Act Members Notable 1980’s Songs Notable Facts
Mötley Crüe* Vince Neil, Tommy Lee,
Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx
“Dr. Feelgood,” “Girls, Girls,
Girls,” “Smokin’ in the Boys
Room”Lee became tabloid fodder in
the 1990’s because of his
marriages to—and divorces
from—actresses Heather
Locklear and Pamela
Anderson.Willie Nelson “Always on My Mind,” “On
the Road Again,” “To All the
Girls I’ve Loved Before”
In the 1980’s and 1990’s,
Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon
Jennings, and Kris
Kristofferson were members
of The Highwaymen, a
country music band.New Kids on the Block Jon Knight, Jordan Knight,
Joey McIntyre, Donnie
Wahlberg, Danny Wood
“Hangin’ Tough,” “This
One’s for the Children,”
“You Got It (The Right
Stuff)”New Kids on the Block’s 1989
albumHangin’ Toughsold
more than eight million
copies and included five top-
ten hits.Olivia Newton-John “Heart Attack,” “Physical,”
“Suddenly”
Newton-John is the
granddaughter of the Nobel
Prize-winning physicist Max
Born.Stevie Nicks “Edge of Seventeen (Just like
a White Winged Dove),”
“Leather and Lace,” “Stop
Draggin’ My Heart Around”
As a member of Fleetwood
Mac, Nicks was inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in 1998.Billy Ocean “Caribbean Queen (No
More Love on the Run),”
“Get Outta My Dreams, Get
into My Car,” “There’ll Be
Sad Songs (to Make You
Cry)”
Although considered a 1980’s
artist, Ocean scored his first
top-forty hit, “Love Really
Hurts Without You,” in 1976.Robert Palmer “Addicted to Love,” “I Didn’t
Mean to Turn You On,”
“Simply Irresistible”
The trademark of Palmer’s
popular 1980’s videos was the
use of glamorous models as
his backing band.Ray Parker, Jr. “Ghostbusters,” “I Still Can’t
Get Over Loving You,” “The
Other Woman”
In 1984, Parker was sued for
by Huey Lewis, who claimed
that Parker’s “Ghostbusters”
plagiarized Lewis’s “I Want a
New Drug.”Pet Shop Boys Chris Lowe, Neil Tennant “Always on My Mind,” “West
End Girls,” “What Have I
Done to Deserve This?”
Prior to his musical career,
Tennant was an editor at
Marvel Comics andSmash Hits
magazine.1126 Music: Popular Musicians The Eighties in America