Men at Work are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1978 and best known for breakthrough hits such as "Down Under", "Who Can It Be Now?", "Be Good Johnny", "Overkill", and "It's a Mistake". Its founding member and frontman is Colin Hay, who performs on lead vocals and guitar. After playing as an acoustic duo with Ron Strykert during 1978–1979, Hay formed the group with Strykert playing bass guitar and Jerry Speiser on drums. They were soon joined by Greg Ham on flute, saxophone and keyboards, and John Rees on bass guitar, with Strykert switching back to lead guitar. The group was managed by Russell Depeller, a friend of Hay, whom he met at La Trobe University. This line-up achieved national and international success during the early to mid-1980s.
The Obsessed is an American doom metal band from Potomac, Maryland, led by Scott "Wino" Weinrich. Formed in 1979, they recorded a few demos and played a handful of live shows until they first split up in 1986 when Weinrich joined as lead vocalist for Saint Vitus. About two years before his departure from Saint Vitus, Weinrich reformed The Obsessed in 1989, and three studio albums − The Obsessed (1990), Lunar Womb (1991) and The Church Within (1994) − were released before disbanding for the second time in 1995. After reuniting for occasional live shows between 2011 and 2013, the band announced a permanent reunion in March 2016, and has since released two more studio albums: Sacred (2017) and Gilded Sorrow (2024).
The Knack was an American rock band based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with its first single, "My Sharona", an international number-one hit in 1979.
D.O.A. is a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver. They are often referred to as being among the "founders" of hardcore punk, along with Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, Germs, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore.
Trooper is a Canadian rock band formed by singer Ra McGuire and guitarist Brian Smith in 1975. The group is best known for their 1970s hits "Raise a Little Hell", "We're Here for a Good Time ", "The Boys in the Bright White Sports Car", "General Hand Grenade", "3 Dressed Up as a 9", "Janine", "Two for the Show", "Oh, Pretty Lady" and "Santa Maria".
Loverboy is a Canadian rock band formed in Calgary, Alberta in 1979. Loverboy's hit singles, particularly "Turn Me Loose" and "Working for the Weekend", have become arena rock staples and are still heard on many classic rock and classic hits radio stations across Canada and the United States.
FM is a Canadian progressive rock music group formed in 1976 in Toronto, by Cameron Hawkins and Jeff Plewman. The band existed from 1976 to 1989, 1994–1996, 2006, and 2011–present. They have had periods of inactivity during their existence. Their music has been categorized as space rock, and lyrics are dominated by science fiction themes. In November 2011, Hawkins reformed the band with two new players.
Platinum Blonde, known briefly as The Blondes, is a Canadian rock band that formed in Toronto, Ontario in 1979. Vocalist Mark Holmes has been the only consistent member of the band since its inception.
Full Length LP is the debut album by the Huntington Beach, California punk rock band Guttermouth, released in 1991 by Dr. Strange Records. It introduced the band's style of fast, abrasive punk rock with tongue-in-cheek humor and sarcastic lyrics. The album was originally released as an LP but was repackaged the following year as a CD including tracks from the band's first 2 EPs Puke and Balls, as well as the previously unreleased tracks "Malted Vomit" and "Ghost." It was re-released again in 1996 by Nitro Records under the title The Album Formerly Known as Full Length LP.
The Romantics are an American rock band formed in 1977 in Detroit. The band is often put under the banner of power pop and new wave. They were influenced by 1950s American rock and roll, Detroit's MC5, the Stooges, early Bob Seger, Motown R&B, 1960s North American garage rock as well as the British Invasion rockers.
Inner Circle, also known as The Inner Circle Band or The Bad Boys of Reggae, are a Jamaican reggae band formed in Kingston in 1968. The band first backed The Chosen Few in the early 1970s before joining with successful solo artist Jacob Miller and releasing a string of records. This era of the band ended with Miller's death in a car crash in 1980.
Germfree Adolescents is the 1978 debut album of English punk rock band X-Ray Spex. It contained the UK hit singles "The Day the World Turned Dayglo", "Identity" and "Germ Free Adolescents" which reached No. 18 in November 1978. Upon release, the critics noted it was not all new material: five songs on the twelve tracks had already been released on A-sides and B-sides of singles.
The Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) is a Czech rock band from Prague. They are considered the foremost representatives of Prague's underground culture (1968–1989), which defied Czechoslovakia's Communist regime. Members of the band often suffered serious repercussions, including arrests and prosecution, because of their non-conformist ideals. The group continues to perform, despite the death in 2001 of its founder, main composer, and bassist, Milan Hlavsa. Up to 2023, they had released nine studio albums and over a dozen live albums.
U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's R&B scene. One of the first hardcore punk bands, elements of rhythm and blues music - including harmonica - also remained an occasional element of their work.
Rubella Ballet are an English gothic anarcho-punk band formed in 1979, who released several albums before splitting up in 1991. They reformed in 2000.
The 3tards was a Canadian hardcore punk rock band that was formed in Brampton, Ontario, in 2001. The 3tards released two full-length albums - Greatest Hits Vol. 2, and Crystal Balls.
The first punk rock bands in Canada emerged during the late 1970s, in the wake of the US bands Ramones, The New York Dolls, and Blondie, and the UK band Sex Pistols. The Viletones, the Diodes and the Demics were among the pioneers, together with the Skulls from Vancouver, and Hamilton's Teenage Head, whose records and live shows earned them the nickname "Canada's Ramones". Vibrant local punk scenes sprung up in Toronto and Vancouver and other Canadian cities.
Chris Walter is a Canadian punk rock historian, novelist and founder of the independent publishing company GFY Press. His novels generally portray the darker aspects of humanity such as drug addiction, prostitution, and homelessness.
Canadian hardcore punk originated in the early 1980s. It was harder, faster, and heavier than the Canadian punk rock that preceded it. Hardcore punk is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A. may have helped to popularize the term with the title of their 1981 album, Hardcore '81. Hardcore historian Steven Blush said that the term "hardcore" is also a reference to the sense of being "fed up" with the existing punk and new wave music. Blush also states that the term refers to "an extreme: the absolute most Punk." An article in Drowned in Sound argues that 1980s-era "hardcore is the true spirit of punk", because "after all the poseurs and fashionistas fucked off to the next trend of skinny pink ties with New Romantic haircuts, singing wimpy lyrics", the punk scene consisted only of people "completely dedicated to the DIY ethics". One definition of the genre is "a form of exceptionally harsh punk rock."
Toxic Shock Records was an American independent record label based first in Pomona, California, then in Tucson, Arizona. The label was spawned from the record store of the same name, by its founders Bill Sassenberger and Julianna Towns in 1983, when they released the first of the Noise from Nowhere series of 7-inch EP compilations. For the next decade they released singles, compilations and albums by many notable and influential bands of the hardcore, noise rock and post-hardcore scenes.
