Best Rock Band of The 1980s?

[Mudfuzz]

nope your vote for Warrant was noted long ago.

[D.o.S.]

nope your vote for Warrant was noted long ago.

Please. I will not be misrepresented in such a filthy manner.

Falco.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w4Xulsjo5I[/youtube]

[Blackened Soul]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ[/youtube]

[snipelfritz]

The band that had the most stigma attached just because it was popular.

Soooooo, Prince and the Revolution???

I agree that Prince is awesome, although some of my favorite stuff of his is from the late 70's (Dirty Mind).

Honestly, the 80's are such a weird...(what's the opposite of monolithic?) time period that it's hard to peg what was really the best when there were many interesting things going on.

[Hyphen Nation]

I don't think black flag or dio or slayer or bathory or anything really count as "rock bands" from the 80s.

If it was in rotation on MTV, or I could find it on my radio as a kid, it made my list. New Haven local rock and college radio exposed me to SoCal and DC punk at a very young age…Also, the chain music store I worked in back in the day was only divided into pop, rock, classical, jazz, & hip-hop. All the music on my list was in Rock. We also sold soft core Playboy VHS tapes and laser discs.

To Further categorize the 80's since I am not so sure what you mean by rock.

RAWK, fuck yeah! A lot of these are still in rotation in my world:
AC/DC
Maiden
Motorhead
Mötley Crüe
Ozzy
Dio [Sticking by this. DIO was very mainstream].
Priest
Pete Townshend
Rush



Or are you looking for nascar rock:
Zztop
Bob Seeger
Clapton
Aerosmith

Wasted years:
GnR
Bon Jovi
Poison
Cindarella
Skidrow
Twisted Sister
Warrant
Quiet Riot
Dokken/Freddy Kruger song?
Rat
Def Leopard


Lost tribe of a decade past, but MTV loved 'em:
Asia
Yes
King Crimson <---not so much MTV as radio.
Styx
Fleetwood Mac


Huge at the time, but [imho] unlistenable:
Genesis
Don Henley
Dire Straights
Some variation on Melloncamp
Not to discount his earlier work, but I fucking hated Bowie from the 80's. He was fucking unavoidable, bouncing around in pastel.

Older Sister Rock:
U2
Police
Bryan Adams
Journey
Peter Gabriel
Prince
Tom Petty
REM <---one of the best bands of the decade by far
Elvis Costello <---one of the best bands of the decade by far
Springsteen <---Nebraska: incredible.
Paul Simon

Some of the best things to come out of the 80's:
Janes Addiction
Living Colour
Metallica
Fugazi

[Dungus]

List all the bands from the 80s!!!!

[Hyphen Nation]

List all the bands from the 80s!!!!

Create different attempts at top ten lists because I'm unclear on the category filter? All kinds of bests.
My initial subjective list was deemed out of category.

[Harry_Manback]

Shirley, VH has been mentioned.

[cheesecats]

any band in which john mcgeoch played guitar at the time

[Dandolin]

Banshee'd

[Neanderthal Head]

The answer is obviously The Smiths. Can we move on now?

[Mudfuzz]

The answer is obviously The Smiths. Can we move on now?

no, we went over this in the CBFH thread, The Smiths are maybe not actually music but a styling gel for extra fluffy hair

[Neanderthal Head]

Damn, sorry I missed that.

Anybody dig The Wedding Present? Two great records in the 80s...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aQtqwIqnvE[/youtube]

[oldangelmidnight]

I always forget that The Wedding Present isn't The Birthday Party. I prefer The Birthday Party even though they aren't a rock band.

[Dandolin]

no, we went over this in the CBFH thread, The Smiths are maybe not actually music but a styling gel for extra fluffy hair

Sig worthy.