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

best music thread yet....pearl harbour and the exploions, japan, the mission uk, the charlatons, orange juice, gang of four, the hits just keep on coming

Loved the Gang Of Four and XTC suggestions.

Since we are moving away a bit from the "soft punk" category--which sounds kind of like an oxymoron, even though I think I know what the OP is getting at--the floodgates really do open. How about Sonic Youth, the Replacements, Black Flag, the Minutemen, Husker Du, the Wipers? Heck, why not the Clash?

Oh yeah, the Waterboys definitely belong in the conversation as well, and probably could fit the soft punk label.

absolutely to the clash and sonic youth along with all the others. really liked the replacements and waterboys. good stuff!

you're right walter. soft punk is alot like jumbo shrimp

threw "soft punk" in the title at the last minute. wanted to avoid the vagueness of just "alt". used the word "soft" in place of "being able to play instruments fairly well" and "some form of coherency to the music itself" =)

just found three Concrete Blond disc's buried in a stack of cd's i never go through. anyone remember these guys?. listen to the first release this morning (from 1986). man they rock!. "still in hollywood" bough back some found one's. love a good female vocalist with my "punk". maybe it's the wild times we had with punk gals back then =). brutally honest and shameless as they were...i still loved um.

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."