80s
Musical identity is more important than actual date of release. Try to keep bands that are more iconic/representative of the genre closer to the beginning of the list. If you violently disagree with an existing categorization, talk about it in chat before you edit. If a band is mostly a one-hit wonder, or is super famous for something, list it next to the band name.
Be friendly with your merges.
Requests (aka "to be sorted", feel free to add):
Subgenres:
SynthPop ("Are these newfangled synthesizers shiny or what?"):
New Order, Depeche Mode, Erasure, Gary Numan, Eurythmics, Japan, Soft Cell, Human League
Pop ("Top 40 Stuff"):
Wham, Cyndi Lauper, Tiffany, Madonna, Michael Jackson
Schlock ("Making your ears bleed"):
Richard Marx, Steve Winwood
New Wave (possibly including New Romantic, kinda gothy, especially in England):
The Cure, Duran Duran, Thompson Twins, INXS, The Police, Adam & The Ants, Spandau Ballet
Hair metal, aka butt-rock (ha ha, I fucked Amp's mom):
Skid Row, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Survivor
Also relevant, but less so to this show:
Alternative/College rock (which was seeded in the 80s, but did not really achieve musical identity on a large scale until the 90s):
R.E.M, The Replacements, Talking Heads
Hardcore punk:
Black Flag, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys
House music (not a lot of multi-hit artists here):
C&C Music Factory, Technotronic, Kylie Minogue
Early Rap:
Grandmaster Flash, Sugarhill Gang, Ice T
Carry Over Bands
Kansas,
Styx,
pink floyd