80s

Vocalist Nick Van Eede founded the group along with Canadian guitarist Kevin Scott MacMichael in 1985, and made demos that led to a recording contract, before bassist Colin Farley and drummer Martin Beadle joined in 1986. Their first album, Broadcast, released in 1986, was the first U.S. number one album for Richard Branson's Virgin Records. It included "(I Just) Died in Your Arms", their most popular single, which reached number one in the U.S.

Joy Division were a post-punk band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom. The band dissolved in May 1980 after the suicide of its lead singer, Ian Curtis. Much of their popularity/reputation arguably resulted from frequent playings on air by iconic DJ John Peel, but it is easy now to overlook the impact that the first album, Unknown Pleasures, had on post-punk music at the time, as reference the number of prominent bands that cited this album as an influence.

There are at least three artists recording under the name Noel. 1) Noel Pagan (also known as Noel) is a Puerto Rican American and Spanish male Latin freestyle singer born in the Bronx, New York. "Silent Morning" became his first Top-10 hit on the dance singles chart and peaked at #47 on the Hot 100 in 1987. "Like a Child" peaked at #67 in 1988, but it became his first number-one single on the dance chart. He topped the dance charts again later that year with "Out of Time." He currently resides in Ridgewood, New York.

A Certain Ratio (aka Acr or A.C.R.) are a post-punk/funk band from Manchester, UK. Formed in the late 1970s, they were one of the bands (along with Gang of Four and The Pop Group) who forged the new musical hybrid which became known as punk-funk, a style which fused the energy and aggression of new-wave with the rhythms and musicianship of funk and soul. The band's members were originally Simon Topping, Jeremy Kerr, Martin Moscrop, Donald Johnson and Pete Terrell.