Who was the Quintessential 80s Band?

Prince & The Revolution.

Won grammys, oscars and made some of the best music ever. Prince can play just about every instrument known to man. And he'll serve you pancakes.

U2

Depeche Mode. Nobody summed up the New Wave movement better than Dave Gahan, with all it's ups, downs and comebacks.

Duran Duran.

They set the standard for videos on MTV. They were the first ones to make "mini-movies" out of their videos and show that bands were just as much about image and visuals as they were the sounds they made.

Guns N' Roses. One of the last great heavy metal bands. They put an exclamation point on an era of great heavy metal and rock n' roll.

Living Colour, formed in New York city in 1983 by Vernon Reid

REM - They ushered in alt rock as we know it.

The Eurythmics, a British musical duo, formed in 1980 by Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart

This isn't the right answer...but its my answer.

BON JOVI

Slippery When Wet was awesome.

The term "quintessential 80s band", to me, means a band that not only defines the era, but is also incredibly defined by the era. Bands whose sound is timeless and bands that have gone onto greater things in subsequent decades, therefore, cannot be quintessentially 80s. For this topic I think of overindulgence in effects (whether guitars, synths, whatever), vague lyrics that could mean something more but probably don't and a very stylized image. To that end, the band that most symbolizes the 80s is none other than Devo.

80s... There was music back then? How did you play it without computers and iPods??

the cure

One band sums up all that was and is the 80s. They had it all: big hair, spandex, butt-rock, high nasal vocals, asinine power ballads, widdley-didlley guitar solos, Neanderthal lyrics and umlauts. They could not have existed in any other decade. I'm speaking of course about

Motley Crue

The Go-Go's. A little punk, a lot of pop, wrapped up in a bright, fun package. That's the 80s right there.

No one has said Journey yet?!?!

Journey was definitely the definition of an 80's band - with lyrics like these that continue to permeate our culture... how can you not say Journey?

I always thought Duran Duran defined the 80's sound for pop music.

The quintessence of the 80s was the don't-give-a-damn-anything-goes attitude. No other band personifies it better than Grammy "winners" - Milli Vanilli. With U.S. Platinum hits like "Girl, you know it's true" and "Blame it on the rain" this duo had its 15 minutes of fame exclusively in the 80s. (It's another story that they continue to provide inspiration to today's young stars like Ashlee Simpson.)

The lip-syncing first happened in a July 1989 concert when the player jammed and keep repeating the same line. Unfortunately, no one in the audience cared. Pilatus was known for comparing himself to Dylan and Jagger among others. The "I-am-bigger-than-life-and-I-can-cheat-people-of-their-money" attitude. "If you fake it, they will come." No compassion for the concert-goers. Milli Vanilli were the poster boys of all that was wrong in the music industry. [source : Wikipedia]

They stand out in contrast to today's age of concerted compassion and fiscal responsibility.

Cheap Trick

I know, they were around during the late '70's, but they did their best work in the 80's. Even Stephen Colbert recognizes the importance of the band, who wrote and perform The Colbert Report's theme song.

depeche mode!

Duran Duran sold more than 70 million records, with eighteen of their singles landing in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and thirty in the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. All five members (the magic boy-band number) defined an image for the entire decade while keeping the heart millions of teenie-bobbers everywhere beating strong for more than twenty years.

When you think 80s metal, you think of Metallica. Kill 'Em All - very 80s album.

Cyndi Lauper, without a doubt!

The first female to have four consecutive billboard hits in one year. Girls Just Want to Have Fun became an anthem. She Bop, Time after Time, All Through the Night, Money Changes Everything, all great. Cyndi just stood up for being outrageous and most of all, fun, challenging all that was serious and nascent politically correct. And, her look was hot! She exemplified freedom for females all over. A true original.

The police

Not a band but it has to be Michael Jackson. He was the 80's.

Motley Cue

Let's count the classics: "Girls, Girls, Girls," "Dr. Feelgood," "Home Sweet Home," "Shout at the Devil," "Smoking in the Boys Room," and "Kick Start My Heart."

Need I say more? Besides having the good taste to put me in one of their videos, they epitomized the essence of the 1980s: rampant excess, flagrant drug use, rehab after rehab, death-defying overdoses, boozing and women, spandex, crazy guitar licks, big hair, tattoos, huge stage shows, flashy MTV videos, Tommy Lee drumming over the audience. From power ballads to pseudo-hard rock to glam rock at its best, they did it all, not always well, but they soldiered on anyway.

Nikki Sixx came back from the dead; Mick Mars looks like he's undead; Vince Neil actually killed someone; Tommy Lee is, well, Tommy Lee.

There simply is no band that can compare to them.