Who is the best band of the '80s?

[Alcibiades]

Of those listed, quite easily The Smiths, followed by The Clash.

[Alcibiades]

I'm fascinated that The Smiths are leading. During the 80s I barely heard their music, and they were seen more as a band with a cult following. I know that a lot of later bands were influenced by The Smiths, but they seemed to me to hearken back to 60s style playing, but with depressing punkish lyrics.

I put them in a category of bands that have cult followings and are loved by some critics, but are overrated by their followers. I'd put a bunch of other 80s bands like Dinosaur Jr, Spacemen 3, REM (who were a cult band in the 80s), The Cure, and XTC in the same category. Certainly, none of them were bad (unlike the hair metal sh**t in the poll here), and I like some of them, but still overrated for me.

I suppose the genius of The Smiths for me was that they were one of the first to combine jangly 60s-inspired guitar pop with post-punk angst, setting the template for so many great indie bands to follow.* At the same time, I totally get why they’re not everyone’s cup of tea.

*The Byrds style was their own unique thing, but the general notion of outwardly sunny 60s-style indie pop has persisted.