80s | Musicosity

80s

Madness

Madness are a pop/ska band from Camden Town, London, England that formed in 1976. As of 2007, the band has continued to perform with their most recognised lineup of seven members, although it's varied slightly over the years. They were one of the most prominent bands of the late-70s 2 tone ska revival. However, as their career progressed, the band moved away from ska & closer toward conventional pop music.

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Concrete Blonde

Concrete Blonde is an alternative rock band dating from the early 1980s to the early 1990s (and re-formed again in the 2000s). They are best known for the poignant songwriting and vocals of Johnette Napolitano. Singer / songwriter / bassist Napolitano formed the band Dream 6 with guitarist James Mankey in Los Angeles in 1982, releasing an eponymous EP in France on the Happy Hermit label in 1983. When they signed with IRS in 1986, labelmate Michael Stipe suggested the name Concrete Blonde, describing the contrast between their hard rock music and introspective lyrics.

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Eyes

This page is for four bands. 1) The first Eyes being a late 70's Southern California punk group featured on the renowned Dangerhouse Records. Their original lineup included Joe Ramirez, Charlotte Caffey (Pre Go-Gos) and D.J. 'Don' Bonebrake (Pre-X). Caffey and Bonebrake were later on replaced by David Brown and Jimmy Leach. In 1978, Eyes released the famous TAQN (Take A Quaalude Now) 7''. Joe Ramirez, the leader of the Eyes, was a cerebral master of the unexpected lyric in front of the musical conventions of punk rock.

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Ian Moss

Ian Moss first came to attention as the guitarist for Australian rock legends Cold Chisel. After they split up in 1983, Jimmy Barnes jumped into a successful solo career, but Moss laid low, only forming the Ian Moss Band in 1986. After spending nine months in L.A. sorting through song demos, he eventually co-wrote "Tucker's Daughter" with former Cold Chisel bandmember Don Walker. The song went to number one in Australia in March 1989 and his debut album, Matchbook, was released in September. It also went to number one and sold over 210,000 copies.

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Sophie

This title refers to at least three recording artists: 1) Elena Ferretti stands behind the alias Sophie, an Italo Disco - Eurobeat project set in the late 80s and early 90s.
Sophie released several albums such as My World, Tales To Tell, or My name is... Sophie.
2) Sophie (real name Arlette Hecket, born 9 October, 1944) was a girlfriend of one of the members of the group Les Champions, Sophie and sang with them in December 1962 in Olympia under the name Jenny Hahn. Olympia director Bruno Coquatrix was impressed, and presented her to Johnny Stark.

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FANCY

There are four bands named Fancy. The most famous is Manfred Alois Segieth or Manfred Aulhausen. He started his career back in 1984 with his two successful singles Slice Me Nice and Chinese Eyes. In 1985 another hit song Bolero infected European countries uncontrollably (it was a top song in Spain for almost six months). For most of the next year (1986) Fancy was on the road, performing in European as well as US dance clubs. He really became famous with his 1987 album Flames Of Love.

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The Boomtown Rats

The Boomtown Rats (1976-1986) were a punk rock / new wave group led by Bob Geldof (Full name: Robert Fredrick Zenon Geldof, born October 5th 1951).

All six members (Gary Roberts, Pete Briquette, Gerry Cott, Simon Crowe, Bob Geldof and Johnny "Fingers" Moylett) were originally from Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, Ireland. Originally called 'The Nightlife Thugs'. The name The Boomtown Rats comes from a gang of down-and-outs from Woody Guthrie's autobiography, Bound for Glory.

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Free Spirit

1) They are a Boston Hardcore band featuring Gil Sayfan, and their sound would be comparable to the faster youth crew bands of the mid 80's like Straight Ahead NYC Mayhem and Youth of Today
2) Free Spirit are a melodic hard rock band from Finland. Stadium size choruses and big guitars are the key elements in their music, whose main influences come from 70’s and 80’s heavy metal and melodic hard rock bands. Their sound is at the same time familiar and yet seductively novel.

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