another band i left off was MOTO - esp "kill MOTO"-era MOTO. crazy big hooks, enormous sing-alongs, clever + funny + stupid lyrics ... listening to that record, it's hard for me to imagine a world of kids who wouldn't like it. pretty much the same goes for the fastbacks, who may be one of the most criminally underrated bands of the last 30 years.
I've only heard "Breaking Up Is The Hardest Thing" and "Dance Dance Dance Dance Dance To The Radio", but your assessment, in my humble opinion, is correct.
I'm gonna throw Scott Walker & The Walker Brothers into the ring. I've been familiar with "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" since I was a child, because it'd get played on our local oldies station (B101 was the only station my mom would ever listen too - it was swallowed up by Clear Channel or one of those conglomerates a few years back, so it's pretty much crap, ie the same four or so Bee Gees songs from "Saturday Night Fever", "The Pina Colada Song" and a weird smattering of 80s music, but I digress) every once and a while, but I just watched
30 Century Man, and Scott Walker has a pretty incredible body of work. Plus, he was a smart looking chap in the 60's.
