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80s

Crowded House

Crowded House is a rock group formed in 1985 in Melbourne, Australia and led by New Zealand musician and singer-songwriter Neil Finn. The band were originally active from 1986 to 1996 before deciding to split up. In 2007, the band reunited to record and tour again.

Neil Finn and Paul Hester decided to form a new band during the Split Enz farewell tour 'Enz with a Bang'. Nick Seymour approached Finn during the after party for the Melbourne show and asked if he could try out for this new band. The first incarnation of the band, The Mullanes, formed in Melbourne in 1985 and also included guitarist Craig Hooper, formerly of The Reels. They secured a record contract with Capitol Records and moved to Los Angeles, at which time Hooper left the band. At the label's behest, the band changed its name to "Crowded House," which alluded to the cramped quarters the three members shared at an apartment in North Sycamore Street in West Hollywood during the recording of the album. They also invited former Split Enz keyboard player Eddie Rayner to join, and he produced the track "Can't Carry On" for the debut self-titled album. He initially joined them on tour in 1988 on keyboards, but had to leave for family reasons before he could be made a full member.

Bursting onto the international scene in 1987 with Don't Dream It's Over from the album Crowded House, the band seemed destined for greatness. However, despite eking out one more hit from the album, Something So Strong, the follow up Temple of Low Men failed to repeat its commercial success, despite critical acclaim. Radio had a hard time categorizing them, but within the industry they quickly gained a stellar reputation as "musicians' musicians", and outside the industry as one of the best live acts, featuring mixed setlists and improvisations. A set of three shows at one venue would often feature less than half the the songs being played more than once.

It wasn't until 1991's Woodface that the band hit international success again, specifically with the jointly written Finn brothers track Weather With You.

In fact, the album that emerged wasn't the one originally proposed. Neil had been working on a side project with his brother Tim Finn, a solo artist in his own right and former Split Enz frontman (in fact, several members had a history in Split Enz - Tim formed the band and Neil was responsible for their biggest hit I Got You, while Paul Hester was the drummer during their final days). When the record company rejected the material he'd composed for the third Crowded House album Neil asked his brother if he could use some of their songs in their place. Tim agreed, allegedly joking he would only do so if he could join the band. Whether or not Neil took this literally, Tim did indeed become the fourth member of Crowded House during the Woodface phase.

Whilst Weather With You became an international hit, particularly in the UK (where it was followed by smaller chart successes for Four Seasons in One Day and It's Only Natural), in the US, at least, history didn't repeat - a situation some put down to the choice of Chocolate Cake - a scathing attack on the American lifestyle - as the first single.

During touring in the UK, Tim was asked to leave the band. Mark Hart joined the band for their next album. Together Alone was a similar international success and the band even managed to score a minor hit in the US with Locked Out after it featured on the soundtrack for the Winona Ryder flick Reality Bites.

Shortly after, Paul Hester decided to leave, although he did return to record three new tracks for a Best Of... compilation, Recurring Dream. By 1996, however, Neil decided to fold the band, choosing instead to focus on a solo career. The band's final concert, on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, was an emotional and memorable event, and has been captured on the DVD / CD Farewell to the World.

A B-sides compilation, entitled Afterglow, was released in 1999.

Paul Hester died tragically in 2005 when he committed suicide in Melbourne, Australia.

January 2007 brought a surprise announcement that Crowded House would be re-forming. Frontman Neil Finn once again linked up with Nick Seymour and Mark Hart and, after picking up Beck's drummer Matt Sherrod to replace Paul Hester, produced a new album entitled Time on Earth.

Members of the band include frontman and guitarist Neil Finn, bassist Nick Seymour (brother of Hunters and Collectors frontman Mark Seymour), drummer Paul Hester (1986-1994), Tim Finn (1990-91), multi-instrumentalist and Supertramp recruit Mark Hart (1993-), session drummer Peter Jones (1994-1996) and new drummer Matt Sherrod (2007-).

The Frenz web site launched a new Crowded House portal in 2007 where old and new fans of the band can keep up to date with news of new releases and tour plans. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams OC, OBC, (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian rock singer, guitarist, songwriter and photographer. Some of his best-known albums are Reckless, 18 til I Die, and Waking Up the Neighbours. Bryan Adams was already popular in Canada when the release of his third album 'Cuts Like A Knife' in 1983 brought him a large following in the USA. His fourth album, 'Reckless', often referred to as one of the most significant of the 1980s, sold over 4 million copies at the time and continues to sell now. His fifth album 'Into the Fire' went platinum.

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Mötley Crüe

Mötley Crüe is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The band was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold more than 80 million album copies worldwide, including 25 million in the U.S. The band members have often been noted for their hard-living lifestyles; all members have had numerous brushes with the law, have spent time in jail, have suffered long addictions to alcohol and drugs...

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The Egyptian Lover

The Egyptian Lover started out as a D.J. in Lafayette, Louisiana then moved to Los Angeles and started promoting dance events with Unique Dreams Entertainment, which would later change its name in 1983 to Uncle Jamm's Army. Together, they would hold early hip-hop dance parties at the L.A. Sports Arena and in Torrance with over 10,000 people. The Egyptian Lover's first recording was in 1983 as a member of the THE RADIO CREW, and then later that year he contributed to "Dial-A-Freak" which was released by Uncle Jamm's Army.

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New Kids On The Block

New Kids On The Block (later NKOTB) is a successful boy band of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Assembled in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr; the members consist of brothers Jordan Knight and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood. The group went on to sell over 70 million albums worldwide, generated hundreds of million of dollars of concert revenues, and roughly paved the way for acts like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC.

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Leo Sayer

At least two artists will get directed to this page if auto spelling correction is enabled in your profile, despite the fact that BOTH artists actually exist in the last.fm database... 1) Leo Sayer, pop star of the 70's. 2) Leo Slayer, experimental noise artist of the 00's. 1) Leo Sayer was born on May 21, 1948 in Shoreham, Sussex, England. He is an internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter and live entertainer whose successful performing career has spanned four decades.

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Icehouse

They were formed in 1977 as Flowers by Iva Davies (born Ivor Arthur Davies, on 22 May 1955, in Wauchope, New South Wales, Australia), who was the main creative force, and a classically trained musician; and bass player, Keith Welsh. For a number of years they also obtained the services of Bob Kretschmer, until he was replaced by young guitarist Paul Gildea. Since 1980 Icehouse has released seven albums, several compilations, and music from collaborations with other artists including dance companies.

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Hall and Oates

Hall & Oates are a pop music duo made up of Daryl Hall and John Oates.The act achieved its greatest fame in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. They specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles, which they dubbed "rock and soul." Critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine & J. Scott McClintock write[1], "at their best, songs were filled with strong hooks and melodies that adhered to soul traditions without being a slave to them by incorporating elements of new wave and hard rock."

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Movement

1) MOVEMENT are a Sydney based Tropical Pop band formed in 2011 2) Movement is an alternative rock band from Västerås, Sweden.
Members: Erik Stenström: Vocals/Guitar, Jens Åkerlind: Guitar/Backing Vocals, Frej Drake: Bass/Backing Vocals, Erik Lundin: Drums 3) Movement is an 80's french coldwave/minimal wave band. 4) Movement is an new band from nyc which has a self-titled ep out. 5) Bay Area band from the late 90's. Was featured on Live 105's Local Lounge Volume 3 comp.

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