Primal Alt Rock Favorites

I’ve been listening to a lot of 80s alt rock and 1^st Wave alt rock lately and I decided to create a list of my favorite early alt rock bands or songs. Some of these bands were basically one hit wonders and some of them turned into superstars, and some are still actively making new music and touring. I’ve seen other similar lists with other bands, but those other bands simply never struck a chord with me. There might even be a few on here you haven’t heard.

I ended up with 67. Why 67? Well, this is how many I found that met my criteria, of being considered alt rock by someone or on a band comparison to someone else on this list, was before 1995 and wasn’t obviously conventional pop. Some of these songs border on pop or more conventional rock. It was hard to differentiate where to draw the line. Many of these bands have multiple songs that I dig, but I just picked one that I really love by that band. The first on this list is a perfect example. This is also not representative of all of the music I listened to back then. I love metal and straight up rock as well as some bluegrass and some country music, but it is very representative of great alternative rock music from that era. There is some incredible alternative music being made today, but these bands set the stage of what would follow, and it is a pretty diverse set. All of these songs are awesome! Links provided for a YouTube song. There are lots of versions for most of these songs.

U2 – Stories for Boys - I found a really old version of this maybe their first video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE7sw7WcLqc

Album version is better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwQKp3ecotU

R.E.M. – Begin the Begin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DELYQ9087o

The Smiths – How Soon is Now? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OztC_7nkAd8

The Cure – In Between Days https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDMDb8unsIA

Siouxsie and the Banshees – Cities in Dust https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsOHvP1XnRg

Pet Shop Boys – Two divided by Zero https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ht9xsdrcoM

The Clash – Rock the Casbah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ9r8LMU9bQ

Echo and the Bunnymen – The Cutter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMplIrSlg8E

Violent Femmes -Blister in the Sun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rswiq4Hi-tc

The English Beat – Mirror in the Bathroom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHWrmIzgB5A

Eurythmics – Missionary Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-Q3cp3cp88

Culture Club – Karma Chameleon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw

Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Relax https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WZ33w3B8Hw

Still makes me want to get up and dance!

OMD – If You Leave https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPmTGFg06zA

The The – Infected https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orIy18qIaCU

Modern English – I Melt with You https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuN6gs0AJls

DEVO – Whip It https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z56XSG5LUbU

Oingo Boingo – Dead Man’s Party https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UbGtjnluyY

Psychodelic Furs - Love My Way https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGD9i718kBU

Depeche Mode – Enjoy the Silence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0AKJMGxwpE

The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCOSPtyZAPA

New Order – Blue Monday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYH8DsU2WCk

The Police – Don’t Stand So Close to Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNIZofPB8ZM

Talk Talk – It’s My Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ixRWvrkUHo

The Call – The Walls Came Down https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAxg8nuvPKM

The B-52s – Private Idaho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXmnmvDl-ao

Naked Eyes – Always Something There to Remind Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVrELhxOFnM

Riding the 1st Wave

 Birth School Work Death

     I was in the car the other day, listening to Siruis/XM radio, channel 33, 1^st Wave, which I adore. The song that come on the radio was Birth, School, Work, Death by The Godfathers. It brought back some good memories. I used to own that album on cassette. Here is the YouTube video: Birth School Work Death

     I was really into music in the mid 80s, I even DJed for a brief time in the spring and summer of 1987. It was the end of the first wave of alternative rock, but there was still great music coming out. This album was just one example.

     Sherman, set the wayback machine for 1988. It was early summer and I had just bought the tape maybe a week before, after seeing The Godfathers on an MTV video; they actually played videos back then. My roommate was from Chicago and we were driving up for the weekend to see what we could get into, two young and single dudes. He was in the driver’s seat as I read a paper which he had acquired earlier that detailed all the entertainment that week in Chicago, and we had just gotten into range to listen to his favorite radio station. Birth, School, Work, Death came on the radio and I mused that it would be cool if we could see somebody like The Godfathers that weekend. I turned the page and voilà, like magic they were playing at the Metro that very night. It was an awesome show and a really cool venue.

     We made a lot of trips to Chicago that summer, but nothing topped the serendipity of that concert. St. Elmo’s Fire had been released a few years before that, and were felt like we were living a little bit like those twenty-something’s in the big city. Within a little more than a year, though, we would both be married and our lives would settle into a different trajectory, but the summer of 1988 was my introduction into adulthood in many ways.

     Thanks Sirius/XM 1^st Wave for the trip down memory lane and well done!.