Depeche Mode - didn't blow up in the US until 1989-1990
The B-52's - are known for the Cosmic Thing album of 1989-1990
Any New Wave band with a lot of '70s credit
U2 - could make a case for '80s, '90s, or '00s

Depeche Mode - didn't blow up in the US until 1989-1990
The B-52's - are known for the Cosmic Thing album of 1989-1990
Any New Wave band with a lot of '70s credit
U2 - could make a case for '80s, '90s, or '00s


B-52s are actually most known for work technically from the '70s and c. 1990. "Rock Lobster", "52 Girls", etc. were released in 1978-1979, and "Roam" and "Love Shack" are both for 1990. Nevertheless, as someone who really likes the B-52s, they did alot of stuff in between then, though their guitarist did die of AIDS. They went from being '50s/early '60s nostalgics to being into late '60s nostalgia with stuff like "Hello, Mo Dean" and "Summer of Love." Depeche Mode's most memorable/distinctive work was around 1989..."Enjoy the Silence" and "Personal Jesus" is their most distinctive work, and that's sort of '90s, in a club way. I don't think there are any true "'70s new wave bands", though Blondie had some stuff ("Heart of Glass") that was "late '70s" and almost all true post-punk is late '70s in a way. 1978 was the year new wave exploded, with the Talking Heads, Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Gary Numan, the Cars...though alot of songs by those artists from then became bigger hits in the early '80s after MTV and after new wave gained popularity.

I wouldn't consider Depeche Mode a 90's band.  Granted, Violator may have been their greatest commercial success, but they've had a cult following since the early 80's.  "Everything Counts" and "People Are People" were getting constant play on MTV and radio, and both songs capture the essence of their signature synth sound, which is definitely 80's.  Most DM fans I've talked to tend to lean towards their favourite DM period to be pre- and up to Violator.

I wouldn't consider Depeche Mode a 90's band.  Granted, Violator may have been their greatest commercial success, but they've had a cult following since the early 80's.  "Everything Counts" and "People Are People" were getting constant play on MTV and radio, and both songs capture the essence of their signature synth sound, which is definitely 80's.  Most DM fans I've talked to tend to lean towards their favourite DM period to be pre- and up to Violator.


B-52s were one of those early new wave groups from like 1979 that had a bigtime comeback c. 1990 with the explosion of alternative rock. Elvis Costello also definitely had some big songs from around then, too...there was sort of a slight resurgence in a sort of more alternative-influenced new wave from 1987-1990, like Squeeze's "Hourglass" or XTC's "Dear God", which were their most US successful hits.

This thread has been done a Gazillion times before...

This thread has been done a Gazillion times before...


And no doubt it'll be done a gazillion times more!  Duplicate threads are an occupational hazard  8)