Mount Rushmore - 80s rock bands

Loverboy
Ratt
Flock of Seagulls
The “Rock Me Amadeus” dude

 

Wow ... Genesis almost deserves it for "Duke" alone (1980) ... was expecting to get blasted for even going there. Then "Abacab" (not a powerhouse, but "Me and Sarah Jane" is terrific), the self-titled album and "Invisible Touch" (polarizing thoughts there ... though some cop show missed out on using "The Brazilian" as an opening-credits theme).

Got to agree on The Police and Van Halen. U2? Good choice, but I'm going with Rush - "Moving Pictures," "Signals," "Grace Under Pressure." "Power Windows," "Hold Your Fire." and "Presto." "GUP" is the weak one there, and I'll still take "Between The Wheels" and "The Enemy Within" over all but a couple of U2's best tracks of the decade.

Yeah ... Rush for that period of the 80s. The 90s? Would be more much prone to lean toward U2.

 

Joshua Tree was THE album of the ‘80s. It launched U2 into the stratosphere.

Maybe Thriller, but MJ was already huge after Off The Wall.

 

I'm a huge U2 fan from the beginning so I'm not terribly impartial here, but.. their first six albums were all released in the 80s.

Boy
October
War
The Unforgettable Fire
The Joshua Tree
Rattle and Hum

I don't know for sure who the other three are, but to me U2 is the one dead-solid lock.

 

Well ... PCLL helped straighten this out.

This is pretty close IMO, no matter what side of the stage you prefer.

Then:

Van Halen
The Police
Rush
U2
Genesis

That's five ... and a legitimate case can be made for all of them for the four spots.

Truthfully, while I had Genesis in this '80s list, it did more in the '70s, especially before the guys all started doing solo projects. Phil Collins was the last to do so, and might not have done so had his first marriage disintegrated, going back to England and finding the others embroiled in their personal projects. And the Pete fans will convince you the band was dead in 1975.

 

My Genesis vote was threefold:
1. Albums were great
2. Videos helped them appear cooler
3. Phil’s solo stuff and Mike and the Mechanics helped make it feel like this band also had new material on the radio and MTV.

I can see Rush, but the second half of the decade was not nearly as strong as the first half in terms of popularity. To me, Rush was the nerdy kid who suddenly became popular, but refused to not be a nerd so he became unpopular again. That being said, nine-year-old me thought Big Money was fricking cool. History does not support my memory.

 

Mount Rushmore is The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and The Who. I'm not sure there's even any debate.
If you want to debate the Mount Rushmore of Rock Bands Not On the First Mount Rushmore, then yeah, all those other bands can be considered.>>>>

Whoa, whoa, whoa. My mistake! I was wondering what the hell was going on here. Missed it a few times.

So...uh...
U2
Bon Jovi
Duran Duran
Talking Heads

Off the top of my head as I think about what an idiot I am.

 

I thought the Beatles and Led Zeppelin kind of lost steam in the 80s, but your mileage may vary.

 

Missed it three or four times. I kept going back to the original post thinking "What am I missing here?"

 

1. No arguments on the quality of the albums, but truthfully, their '80s catalog starts with "Duke" (1980) and then there's a dropoff. Some will point to the sales of "Invisible Touch" and claim otherwise. They're wrong ... the quality of the former makes it no contest.
2. They rode the video wave. The ability to poke fun at themselves didn't hurt. Neither did "Land of Confusion" on that front ... the parody still holds up years later.
3. Phil's solo career helped, especially in the '80s. The Mechanics' first two albums helped, too, particularly the track "Living Years." The only drawback was that Phil became so omnipresent that the backlash was inevitable. I don't think he slept much that decade. But anyone who claimed he wasn't putting out new material and getting lazy can go away.

 

Oh, please. The only way this works is if you’re putting Billy Squier up there, and he stopped being relevant once the video for “Rock Me Tonite” dropped. (This has been your Prancing Billy mention for 2019.)

80s rock Rushmore: Def Leppard, U2, Guns ‘N’ Roses, R.E.M.

If you question R.E.M., think back to the 1980s college radio scene. They ruled it, and then they broke through. I’m trying to think of another American band in the 1980s that matched both their success and their level of creativity, and I’m drawing a blank.

 

I will clarify my point: Billy Joel is fucking atrocious. I would put Big Mouth Billy Bass on the 80s Mt. Rushmore ahead of Billy Joel.