Post Punk Guide
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Post Punk Guide
In response to Gliders thread I knocked this together and gave it it's own thread as massively long. 150 or so bands, I'll come back and fill in the blanks. The best way I can think of to describe this is that when I was 12-16 I worked in a record shop and the staff were divided into two groups; those who saw Punk as mission accomplished and those who saw it as the start because what was interesting was what it flushed out the undergrowth. I was in the later. I have avoided adding any US or UK hardccore and missed out most punk pop like the Undertones, not because I don't like it but because this is my idea of Post punk. Apologies for the typos etc this was a long haul but therapeutic.
I used the Simon Reynolds 78-84 Rip it Up period as the timeframe.
Let me know any thoughts on anything contained within. I haven't ordered the choices, I kept them random.
Pink Military/Industry - largely forgotten but for me better than lots of the over exposed bands. Later Pink Industry stuff is past the cutoff date.
Dreamtime
Don't Let Go Pink Industry
Killing Joke - PP royalty almost sound better now because they were smart enough to check out Moroder.
Change
Requiem
Follow The Leaders
Siouxsie and The Banshees - almost goes without saying
Night Shift
Red Light
Placebo Effect
Spotify Mix here I made for a friend (I didn't spend any time ordering it)
Clock DVA great band from Sheffield. always went their own way and later on did some great dancefloor directed stuff and also great etho futurism as the Anti Group.)
Four Hours
Eternity In Paris
Young Marble Giants - super minimal, only one album to buy
Searching for Mr. Right
Public Image Limited - first three albums are great, I have no love for much beyond.
Another
Poptones
Flowers of Romance
Adam and the Ants - were beyond massive in the UK in early 80's
Car Trouble
Dog Eat Dog
Gang of Four - again well covered, important politically and for not having a narrow mindset. Steve Albini copped his guitar direction here.
To Hell With Poverty on uk tv.
What We All Want - a hardy perennial in every alt disco in the early 80's
Bow Wow Wow - proving manufactured isn't always bad
C30 C60 C90 Go
Louis Quatorze
Colin Newman - A-Z is the equal of any Wire album IMO
Alone
& jury
Rema- Rema - Only one EP but so great and mebers went on to Wolfgang Press, Mass and Renegade Soundwave
Rema-Rema - this was heavily played in discos
Feedback Song textbook PP bass.
Suicide - predated but never got into their stride until later. I saw them bottled off supporting the Clash. Funnily I remember there being more folk into the forgotten second album and the Vega solo record.
Ghost Rider
Diamonds Fur Coat Champagne - again heavily played in clubs
Ultravox! - became awful but were probably Post Punk while punk still going on.
Artificial Lifealways reminds me of sort of EuroTelevision
Magazine - have the perfect guitarist.
The Light Pours out of Me
Shot By both Sides
Permafrost
The Associates. Not always bundled in with the stereotypical PP sound but they wouldn't have wanted to be. Have one of the greatest singers.
White Car In Germany- perfect post Bowie stomp
Transport to Central
The Creatures - Banshees spin-off that hasn't dated one little bit.
Miss The Girl
A Strutting Rooster
Simple Minds - became awful but had some good stuff early on.
I Travel again played to death in diskos
Theme for Great Cities runs alongside the Europa fetishism that many UK bands descended into becuse the UK was a shit heap at this time. Some crossed the border in pseudo fascism though.
Flesh For Lulu - ridiculous and toolish to the max but...had some (three) good songs
Restless
Roman Candle
Subterraneans
Bauhaus - toolish as above but with more good songs
Bella Lugosi's Dead - the baggage does get in the way but Bella is a fucking amazing record. (must be Small Wonder all other versions are shite though)
Dark Entries
Lagartija Nick
Kick In the Eye I still play this out on occasion
The Birthday Party - again well trodden but amazing ground. I chose the two songs you'd always hear out.
Release The Bats - at the time I felt this was almost a novelty record but I changed my mind.
Sonnys Burning
The Triffids - kinda got where the Bad Seeds ended up ten years before.
Red Pony
Hanging shed
The Laughing Clowns - Saw them supporting the Birthday Party, very underrated but really important because the drum style pervaded most of the better Australian bands.
holy joe
This Mortal Coil - supergroup of sorts from the days when 4AD actually signed acts rather than licensed them
16 Days Gathering Dust - epic cover which combines 2 Modern English tracks
Kangaroo - chosen because my friend sings it. Big Star cover.
Tuxedomoon
No tears - every club played this. Notable because very few US bands were popular in the UK. Also notable because 78-82 saw a spike in (often synth) bands using sax/clarinet which has never since been repeated.
In a Manner of Speaking
This Heat - never really fit in but they were good. My cousins arty crowd were all right into them.
Twilight Furniture
Shrink Wrap
Xmal Deutschland - generally not taken as seriously as I think they should be. I think Manuela Rickers is a brilliantly distinctive guitarist
Incubus Succubus
Boomerang
Augen Blick
the Slits (again very well covered eleswhere)
Heard it through the Grapevine - again you'd be guaranteed to hear this on a night out circa 1982
So Tough
Marine Girls - I was torn on this as they are kind of proto twee but I wan to mention the Tracey Thorn solo record which is superb.
A Place In The Sun
Deux - until last year I'd never heard anyone mention Deux so it's nice to see the best continental synthpop getting some oxygen.
Felicita
Paris Orly
Ruth (see Deux)
Polaroid-Roman-Photo
Nine Circles (see Duex but NC are even better)
Twinkling Stars
What's There Left
Shock Headed Peters (only one EP scrapes but the next few years of releases are great)
Shock Headed Peters - I, Bloodbrother Be (£4,000 Love Letter) I'll never tire of this.
"I wanna walk through Sodom with a boy on my arm
Who's so damn pretty I don't know where I am
When they look so like a girl it's easy to swallow"
The B52's - it's sad that they are seldom taken seriously because the were fantastic and had a great guitarist.
Rock Lobster live - close to being my favourite youtube clip. They were brilliant live around this time.
Give Me Back My Man - again a song you'd have heard in any alt disko around this time.
Mesopotamia- they got David Byrne in to produce and i'll never tire of playing this out.
The Meteors
I had a debate about including them. On the plus side they don't even sound Psychobilly in retrospect, they are pure primitive rockabilly and the only one of their ilk worth a fuck. Their gigs back then were often astonishingly violent affairs but super high energy.
Radioactive Kid
Johnny remember me
Swans - generally hateful at this point but went onto better (Children of God, Greed, Holy Money) and worse (cover of LWTUA) things.
Stay Here
Japan - opinions always divided on Japan, started out as hilarious Glam clowns and ended up impossibly sophisticated. I worked in a record shop when I was 12 or so and everyone but me hated them. Then again they all liked the UK Subs.
Ghosts- amazing that this was close to becoming a UK number one.
Quiet Life
Human League
Flew to close to the sun with Dare and were never the same again. Impossibly great songs, iconic covers, didn't take themselves too seriously and unafraid of change. Understood Moroder as important as Kraftwerk.
Being Boiled
Sound of the Crowd
Empire State Human
John Foxx - got out of Ultravox just in time.
tapped right into the Ballard thing running though the brainy end of Post Punk
Underpass
Chris and Cosey
Straight up one of my favourite bands of all time. The influence of Chris and Cosey cannot be overstated but somehow they have become a footnote where they are headline material.
October Love Song - is there a better synth single?
Put Yourself In Los Angeles
As CTI - Dancing Ghosts- pretty much the blueprint for techno and maybe the first to use the 808 and 303 together.
Psychic TV - when I was a young teen I wrote a letter to Psychic TV and Genesis actually called my house, my mother hung up on him.
They had production values far above most of their peers and (zuccarelli holophonic)recording in the Hellfire clubs cave etc did appeal to teen me.
Message from the Temple
The Orchids
Ov Power- another disco classic
Colourbox - important for technical innovation and for getting us all more into US dance stuff. This and Streetsounds 1 are forever linked in my head.
Breakdown- pre-dates Blue Monday.
Throbbing Gristle. Important beyond the music, they gave help and infrastructure to other like minded people, the one gig I was at (first time round) was filled with the dispossessed, the strange and the wilfully weird.
hot on the heels of love
Persuasion
Walkabout
The Leather Nun - became an shit rock band but early on the were patronised by some of the TG orbit and were brilliantly gloomy proto goth.
Slow Death
F.F.A(not work safe since it's about anal fisting but a classic alt disco cut).
The Sisters of Mercy - Motorhead x Suicide, went downhill when Hussey joined. The Sisters had some much image baggage that got in the way of perception of how good they really were.
Alice
Body Electric
Lights
Robert Rental - beautifully raw sythpop. The grain in his records makes him kin to Autechre IMO.
Double Heart
Thomas Leer & Robert Rental - Day Breaks, Night Heals
Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (DAF). Sythpop was often very placid and DAF added a dash of aggression.
Der Mussolini again if you went out in the early 80's you'd have danced to this.
Der Räuber Und Der Prinz
Fad Gadget - a billion times better (and more advanced) than Depeche Mode
Lady Shave
For Whom The Bell Tolls
The Box
Joy division - almost goes without saying. Beyond good songs JD are interesting because if you hear these songs minus Martin Hannett production they sound much more pub rock. The same goes for Killing Joke minus Conny Plank
Transmission
Shadowplay
Decades
A Certain Ratio - a hilarious live prospect but a good band who are probably rated higher now than then.
Do The Du
Knife Slits Water
Lucinda big influence on bands like A Primary Industry
The Durruti Column. Important for paving some of the grown for later bands like the Cocteau Twins as much as for some great records.
Jacqueline
Sketch For Summer
Section 25 - among the first to tip their hat to Disco
Dirty Disco- actually played in discos, blah x3
Girls Don't Count
Malaria - I'm mildly obsessed with Malaria, I still play them all the time, they were an impossibly cool girl group. Gudrun Gut was in Einstürzende Neubauten Mrk1
Your Turn To Run among my favourite tracks in this list.
kaltes klares wasser
You You
The Lemon Kittens (later cell divided into Danielle Dax and The Shock Headed Peters)
Hospital Hurts The Girl
Kites
chalet d'amour
Danielle Dax. not taken as seriously as she merits due to her pinup status.
Fortune Cheats
Bed Caves
Modern English - became awful but some classic songs and strong first album.
16 days
Gathering Dust
Life In the Gladhouse best heard as a 12inch but can't find that version.
Grauzone
Eisbär. Was once a best kept secret but well known now. James Murphy certainly likes it.
Film 2
The Cocteau Twins -
Perhaps Some Other Aeon - a friend of my cousin put this out on his tape only label.
All But an Ark Lark- I always thought this was the guitar in Night Shift taken to it's logical conclusion.
Nurse With Wound - arty, absurdist and interesting because Stapleton has always just done his own thing. Faust to PiL's Can.
Scrag
Cabaret Voltaire. Did as much as anyone to establish synths as serious tools. Also kinda sleazy/sexy, which is good since a lot of post punk is asexual and a bit grey (CV are gret too but it's a different shade of grey).
Seconds Too Late
Crackdown(single version) - interesting because this is evidence of a band opening up their listening to contemporary American black music. (streetsounds was becoming massive)
Yashar
Blue Orchids - ex Fall members (important indie touchstone)
The Flood
Monte Cazazza - important as incredibly well connected. Involved with TG, PTV, Leather Nun and other.
Mary Bell
23 Skidoo - as well connected as Monte but on another level. Incredible musicians, sounded unlike any of their cohorts. They are the action packed other side of the Jon Hassell future ethnology coin.
The gospel comes to New Guinea
Coup (in the Palace) sampled badly by the Chemical Brothers
Tearing Up the Plans
Einstürzende Neubauten - I was at the ICA gig where the virtually wrecked the place in 1984. After they broke there were loads of terrible bands banging pots and pans.
Kalte Stern
Tanz Debil
Soft Cell - still sound amazing and proof that on occasion the man in the street will buy a good record. S econd hand record shop used to be rammed to the rafters with Non Stop Erotic Cabaret, Dare, Kings of the Wild Frontier and Ziggy Stardust.
Sex Dwarf one of the best songs to caper to on the dancefloor
Bedsitter
Tainted Love the Coilversion is great.
Seedy Films
Say Hello Wave Goodbye
Abwärts
Computerstaat
Marc and the Mambas
Torment- written by Steve Severin of the Banshees during the Glove sessions IIRC.
Sleaze
Ritual - notable because they had a sax player (a singer who sounded like Kirk Brandon) and had all the Gothic hallmarks years before most of the later clowns. Most of the and ended up in fairly weel known bands like The Death Cult, In Excelsis and The Sex Gang Children.
Brides
Conscripts
400 Blows - kinda like a bridge between the experimental electro pioneers and the more pop ones. Became unbearably 80's later on.
Beat The Devil
Conscience
The Cure
Heavily covered. Worth saying that for me 17 Seconds, Faith, Pornography is where the were best.
The Glove - Cure Banshees spin-off
Punish Me With Kisses
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.
My Eyes
Lydia Lunch
Atomic Bongos
That she was the ace of spades in Annie Sprinkles Pleasure Activist Playing Cards deck says it all.
The Passions - perceived as a one song wonder but slightly unfair. Often supported decent bands.
I'm In Love With a German Film Star
James White and the Blacks
Contort Yourself August Darnell mix classic alt disco track.
always interesting to hear next to the earlier version as the Contortions (which is still fucking amazing)
again what was with all the Sax players, no bands have them now.
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Like James Chance stepped from noisy no-wave to quirky post disco
Torso Corso
Funky Stuff
Herpes Simplex
Cindytalk - Gordon Sharp Sang in This Mortal Coil and is for me an incredible singer.
It's Luxury
Spirit behind The Circus Dream
Memories of Skin and Snow
Bush Tetras - like a cross between Liquid Liquid and the Slits.
You Can't Be Funky I still play this out
Too Many Creeps
Shriekback - ex Gang of Four, more dancefloor crossover
My Spine is the Bassline
Sexthinkone
Mars - when I first hears Sonic Youth in 83 or so they reminded me of Mars
Helen Forsdale
3E
DNA - kinda blues punk but not blues you every heard before but it provokes that response. Often heard via a fourth hand cassette copy.
Blonde Red Head
You And You
The Sound - deserved to be bigger than U2. They lack the ridiculous pomp/hubris but have more power.
The Fire
Winning
Jeopardy
Echo & the Bunnymen - became so terrible as they retreated towards 60's influenced pudding, honestly words fail me. Brilliant early on though. I went to see them all over Britain and met my best mate on the Isle of Skye at a gig in 83' or so.
Stars Are Stars
All My Colours
Talking Heads - well covered but Fear of Music/Remain In Light was so important for the bands who had a bit of funk about them like The Wolfgang Press
Born Under Punches
Drugs
The Wolfgang Press - only early stuff qualifies but arguably best in show at 4AD.
Prostitute 1
Deserve
ESG - were a bit of a secret weapon until the reissues.
You're no Good
Moody
The Psychedelic Furs. I have a strange relation ship with the Furs, I can't stand Pretty and Pink and like some of the horribly produced later stuff. If you chop the beginning of Heartbeat it becomes 100% better.
We Love You
President Gas
Into You like A train
Material - can be boring musos but...
Reduction
Dif juz - a band ahead of their time. Post rock before the term was coined.
Hu
Roy's Tray
Soarn
Eyeless in Gaza - I'd also recommend the Martyn Bates solo record Letters Written super highly, gorgeous, bucolic, hymnal wonder. The singing could be seen as divisive but consider me divided.
kodak ghosts run amok
Photographs and Memories
Sad Lovers and Giants. deserve a reappraisal because their sound has been plundered widely.
Things We Never did truly great song
Imagination
Lost A Moment I chose this because when I first heard the Smiths I thought. Hmm Sad Lovers and Giants...
The Chameleons - like The Sound they deserved that U2 spot on live aid.
In Shreds
Paper Tigers
Orange Juice - the Postcard scene wasn't ordinarily my thing but I gre up around it and it's a weakness
Rip It Up
Falling and Laughing
Aztec Camera - a great guitarist
Oblivious
The Chills - had an usually big following in my home town, to be honest I don't think super highly of them beyond Pink Frost. They get a bit too much like proper music.
Pink Frost
The Gun Club - if don't have Fire of Love there is something wrong with you. The Gun Club were one of the best live bands and since they played with the Cramps a lot it meant great nights.
Sex Beat
Ghost On the Highway
The Cramps - Incredible, sleazy Rock N Roll. If there is better front man Guitarist pair than Lux and ivy I'd love to be set straight.
Human Fly
Donimo impossible to sing
TV Set
I Can't Find My Mind
Josef K. Paul Haig is an interesting guy, having done everything from Rockabilly covers of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moFV8S9wUaI]Ghost Rider [/url]to Disco versions of Atmosphere.
Sorry for Laughing
Heaven Sent
Go Betweens.
Your Turn My Turn
Batchelor Kisses
The Monochrome Set. Classy, yet quirky, europop. They probably should have built a good audience and it's a bit unfair they are mainly known for the horrible Jacobs Laddera song that really annoys.
He's Frank
Eine Symphonie Des Grauens
Devo - I can't be bothered with Devo but they at least deserve a listing
The Church. I'm not really a believer, I can see the appeal but I'd rather listen the The Sound or somthing.
Too Fast for You
Now I Wonder Why
Tear It All Away
Mission of Burma. Honest, unpretentious rock stripped of all nonsense.
That's When I reach for My Revolver (sadly murdered by a million bands)
This is not a Photograph
The Replacements - had zero profile in the UK, I only knew who they were because I got a single out a bargain bin.
I'm In Trouble
The Virgin Prunes. Crazy live, straddled absurdist and arty .
The Faculties of a Broken Heart (12 inch of Baby Turns Blue)
Pagan Love Song
Love Will Last Forever
Gina X Performance. Important because they were played in clubs. If I had a penny for every time someone had declared "I always wondered who sang that "Wanna be a Great Dark Man, being but a Lesbian, Song" I'd be up a few quid.
No GDM
Nice Mover
Holger Hiller - a certified forgotten genius and innovator.
Das Feuer I still play this all the time, still sounds modern
Jonny (du lump) as close to a hit as he came, sort of varispeeded northern soul
Gut and Bose
Honey Bane - delinquent teen and Crass pet project who made a few great records before going on to become a soft erotic model
guilty (dub version) great to dance to
Girl On the Run
The Mob - bridge between anarcho punk and what went on to be goth
No Doves Fly Here
Witch Hunt
Judy Nylon & Crucial - If I remember correctly Judy was important in Eno developing his Ambient idea, in any case Pal Judy is a great record.
Information Rain
Liquid Liquid - were on the same 99 label as Bush Tetras and ESG. The records were super hard to get, the band were like a special forces A Certain Ratio but harder lither and funkier.
Optimo
Cavern(sampled for White LInes)
Bellhead
The Fall. my shame is that I like the Brix period best. I think the Fall suit being pop.
Dead Beat Descendent
Big New Prinz
Cruisers Creek
The Pop Group. Supposedly the only UK band the Birthday Party liked. Similar dark power but twinned with far left politics. if you ram raided the Gang of Four with the Birthday Party...
Thief of Fire
We are All Prostitutes
The Raincoats - File under charming but dated
Fairytale in the Supermarket
Scritti Politti - Important beyond being a good band because of extreme dedication to DIY and politically driven transparency (they printed all costs on the sleeve of the first EP).
Skank Bloc Bologna
Bibbly-O-Tek
Messtheticsthere's a reissue series so named of one single wonder DIY bands that is worth looking at.
Modern Eon - forgotten Liverpool band, kinda like a cross between the Modern English, Sad Lovers and Giants and The Sound
Splash!
Euthenics
Childs Play
Rip Rig and Panic - an uncharitable man would say the Pop Group with all the interesting bit removed. Kinda ok but I haven't listened to them since 1982...
Constant Drudgery Is Harmful To Soul, Spirit & Health
The Wake. Kinda like a Postcard version of New Order. At the time I was sick of the sight of them but I've mellowed.
Patrol
Favour
Mary Moor . More french synth, one song wonder but often one song is enough.
Pretty Day
Medium Medium. Yet another band with a sax player, not a million miles for Gang of Four.
Hungry So Angry
Brian Eno and David Byrne - my life in the bush of ghosts. Important as an influence and an indicator of where things were going. Also you either got My Life.. or you didn't.
Mea Culpa
America is waiting
Dead Can Dance - beautifully maudlin, Scott Walkeresque singing for Brendan Perry and Bulgarian/opera wail from Lisa Gerrard. My favourite DCD is always when the have proper bass.
The Arcane
Ocean
Frontier
Threshold
Tones on Tail. Bauhaus spinoff, in many ways sound better now than they did then. Lots of electronic influence and an ear for Editions EG stuff.
Lions
Performance
The Rain
Sort Sol (once called the Sods) - Danish and the single below is an essential purchase for 4AD completists and pretty good.
Marble Station (was actually on the Sods album)
Boy/Girl (with Lydia Lunch)is a classic Post Punk hoedown/soundtrack to bar brawl
Wire - arguably one of the few acts from this period never to have disgraced themselves, still try and keep it contemporary with their solo and collective work.
Outdoor Miner
Map Ref. 41°N 93°W
Death In June (the pre nazi years)
State Laughter
Crisis (who became Death in June) thankfully for me far left and not right. Dark/political
UK 78
Holocaust
The Mekons. very much in the acomplished punk band category. Spirit of 76 still present as it were.
Where Were You?
Christian Death - ridiculous, clownish, pretentious, mannered...why do I like these songs?
Romeos Distress
Deathwish
The Sex Gang Children, see Christan Death but minus liking them, I hadn't thought of them in years untill I heard the last Horrors album and the bass reminded me of them. Anyway they were massive in certain quarters and had a Bez figure who used to dance about in a skeleton costume (really).
Sebastiane actually not bad int he gypsy Goth style but that's me done for another 20 years
Van Kaye and Ignid - I know nothing about this group beyond loving this, knowing they only had a couple more reorded songs and that they are Dutch.
Alice Notely - like a mini film.
No More - more euro synth love
Suicide Commando
ADN' Ckrystall - more euro synth love
Cocaina Vitamina
March Violets (Sister of Mercy prodeges) - I'm conflicted...ridiculous, blustery and kinda fun. Best when they are being most poppy.
Snake Dance
Walk Into The Sun
Play Dead - notable because (Neu! producer) Conny Plank produced them, he turned down Bowie and U2.
Conspiracy
Propaganda
(often fucking shocking though)
Xex - more euro synth "Be a good Bolshevik! Don't be no nogoodnik!"
Svetlana
Strawberry Switchblade. Uncool but I love Strawberry Switchblade, charming and great songs. Rose also sung with Coil, Current 93 and host of others.
Trees and Flowers beautiful
Since Yesterday
teen me fancied Rose so much (she was a friend of my cousin)
Foetus (Jim Thirwell/Clint Ruin/Filth Spektor) bizarre sleazy channeling of electro bigband with military/gospel chants. Sampling pioneer and good producer of other peoples records.
Scraping Foetus off the Wheel - Street of Shame
Phillip And His Foetus Vibrations - Tell Me, What is the Bane of Your Life
Foetus Art Terrorism - Calamity Crush
classic UK footage of Foetus with Soft Cell weirdly Dave Ball just covered this agin with Gavin Friday (on Blast First Petite ten inch)
Scentists. Best known for the song below but delving deeper will be rewarded.
Swampland
Severed Heads. Unkindly often reffered to as Australian Cabaret Voltaire but this is unfair. They are great in my eyes and always tried to move things forward.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLIi_ZMBfQs]Dead Eyes Opened[/url]
Petrol( I break my 84 cap for it's greatness)
both alt disco classics
SPK (to be honest their really good recordZamia Lehmannicame out in 86')
See Saw
Metal Dance
Test Dept (similar ideas to Neubauten but more functional). Intensely politcal, made records with striking miners and put on some incredible events industrial sites. Had trouble translating this to record.
Total State Machine
Swell Maps - Post punk before punk, incredibly snotty.
Let's Build A Car
Midget Submarines
Minimal Compact. sole Israeli entry. Malka Spigel is the wife of Colin Newman and is in Githead with him. Also records as Swim
Morpheus Secrets
Not Knowing
No More - no classic euro synthpop
Suicide Commando
Clair Obscur - French synth gloom
Blume
Liaisons Dangereuses - forebear of bands EBM bands like A Spilt Second and Klinik
Los Ninos Del Parque
Kas Product = more slighty whacky french synth
Never Come Back
Trisomie 21 - French, started of like typical euro synth then added guitars and got better. Best track is The Last Song but it's later.
Il se noie
Theatre of Hate - another band with sax in the lineup. Billy Duffy from the Cult was in Theatre of hate but didn't play on the records Were a great live band.
Do you Believe in The Westworld
Propaganda
Alien Sex Fiend - A bit of comic turn but had profile in the early 80's. They played the club I ran.
Ignore the Machine
Clan of xymox (only one record made in the time period everything after Medusa is awful) They are Dutch
Stranger(later rerecorded on the Clan of Xymox album)
No Words (also on album above in refreshed form)
The Danse Society - later on they were awful and Steve Rawlings singing got really bad. Early on they were really good and had production values way about the bands they played with.
We are So Happy
Somewhere
UK Decay. Singer Abbo coined the term Goth (Punk Gothique), it's always ncie to have someone to blame. At one point their Album was wother crazy money, I sold my spare for a more than a weeks wages.
Testament
For My Country
EMAK (elektronische musik aus koeln) Brilliant German synth group, they just got reissued
Filmusik
Tanz In Den Himmel
Ludus - Loneladyreminds me of Ludus who are supposed to be a favourite of Morrisey
Mirror Mirror
Breaking The Rules
Pere Ubu - like a sheet metal Can polished to a dull sheen. Post Punk before Punk.
Heart of Darkness
Final Solution
Getting The Fear - 2 single wonders affiliated with PTV and with Some Southern Death Cult members
Last Salute
Southern Death Cult/Death Cult/Cult
Brothers Grimm
Resurrection Joe- funny how I wasn't that fussed with this at the time but think it's the only Cult song I like now.
8 Eyed Spy - maybe my favourite so called No Wave group. Again more Lydia Lunch and I think some of the sounds on this were influential
Run Through The Jungle
Atomic Bongo
Zounds - refined punk pop with a political conscience
Can't Cheat Karma
War!
New Order - obvious.
Truth
Ceremony
Temptation
Mesh
Artery. seldom mentioned dark band from Sheffield
Ringing The Bells
Inca Babies - like 99p shop Birthday Party but were an entertaining night out
The Interior
Nightmares In Wax - Pete Burns band before Dead or Alive
Black Leather kinda hilarious, camp and a laugh to dance to. Early Dead or Alive aren't really recommended but it's funny how they sound like a 60's garage group playing Cult songs.
Coil - got better later an unbelievable band, among my all time favourites if not the one.
Tainted Love or Tenderness of Wolves
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. Really good upto 86 or so but become a bit rock for me later on. Singer played a JM, the band had no image to speak of which was a good and bad thing.
He's Read
Hollow Eyes
Hand on Heart(came out in 85 but I like it)
Talk About The Weather
Die Haut - German band that later collaborated with Nick Cave, Anita Lane and others.
Der Karibische Western(feature Lydia Lund credited as Stella Rio)
The Normal - Tapping right into the Ballard obsession. Teh Nirmal is Mute founder Daniel Miller
Warm Leatherette another alt disco classic
Jeunesse d'Ivoire - one song wonder but a great song. Italian
A Gift of Tears
Mass - even more unsettling than Rema Rema
You and I
APB Post Punk funk from Aberdeen
Shoot You Down
Dance Chapter - one of the first bands on 4AD.
Anonymity
Thomas Leer - so far ahead of the competition, such a beautiful sound. I always wonder if Joy Division were listening.
Private Plane
Letter from America
Flock of Seagulls - terrible terrible hair, hard to see past the image but hearing M83's last record just made me thing flock of Seagulls had a couple of good songs
Modern Love is Automatic
I Ran
I used the Simon Reynolds 78-84 Rip it Up period as the timeframe.
Let me know any thoughts on anything contained within. I haven't ordered the choices, I kept them random.
Pink Military/Industry - largely forgotten but for me better than lots of the over exposed bands. Later Pink Industry stuff is past the cutoff date.
Dreamtime
Don't Let Go Pink Industry
Killing Joke - PP royalty almost sound better now because they were smart enough to check out Moroder.
Change
Requiem
Follow The Leaders
Siouxsie and The Banshees - almost goes without saying
Night Shift
Red Light
Placebo Effect
Spotify Mix here I made for a friend (I didn't spend any time ordering it)
Clock DVA great band from Sheffield. always went their own way and later on did some great dancefloor directed stuff and also great etho futurism as the Anti Group.)
Four Hours
Eternity In Paris
Young Marble Giants - super minimal, only one album to buy
Searching for Mr. Right
Public Image Limited - first three albums are great, I have no love for much beyond.
Another
Poptones
Flowers of Romance
Adam and the Ants - were beyond massive in the UK in early 80's
Car Trouble
Dog Eat Dog
Gang of Four - again well covered, important politically and for not having a narrow mindset. Steve Albini copped his guitar direction here.
To Hell With Poverty on uk tv.
What We All Want - a hardy perennial in every alt disco in the early 80's
Bow Wow Wow - proving manufactured isn't always bad
C30 C60 C90 Go
Louis Quatorze
Colin Newman - A-Z is the equal of any Wire album IMO
Alone
& jury
Rema- Rema - Only one EP but so great and mebers went on to Wolfgang Press, Mass and Renegade Soundwave
Rema-Rema - this was heavily played in discos
Feedback Song textbook PP bass.
Suicide - predated but never got into their stride until later. I saw them bottled off supporting the Clash. Funnily I remember there being more folk into the forgotten second album and the Vega solo record.
Ghost Rider
Diamonds Fur Coat Champagne - again heavily played in clubs
Ultravox! - became awful but were probably Post Punk while punk still going on.
Artificial Lifealways reminds me of sort of EuroTelevision
Magazine - have the perfect guitarist.
The Light Pours out of Me
Shot By both Sides
Permafrost
The Associates. Not always bundled in with the stereotypical PP sound but they wouldn't have wanted to be. Have one of the greatest singers.
White Car In Germany- perfect post Bowie stomp
Transport to Central
The Creatures - Banshees spin-off that hasn't dated one little bit.
Miss The Girl
A Strutting Rooster
Simple Minds - became awful but had some good stuff early on.
I Travel again played to death in diskos
Theme for Great Cities runs alongside the Europa fetishism that many UK bands descended into becuse the UK was a shit heap at this time. Some crossed the border in pseudo fascism though.
Flesh For Lulu - ridiculous and toolish to the max but...had some (three) good songs
Restless
Roman Candle
Subterraneans
Bauhaus - toolish as above but with more good songs
Bella Lugosi's Dead - the baggage does get in the way but Bella is a fucking amazing record. (must be Small Wonder all other versions are shite though)
Dark Entries
Lagartija Nick
Kick In the Eye I still play this out on occasion
The Birthday Party - again well trodden but amazing ground. I chose the two songs you'd always hear out.
Release The Bats - at the time I felt this was almost a novelty record but I changed my mind.
Sonnys Burning
The Triffids - kinda got where the Bad Seeds ended up ten years before.
Red Pony
Hanging shed
The Laughing Clowns - Saw them supporting the Birthday Party, very underrated but really important because the drum style pervaded most of the better Australian bands.
holy joe
This Mortal Coil - supergroup of sorts from the days when 4AD actually signed acts rather than licensed them
16 Days Gathering Dust - epic cover which combines 2 Modern English tracks
Kangaroo - chosen because my friend sings it. Big Star cover.
Tuxedomoon
No tears - every club played this. Notable because very few US bands were popular in the UK. Also notable because 78-82 saw a spike in (often synth) bands using sax/clarinet which has never since been repeated.
In a Manner of Speaking
This Heat - never really fit in but they were good. My cousins arty crowd were all right into them.
Twilight Furniture
Shrink Wrap
Xmal Deutschland - generally not taken as seriously as I think they should be. I think Manuela Rickers is a brilliantly distinctive guitarist
Incubus Succubus
Boomerang
Augen Blick
the Slits (again very well covered eleswhere)
Heard it through the Grapevine - again you'd be guaranteed to hear this on a night out circa 1982
So Tough
Marine Girls - I was torn on this as they are kind of proto twee but I wan to mention the Tracey Thorn solo record which is superb.
A Place In The Sun
Deux - until last year I'd never heard anyone mention Deux so it's nice to see the best continental synthpop getting some oxygen.
Felicita
Paris Orly
Ruth (see Deux)
Polaroid-Roman-Photo
Nine Circles (see Duex but NC are even better)
Twinkling Stars
What's There Left
Shock Headed Peters (only one EP scrapes but the next few years of releases are great)
Shock Headed Peters - I, Bloodbrother Be (£4,000 Love Letter) I'll never tire of this.
"I wanna walk through Sodom with a boy on my arm
Who's so damn pretty I don't know where I am
When they look so like a girl it's easy to swallow"
The B52's - it's sad that they are seldom taken seriously because the were fantastic and had a great guitarist.
Rock Lobster live - close to being my favourite youtube clip. They were brilliant live around this time.
Give Me Back My Man - again a song you'd have heard in any alt disko around this time.
Mesopotamia- they got David Byrne in to produce and i'll never tire of playing this out.
The Meteors
I had a debate about including them. On the plus side they don't even sound Psychobilly in retrospect, they are pure primitive rockabilly and the only one of their ilk worth a fuck. Their gigs back then were often astonishingly violent affairs but super high energy.
Radioactive Kid
Johnny remember me
Swans - generally hateful at this point but went onto better (Children of God, Greed, Holy Money) and worse (cover of LWTUA) things.
Stay Here
Japan - opinions always divided on Japan, started out as hilarious Glam clowns and ended up impossibly sophisticated. I worked in a record shop when I was 12 or so and everyone but me hated them. Then again they all liked the UK Subs.
Ghosts- amazing that this was close to becoming a UK number one.
Quiet Life
Human League
Flew to close to the sun with Dare and were never the same again. Impossibly great songs, iconic covers, didn't take themselves too seriously and unafraid of change. Understood Moroder as important as Kraftwerk.
Being Boiled
Sound of the Crowd
Empire State Human
John Foxx - got out of Ultravox just in time.
tapped right into the Ballard thing running though the brainy end of Post Punk
Underpass
Chris and Cosey
Straight up one of my favourite bands of all time. The influence of Chris and Cosey cannot be overstated but somehow they have become a footnote where they are headline material.
October Love Song - is there a better synth single?
Put Yourself In Los Angeles
As CTI - Dancing Ghosts- pretty much the blueprint for techno and maybe the first to use the 808 and 303 together.
Psychic TV - when I was a young teen I wrote a letter to Psychic TV and Genesis actually called my house, my mother hung up on him.
They had production values far above most of their peers and (zuccarelli holophonic)recording in the Hellfire clubs cave etc did appeal to teen me.
Message from the Temple
The Orchids
Ov Power- another disco classic
Colourbox - important for technical innovation and for getting us all more into US dance stuff. This and Streetsounds 1 are forever linked in my head.
Breakdown- pre-dates Blue Monday.
Throbbing Gristle. Important beyond the music, they gave help and infrastructure to other like minded people, the one gig I was at (first time round) was filled with the dispossessed, the strange and the wilfully weird.
hot on the heels of love
Persuasion
Walkabout
The Leather Nun - became an shit rock band but early on the were patronised by some of the TG orbit and were brilliantly gloomy proto goth.
Slow Death
F.F.A(not work safe since it's about anal fisting but a classic alt disco cut).
The Sisters of Mercy - Motorhead x Suicide, went downhill when Hussey joined. The Sisters had some much image baggage that got in the way of perception of how good they really were.
Alice
Body Electric
Lights
Robert Rental - beautifully raw sythpop. The grain in his records makes him kin to Autechre IMO.
Double Heart
Thomas Leer & Robert Rental - Day Breaks, Night Heals
Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (DAF). Sythpop was often very placid and DAF added a dash of aggression.
Der Mussolini again if you went out in the early 80's you'd have danced to this.
Der Räuber Und Der Prinz
Fad Gadget - a billion times better (and more advanced) than Depeche Mode
Lady Shave
For Whom The Bell Tolls
The Box
Joy division - almost goes without saying. Beyond good songs JD are interesting because if you hear these songs minus Martin Hannett production they sound much more pub rock. The same goes for Killing Joke minus Conny Plank
Transmission
Shadowplay
Decades
A Certain Ratio - a hilarious live prospect but a good band who are probably rated higher now than then.
Do The Du
Knife Slits Water
Lucinda big influence on bands like A Primary Industry
The Durruti Column. Important for paving some of the grown for later bands like the Cocteau Twins as much as for some great records.
Jacqueline
Sketch For Summer
Section 25 - among the first to tip their hat to Disco
Dirty Disco- actually played in discos, blah x3
Girls Don't Count
Malaria - I'm mildly obsessed with Malaria, I still play them all the time, they were an impossibly cool girl group. Gudrun Gut was in Einstürzende Neubauten Mrk1
Your Turn To Run among my favourite tracks in this list.
kaltes klares wasser
You You
The Lemon Kittens (later cell divided into Danielle Dax and The Shock Headed Peters)
Hospital Hurts The Girl
Kites
chalet d'amour
Danielle Dax. not taken as seriously as she merits due to her pinup status.
Fortune Cheats
Bed Caves
Modern English - became awful but some classic songs and strong first album.
16 days
Gathering Dust
Life In the Gladhouse best heard as a 12inch but can't find that version.
Grauzone
Eisbär. Was once a best kept secret but well known now. James Murphy certainly likes it.
Film 2
The Cocteau Twins -
Perhaps Some Other Aeon - a friend of my cousin put this out on his tape only label.
All But an Ark Lark- I always thought this was the guitar in Night Shift taken to it's logical conclusion.
Nurse With Wound - arty, absurdist and interesting because Stapleton has always just done his own thing. Faust to PiL's Can.
Scrag
Cabaret Voltaire. Did as much as anyone to establish synths as serious tools. Also kinda sleazy/sexy, which is good since a lot of post punk is asexual and a bit grey (CV are gret too but it's a different shade of grey).
Seconds Too Late
Crackdown(single version) - interesting because this is evidence of a band opening up their listening to contemporary American black music. (streetsounds was becoming massive)
Yashar
Blue Orchids - ex Fall members (important indie touchstone)
The Flood
Monte Cazazza - important as incredibly well connected. Involved with TG, PTV, Leather Nun and other.
Mary Bell
23 Skidoo - as well connected as Monte but on another level. Incredible musicians, sounded unlike any of their cohorts. They are the action packed other side of the Jon Hassell future ethnology coin.
The gospel comes to New Guinea
Coup (in the Palace) sampled badly by the Chemical Brothers
Tearing Up the Plans
Einstürzende Neubauten - I was at the ICA gig where the virtually wrecked the place in 1984. After they broke there were loads of terrible bands banging pots and pans.
Kalte Stern
Tanz Debil
Soft Cell - still sound amazing and proof that on occasion the man in the street will buy a good record. S econd hand record shop used to be rammed to the rafters with Non Stop Erotic Cabaret, Dare, Kings of the Wild Frontier and Ziggy Stardust.
Sex Dwarf one of the best songs to caper to on the dancefloor
Bedsitter
Tainted Love the Coilversion is great.
Seedy Films
Say Hello Wave Goodbye
Abwärts
Computerstaat
Marc and the Mambas
Torment- written by Steve Severin of the Banshees during the Glove sessions IIRC.
Sleaze
Ritual - notable because they had a sax player (a singer who sounded like Kirk Brandon) and had all the Gothic hallmarks years before most of the later clowns. Most of the and ended up in fairly weel known bands like The Death Cult, In Excelsis and The Sex Gang Children.
Brides
Conscripts
400 Blows - kinda like a bridge between the experimental electro pioneers and the more pop ones. Became unbearably 80's later on.
Beat The Devil
Conscience
The Cure
Heavily covered. Worth saying that for me 17 Seconds, Faith, Pornography is where the were best.
The Glove - Cure Banshees spin-off
Punish Me With Kisses
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.
My Eyes
Lydia Lunch
Atomic Bongos
That she was the ace of spades in Annie Sprinkles Pleasure Activist Playing Cards deck says it all.
The Passions - perceived as a one song wonder but slightly unfair. Often supported decent bands.
I'm In Love With a German Film Star
James White and the Blacks
Contort Yourself August Darnell mix classic alt disco track.
always interesting to hear next to the earlier version as the Contortions (which is still fucking amazing)
again what was with all the Sax players, no bands have them now.
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Like James Chance stepped from noisy no-wave to quirky post disco
Torso Corso
Funky Stuff
Herpes Simplex
Cindytalk - Gordon Sharp Sang in This Mortal Coil and is for me an incredible singer.
It's Luxury
Spirit behind The Circus Dream
Memories of Skin and Snow
Bush Tetras - like a cross between Liquid Liquid and the Slits.
You Can't Be Funky I still play this out
Too Many Creeps
Shriekback - ex Gang of Four, more dancefloor crossover
My Spine is the Bassline
Sexthinkone
Mars - when I first hears Sonic Youth in 83 or so they reminded me of Mars
Helen Forsdale
3E
DNA - kinda blues punk but not blues you every heard before but it provokes that response. Often heard via a fourth hand cassette copy.
Blonde Red Head
You And You
The Sound - deserved to be bigger than U2. They lack the ridiculous pomp/hubris but have more power.
The Fire
Winning
Jeopardy
Echo & the Bunnymen - became so terrible as they retreated towards 60's influenced pudding, honestly words fail me. Brilliant early on though. I went to see them all over Britain and met my best mate on the Isle of Skye at a gig in 83' or so.
Stars Are Stars
All My Colours
Talking Heads - well covered but Fear of Music/Remain In Light was so important for the bands who had a bit of funk about them like The Wolfgang Press
Born Under Punches
Drugs
The Wolfgang Press - only early stuff qualifies but arguably best in show at 4AD.
Prostitute 1
Deserve
ESG - were a bit of a secret weapon until the reissues.
You're no Good
Moody
The Psychedelic Furs. I have a strange relation ship with the Furs, I can't stand Pretty and Pink and like some of the horribly produced later stuff. If you chop the beginning of Heartbeat it becomes 100% better.
We Love You
President Gas
Into You like A train
Material - can be boring musos but...
Reduction
Dif juz - a band ahead of their time. Post rock before the term was coined.
Hu
Roy's Tray
Soarn
Eyeless in Gaza - I'd also recommend the Martyn Bates solo record Letters Written super highly, gorgeous, bucolic, hymnal wonder. The singing could be seen as divisive but consider me divided.
kodak ghosts run amok
Photographs and Memories
Sad Lovers and Giants. deserve a reappraisal because their sound has been plundered widely.
Things We Never did truly great song
Imagination
Lost A Moment I chose this because when I first heard the Smiths I thought. Hmm Sad Lovers and Giants...
The Chameleons - like The Sound they deserved that U2 spot on live aid.
In Shreds
Paper Tigers
Orange Juice - the Postcard scene wasn't ordinarily my thing but I gre up around it and it's a weakness
Rip It Up
Falling and Laughing
Aztec Camera - a great guitarist
Oblivious
The Chills - had an usually big following in my home town, to be honest I don't think super highly of them beyond Pink Frost. They get a bit too much like proper music.
Pink Frost
The Gun Club - if don't have Fire of Love there is something wrong with you. The Gun Club were one of the best live bands and since they played with the Cramps a lot it meant great nights.
Sex Beat
Ghost On the Highway
The Cramps - Incredible, sleazy Rock N Roll. If there is better front man Guitarist pair than Lux and ivy I'd love to be set straight.
Human Fly
Donimo impossible to sing
TV Set
I Can't Find My Mind
Josef K. Paul Haig is an interesting guy, having done everything from Rockabilly covers of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moFV8S9wUaI]Ghost Rider [/url]to Disco versions of Atmosphere.
Sorry for Laughing
Heaven Sent
Go Betweens.
Your Turn My Turn
Batchelor Kisses
The Monochrome Set. Classy, yet quirky, europop. They probably should have built a good audience and it's a bit unfair they are mainly known for the horrible Jacobs Laddera song that really annoys.
He's Frank
Eine Symphonie Des Grauens
Devo - I can't be bothered with Devo but they at least deserve a listing
The Church. I'm not really a believer, I can see the appeal but I'd rather listen the The Sound or somthing.
Too Fast for You
Now I Wonder Why
Tear It All Away
Mission of Burma. Honest, unpretentious rock stripped of all nonsense.
That's When I reach for My Revolver (sadly murdered by a million bands)
This is not a Photograph
The Replacements - had zero profile in the UK, I only knew who they were because I got a single out a bargain bin.
I'm In Trouble
The Virgin Prunes. Crazy live, straddled absurdist and arty .
The Faculties of a Broken Heart (12 inch of Baby Turns Blue)
Pagan Love Song
Love Will Last Forever
Gina X Performance. Important because they were played in clubs. If I had a penny for every time someone had declared "I always wondered who sang that "Wanna be a Great Dark Man, being but a Lesbian, Song" I'd be up a few quid.
No GDM
Nice Mover
Holger Hiller - a certified forgotten genius and innovator.
Das Feuer I still play this all the time, still sounds modern
Jonny (du lump) as close to a hit as he came, sort of varispeeded northern soul
Gut and Bose
Honey Bane - delinquent teen and Crass pet project who made a few great records before going on to become a soft erotic model
guilty (dub version) great to dance to
Girl On the Run
The Mob - bridge between anarcho punk and what went on to be goth
No Doves Fly Here
Witch Hunt
Judy Nylon & Crucial - If I remember correctly Judy was important in Eno developing his Ambient idea, in any case Pal Judy is a great record.
Information Rain
Liquid Liquid - were on the same 99 label as Bush Tetras and ESG. The records were super hard to get, the band were like a special forces A Certain Ratio but harder lither and funkier.
Optimo
Cavern(sampled for White LInes)
Bellhead
The Fall. my shame is that I like the Brix period best. I think the Fall suit being pop.
Dead Beat Descendent
Big New Prinz
Cruisers Creek
The Pop Group. Supposedly the only UK band the Birthday Party liked. Similar dark power but twinned with far left politics. if you ram raided the Gang of Four with the Birthday Party...
Thief of Fire
We are All Prostitutes
The Raincoats - File under charming but dated
Fairytale in the Supermarket
Scritti Politti - Important beyond being a good band because of extreme dedication to DIY and politically driven transparency (they printed all costs on the sleeve of the first EP).
Skank Bloc Bologna
Bibbly-O-Tek
Messtheticsthere's a reissue series so named of one single wonder DIY bands that is worth looking at.
Modern Eon - forgotten Liverpool band, kinda like a cross between the Modern English, Sad Lovers and Giants and The Sound
Splash!
Euthenics
Childs Play
Rip Rig and Panic - an uncharitable man would say the Pop Group with all the interesting bit removed. Kinda ok but I haven't listened to them since 1982...
Constant Drudgery Is Harmful To Soul, Spirit & Health
The Wake. Kinda like a Postcard version of New Order. At the time I was sick of the sight of them but I've mellowed.
Patrol
Favour
Mary Moor . More french synth, one song wonder but often one song is enough.
Pretty Day
Medium Medium. Yet another band with a sax player, not a million miles for Gang of Four.
Hungry So Angry
Brian Eno and David Byrne - my life in the bush of ghosts. Important as an influence and an indicator of where things were going. Also you either got My Life.. or you didn't.
Mea Culpa
America is waiting
Dead Can Dance - beautifully maudlin, Scott Walkeresque singing for Brendan Perry and Bulgarian/opera wail from Lisa Gerrard. My favourite DCD is always when the have proper bass.
The Arcane
Ocean
Frontier
Threshold
Tones on Tail. Bauhaus spinoff, in many ways sound better now than they did then. Lots of electronic influence and an ear for Editions EG stuff.
Lions
Performance
The Rain
Sort Sol (once called the Sods) - Danish and the single below is an essential purchase for 4AD completists and pretty good.
Marble Station (was actually on the Sods album)
Boy/Girl (with Lydia Lunch)is a classic Post Punk hoedown/soundtrack to bar brawl
Wire - arguably one of the few acts from this period never to have disgraced themselves, still try and keep it contemporary with their solo and collective work.
Outdoor Miner
Map Ref. 41°N 93°W
Death In June (the pre nazi years)
State Laughter
Crisis (who became Death in June) thankfully for me far left and not right. Dark/political
UK 78
Holocaust
The Mekons. very much in the acomplished punk band category. Spirit of 76 still present as it were.
Where Were You?
Christian Death - ridiculous, clownish, pretentious, mannered...why do I like these songs?
Romeos Distress
Deathwish
The Sex Gang Children, see Christan Death but minus liking them, I hadn't thought of them in years untill I heard the last Horrors album and the bass reminded me of them. Anyway they were massive in certain quarters and had a Bez figure who used to dance about in a skeleton costume (really).
Sebastiane actually not bad int he gypsy Goth style but that's me done for another 20 years
Van Kaye and Ignid - I know nothing about this group beyond loving this, knowing they only had a couple more reorded songs and that they are Dutch.
Alice Notely - like a mini film.
No More - more euro synth love
Suicide Commando
ADN' Ckrystall - more euro synth love
Cocaina Vitamina
March Violets (Sister of Mercy prodeges) - I'm conflicted...ridiculous, blustery and kinda fun. Best when they are being most poppy.
Snake Dance
Walk Into The Sun
Play Dead - notable because (Neu! producer) Conny Plank produced them, he turned down Bowie and U2.
Conspiracy
Propaganda
(often fucking shocking though)
Xex - more euro synth "Be a good Bolshevik! Don't be no nogoodnik!"
Svetlana
Strawberry Switchblade. Uncool but I love Strawberry Switchblade, charming and great songs. Rose also sung with Coil, Current 93 and host of others.
Trees and Flowers beautiful
Since Yesterday
teen me fancied Rose so much (she was a friend of my cousin)
Foetus (Jim Thirwell/Clint Ruin/Filth Spektor) bizarre sleazy channeling of electro bigband with military/gospel chants. Sampling pioneer and good producer of other peoples records.
Scraping Foetus off the Wheel - Street of Shame
Phillip And His Foetus Vibrations - Tell Me, What is the Bane of Your Life
Foetus Art Terrorism - Calamity Crush
classic UK footage of Foetus with Soft Cell weirdly Dave Ball just covered this agin with Gavin Friday (on Blast First Petite ten inch)
Scentists. Best known for the song below but delving deeper will be rewarded.
Swampland
Severed Heads. Unkindly often reffered to as Australian Cabaret Voltaire but this is unfair. They are great in my eyes and always tried to move things forward.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLIi_ZMBfQs]Dead Eyes Opened[/url]
Petrol( I break my 84 cap for it's greatness)
both alt disco classics
SPK (to be honest their really good recordZamia Lehmannicame out in 86')
See Saw
Metal Dance
Test Dept (similar ideas to Neubauten but more functional). Intensely politcal, made records with striking miners and put on some incredible events industrial sites. Had trouble translating this to record.
Total State Machine
Swell Maps - Post punk before punk, incredibly snotty.
Let's Build A Car
Midget Submarines
Minimal Compact. sole Israeli entry. Malka Spigel is the wife of Colin Newman and is in Githead with him. Also records as Swim
Morpheus Secrets
Not Knowing
No More - no classic euro synthpop
Suicide Commando
Clair Obscur - French synth gloom
Blume
Liaisons Dangereuses - forebear of bands EBM bands like A Spilt Second and Klinik
Los Ninos Del Parque
Kas Product = more slighty whacky french synth
Never Come Back
Trisomie 21 - French, started of like typical euro synth then added guitars and got better. Best track is The Last Song but it's later.
Il se noie
Theatre of Hate - another band with sax in the lineup. Billy Duffy from the Cult was in Theatre of hate but didn't play on the records Were a great live band.
Do you Believe in The Westworld
Propaganda
Alien Sex Fiend - A bit of comic turn but had profile in the early 80's. They played the club I ran.
Ignore the Machine
Clan of xymox (only one record made in the time period everything after Medusa is awful) They are Dutch
Stranger(later rerecorded on the Clan of Xymox album)
No Words (also on album above in refreshed form)
The Danse Society - later on they were awful and Steve Rawlings singing got really bad. Early on they were really good and had production values way about the bands they played with.
We are So Happy
Somewhere
UK Decay. Singer Abbo coined the term Goth (Punk Gothique), it's always ncie to have someone to blame. At one point their Album was wother crazy money, I sold my spare for a more than a weeks wages.
Testament
For My Country
EMAK (elektronische musik aus koeln) Brilliant German synth group, they just got reissued
Filmusik
Tanz In Den Himmel
Ludus - Loneladyreminds me of Ludus who are supposed to be a favourite of Morrisey
Mirror Mirror
Breaking The Rules
Pere Ubu - like a sheet metal Can polished to a dull sheen. Post Punk before Punk.
Heart of Darkness
Final Solution
Getting The Fear - 2 single wonders affiliated with PTV and with Some Southern Death Cult members
Last Salute
Southern Death Cult/Death Cult/Cult
Brothers Grimm
Resurrection Joe- funny how I wasn't that fussed with this at the time but think it's the only Cult song I like now.
8 Eyed Spy - maybe my favourite so called No Wave group. Again more Lydia Lunch and I think some of the sounds on this were influential
Run Through The Jungle
Atomic Bongo
Zounds - refined punk pop with a political conscience
Can't Cheat Karma
War!
New Order - obvious.
Truth
Ceremony
Temptation
Mesh
Artery. seldom mentioned dark band from Sheffield
Ringing The Bells
Inca Babies - like 99p shop Birthday Party but were an entertaining night out
The Interior
Nightmares In Wax - Pete Burns band before Dead or Alive
Black Leather kinda hilarious, camp and a laugh to dance to. Early Dead or Alive aren't really recommended but it's funny how they sound like a 60's garage group playing Cult songs.
Coil - got better later an unbelievable band, among my all time favourites if not the one.
Tainted Love or Tenderness of Wolves
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. Really good upto 86 or so but become a bit rock for me later on. Singer played a JM, the band had no image to speak of which was a good and bad thing.
He's Read
Hollow Eyes
Hand on Heart(came out in 85 but I like it)
Talk About The Weather
Die Haut - German band that later collaborated with Nick Cave, Anita Lane and others.
Der Karibische Western(feature Lydia Lund credited as Stella Rio)
The Normal - Tapping right into the Ballard obsession. Teh Nirmal is Mute founder Daniel Miller
Warm Leatherette another alt disco classic
Jeunesse d'Ivoire - one song wonder but a great song. Italian
A Gift of Tears
Mass - even more unsettling than Rema Rema
You and I
APB Post Punk funk from Aberdeen
Shoot You Down
Dance Chapter - one of the first bands on 4AD.
Anonymity
Thomas Leer - so far ahead of the competition, such a beautiful sound. I always wonder if Joy Division were listening.
Private Plane
Letter from America
Flock of Seagulls - terrible terrible hair, hard to see past the image but hearing M83's last record just made me thing flock of Seagulls had a couple of good songs
Modern Love is Automatic
I Ran
Last edited by shadowplay on Wed Aug 27, 2014 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- echobaseone
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Re: Post Punk Guide
you deserve a medal.
the future of music is better in no small part thanks to this list.
except for the Church not doing it for you, and at least you included them.
great and exhaustive stuff David.
the future of music is better in no small part thanks to this list.
except for the Church not doing it for you, and at least you included them.
great and exhaustive stuff David.
-
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Re: Post Punk Guide
Great list, definitely some stuff I have to check out there.
No Soft Boys though? Their two albums were both pure Psychedelic Punk
Underwater Moonlight
Insanely Jealous
Kingdom of Love
No Soft Boys though? Their two albums were both pure Psychedelic Punk
Underwater Moonlight
Insanely Jealous
Kingdom of Love
I said he's been set free
Shares a little joke with the world somehow
Shares a little joke with the world somehow
- cestlamort
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Re: Post Punk Guide
Wow. Admirable job, to say the least. We went through a huge Minimal Compact phase a couple of years back.
I'd add the following (will edit later with links):
Comsat Angels (three great albums, then some really bad stuff)
Charles de Gaol (French Wire?)
Metal Urban
pretty much anything on Factory Benelux is worth a listen (Names, Wake, etc)
German stuff:
Palais Schaumberg
Der Plan
SYPH
Mania D (Malaria spin off, not as good, more NDW)
Fehlfarben
Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle (Thomas Meinecke is a lauded German novelist now)
From our shores:
Husker Du
The Blackouts
U-Men
Minutemen
Big Black
Replacements
Embarrassment (a bit more proto-indie)
Feelies (ditto)
Green River (1985, so maybe just out of time frame, more pre-grunge, I'd venture)
+ some of the dischord stuff, when they slowed down (Rites of Spring, Embrace, Egg Hunt, Gray Matter, etc)
I'd add the following (will edit later with links):
Comsat Angels (three great albums, then some really bad stuff)
Charles de Gaol (French Wire?)
Metal Urban
pretty much anything on Factory Benelux is worth a listen (Names, Wake, etc)
German stuff:
Palais Schaumberg
Der Plan
SYPH
Mania D (Malaria spin off, not as good, more NDW)
Fehlfarben
Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle (Thomas Meinecke is a lauded German novelist now)
From our shores:
Husker Du
The Blackouts
U-Men
Minutemen
Big Black
Replacements
Embarrassment (a bit more proto-indie)
Feelies (ditto)
Green River (1985, so maybe just out of time frame, more pre-grunge, I'd venture)
+ some of the dischord stuff, when they slowed down (Rites of Spring, Embrace, Egg Hunt, Gray Matter, etc)
- fakeplasticdreams
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Re: Post Punk Guide
Re: Nurse with Wound - wow never thought it would under the PP genre. nothing wrong with it of course...
RE: Husker Du / Minutemen - arent they more garage-y rather than PP? Just a thought...
RE: Husker Du / Minutemen - arent they more garage-y rather than PP? Just a thought...
- CZ101
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Re: Post Punk Guide
Great list... Don't forget Julian Cope! OMD deserves a mention too, not to mention: Gary Newman (first Tubeway Army and Telekon are my favorites), White House, The Verlaines, early House of Love, etc..
- dc
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Re: Post Punk Guide
this musical epoch was so good, i've never really stopped living in it -
you're creating an amazing and exhaustive resource here, my friend -- my highest compliments, and i'm looking forward to seeing how it fills out.
and you're spot on about the Fall. Brix lives! "This Nation's Saving Grace" has no peer -
you're creating an amazing and exhaustive resource here, my friend -- my highest compliments, and i'm looking forward to seeing how it fills out.
and you're spot on about the Fall. Brix lives! "This Nation's Saving Grace" has no peer -
in the coldest night / huddled 'round the dying embers
- whisperit
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Re: Post Punk Guide
oh, what a list! so many stuff to check out. Damn work, I want to go home already
Thank you, David! Have you ever considered to start a blog or something?
Slightly off-topic, but... could someone recommend me a decent book either on Magazine or Psychic TV? (if it exist of course) I know so little about them, but it'd make a great gift for a friend of mine.
Thank you, David! Have you ever considered to start a blog or something?
Slightly off-topic, but... could someone recommend me a decent book either on Magazine or Psychic TV? (if it exist of course) I know so little about them, but it'd make a great gift for a friend of mine.
- dc
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Re: Post Punk Guide
while i'm thinking about it, this seems like a good crowd to ask if anyone has an MP3 of Colourbox's "Tarantula" (7 or 12-inch versions) -
in the coldest night / huddled 'round the dying embers
- dc
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Re: Post Punk Guide
speaking of the Gun Club and Cocteau Twins, one of the more interesting cross-pollenations of this period has to be the "Mother Juno" album -- Jeffrey Lee Pierce produced by Robin Guthrie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31UeRgznjvU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31UeRgznjvU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
in the coldest night / huddled 'round the dying embers
- shadowplay
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Re: Post Punk Guide
Thanks for all the additions, all have merit but I deliberately left out hardcore bands (another topic) and all those who fell out after 84. Missing the Comsat Angels and Cope was idiotic.
Whisperit; the only Psychic TV book I have is A Coumprehensive Collection of Lyrics (half in Italian and came with a record) though I have some of their propaganda pamphlets and my friend has one of the bronze penii they had made. Worth buying is Englands Hidden Reverse by David Keenan (on Coil, Current 93, Nurse with Wound) also there's Tape Delay by Charles Neil and there might be collection of Vague magazine (not sure on this as I have all the originals)
Anyway some great additions
D
Pretty sure I have one if not I'll rip the single PM you once I get in front of a real computer (on phone). The same goes for every thing out of print on the list.dc wrote:while i'm thinking about it, this seems like a good crowd to ask if anyone has an MP3 of Colourbox's "Tarantula" (7 or 12-inch versions) -
Whisperit; the only Psychic TV book I have is A Coumprehensive Collection of Lyrics (half in Italian and came with a record) though I have some of their propaganda pamphlets and my friend has one of the bronze penii they had made. Worth buying is Englands Hidden Reverse by David Keenan (on Coil, Current 93, Nurse with Wound) also there's Tape Delay by Charles Neil and there might be collection of Vague magazine (not sure on this as I have all the originals)
Anyway some great additions
D
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- PorkyPrimeCut
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Re: Post Punk Guide
Wow! Impressive stuff.
I have a day off so I'll try'n trawl through all of this.
Glad to hear Mr Cope got a mention in the end.
The Teardrop Explodes - Reward (live)
It's the obvious choice but such a great track! Loving that bassline!!
I have a day off so I'll try'n trawl through all of this.
Glad to hear Mr Cope got a mention in the end.
The Teardrop Explodes - Reward (live)
It's the obvious choice but such a great track! Loving that bassline!!
You think you can't, you wish you could, I know you can, I wish you would. Slip inside this house as you pass by.
- djetz
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Re: Post Punk Guide
Great work, fellow David. Truly impressive.
- PorkyPrimeCut
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Re: Post Punk Guide
As an 8 year old post Punk kinda passed me by but even I had a poster of Adam Ant on my wall, pre-Prince Charming I'm glad to say.
The very beginnings of New Romantic I guess, but definitely not Spandau fuckin' Ballet.
Adam & The Ants - Killer In The Home. Such a brilliant track!!
Adam & The Ants - Ant Invasion. Same goes for this one!!
The very beginnings of New Romantic I guess, but definitely not Spandau fuckin' Ballet.
Adam & The Ants - Killer In The Home. Such a brilliant track!!
Adam & The Ants - Ant Invasion. Same goes for this one!!
You think you can't, you wish you could, I know you can, I wish you would. Slip inside this house as you pass by.
- shadowplay
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Re: Post Punk Guide
Can I just apologise for the mess of my guide, it was tricky doing it in the small window and after so many lines the spell check stops working. I should have written it, then did the links and not done it all at the same time.
D
D
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