highly recommended.

Television

Television was an essential New York band from the late '70s.  Originally formed by Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell, Hell left before they recorded their now-classic debut, Marquee Moon.  Verlaine and 2nd guitarist Richard Lloyd interwove their guitars in a who's playing lead/who's playing rhythm style that would influence many post-punk bands like The Church and The Chameleons.

Television lasted a brief 2 albums before breaking up, but Verlaine continued recording under his own name and didn't stray far from the formula.  Television reformed for 1992's self-titled album and have occasionally played shows ever since.

The Cranberries

When I first heard the Cranberries, it was the song "Linger" and I kept getting it confused with that Sundays' song around the same time. I still think the first album sounds like Sinead O'Connor fronting the Smiths... but I don't think that's a bad thing.

Crime And The City Solution

Crime & The City Solution were an Australian band fronted by singer Simon Bonney, with members drawn from The Bad Seeds, Birthday Party, Einsturzende Neubauten, and more recently, WovenHand. They definitely have a similar vibe to early Nick Cave - a dark, cinematic vision full of ships and the wild sea that occasionally turns violent. Great stuff.

Depeche Mode - Singles Boxes 1-6

As any collector of those pesky CD singles knows... the problem is that there's a different release for every country/region of the world, often with differing tracks. Which is why this box set exists. It collects all of DMode's singles and attempts to compile all the different versions.

Going from 1981 to 2004, that makes up 36 singles, which is a heck of a lot of songs.

If you're wondering about the exact tracklisting, the record collector's resource is Discogs

Duran Duran

Ladies and gentlemen... Dooran Dooran!

16 Horsepower

16 Horsepower started David Eugene Edwards' musical career by playing a dark, gothic-tinged, old time country music. The band gradually morphed into something pretty unique, even while retaining the use of instruments like banjo, mandolin and dulcimer. DEE continued on with Wovenhand after ending the 16 HP name.

Danielle Dax

Danielle Dax... I got to see her live in... 1990, I think it was. She was excellent. Her cover of "Tomorrow Never Knows" was getting good rotation on the MTV. Sire Records thought she could be the next Siouxsie Sioux. And then... silence. Apparently, she is a fairly successful interior decorator and gardener now.

Corey Hart

Speaking of terminally un-hip artists... many people may be surprised to learn Corey Hart is one of the best-selling Canadian songwriters. Known internationally for his early '80s hits "Sunglasses at Night" and "Never Surrender," a deeper look into his work does reveal many gems along the way.

Drivin' N' Cryin'

Led by singer/songwriter Kevin Kinney, Atlanta's Drivin' N' Cryin' first found success on college radio in the mid-80s before finding themselves on heavy rotation with 1990's Fly Me Courageous. They were another casualty of the grunge era, their AOR roots rock deemed untrendy and were totally forgotten about by 1993's follow-up.

The Dream Syndicate

The Dream Syndicate were an LA band in the 1980s. Despite critical accolades and getting the opening slot on tours for both U2 and REM, they never found commercial success. Too punk for country, too country for New Wave, too AOR for Alternative, too edgy for AOR.

In the '90s, Gutterball was a short-lived band featuring Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), Bryan Harvey (House of Freaks) and Armistead Wellford (Love Tractor).

And now, surprisingly, The Dream Syndicate are back, touring and releasing albums again.

Gang Of Four - Songs Of The Free

Gang Of Four... creating a groove out of hurky-jerky rhythms. This album actually has a smoother, pseudo-funk sound. Leftist anthems you can dance to.

The Offspring

Just in time for summer... these guys epitomize SoCal punk rock.

Midnight Oil

One of the greatest live bands I've ever seen, probably the best "political" band to ever exist, Australia's Midnight Oil was all over Alt radio in the '80s and '90s.

R-A-M-O-N-E-S

Joey Ramone was a brilliant songwriter.  Unfortunately, from the early '80s on, Johnny would veto or just refuse to play on any of Joey's songs he didn't like, which means a lot of the later albums were half-assed affairs with too many songs from Dee Dee, or even CJ.

The way of CURVE

Curve - essentially the duo of Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia - were one of my favorite bands of the 1990s. So many bands tried, and almost all failed, to merge a dark, cacophonous sound with pseudo-industrial rhythms with Ice Queen vocals. Curve not only succeeded but during the 5 years between their 2nd and 3rd albums, they saw Garbage hit mainstream hitdom with a very similar, though poppier and less edgy, sound.

Steve Earle

From hard-rockin' to straight-up bluegrass, Steve Earle is a great songwriter, roots rocker, and as close as I get to "country" music.

The Prodigy

Along with Chemical Brothers and Moby, The Prodigy really helped electronic music take hold in America.  They often got slagged off in the press, but their music really was a precursor to Grammy-winning Skrillex and giant EDM festivals that are commonplace everywhere now.

RIP Keith Flint

Abecedarians

Abecedarians were a short-lived post-punk band from L.A.

The name of the band is Talking Heads

They're from New York City, you know.