Music Banter - Most influential 80s alternative rock band?

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I don't really think of Killing Joke as alternative rock but they are a great band and certainly very influential.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon (Post 1721231)

Well, they released Let It Be, which is generally considered a classic alternative/college rock album, and they were influential on a lot of later bands, including the Pixies.

I subconsciously heard "Left of the Dial" and assumed it was a Pixies song for a while, until I heard it again. Still, some of the Replacements music reminds me of The Police circa-1978.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psy-Fi (Post 1721237)

Two 80's bands really stand out in my mind as influences for many others to come throughout the 80's, 90's and beyond. I remember when both of their debut albums came out in 1980, hearing cuts from each played on a local college radio station, (the only radio stations willing to play newer "underground/alternative" music at that time), being blown away by what I heard and going out and buying both albums as a result (still have them.) The music of both bands stood apart from everything else I can recall at that time and both were significant influences on so many bands to follow.

Wipers - Is This Real? (1980)

The Wipers debut album was released in January of 1980.

And...

Killing Joke - Killing Joke (1980)

Killing Joke's debut album was released in September of 1980.

Wipers come across to me as a major influence on the Meat Puppets.

Although the Killing Joke vocalist has a very typical singing voice for British bands of the late 1970s/early 1980s (post punk cockney vocals went out of fashion) the guitar playing sounds influential on later bands. I'm guessing that if it was released January 1980, it was recorded sometime in '79. I hear hints in "Requiem" of "She's So High" by Blur and "Ruby" by the Kaiser Chiefs.

Not sure if this counts, since the song I'm thinking of was released in 1990, but Husker Du front man Bob Mould recorded "Stop Your Crying", and the opening reminds me of the chorus in Ruby (the same song that I mentioned earlier).

Interpol also sound a lot like bands such as Joy Division and Wire. Since I wasn't alive in 1980, I'd not got round to hearing any if their stuff until recently, but I'd heard an Interpol album about 10 years ago without knowing it was them, and when I looked up Wire and Joy Division more recently, I thought I'd heard them before. In fact K was actually thinking of Interpol.

Cobain is clearly a moron. Nirvana is a Pixies cover band.

I'm just gonna leave this here cause I think it's somewhat relevant and quietly walk away.

I'm not their biggest fan but I like them.

I think I'm gonna go with Coil because they opened up a whole new world for industrial music.

There was this Welsh band called Young Marble Giants in the late 1970s who Cobain claimed he was a fan of. They have a unique sound, different to any other British band that I can think of from that era. It basically consists of quietly played guitar/bass and a keyboard, with female vocals.

For some reason, most English and Scottish bands from the 1980s had a common sound - jangly guitars, drums with a small amount of reverb, either northern or cockney vocals (excluding the Scottish bands) etc, but then a lot of Welsh and Irish groups of this era sounded different. Young Marble Giants (Welsh) had their own sound, while U2 (Irish) sound a little like a prototype Coldplay, and My Bloody Valentine (also Irish) seem to have more in common with Dinosaur Jr (USA) than their English counterparts Ride and Catherine Wheel. Were there any English bands of the 1980s that you would say meet all of the below criteria:
*Regularly used either distorted or acoustic guitar
*Did not use noticeable reverb on drums
*Did not sing in an overtly English accent (Northern/Cockney)
*Did not use a fretless bass

So I mean bands which had a sound similar to Dinosaur Jr, MBV, Husker Du, or even Mission of Burma and Young Marble Giants. Odd songs by The Wonder Stuff (1988/9) are heading that way, as are some Levellers demos (1989). Otherwise I haven't found anything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by elphenor (Post 1721887)

My actual answer to this question is: depends on which bands you're talking about because like every other decade the musical landscape of the 90's was diverse once you step outside what was being pushed by TV and radio

You see, this is why we can't do an alternative big 4, just pick one dude and keep in mind he said it has to be an 80's band.

How bout alternative rock, is that better? I'm not saying your definition is wrong but it's not that hard to recognize when a band plays alternative rock. You should know I'm not one to get picky about genres I mostly use them just as a simple reference.