Author Topic: Big 4 bands of 80's rock  (Read 4887 times)

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Offline KevShmev

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Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« on: March 27, 2018, 07:58:54 PM »
Not best or your favorites, but the biggest 4 rock bands in the 80s.

I would have to go with:

Van Halen
U2
Def Leppard
Bon Jovi

Offline King Postwhore

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2018, 08:01:30 PM »
Not best or your favorites, but the biggest 4 rock bands in the 80s.

I would have to go with:

Van Halen
U2
Def Leppard
Bon Jovi

No argument there.  I saw all 4 in the 80's live.
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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2018, 08:03:54 PM »
Not much to argue with there, Kev.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
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Offline Cool Chris

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2018, 08:04:10 PM »
AC/DC should be there but I don't know who to remove. Man I never liked U2. U2 is to me what the Stones are to jammindude.
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Offline max_security

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2018, 08:17:36 PM »
That list seems like it might be true for 88-89 but maybe not for the entire decade. Billy Idol and The Police may be contenders for few years as well. Phil Collins was like every other song on the radio for at least half of the decade.

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2018, 08:22:26 PM »
Not sure Billy Idol was a contender for any year.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline max_security

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2018, 08:37:33 PM »
Not sure Billy Idol was a contender for any year.

Maybe it's a regional thing , it seemed like White Wedding and Rebel Yell were always playing somewhere. But you're right , it doesn't look like he had huge album sales like the others mentioned.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2018, 08:37:54 PM »
Phil Collins was more pop in the 80's than rock.

If we were gonna do the Big 4 pop stars of the 80's, I'd put Collins on there along with Michael Jackson, Madonna and George Michael.  Prince could be on there as well, but not sure who you could take off.

Offline King Puppies and the Acid Guppies

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2018, 08:38:05 PM »
Journey should probably be on there somewhere.
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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2018, 08:40:20 PM »
Not sure Billy Idol was a contender for any year.

Maybe it's a regional thing , it seemed like White Wedding and Rebel Yell were always playing somewhere. But you're right , it doesn't look like he had huge album sales like the others mentioned.

What region are you in?

Sure they were popular songs and all, but every other artist mentioned in this thread is true upper echelon for the 80's. I think Adam Sandler has as much to do with Idol's lasting popularity than Idol himself. I feel like he was a marginal performer in the 80's.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline CrimsonSunrise

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #10 on: March 27, 2018, 08:41:28 PM »
"Rock" as a generic term covers many genres.  That being said....

Metallica
U2
Def Leppard
Iron Maiden

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2018, 08:42:26 PM »
I don't think Billy Idol would have made the Big 20.  :lol :lol

Journey is not a bad pick, although they fizzled out in the latter part of the decade, and their most well known song, Don't Stop Believin', is far more popular now than it was at the time (it was a hit back then, but not a monster hit).


Offline KevShmev

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #12 on: March 27, 2018, 08:43:27 PM »
"Rock" as a generic term covers many genres.  That being said....

Metallica
U2
Def Leppard
Iron Maiden

Huh? There is no way to argue that Maiden or Metallica were bigger in the 80's than Van Halen.  Heck, Metallica was an underground band until 1988.

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #13 on: March 27, 2018, 08:43:44 PM »
"Rock" as a generic term covers many genres.  That being said....

Metallica
 

Looking back, maybe. At the time. No way.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline max_security

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #14 on: March 27, 2018, 08:50:01 PM »
Not sure Billy Idol was a contender for any year.

Maybe it's a regional thing , it seemed like White Wedding and Rebel Yell were always playing somewhere. But you're right , it doesn't look like he had huge album sales like the others mentioned.

What region are you in?

Sure they were popular songs and all, but every other artist mentioned in this thread is true upper echelon for the 80's. I think Adam Sandler has as much to do with Idol's lasting popularity than Idol himself. I feel like he was a marginal performer in the 80's.

I'm just going from memory of rock radio airplay in the Washington , DC Area ( DC 101 back then ) and 98 Rock Baltimore. Both are still on , but just barely . Billy Idol got a ton of air here  , and Phil Collins on these ROCK stations. They wore out Syncronicity for a few years as well.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #15 on: March 27, 2018, 08:58:46 PM »
Survivor also got played on rock stations quite a bit. :P

Offline bl5150

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #16 on: March 27, 2018, 08:59:34 PM »
It's interesting the difference in countries too.   Even though I am a big VH nut they weren't huge in Australia beyond Jump and (much to my disgust) never toured here with either Dave or Sammy .   I am not counting the tour a few years back with Roth.


Also Def Leppard - again I was a huge fan but to see them mentioned above in lists omitting Bon Jovi is hard to relate to.  Def Leppard weren't in Bon Jovi's ballpark out here.
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Offline max_security

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #17 on: March 27, 2018, 09:02:26 PM »
Survivor also got played on rock stations quite a bit. :P

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Offline cramx3

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #18 on: March 27, 2018, 09:06:49 PM »
Not best or your favorites, but the biggest 4 rock bands in the 80s.

I would have to go with:

Van Halen
U2
Def Leppard
Bon Jovi

Kind of hard to go different, there's a few others have mentioned like Journey or AC/DC.  I'll add a few more that are up there:  Bruce Springsteen, Guns n Roses, Billy Joel

Offline max_security

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #19 on: March 27, 2018, 09:20:54 PM »
ZZ Top seemed like they were everywhere for 3/4 of the decade .

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #20 on: March 27, 2018, 09:23:45 PM »
They were, but using all fake drums on Eliminator took away some of their "rock cred" for a while.

Springsteen had one of the 3-4 most popular albums of the 80's, so he definitely has a strong argument.

I am a big Billy Joel fan, but it feels like he was more of a pop star than a rock one, although he, like Elton John, often blurred the line between the two.

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #21 on: March 27, 2018, 09:43:10 PM »
Not sure Billy Idol was a contender for any year.

 :lol
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Offline CrimsonSunrise

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #22 on: March 27, 2018, 11:20:07 PM »
"Rock" as a generic term covers many genres.  That being said....

Metallica
U2
Def Leppard
Iron Maiden

Huh? There is no way to argue that Maiden or Metallica were bigger in the 80's than Van Halen.  Heck, Metallica was an underground band until 1988.
Underground band???  Not in Los Angeles.....  Kill 'em (83) all was an eye opener to the Metal scene here.  "Ride the Lightning" (84) was HUGE!  Followed up by "Master of Puppets"(86) and "And Justice for All" (88).  They were considered ground breaking and all eyes here were looking at them.

As far as Van Halen, their top 2 , and most popular albums were in 78 and 79.  After that... they were not as adored with LA fans, even though they were local boys.  So yeah....  while 1984 was a commercial success, it can't compete with the success of Metallicas 4 album run.  Fair Warning was a let down to most here after the epicness of the first 2.

As far as Maiden... same argument.  Here in LA they were MONSTERS!!!!!  For the whole run of the 80's.  Debut, Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, Powerslave...on and on...
« Last Edit: March 27, 2018, 11:37:30 PM by CrimsonSunrise »

Offline Kwyjibo

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #23 on: March 28, 2018, 12:58:50 AM »
AC/DC should be there but I don't know who to remove.

This.

And I would add Dire Straits and Aerosmith as contenders.
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Offline Architeuthis

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #24 on: March 28, 2018, 02:32:16 AM »
What about Scorpions??? They were very popular in the eighties, Blackout, Love At First Sting, Savage Amusement, etc...
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Offline soupytwist

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #25 on: March 28, 2018, 02:49:15 AM »
Queen, Aerosmith & G 'n' R were much, much bigger in the UK than Van Halen in the 80's - in fact Poison were bigger than VH over here.

Offline cramx3

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #26 on: March 28, 2018, 07:32:45 AM »
I am a big Billy Joel fan, but it feels like he was more of a pop star than a rock one, although he, like Elton John, often blurred the line between the two.

It's still rock and roll to me

Offline bl5150

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #27 on: March 28, 2018, 07:40:34 AM »
Queen, Aerosmith & G 'n' R were much, much bigger in the UK than Van Halen in the 80's - in fact Poison were bigger than VH over here.

Around the time of Nothin But A Good Time , I would say the same here in Australia.


Early 80's the biggest our here (from my point of view at least) was KISS.  As KISS dropped off the top of the charts in the USA in the late 70's/early 80's they went ballistic out here with Dynasty and Unmasked.     They called it Kissteria out here.....they were everywhere and there is a bit of an industry in collecting the unique Aussie KISS memorabilia from that time.   
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Offline Podaar

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #28 on: March 28, 2018, 07:55:24 AM »
I'm tempted to throw Foreigner into the mix, but they kinda fizzled out during the mid-eighties. They were huge for a span of years but kinda straddled the classic rock of the 70's in their hey day.
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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #29 on: March 28, 2018, 08:46:40 AM »
Not best or your favorites, but the biggest 4 rock bands in the 80s.

I would have to go with:

Van Halen
U2
Def Leppard
Bon Jovi

No denying that Def and Bon Jovi both had two monster albums, but the earlier two albums (for each) were fairly ordinary.
 I would contend that Back in Black and Born in the USA join The Joshua Tree as the 'big 3' biggest rock albums in the decade; and each had other albums as highly regarded as Pyromania and/or New Jersey.  For those I'd give the nod to Bruce and ACDC over DL and BJ.
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Offline bl5150

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #30 on: March 28, 2018, 08:56:45 AM »
High'n'Dry is ordinary ? -  first I've heard  ;D
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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #31 on: March 28, 2018, 09:44:17 AM »
High'n'Dry is ordinary ? -  first I've heard  ;D

"Fairly".  Present poster not-withstanding, it wasn't even in the same league, let alone ball-park as Hysteria/Pyromania
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Offline bl5150

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #32 on: March 28, 2018, 09:56:36 AM »
High'n'Dry is ordinary ? -  first I've heard  ;D

"Fairly".  Present poster not-withstanding, it wasn't even in the same league, let alone ball-park as Hysteria/Pyromania

Perhaps in sales but I know I'm not the only one around here who would reach for High n Dry before Hysteria
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Offline Podaar

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #33 on: March 28, 2018, 09:58:38 AM »
High'n'Dry is ordinary ? -  first I've heard  ;D

"Fairly".  Present poster not-withstanding, it wasn't even in the same league, let alone ball-park as Hysteria/Pyromania

Perhaps in sales but I know I'm not the only one around here who would reach for High n Dry before Hysteria

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Offline Stadler

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Re: Big 4 bands of 80's rock
« Reply #34 on: March 28, 2018, 10:06:50 AM »
"Rock" as a generic term covers many genres.  That being said....

Metallica
U2
Def Leppard
Iron Maiden

Huh? There is no way to argue that Maiden or Metallica were bigger in the 80's than Van Halen.  Heck, Metallica was an underground band until 1988.
Underground band???  Not in Los Angeles.....  Kill 'em (83) all was an eye opener to the Metal scene here.  "Ride the Lightning" (84) was HUGE!  Followed up by "Master of Puppets"(86) and "And Justice for All" (88).  They were considered ground breaking and all eyes here were looking at them.

As far as Van Halen, their top 2 , and most popular albums were in 78 and 79.  After that... they were not as adored with LA fans, even though they were local boys.  So yeah....  while 1984 was a commercial success, it can't compete with the success of Metallicas 4 album run.  Fair Warning was a let down to most here after the epicness of the first 2.

As far as Maiden... same argument.  Here in LA they were MONSTERS!!!!!  For the whole run of the 80's.  Debut, Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, Powerslave...on and on...

Please.  LA is a vacuum.  It's not at all indicative of anywhere else.  I say all that tongue in cheek and with deep respect, but for real, east of the Mississippi?   Van Halen is Ritchie Blackmore and Metallica is Uli Jon Roth.   Van Halen was the band that EVERYONE had on their text books (remember when  you used to have to cover your textbooks in paper bags?).   Guys loved them, chicks loved them, and they played sold out arenas.   Metallica was the band that the weird kid had as a patch on his jean jacket and you never actually heard any songs from. 

This is not a diss, I love Metallica and Hetfield is, to me, the coolest guy in rock (something Roth still wants to be).  So I get Metallica and love them.  But let's not revise history.  Back in 1985 they were a niche band anywhere more than 20 miles from the Sunset Strip.