Artists like The Smithereens

Sidney Matthew Sweet is an American alternative rock/power pop singer-songwriter and musician who was part of the burgeoning music scene in Athens, Georgia, during the 1980s before gaining commercial success in the 1990s as a solo artist. His companion albums, Tomorrow Forever and Tomorrow's Daughter, were followed by 2018's Wicked System of Things and 2021's Catspaw, his 15th studio effort.

Dramarama is an American, New Jersey–based alternative rock/power pop band, who later moved to Los Angeles. The band was formed in New Jersey in 1982 and disbanded in 1994. The band formally reunited in 2003 following an appearance on VH1's Bands Reunited.

Cracker is an American rock band formed in 1990 by lead singer David Lowery and guitarist Johnny Hickman. The band's first album Cracker was released in 1992 on Virgin Records; it included the single "Teen Angst ", which went to No. 1 on the U.S. Modern Rock chart. The band's follow-up, the 1993 album Kerosene Hat included the hit songs "Low", "Get Off This" and "Euro-Trash Girl". Cracker has released nine studio albums and several compilations, collaborations, solo projects and live albums. The band mix influences and sounds from rock, punk, grunge, psychedelia, country, blues and folk.

Paul Harold Westerberg is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the Replacements. Following the breakup of the Replacements, Westerberg launched a solo career that saw him release three albums on two major record labels.

The Fixx are a rock band from London, England, founded in 1979. The band's hits include "One Thing Leads to Another", "Saved by Zero", "Are We Ourselves?", and "Secret Separation", each of which charted in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, as well as Mainstream Rock chart hits "Red Skies", "Stand or Fall", "Driven Out" and "Deeper and Deeper", which was featured on the soundtrack of the 1984 film Streets of Fire.

BoDeans is an American rock band formed in Waukesha, Wisconsin, in 1983. The band's sound encompasses multiple rock genres, including roots rock, heartland rock, and alternative rock. The band's biggest hit is "Closer to Free" (1993), which became the theme song to Party of Five. BoDeans has been described as "one of the most successful, and best known, bands to come out of the Milwaukee area". The band is included in a permanent installation on artists from the Midwest at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Alarm are a Welsh rock band that formed in Rhyl in 1981. Initially formed as a punk band, the Toilets, in 1977 under lead vocalist Mike Peters, the group soon embraced arena rock and included marked influences from Welsh language and culture. By opening for acts such as U2 and Bob Dylan, they became a popular new wave pop band of the 1980s.

World Party was a musical group, predominantly the solo project of its sole consistent member, the songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Karl Wallinger. Wallinger started the band in 1985 in London after leaving the Waterboys. At various times, World Party also featured Guy Chambers, David Catlin-Birch, future Oasis drummer Chris Sharrock, Jeff Trott, Amanda Kramer and John Turnbull.

The Connells are an American musical group from Raleigh, North Carolina. They play a guitar-oriented, melodic, jangle-pop style of rock music with introspective lyrics that often reflect the history or culture of the American South.

The J. Geils Band was an American rock band formed in 1967, in Worcester, Massachusetts, under the leadership of guitarist John "J." Geils. The original band members included vocalist Peter Wolf, harmonica, trumpet, and saxophone player Richard "Magic Dick" Salwitz, drummer Stephen Bladd, vocalist/keyboardist Seth Justman, and bassist Danny Klein. Wolf and Justman served as principal songwriters. The band played R&B-influenced blues rock during the 1970s, and achieved commercial success before moving toward a more mainstream new wave sound in the early 1980s, which brought the band to its commercial peak.

Squeeze are an English rock band that came to prominence in the United Kingdom during the new wave period of the late 1970s, and continued recording in the 1980s, 1990s and 2010s. In the UK, their singles "Cool for Cats", "Up the Junction", and "Labelled with Love" were top-ten chart hits. Though not as commercially successful in the United States, Squeeze had American hits with "Tempted", "Black Coffee in Bed", and "Hourglass", and were considered a part of the Second British Invasion.

Concrete Blonde was an American rock band from Hollywood, California. They were active from 1982 to 1994 and reunited twice: first from 2001 to 2004, then from 2010 to 2012. They were best known for their album Bloodletting (1990), its top-20 single "Joey", and Johnette Napolitano's distinctive vocal style.

10,000 Maniacs is an American alternative rock band founded in 1981. They have released nine studio albums, six EPs, and five live albums. They achieved their most significant success between 1987 and 1993, when they released four albums that charted in the top 50 in the US: In My Tribe (1987), Blind Man's Zoo (1989), Our Time in Eden (1992), and the live album MTV Unplugged (1993). After the recording of MTV Unplugged, original lead singer and songwriter Natalie Merchant left the band to pursue a solo career, while the remaining members continued the band.

Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Barbara, California, in 1986. The band at the time consisted of vocalist/guitarist Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss, who stopped touring in 2017 and left the band in 2020. They had chart success in the 1990s with singles that included "Walk on the Ocean", "All I Want", "Something's Always Wrong", "Fall Down", and "Good Intentions".

School of Fish was an alternative rock band which formed in 1989 and disbanded in 1994. The core members were Josh Clayton-Felt and Michael Ward (guitar). School of Fish released two albums and are remembered for the 1991 hit single "3 Strange Days".

Jellyfish was an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1989. Led by songwriters Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning, the group was known for their blend of 1960s classic rock and XTC-style power pop. They released two albums, Bellybutton (1990) and Spilt Milk (1993), that proved influential to many subsequent acts in a similar vein.

The Knack was an American power pop band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1978 by Doug Fieger, Berton Averre, Prescott Niles (bass) and Bruce Gary (drums). Spearheaded by the success of their debut single "My Sharona", their first album, Get the Knack (1979), reached number-one in several countries. However, their next two albums, ...But The Little Girls Understand (1980) and Round Trip (1981), were less successful, leading the band to disband in 1982.

Edward Joseph Money was an American singer and songwriter who had his greatest commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s. Money had eleven Top 40 singles, starting with "Baby Hold On" in 1977 and including the Billboard Top 10 hits "Take Me Home Tonight" (1986) and "Walk on Water" (1988). Critic Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times called him a working-class rocker. In 1987, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "Take Me Home Tonight".

William Haislip Squier is an American rock musician, singer, and songwriter who had a string of hits in the early 1980s. His best-known songs include "The Stroke", "Lonely Is the Night", "My Kinda Lover", "In the Dark", "Rock Me Tonite", "Everybody Wants You", "Emotions in Motion", "Love Is the Hero", and "Don't Say You Love Me". Squier's best-selling album, 1981's Don't Say No, is considered a landmark release of arena rock, bridging the gap between power pop and hard rock.

Donnie Iris is an American rock musician known for his work with the Jaggerz and Wild Cherry during the 1970s and for his solo career beginning in the 1980s with his band, the Cruisers. He wrote the No. 2 Billboard hit, "The Rapper", with the Jaggerz in 1970 and was a member of Wild Cherry. He also achieved fame as a solo artist in the early 1980s with the No. 29 hit "Ah! Leah!" and the No. 37 hit "Love Is Like a Rock."

Teenage Fanclub are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in Glasgow in 1989. The group were founded by Norman Blake, Raymond McGinley and Gerard Love, all of whom shared lead vocals and songwriting duties until Love's departure in 2018. As of 2023, the band's lineup consists of Blake, McGinley, Francis MacDonald, Dave McGowan and Euros Childs.