I think you're unfairly discounting The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified though. Emergency & I means a lot less without it.

I have been known to be rash and brutal in my adjudications to date.

New Order
U2
Sonic Youth
Talk Talk
R.E.M.
Husker Du
Minutemen
Echo & The Bunnymen (technically formed in '78, but first album was 1980)
XTC (hard to classify -- had great records in the late '70s, but bloomed in the '80s)
My Bloody Valentine
Tears For Fears
The Smiths

Also of note,

Oingo Boingo
The Smithereens (Very underrated band)
Prince
Dire Straits (Mark Knopfler is plainly awesome)
Ten Thousand Maniacs
Cheap Trick (Bun E. Carlos was one of the best rock drummers around)

And one of my two favorite one-hit wonders...Katrina And The Waves!
(The other was the Divinyls)

Then there were all the hair-and-spandex bands :D

Then there were all the hair-and-spandex bands :D

I've heard players walk up to the opening chords of Mr. Brownstone many times. Not sure who.

I have been known to be rash and brutal in my adjudications to date.

I'll believe it when you call me retarded

I'd rate the Go-Betweens as the most underrated band ever, and certainly of the 1980s

vortex - just want to make sure you didn't think you were alone...I agree wholeheartedly.

This is just a BIZARRE list. Blur? In that group? And Spoon, Wilco, Radiohead, Ghostface Killah and Elliot Smith are all from the 90's. Technically, so are the Mountain Goats, but I can see putting that group in the Oughts' box.

I created the list based less on what year each band was formed, and more on when their best (well, my favorite) work was released. So...
Spoon- Gimme Fiction (2005)
Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
Radiohead- Kid A (2000)
But you're right on Smith, I don't know what I was thinking there.

Blur's got 4 classics (Modern Life is Rubbish, Parklife, 13, Think Tank), a half-classic (The Great Escape) and nothing outright horrible in their discography. And after almost a decade of being apart, they produced arguably the best song of 2012.

Well, I disagree with the classification method, but I guess that's up for discussion.

I found Gimme Fiction incredibly disappointing.

Blur's got 4 classics (Modern Life is Rubbish, Parklife, 13, Think Tank), a half-classic (The Great Escape) and nothing outright horrible in their discography. And after almost a decade of being apart, they produced arguably the best song of 2012.

What a weird listing, given that Think Tank is 80% garbage and that you didn't even mention their single greatest triumph, the self-titled Blur album: the moment they broke free of the Britpop straitjacket and incorporated Pavement-esque influences turn into one of the great late-'90s "noise-pop" bands.

Operation Mindcrime was more definitive of the the popular tastes of 1988.

Operation Mindcrime is also ####### awesome (and much better than anything else Queensryche has done).

Also, I recognize there are not many metal fans on this site, but Metallica's work in the 80's is unimpeachable. Too bad they never released another CD after ...And Justice For All.

Also, I recognize there are not many metal fans on this site, but Metallica's work in the 80's is unimpeachable. Too bad they never released another CD after ...And Justice For All.

Black Album isn't particularly bad, as crossovers go. But otherwise, it is truth you speak.

Modest Mouse peaked with Lonesome Crowded West.

Too true. I rarely get a full "Get off my lawn" going in casual social settings. Having to explain to a young(er) person that The Moon and Antarctica is, in fact, terrible, remains an exception.

Black Album isn't particularly bad, as crossovers go. But otherwise, it is truth you speak.

I tried to fool myself into liking Death Magnetic, but...no, it's still bad.

I tried to fool myself into liking Death Magnetic, but...no, it's still bad.

Yeah, that's well into the "pretend they all died on the bus with Cliff" phase for me. I think I tried to give Load a fair listen, but it didn't work out very well between us. I think that ##### still has my Ride the Lightning t-shirt.

This is like the nightmare where I'm in a college coffee shop listening to recent graduates talk to at undergrads about bands for 96 hours.

Having to explain to a young(er) person that The Moon and Antarctica is, in fact, terrible, remains an exception.

Okay, wow, now you've gone too far.

Having to explain to a young(er) person that The Moon and Antarctica is, in fact, terrible, remains an exception.

Settle down now.

LCW is indeed their peak, but in the same sort of way that 99/00 is Pedro's peak. You still have some time immediately afterward where he's Cy Young good (Building Nothing, Moon and Antarctica). And then you've got Good News, which is a lot like Pedro's 2004. Definitely a serious step down from his peak - and yet somehow the moment of serious triumph (breaking into popular culture / winning the World Series).

Which makes We Were Dead... the Mets years. Some real quality, but ultimately pretty disappointing.

What a weird listing, given that Think Tank is 80% garbage and that you didn't even mention their single greatest triumph, the self-titled Blur album: the moment they broke free of the Britpop straitjacket and incorporated Pavement-esque influences turn into one of the great late-'90s "noise-pop" bands.

I think I like Think Tank better than Blur because Think Tank best highlights Blur's pop side (Battery in Your Leg, Out of Time, Good Song, Sweet Song) as well as their more experimental side (Caravan, Gene By Gene, Jets). Blur's got that same type of mixture (Look Inside America v. Theme from Retro), I just think Think Tank does it better.

But back to my original point, which was that Blur has no crap in their work. Even Leisure has its moments.