Long time readers will doubtless recall my enthusiasm for these guys, but if you're new here, this is the backstory as it first appeared in 2020.
...The Real Impossibles, fronted by Marc Platt [stage left in the video] were a mid-80s Los Angeles punkish power pop band, and a compilation of their stuff (entitled It's About Time) came out on Zero Hour Records a few months after the 2013 Zero Hour release of Floor Your Love. Which made us labelmates, of course. I had never heard of the band until the CD, but it knocked me out, and Marc and I struck up a long-distance friendship, with me mostly telling him "I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy"!, that persists to this day.Which inevitably leads us to today's business. To wit:Here's a representative track, which also happens to be the coolest Neil Diamond cover since the heyday of The Monkees.
That absolutely kills me; I think comparisons to The Plimsouls are not implausible (which is about the highest praise I can give anything), and for my money the whole CD is just freaking great guitar driven rock-and-roll.
I should add that the good folks at Rum/Bar Records have recently reissued It's About Time, completely remastered and with bonus tracks, and the damn thing is better than before. If ever there was a Great Lost Album of the 80s, this is it. (Grab it at Amazon over HERE.)
...and the '80s New Wave pop/punk artist/band(s) that you think should have been much better known/more commercially successful than they were is/are...???
No arbitrary rules, but if the act you posit actually started recording in the late 70s -- like, for example, The Records -- we'll let it slide.
And I mention The Records because they'd be my nominee, to the surprise of no one who's ever hung out here.
Discuss/have fun.
And have a great weekend, everyody!!
15 comments:
Dwight Twilley (while Dwight Twilley Band were a mostly 70's act), DT solo was mostly 80's plus.
- Paul in DK
The problem with the stated question is I can think of too many bands that started in the late 70s and were bigger in England than the US (XTC, The Jam for example...)
But my big four that started in the 80s and had a hit and then should have had a lot more in the US:
Kim Wilde
Marshall Crenshaw
Juliana Hatfield
Aimee Mann
All of whom continue to make fine albums that are ignored by the general public.
Marshall Crenshaw and Bram Tchaikovsky come to mind.
The dB's, the Spongetones, and the Records
The Vapors. One-hit wonder reputation, but they released two excellent albums.
Finchy
Hoodoo Gurus
Still going strong- 2022's "Chariot Of The Gods" was another fine release, their show was great, and they're back in the USA in September.
Oh, Dwight Twilley. Absolutely.
What a thrill it would be to hear any number of his songs on the radio instead of the gazillionth spin of 'What I Like About You.'
And of course, Shoes, 20/20, The Beat, Pezband...
Squeeze
Finn & The Sharks.
The Broadcasters.
Floor Models.
Captain Al
dB's, Let's Active, Guadalcanal Diary spring immediately to mind
Baby and the Pacifiers out of Atlanta. Part if a great 80's music scene in Atlanta.
I also have to nominate The White Animals. They were the first DIY band to get their video on MTV, and they absolutely ruled the live band college circuit down South in the mid to late 80s.
They were musically brilliant, too -- combining garage punk with dub reggae soundscapes.
Here's more about them...
https://powerpop.blogspot.com/2011/12/it-came-from-nashville.html
The White Animals did at least one great album. Need to listen to that again.
One other band was The Reivers (formerly Zeitgeist) that were wonderful, but mostly overlooked.
- Paul in DK
The Producers - still touring too (I think). They had at least 3 or 4 songs on Atlanta radio a lot in the early 80s, and occasionally on MTV
selecter, lee scratch perry, the specials, the english beat
rs
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