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

The Bongos!!!That triggers some synapses. Great live band.

No love for The Bongos here?

Great mix of songcraft and rock energy. Their first single, "The Bullrushes", is IMHO a stone classic from the era and the band was off-the-charts tremendous live. When ????? (Yikes, I can't remember the guy's name, but he ran Razor and Tie Records and was the male half of the band called "The Marys") died, there was a tribute show/fundraiser featuring a bunch of the R&T artists (including IIRC Graham Parker and a few others already mentioned here) . The Bongos re-united for that show and just brought the house down.

Along with The Feelies, they were my go-to live acts of the period. Of course, it helped that I lived in Hoboken, NJ at the time, where those bands happened to be based.

Marty

BTW, The Marys ("Ringing In My Ears") weren't half bad, either.

The Mortal Coil.

For Against out of Lincoln, NE is a good post punk/new wave type band. Made their first Album in 1988.

Based on some suggestions earlier in the thread, I have the Stockholm Monsters and The Sad Lovers on the way.

skinny puppy. still one of my favorites.

not Macdad here but i remember a show in the late 80's at the ballroom. love that place!. think lou reed was there that summer too??. lots of great shows there back in the day. good times for sure!.

Hey Macdad, you didn't happen to catch the Femmes at the Aragon back in early 90, did you? I was supposed to be visiting Northwestern's campus, but bailed on that evening's activities to catch the show. Good times.

Anyone remember Fischer-Z: Red Skies over Paradise?

Found another good one from the era. The band is Cactus World News from Ireland. Check out some of their stuff on You Tube.

You all must hear this song. I consider myself pretty well-versed in 80s music but this is a new one on me. I've been going through this guy's Top 100 Records Of All Time list and I must say that he has impeccable taste. I've discovered all sorts of new artists/tracks from his list. Anyway the track I wanna share is titled All About You by Thomas Leer. It's one of those songs that I can't believe wasn't a hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLZ4ObI8-d4

I don't recall seeing Loyld Cole And The Commotions on the list anywhere. IMO, they are an excellent post punk outfit. The plus for audiophiles is the stuff is well recorded.

Paul Kelly and the Dots

The CHills, Saints, CLean, CHurch...anything on flying nun....and Mushroom....

Ian Dury and the Blockheads, although the 'new boots and panties' album came out in '77 still deserves a mention.

Pole Cats. Make a circuit with me.

They were all great agree! I love this music. I listen to it mostly when I am driving or working out.

Remember Lene Lovich? Before she went disco/dance? Saw her at the long gone Meadowbrook in Cedar Grove, NJ back in the early 80's.
Graham Parker: "Shooting Out Sparks". Wow!
Joe Jackson: "Look Sharp!" I think definitive.
Great "New Wave" club in downtown NYC: Tier Three.

Tzh21y, your list resembles my CD collection during high-school. Good memories...

This music eventually lead me to the rave seen of the early 90s, when I started DJaying and the discovery of vinyl.

The vinyl lead me to my present audio addicition.

A few month ago I picked-up a 45 rpm Japanese pressing New-Order's Everthing's Gone Green, EP. My old CDs never sound this good.

I'm playing the EP now :)

May I add a few to the list:

Skinny Puppy,
Meat-Beat Manifesto
Psychic TV
Otherwise I think you have the bases covered.

About Ministry, I much prefer the early Ministry (but not too early their first album was scary bad) Twitch and after but later in the nineties they started becoming to heavy metal for my taste and less techno...

The best in Alternative - IMHO:

The Sisters Of Mercy - Arguably The most important band in alternative that never sold out

Ministry and all the side projects - Industrial Alternative -Simply no comparison, the best ever

Peter Murphy and Bauhaus, Love and Rockets

Chameleons UK Agree with other posters

TKK

the Cult - Rain in particular

NIN

Others:

Mission UK
PIL
Wire
KMFDM
Nitzer EBB
Sousxie and The Banshees
Joy Division
New Order
Killing Joke
Echo and the Bunnymen
REV CO
The Smiths
Beastie Boys
Front 242
LORDS OF ACID
WAX TRAX RECORDS!!!
JUST TO NAME A FEW!

I loved this music when I was younger and still do.

how about:
the incredible comsat angels--waiting for a miracle/fiction
the sound--jepoardy
soft boys--underwater moonlight
for against--great, hugely underrecognized joy division influenced band from nebraska!
i'm also surprised no one's mentioned wire (chairs missing/pink flag, etc.); easily as influential as their clash/gang of four peers.

How about the Chameleons U;K.? They were great!! Check out their their albums Script Of The Bridge and Strange Times. You won't regret it. One of the best and unique post punk bands for sure.

Joe Jackson's early stuff cannot be over looked.

Bongofurious, that's awesome. I hope it's during the summer (that's until Nov in Southeast Texas) so that I can do a SoCal get-away to cool off.

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.

Oddly enough, I have only discovered the Pixies and Mission of Burma in the last year. The re-issue of Doolittle and Surfer Rosa by MFSL made me curious. Somehow I had never heard of the Pixies. They are absolutely great. After reading about them, and listening to their music, I can see how they were such an influence on Kurt Cobain.

Mission of Burma really is great, glad to meet them as well.

Bongo - I'm with you on Midnight Oil, love them. I saw them twice in the late 80's and was not a fan before the first show, got dragged there by a buddy who was in Boulder, and I ended up becoming a huge fan. Great show on campus as U of Colorado, maybe someone else here was at that show, it was great.

I'm adding Prince to this list for some of his songs that crossed all genres. Another sublime performer. I haven't been to a rock concert if about 15 yrs, but this is making me want to go. I think I'll pull up Pearl Jam's favorite website and look for a show. I think Stone Temple Pilots is touring this summer, maybe a So Cal show.....

Midnight Oil, Psychedelic Furs, Pete Shelley, Echo and the Bunnymen, Bullet La Volta, O Positive, Cure, Smiths, King Crimson (80s version), Brian Eno and all his friends, U2, Elvis Costello, Thompson Twins, INXS, Thomas Dolby, The Fixx, Men At Work, Men Without Hats, Depeche Mode, Mission of Burma, Pixies, Crowded House, UB40, The Church

There are likely a few more but I listened to them all and still have them in my vinyl collection.

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

I like this music. What about a couple of bands from down under from that era/genr? Anyone remember The Church? They were a big on college radio in the late 80s and had a top 20 hit, Under The Milky Way. That song is also in the Donnie Darko soundtrack. Anyway, they are still around and still making albums. 23 total and they still tour as well. I also like the Go Betweens and Midnight Oil.

If you are going to mention the Call you have to throw in the Alarm, and there was a great band called the 77's aka seventy sevens or seven and sevens that put out several great albums in the era.

Don't forget The Call!

it was the weirdest thing at my last inxs concert(kick tour). i'm not much of a dancer but i've seen many folks danncing at concerts. some shows more so then other. the crowd at this inxs show went off the deep end!. at one point when i looked around....*almost everyone* in the place was jumping around. all 25k of um!. it was like the place just caught on fire?. been to countless concerts in my 47 years of life. seen plenty of 5k capacity crowds go nuts.......never seen anything even close to this.

even i couldn't resist.....so i danced :-)

what a great band!

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.

Another INXS fan here...gotta love that Rhinoceros Studios ATC sound quality.

"Doooooooooon't Channnnnnnnnnge a thing, .......for me"

Great albums all. I think I will try and clean my 27 yr old version of Shabooh Shabah right now, great idea.

Wish me luck.

Shabooh Shoobah, The Swing, and Listen Like Theves are staples in my collection.

I forgot Missing Persons, I saw when I was home from college in 1984 at some hotel ballroom in downtown Chicago. They were actually v good. It was a good summer for concerts in Chicago, I saw INXS at Caberet Metro, and Voilent Femmes there as well.

So let's add them to the list.

just snatched up my tickets to see the Fur's at House of Blues here in Chicago. this is going to be one big flash-back kinda night. great place to see a show....can't wait!.

Bongo! Yeah! I loved SKA! I just "couldn't get enough"
(did i just type that?) of the Specials and the singer's side project Fun Boy Three. The original version of "Our lips our sealed" is actually their's, not the Go-go's, another one of my favorites! Man, good music. Good times.
I am still into what shortly came after the new wave era: industrial music. long live skinny puppy!!!!!!!
Jorge

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

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.

The Cure.

I like GPs "Mona Lisa's Sister" quite well and still listen to it occasionally.

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!

Just an FYI - MoFi just issued a press release that this fall the first three Elvis Costello and first two Cars albums will be released on 180g vinyl 1/2 speed remastered.

For anyone who would like a crash-course in this sub-genre (affectionately known as "alternative" or "college" rock), I highly recommend "Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the '80s Underground". It's a 4 CD set that is actually quite well done.

Yes, I already own the orignal CD / LPs for many of the bands on this compilation, but it's been forever since I heard "Punk Rock Girl" by The Dead Milkmen or "We Care a Lot" by Faith No More. I had a discount coupon at B&N and had to snatch it up.

I was at Half-Price Books and snagged 6 Sisters of Mercy singles on CD for $1.98 each (unfortunately the Lucretia single has a flaw in the disk during Train (long) - it's killing me).

I thought Pati Smith was the Mother of Punk?

Chashmal-read my reply above regarding "soft punk". it's a term i made up on the fly and might not be the best way to describe the sound.

again...it's punk rock where the band actually knows how to play instruments and you can somewhat understand what they are singing about or saying =). soft punk also has some form of rhythm or beat imo....unlike the hardcore stuff (sex pistols, black flag, dead kennedy's, ect...).

it's not necessarily "kinder or gentler"....just easier to listen too imo. was un-aware of the term "cow punk" when i started this thread. that might have been a better term to use.

I wandered again and checked if anybody mentioned Nina Hagen. She's a true Mother of Punk!

The singer from Romeo Void was Debra Iyall. She had an incredibly sexy voice but was, ahem....not the most physically attractive woman on the planet.

My roommate at the time developed an intense crush on her after hearing "White Sweater" on the radio. We trekked into Manhattan (from suburban NJ) to hear Romeo Void at the Mudd Club, only to find the "early" (11:00 PM) show was sold out. At my insistence, we went back to the 'burbs. He turned around and drove back in for the late show. I have never in my life seen anyone as disappointed as he was the next day.

Marty

BTW, the other psycho sax driven funk/punk band of that moment was Medium Medium whose big tune was "Hungry, So Angry". Some memories here!

I am perpelexed at the concept of 'soft punk'. Doesn't that defeat the purpose?