80s | Musicosity

80s

Olivia Newton-John

Born in Cambridge, England in1948, the youngest child of Professor Brin Newton-John and Irene, daughter of Nobel Prize winning physicist, Max Born, Olivia moved to Melbourne, Australia with her family when she was five. By the age of fifteen, she had formed an all-girl group called Sol Four. Later that year she won a talent contest on the popular TV show, “Sing, Sing, Sing,” which earned her a trip to London.

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Status Quo

Status Quo are a british rock band with strong boogie line. The group was founded by bassist Alan Lancaster and guitarist Francis Rossi in 1962. They began as a rock and roll freakbeat band called The Spectres. By 1967, with very little commercial success, they discovered psychedelia and changed their name to Traffic (later Traffic Jam, to avoid confusion with Steve Winwood's Traffic.) At this time the line-up also included organist Roy Lynes and drummer John Coghlan.

The Sisters of Mercy

Originating from Leeds, the Sisters of Mercy were described by critic Steve Huey as playing "a slow, gloomy, ponderous hybrid of metal and psychedelia, often incorporating dance beats." The one constant in the band's career has been deep-voiced singer Andrew Eldritch. The band is named after the Leonard Cohen song "Sisters Of Mercy" according to Eldritch. The band originally formed in 1980 with guitarist Gary Marx and drummer-turned-vocalist Eldritch.

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Lime Spiders

The Lime Spiders are an Australian band which play a hybrid of garage and psychedelic rock. Lead Singer Mick Blood formed the band in the early '80s with guitarist Gerard Corben, bassist Tony Bambach and drummer Ricky Lawson. The Spiders released their monumental single 'Slave Girl', on the Citadel label, in 1983. In the years to follow, the Spiders issued one amazing single after another: 25th Hour, Out of Control, Weirdo Libido, My Favourite Room, and Volatile. Slave Girl would go on to be one of the best selling independent singles of the 1980s.

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Heart

There is more than one artist with this name: 1) Heart got their start in 1963 in Seattle, Washington formed by bassist Steve Fossen and brothers Roger Fisher (guitar/mandolin) and Mike Fisher (producer and sound engineer). The group went by the names Army and White Heart before settling on just Heart in the early 1970s. Ann Wilson joined the group in 1970. Romance sprang up between her and Mike, and she came along when they moved to Vancouver to avoid the Vietnam draft some years later.

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The Morrisons

The Morrisons are from Torquay in Devon and were originally formed in 1986 by Phil and Ian who were both originally inspired to play guitar by the arrival of punk in the mid 70’s and both shared a love of 60’s music and decent tunes. Most of the original members of the band had previously played together in a band called Chapter 29 and other various locals bands. In 1987 John Peel played their debut flexi single Listen To Your Heart several times on his show.

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Chicago

Chicago is a rock band that was formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. In the band's debut, they began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental rock band headed by the three-headed monster of singer/guitarist Terry Kath, singer/bassist Peter Cetera and singer/keyboardist Robert Lamm. The band featured an unusual and unusually versatile line-up of instrumentalists, including saxophonist Walter Parazaider, trombonist James Pankow, and trumpet player Lee Loughnane, along with more traditional rock instruments — guitarist Terry Kath...

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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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Joy Division

Joy Division were a post-punk band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester, UK. The band dissolved in May 1980 after the suicide of its lead singer, Ian Curtis. Much of their popularity/reputation arguably resulted from frequent playings on air by iconic DJ John Peel, but it is easy now to overlook the impact that the first album, Unknown Pleasures, had on post-punk music at the time, as reference the number of prominent bands that cited this album as an influence. The remaining members reformed as New Order and they have gone on to achieve much critical and commercial success.

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The Human League

The Human League are an English synthpop band formed in 1977. Originally a minimal post-punk synthesiser-based group from Sheffield, UK, they became one of the most successful new wave acts of the 80s. The only consistent band member is vocalist and songwriter Phil Oakey. The band's best known configuration was their 1980-1985 lineup of Phillip Oakey (vocals), Joanne Catherall (vocals), Susanne Sulley (vocals), Phillip Adrian Wright (keyboards), Jo Callis (guitar, keyboards) and Ian Burden (bass).

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