The Bongos
The Bongos were a power pop band from Hoboken, New Jersey, that emerged from the New York City arts scene, primarily active in the 1980s, led by Richard Barone. With their unique musical style, they were major progenitors of the Hoboken indie-pop community, college radio favorites, and made the leap to national recognition with the advent of MTV. Their breakthrough song "Numbers with Wings" garnered the group a major cult following and was nominated at the first MTV Video Music Awards. Along with a handful of others, the Bongos were instrumental in the advancement of the alternative rock movement.
albums by The Bongos
Songs by The Bongos
length: 4:20
listen:
The Main Mix
Well, if you want to get technical about it most people would say the Smiths defined the 80's more than many of the bands you mention, if for no other reason then because all of their music came out smack-dab in the middle of the decade. U2 was catching fire near the end of the decade, but for my money hit their peak with Achtung Baby in 1990. For many people, REM's apex was Automatic for the People which came out around '93. Vega and Muses really hit their stride in the early 90's as well, so really you're not citing real 80's bands. The Bongos released 3 albums, all in the 80's. I think that was what the guy was saying. SInce you cared about rock in the 80's, other bands you were probably listened to were INXS (who were as big as U2 in 1989), Springsteen and Crowded House.
I think you were a bit late to the party, U2 released 6 full albums and an EP before 1987 which were arguably the records that "made" them before the '90's. Their first was Boy and was released in 1980. REM had a very strong and very well regarded body of work that was produced early in their career between 1983 and 1987. There is no way that the Smiths defined the 80's just by the virtue of having produced records in the middle of the era. That would be like calling someone the fastest or the best just because they were standing in the front of the line. There were others that started in the 70's moving into the 80's that had more influence and had a more defining role in what 80's music would become.
But hey, here's the new one from Howard Jones!!
thank-you
Well, if you want to get technical about it most people would say the Smiths defined the 80's more than many of the bands you mention, if for no other reason then because all of their music came out smack-dab in the middle of the decade. U2 was catching fire near the end of the decade, but for my money hit their peak with Achtung Baby in 1990. For many people, REM's apex was Automatic for the People which came out around '93. Vega and Muses really hit their stride in the early 90's as well, so really you're not citing real 80's bands. The Bongos released 3 albums, all in the 80's. I think that was what the guy was saying. SInce you cared about rock in the 80's, other bands you were probably listened to were INXS (who were as big as U2 in 1989), Springsteen and Crowded House.
I agree about The Smiths' relevance in the '80s, but it's still largely a matter of personal perception. The Police, Psychedelic Furs, and Squeeze were also very popular in that decade and not mentioned in any prior posts. Suzanne Vega's most popular album, Solitude Standing, was released in 1987. I remember this band from back then but was not as interested in them as I was in several other bands. I won't mention any of the popular hair-metal bands of that era.
good catch. But that's Isaak covering the Yardbirds.
A ferret dipped in Vaseline, so righteous man!
Defining bands of the 80's continued:
The Police
Eurythmics
Duran Duran
Tears for Fears
The Clash
I'll take any tracks of the 70's work from The Clash & The Police over their 80's output.
I agree about The Smiths' relevance in the '80s, but it's still largely a matter of personal perception. The Police, Psychedelic Furs, and Squeeze were also very popular in that decade and not mentioned in any prior posts. Suzanne Vega's most popular album, Solitude Standing, was released in 1987. I remember this band from back then but was not as interested in them as I was in several other bands. I won't mention any of the popular hair-metal bands of that era.
Defining bands of the 80's continued:
The Police
Eurythmics
Duran Duran
Tears for Fears
The Clash
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bongos
You should add some songs from their full-length debut album...It's AWESOME!!
GREAT POP SONG FROM THE 80'S WHICH WAS TOTALLY IGNORED.
But hey, here's the new one from Howard Jones!!
In Ontario Canada, this song was everything! Never ignored. Danced many a night away with friends and LOVED when the DJ spun this one, every night.