Indie Music UK 80s-90s

Death Cult is the debut four-track EP by the post punk/gothic rock band Death Cult (who later shortened their name to the Cult). Released in July 1983 on the Situation Two label, the EP reached No. 2 on the UK Independent Chart. The EP is often erroneously referred to as Brothers Grimm (after the song title of the first track on the A-side of the record).

In 1988, the EP was released on compact disc coupled with the contents of the group's only other official release, "Gods Zoo", retaining the same eponymous title.

In 1996, the contents of the 1988 CD release were remastered and reissued with an additional four tracks from a BBC Radio 1 session. This release was titled Ghost Dance.

Gene Loves Jezebel are a British rock band formed in the early 1980s by identical twin brothers Jay and Michael Aston. Gene Loves Jezebel's best-known songs include "Heartache", "Desire " (1986), "The Motion of Love" (1987), "Jealous" (1990), and "Break the Chain" (1993), as well as alternative club hits "Bruises" (1983), "Influenza (Relapse)" (1984), and "The Cow" (1985). "The Motion of Love" was the band's most successful UK single.

Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. Q magazine included John McKay's guitar playing on "Hong Kong Garden" in their list of "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever", while Mojo rated guitarist John McGeoch in their list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" for his work on "Spellbound". The Times called the group "one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era".

The Danse Society are an English gothic rock band, formed in Barnsley in 1980. They were originally active until 1987, reforming in 2011. They achieved moderate success during their career. Their lineup included Steve Rawlings (vocals), Paul Nash (guitar), Lyndon Scarfe (keyboards), Tim Wright (bass guitar) and Paul Gilmartin (drums). Scarfe was replaced by David Whitaker (formerly of Music for Pleasure) after the Heaven Is Waiting album.

Originally called Y? and then Danse Crazy (changed due to the emerging Two Tone scene), Danse Society recorded and released their first single, "Clock", on their own newly formed record label Society in 1980. They released their debut studio album, Seduction, in 1982. It reached No. 3 in the UK Indie Chart.

Sex Gang Children are an early gothic rock and post-punk band that formed in early 1982 in Brixton in London, England. Although the original group only released one official studio album, their singles and various other tracks have been packaged into numerous collections, and they remain one of the more well-known bands of the early Batcave scene and have reformed for new albums and touring at various times since the early 1990s.

The original lineup was Andi Sex Gang (vocals, guitar), Dave Roberts (bass), Terry McLeay (guitar) and Rob Stroud (drums). They were a dramatic band, relying on heavy bass, tribal drumming, sudden mood shifts, dramatic vocals and a cabaret sound (influencing the rise of the later dark cabaret scene). The band's first release was a cassette-only live album, Naked, in 1982. The Beasts EP, their first vinyl release, followed the same year after they signed to the Illuminated label. The band's only studio album from their original period together, Song and Legend, was released in 1983, reaching the top of the UK Indie Chart and spawning the single "Sebastiane". Stroud departed to form Aemoti Crii, to be replaced by former Theatre of Hate drummer Nigel Preston, who played on the band's next single, "Mauritia Mayer", before himself being replaced by former Death Cult drummer Ray Mondo. Roberts left in late 1983 to form Carcrash International, and the line-up settled to Andi, McLeay, Cam Campbell (bass) and Kevin Matthews (drums), a change forced by Ray Mondo's deportation to his native Sierra Leone.

Christian Death is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles County, California, in 1979 by Rozz Williams. With major line-up changes over the years, Christian Death has retained "a relentlessly confrontational stand against organized religion and conventional morality".

Southern Death Cult were a British post-punk/gothic rock band in the early 1980s. They are now primarily known for having given their lead singer and parts of the name to the multi-platinum hard rock band the Cult. Despite the similarities in the names, "Southern Death Cult" were distinct from "Death Cult"/"the Cult".

Southern Death Cult formed in 1981 in Bradford, Yorkshire, with a lineup of vocalist Ian Astbury, bassist Barry Jepson, guitarist David "Buzz" Burrows and drummer Haq Nawaz "Aky" Qureshi.

The group's name derived from an old term for the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, a mound-building Native American culture (and the band were also known for their use of Native American imagery), but it also served as a critique of the imbalance of power in the English North-South divide.

Virgin Prunes were an Irish rock band formed in 1977 in Dublin, Ireland. They disbanded in 1986 after the departure of singer Gavin Friday. The other members continued under the name The Prunes until they split up in 1991.

Il dark cabaret è un genere musicale nato negli anni settanta, generatosi dalla commistione e rielaborazione di generi musicali quali la darkwave, il rock gotico, il death rock, il post- e punk rock, il folk rock ed il glam rock, uniti ad una trasposizione estetico-musicale di generi teatrali come il cabaret tedesco decadente e risqué dell'era della Repubblica di Weimar, il vaudeville ed il burlesque. Sono inoltre presenti forti riferimenti al genere cinematografico noir.

Gli elementi distintivi del dark cabaret sono il pianoforte utilizzato in un modo trainante ed incisivo e voci maschili o femminili estremamente basse, influenzate da artisti come PJ Harvey. In alternativa, la musica può essere incentrata su strumenti come il violoncello, il violino, la fisarmonica o la tromba.

1919 are an English rock band formed in Bradford, England in early 1980.

Peter John Joseph Murphy is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He is the vocalist for the post-punk goth rock band Bauhaus. After Bauhaus initially disbanded, Murphy formed Dali's Car with Japan's bassist Mick Karn and released one album, The Waking Hour (1984). He later went on to release a number of solo albums, including Should the World Fail to Fall Apart (1986) and Love Hysteria (1988). In 1990, he achieved mainstream success with his hit single "Cuts You Up", which topped the American Modern Rock Tracks for 7 weeks. His album Deep also reached No. 44 on the Billboard 200. In 1992, Murphy released Holy Smoke, which reached No. 108 on the Billboard 200 chart along with lead single "The Sweetest Drop", which peaked at No. 2 on the American Modern Rock Tracks chart. In 2002, Murphy released Dust with Turkish-Canadian composer and producer Mercan Dede, which utilizes traditional Turkish instrumentation and songwriting, abandoning Murphy's previous pop and rock incarnations, and juxtaposing elements from progressive rock, trance, classical music, and Middle Eastern music, coupled with Dede's trademark atmospheric electronics. In 2014, he released Lion, produced by Killing Joke's Youth, which reached No. 173 on the Billboard 200.

Tones on Tail was a British post-punk band formed in 1982, originally as a musical side project of Daniel Ash of the gothic rock group Bauhaus. Their music was described by one critic as "doom-and-dance-pop."

While still a member of Bauhaus, Ash formed Tones on Tail early in 1982, originally as a duo with Glenn Campling, an art school friend and flatmate who had also been a roadie for Bauhaus. The band's name was a reference to the way calibration tones were recorded on the "tail" of reel-to-reel tape.

The pair issued their debut eponymous EP on 4AD in March 1982, followed by the single "There's Only One!", released by Beggars Banquet Records on 24 September. Ash sang and played guitar, Campling played bass, and both played percussion and keyboards.

The Lords of the New Church were an English/American rock band. A supergroup, the line-up originally consisted of four musicians from 1970s punk bands. This line-up comprised vocalist Stiv Bators, guitarist Brian James, bassist Dave Tregunna and drummer Nick Turner. Launched in 1981, the band released three studio albums prior to their dissolution in 1989. During this time, they underwent several line-up changes.

The Glove was a 1983 English musical collaboration and recording project by the Cure's Robert Smith and Siouxsie and the Banshees' Steven Severin. They released one studio album, Blue Sunshine, in 1983 as part of Severin's solo deal with Polydor. The latter came up with the band name, the album title and the blue/yellow sleeve concept, as Smith had to leave the project before completion due to prior commitments with the Cure.

Flesh for Lulu were an English rock band formed in Brixton, London, England, active between 1982 and 1992. They reformed from 2013 to 2015 with a new lineup. Initially part of the post-punk scene, the band's sound shifted to reflect influences from pop music, country and western, rhythm and blues and blues.

Ghost Dance were a British gothic rock and post-punk band formed in 1985 by Gary Marx and Anne-Marie Hurst as both were leaving their respective bands. The band were originally signed to Nick Jones' record label, Karbon Records, then were later signed to the major label Chrysalis Records, before splitting up in 1989. In 2019, the band reformed with Anne-Marie Hurst being joined by new members, Tim Walker - guitar, Stephen Derrig - guitar, Phil Noble - bass, Dave Wood - drums and began work on new material. Reunion shows followed in the UK and the band signed to Voltage Records for a new album release in 2022

The Chameleons are an English rock band, formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester in 1981. The band's classic line-up consisted of lead vocalist and bassist Mark Burgess, guitarists Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding, and drummer John Lever.

The band released their debut studio album, Script of the Bridge, in 1983. They followed it with What Does Anything Mean? Basically and Strange Times in 1985 and 1986, respectively, before abruptly breaking-up in 1987 due to the sudden death of the band's manager. After the break-up, Burgess and Lever formed the Sun and the Moon, while Fielding and Smithies formed the Reegs. Burgess also had a short solo career with backing band the Sons of God.

The Chameleons reformed in 2000, releasing their fourth studio album Why Call It Anything (2001) as well as the acoustic albums Strip (2000) and This Never Ending Now (2002). Renewed tensions caused the group to break-up again in 2003. Burgess and Lever continued to play Chameleons songs live with their new project ChameleonsVox, although Lever later left that group and died in 2017. Burgess and Smithies reformed the Chameleons in 2021 with two members of Burgess' ChameleonsVox group.

Specimen are a British band founded in the 1980s. Their music has been described as spanning many different genres of music, including glam, goth, punk and post-punk, and the band is widely credited as one of the pioneers of the goth subculture, both musically and stylistically.