Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the '80s Underground Box CD2 Poll

OK. I don't know what was going on with US college radio in the 80's, but from a UK perspective, it seems to me that none of these tracks belong together at all.

this is the playlist for KROQ in Los Angeles for the 80's.

US college radio in the 80s basically said "Oh, it's from the UK? It must all be the same genre! Oh and throw in some random US bands that don't get airplay"

Sisters FTW

Raincoats.

A bunch of good choices, but I'll spring for "Enola Gay" easily.

Sisters

Well that's my favourite Minutemen song. but not quite my favourite raincoats, meat puppets, JD or Beat, excellent as they all are.
How do you compare this stuff???

I went with 'Wardance' 'cause I don't think it will get enough love on this poll ... and I've been digging it lately - they still play it great in concert.

what a weird compilation though, with the England map suggesting it's all Brit stuff; chucking together mainstream synth and guitar pop with indie, and then a handful of underground US acts. what has prefab sprout got to do with the minutemen?

That's a USA map with brit towns/cities slapped on it indiscriminately...

Aaaah, this is totally just College Radio in the 80s, ah, take me back to my youth... thing is, there are so many great songs on this list, but I'm going to try and identify the single most *COLLEGE RADIO* of the bunch, rather than the "best" or "favourite" or whatever.

Which means it's down to Freak Scene or Blister In The Sun. And though Blister is probably more quintessential, I really freaking love that Dino Jr song. ARGH. Decisions.

Freak Scene

Love Will Tear Us Apart

organizing the boy scouts for murder is wrong

Now, this looks like a marvellous box set actually.

Voted "Vienna", but this CD is also full of gems: OMD and Prefab Sprout in particular.

Voted "Blister".

this is indeed an awesome collection of songs. "Message of Love," "Vienna" and "Freak Scene" is one hell of a one-two-three punch to open with. but the best songs are "Enola Gay," "Mirror in the Bathroom," "Love Will Tear Us Apart," "Blister in the Sun," "This Corrosion" and "Senses Working Overtime." will vote Violent Femmes just over XTC.

i missed the Smiths, i actually think that is the best song...

bumpy

Freak Scene

Stigmata

although goo goo muck was hard to pass up.

lol @ everyone going "gawd how bizarre these are all different types of bands!" at a compilation that seems meant to underline the whole scope and diversity of a particular era

Yeah, this comp demonstrates that alternative isn't so much a genre as an ideology.

... and therefore "Alternative" signage in a record store is nothing but a fairytale in the supermarket so I'm voting Raincoats.

freak scene

Most of these songs are great, and I don't really have many qualms with the groups chosen. What bugs me is that the song that represents each band is always the most obvious and predictable. Even before reading the track names, you know what's coming. Violent Femmes, Joy Division, Dinosaur Jr. Could it be anything other than "Blister in the Sun", "Love Will Tear us Apart" and "Freak Scene", just for once?

"Add It Up", "Dead Souls", random DJ song (don't know them at all)

It's not like I want the outtakes from the previously unreleased secret New Years Eve sessions or something. It's only that most of these groups have more than one great "accessible" song that could easily fit into this box.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Enola Gay

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.