The Eighties in America Music: Popular Musicians 1127
Act Members Notable 1980’s Songs Notable Facts
Tom Petty & the
Heartbreakers
Mike Campbell, Howie
Epstein, Stan Lynch, Tom
Petty, Benmont Tench“Free Fallin’,” “I Won’t Back
Down,” “Refugee”With Bob Dylan, George
Harrison, Jeff Lynne, and Roy
Orbison, Petty also was a
member of the Traveling
Wilburys.Pointer Sisters Anita Pointer, June Pointer,
Ruth Pointer
“I‘m So Excited,” “Jump,”
“Neutron Dance”During the 1970’s the Pointer
Sisters became the first black
female act to perform at the
Grand Ole Opry.The Police* Gordon “Sting” Sumner,
Stewart Copeland, Andy
Stewart
“Don’t Stand So Close to
Me,” “Every Breath You
Take,” “Every Little Thing
She Does Is Magic”Sumner acquired the
nickname Sting because of his
preference for wearing a
yellow and black shirt in his
early days as a musician.Prince* “Little Red Corvette,”
“1999,” “When Doves Cry”
Under pseudonyms such as
“Christopher and Alexander
Nevermind,” Prince wrote hits
for the Bangles, Sheena
Easton, and other performers.R.E.M.* Michael Stipe, Peter Buck,
Bill Berry, Mike Mills
“The One I Love,” “Radio
Free Europe,” “Stand”R.E.M. became figureheads of
the Athens (Georgia) sound,
the popularity of which
contributed to the popularity
of other locality-specific
underground acts, such as the
Replacements (Minneapolis)
and Nirvana (Seattle).REO Speedwagon Kevin Cronin, Neal Doughty,
Alan Gratzer, Bruce Hall,
Gary Richrath
“Can’t Fight This Feeling,”
“Keep on Loving You,” “Live
Every Moment”REO Speedwagon took its
name from a high-speed fire
engine.Lionel Richie* “All Night Long (All
Night),” “Penny Lover,”
“Stuck on You”
Before launching his solo
career in 1982, Richie was the
lead singer of The
Commodores.The Rolling Stones Mick Jagger, Keith Richards,
Ron Wood, Charlie Watts,
Bill Wyman
“Emotional Rescue,” “Mixed
Emotions,” “Start Me Up,”The Rolling Stones’ 1981 hit
“Waiting on a Friend”
featured the saxophone
playing of jazz great Sonny
Rollins.Sade “Never as Good as the First
Time,” “Smooth Operator,”
“The Sweetest Taboo”
Sade (pronounced “Shar-
day”) was born Helen
Folasade Adu in Ibadan,
Nigeria.Bob Seger and the
Silver Bullet Band
Bob Seger, Drew Abbott,
Chris Campbell, Craig Frost,
Charlie Martin, Alto Reed,
Robyn Robbins“Against the Wind,” “Like a
Rock,” “Shakedown”Seger’s “Like a Rock” was used
in a long-running series of
advertisements for Chevrolet
trucks.