Grab your shoulder pads. Bands like Duran Duran and Depeche Mode used keyboards like nobody’s business. Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf” video? It was almost like a mini-movie. MTV loved them.
Depeche Mode was darker. Their song “Personal Jesus” was inspired by a real phone sex operator’s ad. Yes, you read that right. That beep-boop sound got very, very personal.
And who could forget a-ha from Norway? Their video for “Take On Me” featured a rotoscoped pencil-sketch world. It took four months to animate. Four months for a three-minute song. That’s dedication, or maybe just too much free time.
The Hair-Metal Circus
Welcome to the land of hairspray and spandex. Mötley Crüe wrote a memoir about destroying hotel rooms. They once ordered room service and paid with a live chicken. The hotel manager was not amused.
Def Leppard had a drummer with one arm. Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car crash, but he learned to play with his feet. His drum solo was more impressive than most two-armed drummers. Talk about a comeback.
Guns N’ Roses arrived in 1987 like a wrecking ball. Their debut album “Appetite for Destruction” sold 30 million copies. The singer, Axl Rose, once said he was terrified of the dark. A tough guy afraid of shadows. Classic 80s.
List Of All Bands In The 80s
