Tears For Fears

I could see how Tears For Fears might be on a lot of people's "overplayed" list, as they produced songs so tied to the '80s they've almost certainly gotten more airplay since that decade ended than during. But that shouldn't stop "Songs From The Big Chair" being heard as the masterpiece it is.

A Flock of Seagulls

Being the butt of so many jokes and the go-to picture for bad '80s hair-dos, one can easily forget A Flock Of Seagulls made some decent music.

Japan... the band

Imagine naming your band after a country in this Internet age... but nonetheless, David Sylvian, Mick Karn and Co. made pretty original sounding music. After starting as a very punky group, they quickly morphed into something which clearly owed more than a small debt to Roxy Music, but with Karn's fretless bass playing and often quirky rhythms, they became a far more unique entity.

Hugo Race + True Spirit/Fatalists

Hugo Race was in Nick Cave's Bad Seeds for 1/2 a minute in the early years. As he continued on a solo career, he initially mined the same territory as early Bad Seeds' records. His most recent stuff is actually how I envisioned Nick Cave would sound at this point in his career and, personally, I find Hugo Race's music much more satisfying.

Neko Case

Country, Alt Country, Indie Folk... whatever it is, Neko Case has a stellar voice. Much of her work eschews the usual verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure for more free-flowing melodies that often build quick and then flicker away.