Which 80s acts are still doing great today?

Influenced by [Removed Illegal Link] thread, which acts that have been around since the 80s are still pretty huge names today?

There's Madonna and Kylie, obv. And some rock acts like Metallica and U2 (arguably for some, but I love their 00s work). Depeche Mode, surely. And personally I also think Human League have delivered after 2000 in spite of having a down period in the late 80s in particular.

Any other suggestions?

I tried to link this thread, as the influence:
Which 1960s act was best in the 1980s?

There's Madonna obv.

b/c her gay fans are stupid

metallica in the 00s probably even worse than in the 90s. 80s work 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000X better

Thomas Dolby and Gary Numan come to mind...Dolby's one released one album (which was really good!) but Numan's latest albums have all been pretty good

Morrissey, arguably. Frank Black, Yo La Tengo... Superchunk, just barely. I'd guess GBV still counts.

Underworld is probably the best answer to this (though it's kind of a cheap shot)

Um, Happy Mondays........? Yeah, I didn't think so.

But they're actually still alive and performing, which is probably deserving of accolades of some sort.

this is a good question, my answers are probably all hopelessly obscure and stereotypical but:

The Legendary Pink Dots
Nurse With Wound
Current 93, arguably
The Ex

RIP Coil :( :( :(

Springsteen, people.

70's, yo

Gary Numan doesn't really qualify as an 80s act. He was around scoring huge hits in 1979.

Dinosaur Jr. has had a nice second act in the past few years.

Thinking about it, The Melvins have also kept on doing what they have been doing pretty much the whole time.

Pet Shop Boys still putting out great stuff and touring. The Cure not so much putting out great stuff but selling out tours.

Dr. Dre.

itt: interesting definitions of "doing great"

Madness.

The last album was excellent ..

Kate Bush ya big dobbers.

Didn't she start in the 70s?

yeah

kd lang!

Dave Grohl

(80's - Scream; today - Foo Fighters)

sonic youth would've been a great answer a few months ago :(

Nick Cave
Michael Gira
Mark E. Smith

have been more up than down the whole time. Mid-00s were their best period since the mid-80s, I'd say.

George Micheal.

Robyn Hitchcock.

Lloyd Cole is still doin' it right to my ears

the wedding present? haven't heard the other albums from 2k but the new one is good.

Mission of Burma

i mean really the more interesting question (and what I think these threads are getting at) is "which acts have been consistantly good over a two-decade period"? because boviously there aren't too many

Didn't she start in the 70s?

Still doesn't stop Kate Bush being one of the best artists of the 80s though. All her best albums were from the 80s and most of here hits were in that decade too.

Anyhow, a whole bunch of these acts bands started in the 70s - U2, the Human League, Madness, The Fall, the Soft Boys, Springsteen, Numan...

This might be easier with producers, for instance Steve Albini is still doing great work.

Another vote for Nick Cave

Paul Simon
Lucinda Williams
Tom Waits

Einstürzende Neubauten

Those acts that tour the Tanglewoods and Ravinias each summer: Lyle Lovett, Cowboy Junkies...

The Cure, New Order

metallica in the 00s probably even worse than in the 90s. 80s work 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000X better

― Algerian Goalkeeper, Friday, March 23, 2012 7:23 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

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was gonna say Neubauten but I think they have broken up now?

Swans is a great answer.

If people who started in the late 70's are allowed, then Paul Weller. Guy just put out his third pretty great album in a row....

was gonna say Neubauten but I think they have broken up now?

nah they are still a thing

Mylene Farmer is still huge.

Influenced by [Removed Illegal Link] thread, which acts that have been around since the 80s are still pretty huge names today?

this was the original question, and it's much harder to answer than "what 80s artist recently put out a record that you and 10 other people enjoyed?"

good answers so far:

Madonna
Metallica
U2
Morrissey (still seems to draw a crowd, but i wouldn't know)
Springsteen (though in substantially diminished capacity)
Dr. Dre
Mevins (seem to operate at the Morrissey level, with a dedicated fanbase & continuing influence)
Kate Bush (same)
Dave Grohl (not really an "act", but wth)
Nick Cave
The Swans
The Fall (last three maybe not "huge", but still attracting a fair bit of notice)

excluded people who had established careers before the 80s, cuz that seems like cheating

EN's 21st century stuff is my favorite of theirs.

Dave Grohl

Just because someone made a record that 500 people heard in the 80s doesnt make them an "80s act"

I would say no rapper who was commercially successfully in the 80s is commercially successful right now when it comes to actually making music. (Besides Dre)

but if you open that door to film and TV, then the list is "practically everybody"

SADE

The last Beastie Boys album had good sales.

oh yeah, the bestie boys are another good exception

sade too, though not so prominent in the US

Just because someone made a record that 500 people heard in the 80s doesnt make them an "80s act"

eh, scream were a pretty big deal in the not-so-small pond of 80s hardcore

Dain Bramage, slightly less so

Lee Ranaldo

Nurse With Wound
Current 93, arguably

from the same scene, Death In June.

Feelies

Red Hot Chili Peppers ?

Iron Maiden

"The Final Frontier was announced on 4 March. The album, the band's fifteenth, was released on 16 August (2010), garnering critical acclaim and the band's greatest commercial success in their history, reaching No. 1 in twenty-eight countries worldwide."

Björk?

sade too, though not so prominent in the US

2010:
The album debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart, becoming their highest debut since Stronger Than Pride (1988). It also debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 502,000 copies in the United States, making it Sade's first US number-one debut, and topped music charts in several other countries.

Björk is a good call.

good answers so far:

Madonna
Metallica
U2
Morrissey (still seems to draw a crowd, but i wouldn't know)
Springsteen (though in substantially diminished capacity)
Dr. Dre
Mevins (seem to operate at the Morrissey level, with a dedicated fanbase & continuing influence)
Kate Bush (same)
Dave Grohl (not really an "act", but wth)
Nick Cave
The Swans
The Fall (last three maybe not "huge", but still attracting a fair bit of notice)

excluded people who had established careers before the 80s, cuz that seems like cheating

Surely Depeche Mode too. No new albums since 2009, but working now. And particularly 2005's "Playing The Angel" was considered by many to be among their better work, at least in a long while.

Erasure have have dipped a bit in the past years, but hit UK #4 with "Breathe" as recently as 2005.

Killing Joke have had one of the most consistent careers, though their first single did appear in 1979.

julian cope
david sylvian

my bloody valentine and pixies (as live acts at least)

2010:
The album debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart, becoming their highest debut since Stronger Than Pride (1988). It also debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 502,000 copies in the United States, making it Sade's first US number-one debut, and topped music charts in several other countries.

well shut my mouth! i had no idea it was such a huge hit in the US. #14 on the US year end chart.

Björk is a good call.

yeah, absolutely. chili peppers, too, though i'm with you looks to have peaked high and dropped quickly (?)

depeche mode and erasure just don't register on my radar, so i can't say. assume they're big names ... somewhere.

DM's recent stuff is great; Erasure hasn't done anything I liked since their s/t album in 1995. Even that's not so hot. I haven't heard their new one, though.

"Nightbird" was great and their best since "Chorus" IMO.

I interviewed Grant McLennan once, and he sot of bristled at people who considered the Go-Betweens an '80s act, because they formed in the '70s and as far as he was concerned were a '70s act. Interesting shift in perspective there. We talking bands that formed in the '80s? Or just any band that existed in the '80s? Like, Pet Shop Boys for sure. Bjork, sure. Sade for sure. But Kate Bush is pushing it.

Slayer?

McLennan's own perception of them as a 70s act doesn't necessarily mean that's what they were.

Bon Jovi

I feels less interesting when a band formed if it took ages for them to release an album.

Maybe the album debut would be the most correct way to decide which decade they started in.

sounds sensible

i think of almost anyone who rose to prominence in the 80s as an "80s act", especially if their material was consistent with the trends of the decade. agree that kate bush is really, really stretching it, but the OP leaves us a technical out in specifying only that the act has to have "been around since the 80s".

also, afaic 1979 or even 1978 is pretty much "the 80s" when we're talking about an artist's debut release and trying to frame that artist's entire career in terms of a single decade. i mean devo and b-52s are quintessential "80s acts" to me, but they both had debut albums in the late 70s.

Was Randy Newman an '80s act? Jackson Browne?

"The concert’s unannounced performer, Bruce Springsteen, joked that when Sting had told him the theme was ’80s nostalgia, he had responded, 'Sting, we’re ’80s nostalgia.'"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/15/arts/music/15rainforest.html

I'd thought of Kate Bush, and she would be the answer if the question were something like, What artist who made classic music during the 80s is still fantastic? But I always figure with these questions that the winning answer never involves debating technicalities. On the other hand, it's unfortunate that none of the artists mentioned so far are as good as Kate Bush.

Was Randy Newman an '80s act? Jackson Browne?

[consults manual]

no

i'm tempted to give kate bush a pass, at least in the states, cuz her first album was released in '78, and she didn't have her big american breakthrough until 1992, with hounds of love.

erm, make that 1982

ffs, NINETEEN-EIGHTY-FIVE

Kate Bush had 12 top 30 hits in the UK in the 80s right throughout the decade (compared to only 2 in the 70s). Seems a bit nuts to think of her just as a 70s act imo.

Still a question of definition. Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson were among the biggest names of the 80s, but had still been around for the majority of the 70s (even a single debut in the 60s in the case of Jacko)

yeah, that's the way they differ from the likes of B-52's, the go-betweens, kate bush and lolrandy newman

Skinny Puppy
Bauhaus, on a technicality (tho is that last album any good?)
Eno! ... wait no, he started in the 70s too didnt he.

Oh and Duran Duran, suprised no one mentioned them.

(though for all these im nto sure if im cheating as they all had long fallow periods)

really hard for me to see either skinny puppy or bauhaus as "doing great" in a "huge names" sense, no matter how much i might happen to like their recent work.

Whoa, Kate Bush is younger than Robert Pollard. I suppose he is famous for being very old.

that is kind of mindblowing

it's unfortunate that none of the artists mentioned so far are as good as Kate Bush.

you must not be a Nurse With Wound fan, but Stapleton's recent work has been amazing.

Contend: er well I could say that even more so for NWW or Current 93 or Frank Black! I didnt think it had to be chart toppers just because Geir started the thread.

Social Distortion
Bangles
Echo and the Bunnymen
Primal Scream

New Order

Contend: er well I could say that even more so for NWW or Current 93 or Frank Black! I didnt think it had to be chart toppers just because Geir started the thread.

yeah, yr right. i was being a dick w the thread police attitude. was trying to push it away from "what 80s acts are still producing work you like?" but that seems as good a way to go as any.

New Order

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't New Order release only one album in the 00s, after which it broke up? And now they're arguing about who can perform Joy Division songs? That doesn't sound like "doing great" to me.

it's ilm. New Order made 3 of the top 100 greatest tracks in the entire 20th century according to ilm.

Peter Hook

Well, four would be pushing it.

rick rubin

ok this is more like it

which 80s acts producers are still doing great today?

Beastie Boys

And I'm surprised Geir didn't mention Crowded House yet either.

Megadeth

which 80s acts producers are still doing great today?

This is a much more interesting question. Like, "Mutt" Lange=yes. Hugh Padgham=no. Trevor Horn: sure. Steve Lillywhite: no.

Oh and Duran Duran, suprised no one mentioned them.

"All You Need Is Now" is a great album IMO, probably their best since "Rio". But it didn't exactly put the charts on fire, sadly. Their earlier 00s material wasn't particularly good ("Astronaut" maybe passable)

which 80s producers are still doing great today?

Kate Bush

Trevor Horn managed to do some fresh stuff for "t.A.T.u". Also great work on the latest Yes, but that is more retro.

T Bone Burnett is still pretty successful.

Trevor Horn produced the best Belle and Sebastian record.

Vince Clark / Martin Gore!

this was the original question, and it's much harder to answer than "what 80s artist recently put out a record that you and 10 other people enjoyed?"

good answers so far:

[...]
The Swans

is this cracking up anyone else

And I'm surprised Geir didn't mention Crowded House yet either.

no Paul Hester no credibility

also N. Finn and his wife playing jams they wrote stoned to 300 ppl in a basement >>>> the current House playing belabored songs to 1500 ppl in a theatre ime

this thread is full of acts who have in the past 10 years made a ton of money touring and maybe released a couple albums that weren't terrible, which is a much looser definition of "doing great" than the one applied in the thread about '60s acts thriving in the '80s.

Trent Reznor should count for this, right? Debut album in '89, every NIN album released since debuted in the US top 20 (with 4 in a row in the top 5), plus he won a Golden Globe and an Oscar in 2010.

Clint Mansell

The Swans

is this cracking up anyone else

jeez man, the last record got massive goat-style critical praise from almost every quarter, even lex liked it

In what universe could Swans be considered a "huge name" at any point during their career?

universe of arty american indie rock. they were p huge in that world in the mid-late 80s (like sonic youth, pussy galore, big black, etc), but unlike sonic youth and jon spencer, they never made a leap up in general popularity. they did, however, cross over to the arty international goth rock crowd, and did thrived there throughout the 90s. they're a big name in a set of overlapping universes that prize secrecy.

i'd say that their latest album has been approximately as successful as anything else they've released, gathering a great deal of positive mainstream press coverage and selling relatively well, probably boosted by gira's boostering of modrens like devendra b and akron family. so, to the extent to which they were ever huge, i'd say they still are. this as opposed to folks like the pet shop boys and bauhaus, where however satisfactory their recent product may seem, they've clearly fallen a few rungs down the ladder.

Kate Pierson is doing great these days. Not so much with the B-52's, but with Kate's Lazy Meadow in Mount Tremper, New York, a rustic modern lodging in New York's Catskill Mountains near Woodstock.

80's acts in Billboard's Music's Top 40 Money Makers of 2011:

38) Motley Crue ($5,376,272)

37) NKOTB ($5,519,805)

12) Journey ($12,313,822)

8) Celine Dion ($14,261,515)

7) Bon Jovi ($15,835,856)

6) Sade ($16,382,809)

2) U2 ($32,116,315)

no way is dave grohl an "80s artist" because of Scream c'mon

xp yeah, haven't seen any mention yet of bon jovi or celine dion, both obviously still going strong. amazed by journey at #12, tho.

which 80s acts producers are still doing great today?

Flood started with Joshua Tree, Pretty Hate Machine, and Violator, and he just produced Let England Shake and Orbital's comeback Wonky.

Flood started well before that. Also, not on Pretty Hate Machine at all, iirc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_%28producer%29#Selected_engineering.2Fproduction_credits

1989: Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (Engineer, Programming, Producer)

I mean, Flood engineered New Order's first, and MInistry's first. You're right, though, I totally forgot he was one of the many producers of Pretty Hate Machine, which I misremembered as being mostly a Tackhead joint.

xpost.

The first Flood production I am aware of was Erasure's debut album.

37) NKOTB ($5,519,805)

NKOTB and Swans are both excluded by the word "still" in the title

Saw the swans in a club this year, imagine they are still doing as well as they ever did

NKOTB and Swans are both excluded by the word "still" in the title

Those were last year's earnings, I'd say that's still doing pretty good.

well, nkotb didn't make an album between 1994 and 2008, so "still" (as in sustained success) wouldn't really apply to them

Aimee Mann

Holy shit, I didn't even know NKOTB had made a comeback! I guess I'm totally out of the loop.

President Keyes down with the English language, you have my vote sir

Tuomas - they are actually touring now as NKOTBSB, in a supergroup with the Backstreet Boys. One member is not involved but I don't know from which group.

NKOTBSB sounds like the title of some really kinky fanfiction.

or a white power organization

I actually really liked "Summertime" especially for "think about you in the summer time (UH OH!)" and "my summertime....MY SUUUMMERTIIIIME!"

C'mon y'all...PRINCE.

I would have agreed with that pre-MPLSOUND/Lotusflower

prince died when he did that "vikings rouser" song

but i guess he's doing well in the sense that he's a living legend and could probably sell out arenas anywhere on the planet

and he took the Vikings with him!

Prince started in the 1970s.

Not really a 70s artist though

The Breeders had a great comeback a few years ago.

Oh. They were a 90s act, weren't they?

Cant believe this board is so fucking stupid sometimes that there's actual discussions about whether Prince is an 80s artist or Dave Grohl is a 90s artist

its like fan fiction for people who are pedantic about shit they make up

^LOL^