10 Amazing '80s Bands That Everyone Forgot About
6. The Brilliant Corners
This enormously underappreciated indie pop act was a band in the right place at simultaneously the right and wrong time. The indie boom of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s kept them in work and recording, but there were so many great bands around that the bizarrely named Brilliant Corners faded a little into the background.
They took their name from a Thelonious Monk album, but save for the occasional joyous blasts of trumpet (see the incredibly energetic “Meet Me On Tuesdays”), there was nothing of the jazz act to this band. It’s pure, straight ahead indie delivered with youthful exuberance and witty lyrics.
Of their five albums, a few have become hard to find, but their mid-career peak of Somebody Up There Likes Me and Joy Ride show the band at their best, the occasionally raucous energy of their youth matured and polished. The smart alec indie of the ‘80s was soon to be washed away by the boisterous ‘90s, but before then the Corners gave us the likes of the sweet “Like Father Like Son” and minor jangle pop classic "Why Do You Have To Go Out With Him When You Could Go Out With Me?".