1980s New Wave · Post-Punk · Alternative Rock

Stadium-filling Irish rockers who fused post-punk drive with anthemic ambition.

The biggest thrash metal band, defining heaviness for generations of metal fans.

Athens, Georgia jangle-pop trailblazers who built American college rock.

Sunset Strip rockers whose debut became one of the best-selling debuts ever.

Twin-guitar New Wave of British Heavy Metal champions and global metal ambassadors.

Goth-tinged post-punk turned arena-filling alternative rock.

Manchester icons whose four albums defined British indie.

CBGB art-school nerds who pushed rock into funk and global rhythm.

Loud-quiet-loud Boston quartet who taught alternative rock how to be weird.

New York noise-rock pillars who connected the underground to the mainstream.

Speed-and-fury L.A. thrash icons among the genre's most influential.

Technical thrash titans led by Dave Mustaine after his Metallica exit.

New York thrash mainstay rounding out the Big Four with crossover swagger.

Birmingham metal lifers who codified the leather-and-steel metal aesthetic.

Lemmy's furious power trio fusing punk speed with metal volume.

Eddie Van Halen's tapping techniques rewired what hard rock guitar could do.

L.A. session-musician supergroup behind 'Africa' and other studio classics.

David Coverdale's bluesy hard-rock outfit turned MTV-era hitmaker.

Sheffield band whose layered hard-pop took NWOBHM to the masses.

New Jersey arena rockers behind the most enduring 80s glam-metal hits.

Sunset Strip excess incarnate, the genre's biggest tabloid stars.

Mark Knopfler's understated bar-rock outfit became a global mass-market act.

Reggae-tinged New Wave trio whose tight songwriting topped charts globally.

Sydney rock band whose funk-rock crossover defined Australian rock's 80s peak.

Birmingham synth-rockers at the heart of MTV's first golden age.

Synth-pop duo behind some of the most enduring 80s hits.

Basildon synth-pioneers who darkened pop into goth-tinged stadium fare.

Manchester post-Joy-Division project who fused dance music and rock.

Liverpool post-punk band of cinematic atmosphere and Doors-y drama.

Trailblazing post-punks whose icy art-rock paved goth's path.

Northampton band whose 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' essentially launched goth rock.

Leeds gothic-rock institution synonymous with smoke-and-leather darkness.

Reid brothers' fuzz-pop project, an indie touchstone whose noise inspired shoegaze.

Scottish dream-pop pioneers whose ethereal vocals shaped 4AD aesthetics.

Minneapolis ramshackle rockers beloved for songwriting and chaos in equal measure.

Twin Cities trio who proved hardcore could carry melody and ambition.

Boston post-punks whose noisy intelligence prefigured indie rock.

L.A. hardcore touring monsters whose DIY ethic shaped American punk.

Bay Area satirists turning punk into political theatre.

D.C. Black hardcore innovators who fused reggae and lightning-fast punk.

D.C. straight-edge hardcore short-timers whose influence vastly outsizes their run.

Hamburg fathers of European power metal whose 'Keeper' albums are foundational.

Solingen metal veterans behind 'Balls to the Wall' and a steady career arc.

Hannover hard-rock band whose 'Wind of Change' soundtracked the post-Cold-War era.

London post-punks who pre-dated industrial rock and influenced metal alike.

Chrissie Hynde's Anglo-American band of jangly New Wave craft.

Boston band whose Ric-Ocasek-led catchiness dominated late-70s rock radio.

Akron art-punks whose herky-jerky New Wave was both satire and innovation.

CBGB-bred New Yorkers who fused punk, disco, and hip hop into pop hits.

Cleveland avant-rockers whose sci-fi unease built post-punk's American wing.

London art-punks whose minimalist songwriting influenced indie for decades.

Mark E. Smith's prolific Manchester institution of acerbic post-punk.

Belfast punks whose 'Inflammable Material' chronicled the Troubles.

London band whose keyboard-led punk became polished New Wave.

Howard Devoto's post-Buzzcocks project of cerebral post-punk.

Leeds post-punks who fused political theory with funk-inflected rhythm.

John Lydon's post-Pistols project, a foundational post-punk band.

Coventry 2 Tone leaders who fused ska with punk-era message music.

London 'nutty boys' whose ska-pop charm defined a slice of 80s UK pop.

Birmingham soul-rockers whose 'Come On Eileen' became a generational anthem.

Shane MacGowan's Anglo-Irish band fusing trad music with punk attitude.

Mike Scott's pan-Celtic 'big music' band of folk-rock grandeur.

Scottish New Wave band whose bagpipe-toned guitars stamped a unique sound.

Glasgow art-rockers turned 80s arena hitmakers.

Wirral synth-pop pioneers whose hits traveled from new wave to MTV staples.

British synth-rockers whose 'Vienna' epitomized New Romantic ambition.

Yorkshire NWOBHM mainstays of working-class metal anthems.

Stourbridge NWOBHM band whose 'Am I Evil?' became a thrash standard.

Newcastle band whose name and album titles seeded black metal.

Buenos Aires trio who became Latin America's biggest rock band.

Luca Prodan's Buenos Aires post-punks who reshaped Argentine rock.

Santiago band whose synth-rock protests defined Chilean rock under Pinochet.

Paris New Wave veterans, France's biggest enduring rock band.

Paris band that became France's biggest 80s rock act.

Aylesbury prog torchbearers and pioneers of fan-funded album campaigns.

Sydney pub-rock turned protest-rock, fronted by future minister Peter Garrett.

Adelaide pub-rock institution with deep cultural roots in Australia.

Sydney garage-power-poppers and longtime Australian rock favorites.

Auckland New Wave band led by the Finn brothers, precursor to Crowded House.

Cave's pre-Bad-Seeds outfit, post-punk's most violent, theatrical band.

Brisbane band whose '(I'm) Stranded' was the first non-American/British punk single.

Melbourne band whose 'Down Under' became Australia's unofficial anthem.

Perth band of gothic Western Australia, beloved by 80s indie.

Brisbane indie-pop band of literary jangle and slow-burn international acclaim.

Melbourne pub-rock big-band of brassy anthems and beloved deep cuts.

Sydney band whose 'Under the Milky Way' became a global indie touchstone.

Toronto power trio of hard-rock anthems and progressive flourishes.

Calgary band synonymous with 'Working for the Weekend' and red leather pants.

Bradford band who pivoted from goth post-punk into AC/DC-tinged hard rock.

Leeds gothic-rock band founded by ex-Sisters of Mercy members.

Berkeley ska-punk progenitors whose short run birthed Rancid and a movement.

Steve Albini's drum-machine-and-knives noise-rock trio.

Dublin band fronted by Bob Geldof, behind 'I Don't Like Mondays'.