any early 80's alt/soft punk fans out there?

Forgot to shout out the Plimsouls and Walls of Voodoo, other seminal LA bands.

I am surprised most of you missed The Replacements, which had five seminal albums during that period. "All for Nothing" is the definative Best Of, but I recommend dive dives with "Pleased to meet me," "Let it Be", "Inconcerated Live," "Tim" and the very under-rated "All Shook Down."

Also forgotten is the Pixies. Hard not to note the obvious influence on Nirvana and the whole Grunge Movement. The Pixies, along with Jane's Addiction, served as a bridge between those genres.

For hardcore listeners, hard not to mention Fugazi. The bass line on "Waiting List" is epic. The Adolescents,Agent Orange, Bad Brains,Bad Religion, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Descendents, The Dickies, Fear, Flipper, The Germs, Wasted Youth, the Weirdos, and Youth Brigade all defined American Hardcore movement from 1980 to 1986.

The original LA Punk Rock also morphed into Cow Punk. Hard not to like the Beat Farmers (Country Dick was one of the best showman!), The Blasters, Concrete Blonde, the Dils, X/The Knitters, and the Minutemen ("Corona" is a great demo disc for music shows). Santa Cruz spawned Cracker and Camper B. East LA spawned Los Lobos and the Plugz. How about the early funk punk experiments with the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

Manchester UK defined Post Punk with the Buzzcocks, Joy Division, the Smiths and New Order, and set the stage for the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and the Charlatans to come.
All the bands from that town share a tonality that suggests a month of overcast skies.

Mission to Burma is a great "unsung" band. "Academy Fight Song" is a lost gem.

REM's early output was amazing, especially the first EP which contained "Gardening at Night."

Waltersalas: Missed Jason--never even on my radar, to tell you the truth. I was too busy going to Blaster, Beat Farmer and Meat Puppet shows to take notice. :)

Levy03: Cow punk was DIY countrified punk.

Yeah, I forgot the Meat Puppets out of Arizona!!!!

Tpreaves

I leave personal torture to the realm of my wife and children. Sorry that impassioned lo fi music is not your cup of tea. There is always Beethoven.

Then you would probably like all of the music above. Not very complicated in the least! :)

Bander: I'll put in a plug for Graham Parker.

Graham Parker was awesome, especially the "Live Sparks" album. I love his song "Mercury Poisoning." The best kiss-off song targeting a record label, ever. Along with the Sex Pistols "EMI", you could flip the bird to the hand that feeds you!

Lots of UK Bands are copping these 80s sounds at the moment, including Little Boots, Ladyhawke, La Roux and Patrick Wolf. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs released an electro pop masterpiece earlier in the year.

By the way, do see Coldplay live. They have really matured as a live act and may be, alongside U2 and Radiohead, the best the world offers. Masterful production in staging and lighting with crystal clear and balanced sound.

Good call Jorge.

How about Ska, the reggae mutant that existed next to New Wave and post punk. The whole 2 Tone Movement was great: The Beat, Madness, Specials, Rico, Selecters, etc...Some of the best music to come out in 1979 to 1983. I remember hearing "Ghost Town" by the Specials right after the UK Riots and how it captured the mood of Thacther's England.

I thought Pati Smith was the Mother of Punk?

Shadorne: All the Aussie bands from that period sounded great out of that studio. How about all the seminal albums by Midnight Oil. Probably the best live act, next to vintage INXS, from that time period. The snarling fury of "Hercules" live is burned into my memory.

Mcdadtexas: My standard description of the Violent Femmes: the only concert you attented where nobody owned the album but EVERYBODY knew the words.

Love Midnight Oil. The Earth and Sun and Moon disc is reference to me.

Macdaddy: we are doing the STP tour stops in So Cal. More to follow when it is official. Doing potentially two shows. Just negotiating the offers and dates as we speak.

Pole Cats. Make a circuit with me.

Paul Kelly and the Dots

The Mortal Coil.