The Go-Betweens - Cattle and Cane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCbyByY-A6w

Church - To Be In Your Eyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Yl9INVnls

 

The Cure - A Forest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyQ4QC4yCl0

Verlaines - Death and the Maiden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P96cFKd4irY

 

The Weather Prophets - Almost Prayed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLVIiIoHK9k

The Sound - I Can't Escape Myself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0FKEDexivA

 

Half Man Half Biscuit - Trumpton Riots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KueeB5_9V7s

The Fall - Printhead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnW8bWmTR_0

 

Shop Assistants - I Don't Want To Be Friends With You (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sv_0bzzYPw

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=470HnRobKLc

 

And ...

My Bloody Valentine - Soon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9CDVDY7qec

 

Looks lovely!

 

That it does. I don't know how you happen to be picking some of my favorite bands and not only that but some of my favorite songs. What are the chances?

 

Two can play this game.

I'll see your Chameleons - Up The Down Escalator...
I'm gazing at faces
Staring blankly at me
I suppose it's just a sign of the times
They tell me tomorrow will never arrive
But I've seen it end a million times...(best lyrics ever)

...and raise you a Sisters Of Mercy - Lucretia, My Reflection. The album the song is from, entitled Floodland, has quite a cult following. Enough so that little that they did after could ever match its gothic perfection and atmosphere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuezNswtRfo


Here's a song which captures the dreary and hopeless atmosphere it was created in:
Clan of Xymox - Muscoviet Mosquito
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58XbwXgIcYg

 

SAiNT if you're not currently listening to The Cure, don't walk, run and immediately get all their albums and that's all I have to say about that. Disintegration, the album that the following song is from, is one of the most moving, haunting and beautiful albums you will ever hear. Definitely on my list for best albums of all time. The song is so good I had to include lyrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n2t7on6MR8
Oh it's opening time down on Fascination Street
So let's cut the conversation and get out for a bit
Because I feel it all fading and paling and I'm begging
To drag you down with me to kick the last nail in

Yeah, I like you in that like I like you to scream
But if you open your mouth then I can't be responsible
For quite what goes in or to care what comes out
So just pull on your hair, just pull on your pout

And let's move to the beat like we know that it's over
If you slip going under, slip over my shoulder
So just pull on your face, just pull on your feet
And let's hit opening time, down on Fascination Street

So pull on your hair, pull on your pout
Cut the conversation, just open your mouth
Pull on your face, pull on your feet
And let's hit opening time down on Fascination Street

Down on Fascination Street
Down on Fascination Street
Down on Fascination Street
On Fascination Street

You like The Church do you? I guess it's easy when they're fucking amazing on every album they've ever made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uw2iHUeCyQ

 

No intro to The Chameleons would be complete without the following two songs and they are definitely two of my personal favorites. These guys really had a knack for writing amazing lyrics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldLk0rQORHY
One cold damp evening
The world stood still
I watched as I held my breath
A silhouette I thought I knew
Came through
And someone spoke to me
Whispered in my ear
This fantasy's for you
Fantasies are "in" this year

My whole life passed before my eyes
I thought
What they say is true
I shed my skin and my disguise
And cold, numb and naked
I emerged from my cocoon
And a half remembered tune
Played softly in my head

Then he turned smiling
And said
I realize a miracle is due
I dedicate this melody to you
But is this the stuff dreams are made of?
If this is the stuff dreams are made of
No wonder I feel like I'm floating on air
Everywhere
It feels like I'm everywhere

It's like you fail to make the connection
You know how vital it is
Or when something slips through your fingers
You know how precious it is
Well you reach the point where you know
It's only your second skin

Someone's banging on my door

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkGns3eCZw0
When it's summer
And the skies are glass
I just have to make the evenings last
They're always flying past

When it's raining and the sky is black
I just love to hear the thunder roll
And see the lightning crack

With fading powers
We sit for hours
By a television screen
With funny cigarettes
And talk for hours
Of the places we have seen

Brother can you hear my voice
Every second that you cling to life
You have to feel alive

It's an easy thing to sell your skin
When the Devil's banging on your door
You always let him in

With fading powers
We dream of hours
That will never come again
Old defenders are themselves defenceless
When the mad attack the sane

What can you do
When you see no future
In front of you
Food for the few
So many it seems are in front of you
I see my face
Reflected there in your sweating brow
You hate what you see
What can you do
When there's no way out
Well there's one way out

Brother can you hear my voice
Every second that you cling to life
You have to feel alive

But when you sleep
Where do you go?

 

Another genius band that influenced just about fucking everybody and they're still around today save for one member. Amazingly they're still fucking phenomenal and let's be real, they always have been:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnpwuRlXbhk

No 80s bash would be complete without The Clash (that rhymes ):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ9r8LMU9bQ

 

Before he went solo Billy Idol was in the band Generation X and they rocked:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKVR1m20Aj4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayu2XZ-mFGw

 

This Mortal Coil and look who they've brought along with them...Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins fame:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFWKJ2FUiAQ

This song is hauntingly beautiful. It's about lost love and moments forever frozen in time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtNFQ7RJbaQ

 

Their second album saw the abandonment of the gritty feedback of Psychocandy in favor of a more organic sound but definitely good in its own right:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w9sCTtZ9EA

House Of Love (another underrated band). There's something really special about them, I only wish that they had more albums. They actually have a new one out She Paints Words In Red but I wasn't very big on their later material after Audience With The Mind. Obviously I'm still checking it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTrxE8uqjiI

 

Amazing video for an amazing instrumental:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivr5gvlwJ20

Very influential band with a very diverse back catalog:
Art of Noise - Moments In Love:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnSPrPpvA4k

 

Highly influential band and interesting use of atonality in their compositions. Too bad they only had a few albums and some EPs. Came out with a new album just recently after a long hiatus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxtoqK0WMtM

This band incorporated atonality into their compositions as well. This is more laid back than the other stuff they were putting out particularly off the albums Sister, EVOL (which this song is from) and Daydream Nation. I wanted to pull a song off of Goo but that's 1990 already and I didn't know if we're trying to stick to only 80s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWpbFoEUV24

 

Before he went solo as Morrissey he was in a band called The Smiths:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH18_dZIYOE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D2qcbu26gs

 

This Belgian band paved the fucking way. Enough said. This is what we call EBM:
Front 242 - Operating Tracks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6x5oVm3RPo

They deserve two songs so here's another:
Front 242 - Until Death (Us Do Part)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqp6CXtoMio

 

Oh and remember when I said I had some favorite songs from The Chameleons and I listed two? Well I wouldn't feel right if I didn't also sneak this one in there...with lyrics of course :

The Chameleons - Return Of The Roughnecks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxjE0q59edo
Up and down
These days are up and down
They call it elevated living
A faster future for a faster breed
Unforgiving, unfulfilling

The spirit's willing
But the mind is weak
I had an empty education
I want to speak
But when I try to speak
It doesn't help the situation

And some they fly while others fall
And some they walk while others crawl
It stops them feeling small
That's all

Shake your hand
They'll always shake your hand
Without a moment's hesitation
Burning bridges
And snapping strands
That support a generation

You want to climb
But when you try to climb
You see the ladder getting shorter

You want to drink
But when you try to drink
There's someone
Pissing in the water

Your soul is something they can buy
So softly, softly step inside
Says the spider to the fly
Nice try

And for every day you're crucified
If you can't look them in the eye
Smile and wave goodbye
Nice try

Vices embraced in times of crisis
That's all


And now if you'll excuse me I'm going to collapse in a heap on the floor because between all the work I was doing and the composition of this post...I don't think I have enough energy to make it. Man down.