80s Band RULED in 1988...Then They DISAPPEARED into Thin Air... | Professor Of Rock

Poll: What is your pick for the best song and album of the last two years of the 80s... 88-89?

I’m blown away that they were from Minnesota. I could swear they were an English band due to the vocals having a British quality. I too was a huge fan in 88/89!

Wow 😳 I'm a DJ, (for 25 years) and I really LOVE making sure that many generations get exposed to whatever music is good, no matter the decade, or how forgotten it is. I'm putting this in my rotation now, because you reminded me of it

They actually got me in to Star Trek as I heard those samples over and over, and then one night I caught the episode "Mirror, Mirror" on our local Fox station. I stayed to hear more Insoc samples and returned every night. I became a HUGE trekkie. I thank them for more than music, but for influencing me to watch a show I would objectively say made me a better person. I met Shatner a few years ago and wore a shirt with the selftitled album cover on it for a picture and posted it on Information Society's facebook telling them what I just said here. It was a big thing for me to acknowledge. When I saw them in Milwaukee, they stopped "what's on your mind" to turn around and watch a salute to Leonard Nimoy (who had just died) and they gave the Vulcan salute to these screens playing all these clips from Star Trek in rapid succession. I teared up because here were musical heroes from my youth, saluting an amazing man, from this brilliant show I only knew because of them...then it thumped back in to the song...it was moving and special in a way to me personally that I can't even explain. It's hard to explain how much I love this band. If someone reads this that doesn't know them well. Those first 3 albums are magical if you're in to synth and electronic music. It's a tone and vibe I've never heard anywhere else. They are melancholy, but yet hyped up. I put them up with Depeche Mode in being a huge influence on me. Hack is a master piece. It was way ahead of it's time. P&L Inc is also just nearly perfect. I really love those guys.

I saw Info Soc at Club Piranha in San Diego with my best friend. We were regulars there and had seats right in front of the band. When they started their set, there was an issue with the sequencer. After a couple of tries, they could not get it to work. They were about to pull the plug on the show when I asked if I could help. They were a bit skeptical, but said yes. It just so happened that I was at Guitar Center a few days earlier and watched as one of the employees helped someone fix this exact same issue. Apparently, this was a common bug with that particular sequencer. So I was able to reset the band's unit and they did the show. It was a lot of fun and very high energy. We all danced and sang the lyrics throughout the show. One of my favorite concerts.

InSoc was always BIG here in Brazil. They can tour and sell tickets anytime, any state. They have 10 hits here besides What's On Your Mind and Walking Away. They still have How Long, Come With Me, Lay Your Love On Me, Repetition, Running, Cry Baby, Think and Peace and Love Inc. A setlist with these hits and other songs will be heaven sent :)

Information Society's song "REPETITION" is legend! How it was never a world wide #1 is beyond me. If you haven't heard it, go and listen asap - it is a masterpiece!

"Peace & Love Inc." is a fabulous album top to bottom and it is a huge shame that it was never promoted. I do remember that the summer after it was released, the Six Flags near where I grew up used the title track as the theme for their little stage theater show. Thank you Professor for covering one of my all time favorite artists.

Another band that made the 80s a great time to be alive!

I remember when Pure Energy came out, it was so different that it caught a lot of people's attention. I was very surprised to learn that the band was American. The lead singer DEFINITELY sounded either British or maybe Australian.

They were huge (I mean really huge success) here in Brazil. They toured here after every album release and sold out arenas. They were even bigger here than in the US and Europe.

I have their cassette and CD's of Hack and PALI. I rediscovered my tape collection in the basement along with my boom box and found myself opening the case, sliding the cassette into the "A" deck and pressing play. The memories came back and once again I was lost in the Jr. High days jamming out to every song in my bedroom. Cool dad by the way..

1988, I was in the Air Force and a group of us went on a ski trip to Canada. The video was playing in the night club we all went to one night. I had a crush on the tour guide who went out with us. We started dating on that ski trip. Four years later we got married. To this day, we are still happily married! Thanks for the memories!

I remember them playing at a nightclub in San Diego called Confetti's which would occasionally turn into an underground club called the Blue Room (where you had to enter using the back door! LOL). I was right in front of Kirk during the show which turned out to be a good thing since his mic stand broke at one point and I was able to catch it mid-air and hand it back to him in time for his next vocal part! Good times. 🙂

I saw them in concert twice; first at 6 Flag Over Texas after their 1st album and second over at some theatre over in Dallas after their second album. In the second show, Kurt spent the whole show roller-skating across the stage.

This was THE JAM! Still remember my college roommate dancing to this in the car, in the club, etc. We LOVED IT!!!! It still makes my heart have a happy response every time I hear it. The bubbly guitar sound was so interesting the way it bobs and weaves thru the song like a curly roller coaster. "Pure Energy"was in the top 5 best songs of my clubbing days from 88-89. So good to hear a/b the band. In our hearts forever!!

A co-worker once told me a story about when Quiet Riot's Cum on Feel the Noize was a hit in 1983, and he really wanted to buy the tape, but the record store was continually sold out. He said that he and a friend were walking, and a car drove by blasting the song. The girl driving it parked it, and then went inside her house. This was a nice suburban neighborhood in Redding, CA, so she didn't bother to lock her car, and my co-worker's friend opened the car's door, ejected the cassette from the stereo, and the pair of them took off running! Having safely made their escape, they then discovered that she had actually been listening to the radio, and the cassette was not Quiet Riot!

Great video! I saw Information Society with Milli Vanilli and Paula Abdul live at Great America in 1989. It was a great show and the only merch I purchased was an information society t-shirt that I may still have packed away somewhere.

I liked Information Society and their 2 hit songs mentioned in this episode, The reason why they were done by 1991 is sadly easy to explain. 1991 music experienced the worst music tsunami is music history. So many 80s artists music careers were either stalled or completely ended. This was when grunge/alternative and rap/hip hop took over. All 80s styles and sounds were swept away. Had they started earlier in the 80s decade they probably would've achieved more success. It's a shame because I would choose to listen to Information Society over all of those grunge bands any day.

One thing I loved about them was the Easter eggs on the cds. Actual phone number tones on one track. Multiple stories that could read if you knew how to decode the computer sound. With trial and error (frying a modem) I hooked up speaker wires for the cd player to a phone wall jack to the computer. At least now I know that it was Downtown Julie Brown was the sample on Hack.