The Alarm

With idealistic spirit, anthemic songs, and a powerhouse live show, the Alarm were part of a wave of bands dealing in a rootsy brand of alternative rock informed by the righteous idealism of punk. Forming in the early 1980s and influenced by the impassioned political fervor of the Clash, the Alarm often worked in an acoustic folk-punk vein that provided a counterpoint to their hard-driving guitar rockers, an era captured on 1984's Declaration. The Alarm had much of the same earnest intensity, the same creative ambitions, and the same spiritual undercurrents as U2 -- 1987's Eye...