What Song Most Encapsulates the 1980s?

saintmdterps said

To me it was bands like The Damned, Psychedelic Furs, Siouxie and the Banshees, The Violent Femmes, early REM and U2 that changed the landscape of music in the early 80’s.

Each of those bands played the Colony Ballroom or Richie Coliseum at University of Maryland in their formative years. Both venues were dives 😊

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Early R.E.M? Those were the days back around maybe 1984-86 when Michael Stipe had long hair, their sound was more of a proto-grungy, alternative "folk" weird, backwoods Southern gothic aura, allure to them. And that was also a time when Athens, Ga. was still just a small, Southern college town that hadn't yet exploded in population or notoriety yet. R.E.M. actually opened a few shows for U2 during this time in the U.S. and on some of their European/British tours in the mid-80's. MTV might play or show a R.E.M. video at 2 or 3 o'clock in the mornings back then and they were sort of known about only to certain rock fans.

By the early 80's, the Damned had fallen apart or were in the process of collapsing.

Did you see Black Flag, a local D.C. hardcore punk band or the Misfits back in the day? Before he joined Black Flag, Henry Rollins was a manager at a local D.C. Haagen-Daaz ice cream shop.