I have chosen 10 acts that, to the best of my knowledge, ONLY had a hit/hits during the 80s. Put 'em in order from your MOST fave to LEAST fave.
Your RANK bands:
THE MOTELS (Only the Lonely, Suddenly Last summer, Shame)
SWING OUT SISTER (Beakout)
BOW WOW WOW (I want Candy, Baby Oh No)
QUARTERFLASH (Harden My Heart, Find Another Fool)
A-HA (The Sun Always Shines on TV, Take On Me)
BIG COUNTRY (In a Big Country)
LEVEL 42 (Something else else About You)
MISSING PERSONS (Destination Unknown)
BERLIN (Sex I'm A..., No More Words, Take My Breath Away)
SPANDAU BALLET (True, Gold)
Best to worst (or least liked):
QUARTERFLASH (Harden My Heart, Find Another Fool)
BERLIN (Sex I'm A..., No More Words, Take My Breath Away)
A-HA (The Sun Always Shines on TV, Take On Me)
THE MOTELS (Only the Lonely, Suddenly Last summer, Shame)
SPANDAU BALLET (True, Gold)
BIG COUNTRY (In a Big Country)
MISSING PERSONS (Destination Unknown)
LEVEL 42 (Something else else About You)
BOW WOW WOW (I want Candy, Baby Oh No)
SWING OUT SISTER (Beakout)
(not ranking here, just chatting)
Yeah, I liked QUARTERFLASH too. That chick played a mean sax. Sax appeal also applies to THE MOTELS, though it wasn't Martha Davis blowing it.
SPANDAU BALLET gets props for their TRUE album, which was quite good, and the song was sampled for the excellent early-90s summer hit SET ADRIFT ON MEMORY BLISS.
As far as 1-hit wonders go, LEVEL 42, BIG COUNTRY and SWING OUT SISTER were great, with Swing Out Sister taking the edge because of the fun, silly video.
A-HA of course revolutionized video with Take On Me and the song and video holds up today; I however was equally fond of the meloncholy lesser hit The Sun Always Shines on TV.
MISSING PERSONS was hit-and-miss for me. There's some good stuff on Spring Session M but good stuff on the follow-up (the title escapes me) is slim pickin's.
Other than the 2 hits I mentioned, BOW WOW WOW just never quite hit the mark again.
I'd probably give the top spot to BERLIN. Their second album LOVE LIFE remains one of my favorite 80s purchases and one of the few cassettes I listen to to this day (gotta get it on CD someday!). Their first album Pleasure Victim is also good (though not as good as Love Life). I -do- have it on CD. Sadly, their 3rd album (which features their biggest hit TAKE MY BREATH AWAY) is largely unlistenable for me. Total image change ruined 'em for me.
was Martha Davis one of the Marthas from Martha and the muffins? Ooooh my copy of Metro Music was stolen when I was burgalled and I really miss it.........
(Although I have still got a copy of Echo Beach on a 80s new wave compilation....Echo beach far away in time.... how cool was that song? oh they don't make 'em like they used to)
I seem to remember Quarterflashs first album, take another picture(?) was okay, their second one (that had HMH on it) also included a song called Williams Avenue that had the memorable lines -
"HALLELUJAH FRIDAY'S HERE
THE WEEK IS LONG FOR THE INSINCERE"
How true are those lines?
It also contained a song called Valerie about a predatory lesbian art teacher and as I must have been about 12 at the time and scared shitless about my own sexuality I found it strangely comforting to hear.....
and their third album was lacking in anything apart from synth over dubs... that'll have been the eighties then...
I guess then Quarterflash would be top of my list then probably Swing out Sister as I loved the singers voice would be next...
after that I really don't know, Big Country, Spandua Ballet and Bow Wow Wow (just for the singer natty dreds) would be next and the others I don't know enough about or are Level 42 and they've always irritated me...
Sonnie-- Martha Davis MAY have been in a band pre-MOTELS. I'll have to check that out.
Berlin and A-Ha never struck big in Scotland?
Lashie, all I remember about Berlin is that awful Top Gun number that was number one in the saingles chart for what felt about ever and I liked Manhattan Skyline(?) by A-ha but couldn't quite get into the rest of their stuff - it was alright I guess but I'm more of a geetar band fan....
Lessee: best to worst:
Spandau Ballet: I actually loved all of their stuff, including albums before and after True, and some their members were dreamy
Swing Out Sister, but largely on the strength of their subsequent albums which had no American hits.
Berlin: I can't sum it up better than Lash: Love Life is excellent (mmmm.. Giorgio Moroder production), and then the album afterwards sucked big time
A-ha: Some great singles
Level 42: a couple of very moving singles
The Motels: I appreciate them more now than I did in the 80's
Missing Persons: Not only did they give us some fun hit singles and the freaky Dale Bozzio, they also gave us Warren Cucurullo (sp?) who took Andy Tayler's place in Duran Duran for awhile and then went on to pose nude in Playgirl to show off his very impressive member and then star in some porn!
Big Country: just one great song; Wonderland was Ok.
BowWowWow
Quarterflash: didn't like them at all
Sonnie-- Agreed re: TAKE MY BREATH AWAY. That song was their biggest hit but it ruined Berlin.
Rokky-- Good taste, m'man! After rambling on about Berlin's LOVE LIFE, I pulled out the tape and am listening to it now! It's **still** faboo!
i'm gonna go with A-Ha at #1 !!!
i still like them now, they had a new CD out last year called 'lifelines' which is pretty good !!!
i always did like MORTEN !!!
#2 i'll go for BERLIN !!! i had their 'COUNT 3 and PRAY' album ??? [ was it called that ?? ]
and the others i couldn't say i really cared for ... although 'Breakout' by SOS was a great song, but i can't think of any more .....
Matthew.
Yes, Love Life is sooooo good. I'm going to glisten to it when I go home tonight. It's one of my favorite listen-to-it-all-the-way-through 80's albums.
Yes, I am going to GLISTEN to it all night long!
HMmmm. Where is Erasure on your list???? I demand to see Erasure!!!!!!
Seriously, I love those guys...
See, bands like ERASURE, DEPECHE MODE and PET SHOP BOYS had hits into the 90s which eradicated them from the list.
Erasure: Blue Savannah, Love To Hate You and more.
DEPECHE MODE: Enjoy the Silence, Personal Jesus, Walking in My Shoes and more.
PET SHOP BOYS: So Hard, Absolutely Fabulous and more.
The "No-90s Hits" rule also eradicated such singers as ADAM ANT (who had a fantastic mid-90s comeback hit with WONDERFUL) and cute li'l RICK ASTLEY (who scored a mid-90s hit with HOPELESSLY).
I always liked Adam ANt's Manners and Physique CD. The track Room at the Top still rocks!
ROOM AT THE TOP! That had to be, like 1990 or 1991-- another song that disqualifies Adam Ant. Yep, it was good!
I was out at the same time as Grace Jones' dance hit Killer Kiss which I also loved!
But my favorite song of hers was I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect For You).
I'm not perfect
But I'm perfect for you
Now I'm right on time
I'm not perfect
but I'm perfect for you
I feel right on time
Right on time
I feel on time
Tonight I'm right on time
Now I'm right on time
Aaaah, the good old days when MTV still showed videos!
Tops to tails...
SWING OUT SISTER (Breakout) - I have a soft spot for a couple of their albums
A-HA (The Sun Always Shines on TV, Take On Me) - Take on me was great and again, I have a few of their albums
LEVEL 42 (Something else else About You) - I liked them more in years past, but that single and video is still excellent.
BOW WOW WOW (I want Candy, Baby Oh No) - they've grown on me.
BIG COUNTRY (In a Big Country) - not heard this for ages, but they did a few good songs.
THE MOTELS (Only the Lonely, Suddenly Last summer, Shame)
Indifferent to...
QUARTERFLASH (Harden My Heart, Find Another Fool)
MISSING PERSONS (Destination Unknown)
BERLIN (Sex I'm A..., No More Words, Take My Breath Away)
SPANDAU BALLET (True, Gold)
I was familiar with all of these bands only through their hits, meaning I own none of their albums and have heard few if any of their songs other than the hits. So, going only by the songs I know and the videos I remember, my rankings would be
Enjoyable/Good to Watch:
BIG COUNTRY--loved the backpipe-sounding guitars.
MISSING PERSONS--Very catchy stuff like "Words," which should have been a hit.
SPANDAU BALLET--"True" is one of those instantly appealing songs that grew on me with each listen; they also had an earlier tune called "Musclebound" that I liked.
BOW WOW WOW--Irresistible jailbait Annabella Lwin and a catchy tune with hard-rock guitar and dance-able beat--what more could a teenage boy want?
SWING OUT SISTER--Only one hit that I know of, but it was catchy, and Corinne Drewery looked like she'd stepped right out of the flapper era.
BERLIN--"The Metro" was one of the creepiest, most disturbing videos of its time; by the time they did "Take My Breath Away," they were mainstream and boring.
QUARTER FLASH--Boring at the time, but I heard "Harden My Heart" on the radio the other day, and it's grown on me; appealing sax work.
I'm pretty much indifferent to the remaining three. Although "Take On Me" was one of the most innovative videos of its time, the song got on my nerves. "Something else else About You" was catchy, but I never quite got the video. The Motels were overly dramatic and boring (though I did like "Take the L").