China Crisis

Disco was dying on the cusp of the Eighties, but its blaze of glory through pop charts and dance clubs left a mix of fascination with new musical technology and nostalgia for the jazz- and blues-fueled innovations of decades past. As the playing field leveled at the top of the pop charts, Liverpool suburbanites Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon traded in their post-punk duds for a drum machine and synthesizer. After several years of testing the creative limits of this newfound artistic medium (and adding Reilly to keep the beat), China Crisis hit the scene with a sound similar to their new wave antecedents (see: Roxy Music) and supplemented by experimental forms of more mature genres.

*China Crisis' debut album, released in 1982, is titled Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms, Some People Think It's Fun to Entertain. Their sophomore effort, released in 1984, is titled Working with Fire and Steel Possible Pop Songs, Vol. 2. Six future albums kept their sound, but shortened the titles.