Genesis’ 1980s-era transition from producer David Hentschel — who oversaw four studio albums beginning with 1976′s A Trick of the Tail — had to do with an abiding passion for the thunderous drum sound of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham.

Gene Simmons confirms that Eddie Van Halen, frustrated over his relationship with David Lee Roth, approached him about joining Kiss in the early 1980s. The timing was right, too, as Simmons and Co. were working without a guitarist on Creatures of the Night.

With the sad anniversary of Ronnie James Dio’s death some three years ago comes an opportunity to return to a muscular concert offering that finds him near the peak of his solo powers.

The best peace, love and harmony anthem of 1985 didn’t come from the composing pen of Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, wasn’t produced by Quincy Jones and not sung by hordes of rock music’s biggest stars.

This imminently listenable brand of no-frills rock might have sold in any decade. But only in the 1980s, a period marked by a steep swing rightward after the polyester era’s excesses, could Huey Lewis and the News have been such big stars.

For a confirmed Beatlemaniac like Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra fame, working with members of the Fab Four had always been a dream. Beginning in the late 1980s, every one of them came true.

If 1987′s Document heralded the moment when R.E.M. started to get away from us, the follow up Green confirmed things: This wasn’t going to be our little secret anymore.

It’s time that certain critics got over the band’s name and the singer’s then-seagull haircut, and just listen to the music here without prejudice.

Roger Waters’ relationship with The Wall, which begins a European stadium tour in July, has continued to change over the years — and, in no small way, because he’s presenting it without the other members of Pink Floyd.

Despite the tortured history surrounding this release, something that ultimately mangled its original, rather Lovecraft-ian storyline, Imaginos might just be the most complete full-length Blue Oyster Cult ever did.