Psychedelic Furs/Tom Tom Club

Although it hasn't released a new full-length album in twenty years, Richard Butler's Psychedelic Furs still tours with its droll brand of new wave. The band has spent most of 2011 on the road, celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Talk Talk Talk, which they've occasionally played in its entirety.

You Might See: St. Louis native Richard Fortus joining the Furs. After his stint with the Eyes/Pale Divine, Fortus was guitarist for Butler's Love Spit Love project. The hometown guitar hero should be taking a break from his current Guns N' Roses duties. —Robin Wheeler

The Tom Tom Club didn't have an overload of hits, but it certainly perfected a sound that was very much of its decade, while leaving a respectable footprint for others to tread. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz's band was always something of an oddity: a Talking Heads offshoot that, thanks to "Wordy Rappinghood" and "Genius of Love," mirrored and then infiltrated black music in ways David Byrne could have only dreamed of.

Go Because: You know, at the bottom of your heart, that there is no better sample-fodder than "Genius of Love" and its age-old adage: "Who needs to think when your feet just go?" —Christian Schaeffer