'80s Alternative

Brilliantly disconcerting, alternative rock from the '80s slides into new wave and post-punk territory, and flirts like a nonchalant coquette with fame, distilling intelligence and sex appeal into a dynamic, groundbreaking, and unique essence. The heavyweights of the movement include Joy Division, the Church, and Talking Heads.

While bands like Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine occupied the distorted margins of alt rock, Big Pig was remarkable for its absence of guitars, preferring to create a unique blend of vocals and percussion. Other bands took classically structured melodies and made them fresh and compelling: witness The La's "There She Goes."

The chronological bookends among our '80s alt rockers are Blue Orchids, who disbanded for the remainder of the decade in 1982 and recorded "The Flood" when the '70s were barely over, and avant-garde underground rockers the Butthole Surfers, whose transition into the '90s is marked by their version of "The Hurdy Gurdy Man."

Alternative rock welcomes all manner of influences, so long as the final effect bends our ears sideways and puts a questioning kink in the smooth logic of our musical certainties. Born in the embers of punk, and nourished by Sydney's Triple J and Melbourne's 3RRR radio stations, our '80s alt-rock phoenix retained its searing, sulphurous flame the world over, moving like a wraith between every conceivable pop and rock genre. All the artists featured in our selection helped redefine rock 'n' roll and keep it vital.