Artists like The Teardrop Explodes

Julian David Cope is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band The Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side projects such as Queen Elizabeth, Brain Donor, and Black Sheep.

Adam and the Ants were an English rock band that formed in London in 1977. Two versions of the band, both fronted by Adam Ant, existed between 1977 and 1982. The first phase began when the band were founded in May 1977 and were called the Ants until November of that year. They later changed their style from punk rock to post-punk and new wave and released one album. The final line-up of this version consisted of Dave Barbarossa, Matthew Ashman, and Leigh Gorman—all of whom left the band in January 1980 at the suggestion of manager Malcolm McLaren to form Bow Wow Wow.

Dexys Midnight Runners are an English pop rock band from Birmingham. They are best known in the UK for their songs "Come On Eileen" and "Geno", both of which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, as well as their cover of Van Morrison's "Jackie Wilson Said ", which reached No. 5. They achieved five other UK Top 20 singles. Outside of the UK, the band are largely considered a one hit wonder, with "Come On Eileen" also having topped the US Billboard Hot 100. With extensive airplay on MTV, they were associated with the Second British Invasion.

Tubeway Army were a London-based new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. Formed at the height of punk rock in 1977, the band gradually changed to an electronic sound. They were the first band of the electronic era to have a synthesiser-based number-one hit, with their single "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and its parent album Replicas both topping the UK charts in mid-1979. After its release, Numan opted to drop the Tubeway Army name and release music under his own name as he was the sole songwriter, producer and public face of the band, but he retained the musicians from Tubeway Army as his backing band.

ABC are an English pop band which formed in Sheffield, South Yorkshire in 1980, evolving from the earlier electronic band Vice Versa. Associated with the new pop movement of the early 1980s, ABC blended synth-pop with disco and rock influences. The band achieved mainstream success with their debut album, The Lexicon of Love (1982), which reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and featured the hit singles "Tears Are Not Enough", "Poison Arrow", "All of My Heart" and "The Look of Love".

The Au Pairs are a British post-punk band that formed in Birmingham in 1978 and continued until 1983 on their first run. The band reformed in 2025, with Lesley Woods as the only original member. They produced two studio albums and three singles. Their songs were said to have "contempt for the cliches of contemporary sexual politics" and their music has been compared to that of the Gang of Four and the Young Marble Giants. The band was fronted by Lesley Woods, who was once described as "one of the most striking women in British rock".