Re: From Buddy Holly to present, list your top 25 bands with 10 bonus picks (if you must), so 35 max
When Cause & Effect came out, my friends and I were like "is that Dave Gahan, it sounds like Dave Gahan." Erasure - I was waiting for someone to list them. PSB, I like them so much, I took off Prince and re-did my list. A-ha - me and you. Sade - me and you. U2 - "Actung Baby" is my favorite album and I have the cover in poster form...so cool. I actually don't think most of yours are mainstream. But I hear you. My list was very mainstream in that I grew up on Top 40 and "discovered" KROQ (Pasadena/Los Angeles) when I was 16. Great list...love that you put Sade on there. I've seen her in concert 5 times, 4 proper shows, and then Leno in 1993 or so where I was just a few feet away and with several male friends, all mouths in the audience gaping wide. This is a woman who has twice gone 10 years without an album, only to have those albums go to #1 on the U.S. Billboard Charts. She won the Best New Artist Grammy in 1983 or so (very well deserved) and I like everything from Diamond Life to Soldier of Love.. Here is an old one...a classic...a bit long. Cheesy. And who is that actor at the very beginning of the video? Anyone?
[video=dailymotion;x2bmp4]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2bmp4_sade-smooth-operator-complete-versi_music[/video]
Yeah, he really had that Dave Gahan sound. I loved that first album. They admitted later that it was a bit rough on the production, but I enjoy that, like a polished raw demo.
Yeah, I didn't always have Erasure and PSB in my top 5, although I have always loved them since the 80's. But I just had to come to terms that I loved them that much more than most, as evident by how much I listen to them still. I have really enjoyed the newer albums. Especially Erasure, has just seemed to get better with age. Vince Clarke is a god of synthesizer programming. I've enjoyed his compositions ever since Depeche Mode's Speak & Spell. Andy Bell is a great singer. While his lyrics aren't particularly deep, or great examples of poetry, he sings about unusual things in interesting phrases. The instrumental production Vince did with Martin Gore recently was pretty awesome - Ssss.
Sade has such a sultry voice. I have loved every album. She sounded great then. She sounds great now. That's awesome you have been able to see her live so many times.
For U2, I actually put Actung Baby on my dividing line, as when the music was starting to change. I know it was a success. I had it. And we used to listen to it a lot. But I don't revisit it. I love 80's U2. Although, as a one-off, I rather enjoy their album, Pop. It was just a break from what they had done, or what they did since. I certainly cannot follow U2 past the 90's in any way.
I guess mainstream wasn't the right word. But yes, for most of my list, I didn't have to go on a search to be exposed to it. Just growing up in Southern California did it. Not like Hunz or Mind.In.A.Box. where I had to go searching.
It is interesting with A-ha, here in the States, they seem to be regarded simply as an 80's band. But their 2009 release of the excellent Foot of the Mountain did incredibly well. People here have no idea, when their concept is dominated by the commercial distribution system.
According to their wiki:
The band has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. In less than a year, during 2010, the band earned an estimated 500 million Norwegian Kroner on touring tickets, merchandising and the release of a greatest hits album, making them one of the 40–50 largest grossing bands in the world.