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Jangle Pop

Marietta, Georgia, 1981

Guadalcanal Diary

Guadalcanal Diary formed in Marietta, Georgia, in 1981 and were part of the Athens and Atlanta scene that also produced R.E.M. The lineup never changed: Murray Attaway on vocals and guitar, Jeff Walls on guitar, Rhett Crowe on bass and John Poe on drums. An EP on EOD came out in 1983 and a debut album on DB Records in 1984. Then they signed with Elektra, which reissued the debut and put out three more albums, 2X4 in 1987 and Flip-Flop in 1989 among them. They broke up that year, citing family commitments and tiredness from touring, and said goodbye with a free show at the University of Georgia. There were local reunion shows in 1997 and one more at AthFest in 2011. Jeff Walls died in 2019.

Chico State, three voices

28th Day

28th Day got together around 1983 in Chico, California, while Barbara Manning was studying at Chico State. She sang and played bass, Cole Marquis sang and played guitar, and Mike Cloward played drums. Their jangly folk-rock got compared to early R.E.M. a lot, and it found a following on the college circuit. They made one record, a self-titled release on Enigma in 1985, and people remember it for the way Marquis's and Manning's voices trade lines. The band ended in 1986 when Manning moved to San Francisco, where she went on to World of Pooh, a solo career and the SF Seals on Matador. Later reissues added bonus tracks, live recordings and practice tapes, ending up as The Complete Recordings in 2003.

Soft Boys, Egyptians, solo

Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn Hitchcock was born in London in 1953 and started the Soft Boys in Cambridge in 1976. Their second album, from 1980, ended up as a major influence on R.E.M. and the American jangle-pop bands that came after. He went solo in 1981, then led the Egyptians, with Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor, from 1984 to 1993. That stretch included Fegmania! in 1985 and a spell on A&M in the US that made him a college-radio favourite. Peter Buck often played with him, and Jonathan Demme filmed him live for Storefront Hitchcock in 1998. He has lived in Nashville with the singer Emma Swift since 2015 and puts out records on his own Tiny Ghost label, the latest being The Confuser in 2026.

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