What are some of your favorites and which band do you think was the best during the decade.

I think REM really had defined the alternative rock sound as early as 1983 and a ton of albums throughout the 80s but the Pixies really were the best, in my opinion, in terms of the music being catchy, melodic and groundbreaking. 

Other favorites:

Stone Roses
Husker Du
Sonic Youth

What are some of your favorites and which band do you think was the best during the decade.

I think REM really had defined the alternative rock sound as early as 1983 and a ton of albums throughout the 80s but the Pixies really were the best, in my opinion, in terms of the music being catchy, melodic and groundbreaking. 

Other favorites:

Stone Roses
Husker Du
Sonic Youth


I like REM a lot.  I didn't catch on to them too much until the latter part of the 80's decade (87ish).  But they were pretty special.

We had a real good one in Canada called The Pursuit of Happiness, who are actually one hit wonders in the US for the song I'm an adult now which was a Top 30 hit on the Billboard Rock chart in 1990.  Their debut album Love junk came out in 1988 and produced 4 hit singles including the aforementioned one.  Here are two others …

The Pursuit of Happiness - She's so young
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The Pursuit of Happiness - Hard to laugh
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Cool. Interesting band. I like the jangly style. I feel that genre is very underrated.

I noticed a lot of pop/rock hits from the late 80s have a alternative rock influence or feeling:

Suzane Vega - Luka : 1987

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZt7J0iaUD0

Inxs - Need you tonight - 1987

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-rv2BQa2OU

Tracey Chapman - Fast Car - 1988:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIOAlaACuv4

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - What I Am - 1988

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDl3bdE3YQA

You should check out Soul Asylum's 1986 record Made to Be Broken. Really good alternative rock for the time it was released.

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There was another great alternative band from Canada called Chalk Circle who had a few hits in the mid-late 80s.  As far as I know, they never made it out of Canada.  Here are two of their hits …

Chalk Circle - This mourning (1987)
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Chalk Circle - April fool (1986)
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I LOVE R.E.M. In fact, I bought this CD about a year ago.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71TFMNLqSRL._SY355_.jpg


Cat

I LOVE R.E.M. In fact, I bought this CD about a year ago.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71TFMNLqSRL._SY355_.jpg


Cat


Looks like it's worth getting. I think their first 8 albums are the best. Especially the first few. They should have been famous earlier. They sound way ahead of their time.

There was another great alternative band from Canada called Chalk Circle who had a few hits in the mid-late 80s.  As far as I know, they never made it out of Canada.  Here are two of their hits …

Chalk Circle - This mourning (1987)
2XJGNNgRiuM

Chalk Circle - April fool (1986)
z2cDsqu91q8


Pretty cool, they sound pretty good. There are so many bands out there that deserve more credit.

Here are other alternative classics:

Husker Du - Don't want to know if you are lonely - 1986:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoKeH7JYE48

Soul Asylum - Sometime To Return - 1988:

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

Hm. I don't think Alternative music was really big in the 80s. It was more of a 90s music genre. Buuut....I do like REM.  :)

Hm. I don't think Alternative music was really big in the 80s. It was more of a 90s music genre. Buuut....I do like REM.  :)


It wasn’t. It was more underground. That’s why they called it alternative. In the 90s “alternative” became mainstream. Then the internet came along and there were no secrets anymore.

I liked REM too. More in the 80s and very early 90s. I miss the Mike Mills before he changed his image.

Cool. Interesting band. I like the jangly style. I feel that genre is very underrated.

I noticed a lot of pop/rock hits from the late 80s have a alternative rock influence or feeling:

Suzane Vega - Luka : 1987



Tracey Chapman - Fast Car - 1988:

Bands, I always thought that Suzane Vega and Tracey Chapman are solo singers?

Sonic youth also grew in popularity when they signed to a major label  and released daydream in 1988, they were on MTV at the time. This was a popular hit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viF12Mu3-5w

It wasn’t. It was more underground. That’s why they called it alternative. In the 90s “alternative” became mainstream. Then the internet came along and there were no secrets anymore.

I liked REM too. More in the 80s and very early 90s. I miss the Mike Mills before he changed his image.


There are many kinds of alternative.  Jangle rock, and indie pop were among the earlier forms of it already a bit mainstream in the mid to late 80s, and even pop/rock groups like U2 had slight alternative influence from that early sound, among many others. 

Around 1987-1988 or so, more prominent alternative groups like husker du, REM, soul asylum, the replacements sonic youth etc were starting to get popular on a mainstream level and were MTV and the radio. Pixies were pretty big by 1989, they were like the definitive alternative group representing the newer and more aggressive incarnation of that sound a few years before nirvana and grunge took over in the mainstream.

But yeah it wasn't until around 1992-1996 that alternative as whole was super mainstream and sort of took over. But it definitely existed before in the 80s on a mainstream level.

Some people like to include some eras of cure and the smiths or more 80s pop based music and other groups if even they don't really sound like what's typically or directly associated with maybe pure alternative rock, for some similar elements in the music.

The Replacements - Alex Chilton (Official Promo Video) - 1987

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftTOEJfzdq0