I think pop beats rock in the 80s due to weight of great acts: Soft Cell, Human League, Adam & The Ants, Depeche Mode, etc. Rock was going through its decadent phase and would have only brief comebacks with artistic merit (such as Nirvana).
The Smiths were really rock (Byrds, Patti Smith) but did have some pop via the fact that Morrissey and Marr loved girl groups and 60s pop generally (a cover of I Want A Boy For My Birthday by Goffin and King was one of their first demos) and Marr was a big Nile Rodgers fan.
I don't mind U2 at all and occasionally they were fantastic but the bombast is too much.
Where do you put The Specials and Madness? The Specials' social themes were too dark to be pop but there are no lead guitars because its roots are Jamaican. Madness are really pop.
The Smiths were really rock (Byrds, Patti Smith) but did have some pop via the fact that Morrissey and Marr loved girl groups and 60s pop generally (a cover of I Want A Boy For My Birthday by Goffin and King was one of their first demos) and Marr was a big Nile Rodgers fan.
I don't mind U2 at all and occasionally they were fantastic but the bombast is too much.
Where do you put The Specials and Madness? The Specials' social themes were too dark to be pop but there are no lead guitars because its roots are Jamaican. Madness are really pop.
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