#90s pop stars how to#
#90s pop stars tv#

Prince is possibly the only bona fide genius in 1980s music. When their eponymous debut album arrived in 1989, the 1990s began. Three years on, they had one of the all-time great rhythm sections, a spectacular guitarist and a messianic singer holding it together. The Stone Roses weren’t the purest example of rave culture, but the scene saved them from getting stuck as the unpromising goths they started out as in 1985.

Read more: Soft Cell interview Top 40 80s pop artists – Soft Cell 16 THE STONE ROSES Dave is right to claim Depeche Mode essentially stole their career when Soft Cell split. Marc Almond is right that he and Dave Ball should have written more pop songs, but The Art Of Falling Apart and This Last Night In Sodom are perfect outsider art. Read more: Top 40 Kylie tracks Top 40 80s pop artists – Kylie 17 SOFT CELLĮven in a decade of deviants, Soft Cell are the ultimate example of smuggling a dark heart into the mainstream. Nobody else developed from the SAW factory went on to be bigger: some singers really are just born to be pop stars. Instead, here she is, more than 30 years later, still perfectly poptangular. The ultimate Stock, Aitken Waterman creation and so much more, Kylie should have had one album and scarpered like every other soap star. Too intense to last at the time, it’s impossible not to cheer on their comeback. Their music was just as important: classic soul tales of forbidden love with an added pop twist which sent them stellar. Read more: Yazoo interview Photo by Jason Evans 23 CULTURE CLUBĪs Boy George told Classic Pop recently, just the sight of Culture Club – a mixed-race band fronted by a flamboyantly-dressed gay singer – was a statement in itself. Why hasn’t anyone erected a statue in his honour? Alison thrived on her own, while Erasure are still a force for good.

#90s pop stars how to#

Like a non-evil Simon Cowell, Vince Clarke knows how to spot a star: first, he kickstarted Alison Moyet’s career with Yazoo and then did it all over again with Andy Bell. Even without Depeche’s dark carapace, you’re left with an arsenal of bangers.

Uniting misfits with an outsiders’ worldview and doomy anthems, they weren’t a band so much as a way of life: it’s been that way ever since. Set to be pure-pop titans with Vince Clarke, once he left Martin Gore ensured Depeche Mode became a far more deviant proposition. Of all the bands yet to reform, they’d probably sound the most dignified if they did. But their imperious yacht rock has aged better than many contemporaries. When they weren’t popularising CDs thanks to the pristine sheen of Brothers In Arms, at the time Dire Straits seemed an austere and somewhat workmanlike presence among the 80s riot of colour. Read our interview with Kim Wilde here Top 40 80s pop artists – Kim Wilde 39 DIRE STRAITS Massive in America, too, Kim supported Michael Jackson on the Bad tour, while her Top 30 album Here Come The Aliens proved Kim is still no slouch at energetic power-pop.

#90s pop stars tv#

Marty’s eldest daughter is such a friendly staple of daytime TV and (thanks to her other passion) gardening shows, it’s easy to overlook just how huge she was, with 19 Top 40 singles. What an incredible playlist it makes… 40 KIM WILDE Instead, let’s celebrate the colourful, eccentric and varied world of the finest pop of the 80s. There are other magazines for that sort of thing. Acts more suited to a rockist publication are also out, so no Def Leppard or Guns N’ Roses. However, we’ve briefly alluded to some established artists whose careers got a much-needed shot in the arm during the 80s thanks to some landmark albums.

What do you mean, no Orange Juice, Nick Heyward or Kajagoogoo? But who from this selection could you possibly ignore? Our criteria was simple but strict: if you essentially broke through in the 70s – like Blondie, Talking Heads and Elvis Costello – you were out. The Classic Pop team has only just finished wiping the blood away caused by the fights creating such a list entails, but we reckon we’ve got the 1980s covered here.Įveryone has favourite artists that we couldn’t find room for. It is, of course, the impossible task: distil music’s most creative and varied decade down to a mere 40 artists. It’s the ultimate face-off as we count down our favourite 80s pop artists…