In the U.S., Soft Cell, the British duo of singer Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball, was a classic one-hit wonder, that hit being the remake of Gloria Jones' "Tainted Love," which dominated dance clubs and eventually peaked in the pop Top Ten with its synth-pop sound and Almond's plaintive vocal in 1981-1982. In the U.K., the group not only had a longer career, but also influenced a raft of similar performers. Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, originally released in Britain in the fall of 1981, contained both the band's first hit and its follow-up, "Bedsitter," its title referring to what in America would be called a studio apartment. (A third U.K. Top Five hit, "Say Hello Wave Goodbye," emerged from the LP.) At full album length, lyricist Almond's primary preoccupation, only suggested in "Tainted Love," was spelled out; this was a theme album about aberrant sexuality, a tour of a red-light district. The point was well made on "Sex Dwarf," with its oft-repeated chorus "Isn't it nice/Sugar and spice/Luring disco dollies to a life of vice?" Songs like "Seedy Films," "Entertain Me," and "Secret Life" expanded upon the subject. The insistent beats taken at steady dance tempos and the chilling electronic sounds conjured by Ball emphasized Almond's fascination with deviance; it almost seemed as though the album had been designed to be played in topless bars. British listeners saw through Almond's pretense or were amused by him, or both; more puritanical Americans tended to disapprove, which probably limited the group's long-term success stateside. But the music was undeniably influential. The 2002 CD reissue added two lengthy 12" single mixes of "Tainted Love," one of them a medley with the old Supremes hit "Where Did Our Love Go," the other a dub version.
allmusic.com

Duran Duran 组建于1980年，当时乐队5名成员分别为主唱Simon Le Bon、吉他手Andy Taylor、合成器演奏乐手 Nick Rhodes、贝司手John Taylor和鼓手Roger Taylor （复出后成员略有调整）。而这队后来被称作“新浪漫先锋”的团体刚出道时却同时遭同伴与异已的耻笑，新浪漫主义者认为 他们是不登大雅之堂的乡下人，朋克乐手们认为他们的音乐毫无意义。1981年，他们从伯明翰的Rum Runner俱乐部中脱颖而出，给当地的歌迷们带来了大胆脱俗的电子浪漫歌曲“Planet Earth"（行星地球）。同年，乐队推出的首张同名专辑，受到好评。次年推出的两张专辑《Rio》（里约）和《Carnival Harvest》（丰收欢宴）也取得不错的成绩。1983年和1984年分别推出单曲“Is There Something I Should Know"（是否我该知道某些事）和“Wild Boy（野孩子），均上到排行榜冠军之位。

Виктор Цой（维克多－崔/Viktor Tsoi）,Кино乐队（电影乐队）的灵魂人物，前苏联的摇滚英雄，在俄罗斯，象猫王、列农一样成为文化符号，音乐风格明显受到英美的早期摇滚影响，听起来有点象Lou Reed那种早期朋克的感觉，又有象Joy Division式的自省，兼有俄罗斯音乐的沉重忧郁，而其内容则针贬时政，呼唤自由，尖锐而具有感染力。仅这些描述是难以表达出他们的音乐，俄罗斯在 1999推出一套八位已故歌唱艺术家的邮票，维克多.崔位列其中，可见其影响。
巧合的是中国的摇滚教父崔健居然和他是同族，同姓，同龄，在同一个时代，同样是从压抑向开放的过渡期中开始了摇滚之路，在两个最大的社会主义国家，居然出现两位惊人相似的精神偶像，感叹！遗憾的是一位英年早逝，一位早已磨平棱角。