If not for Michael Jackson, who would have ruled as King of Pop during the '80s?

As the world settles in for what is sure to be weeks if not months of second-guessing the life and death of Michael Jackson, here at Stuck in the '80s I find myself pondering a different question:

If not for Michael Jackson, his Thriller album, the landmark videos, etc. and so on ... who would have served as the King of Pop during the 1980s?

Who would have been the face of music that decade? The trendsetter? The innovator? And perhaps the one who self-destructed under the pressure of wearing the crown?

Obviously, everyone should add their own opinion below. But here are some names that come to mind right off the top of my head:

GEORGE MICHAEL: He left one best-selling group to go solo and found even more success. That sounds a lot like M.J. But aside from the obnoxious "Choose Life" neon shirts from Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and the ripped-jeans look from his solo videos, his trendsetting accomplishments don't really stack up.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Sure, it's a '70s guy. (So was Michael.) But his landmark album -- Born in the USA -- was smack in the middle of the '80s. But aside from marrying Julianne Phillips, what other '80s-ness did he really do?

BONO: U2 was probably the band of the decade (depending how you define that vague label), but it just feels weird to hand all the credit over to its frontman. Plus, Bono had a mullet. (Is that a pro or a con in this argument?) In any case, I think Bono would decline the honor.

MADONNA: Maybe we should be talking about the "Queen of Pop" instead of King of Pop. A product of the Midwest (like Jackson), she sparked fashion trends, wowed audiences with her TV performances and has sold more records than anyone else on this list.

BOY GEORGE: Finally someone who can be both the king and queen of pop. Surely, Boy's look was a defining image of the decade. And like Michael, his personal life threatens to wipe out memories of the anything he recorded. But does the quality of his music hold up its end of the equation? Probably not.

PRINCE: Okay, okay. Now we're talking. Very eccentric personality. Musical genius. Great dancer. Won an Oscar and Grammy for Purple Rain. Did it all without any noticeable or publicized plastic surgery. Sure, his purple-infused French Revolution overcoat fashion statement didn't catch on like the single, white glove. And he had no Moonwalk (though he writhing and grinding during Computer Blue and Darling Nikki was just as fun ... and easier to replicate). 

What other stars are worthy of wearing the crown of King of Pop during the '80s?

U2 stadium tour includes Tampa date

Fresh from their release of No Line on the Horizon and a week performing on Letterman, U2 has announced a world tour of stadium shows.

U2tours.com says the band will play Tampa's Raymond James Stadium on Oct. 9. Tickets would go online April 18. So far, the Tampa show is the only Florida date listed. U2's official website only lists exact tour stops through September (though it does say that a Tampa show will indeed happen in October).

Pollstar.com reports that opening acts on the so-called "360-Degree Tour" will include Glasvegas, Elbow, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol and Black Eyed Peas. U2's show director and architect are promising a circular stage design that will give all fans an unobstructed view, Pollstar says.

Check out a virtual tour of how the U2 stadium shows will look on this website.

[AP photo]

U2: The best ... and worst albums

Last week's battle over the best U2 album was so much fun, we're going to do ramp it up a little. For next week's Stuck in the '80s podcast, we're gonna rank the band's entire discography. Yep, all the way from 1980's Boy to 2009's No Line on the Horizon.

Plus, we'll bring back SIT80s heartthrob Tom Jones, who has a brand-new U2 story to share with everyone. Will it top the time I tried to leave my friend's girlfriend behind at the U2 show in Tampa back in '85? (She e-mailed last year to say all is NOT forgiven!) Tune in and find out.

In the meantime, we want your recommendations for our ranking. I know there's a lotta love for Joshua Tree out there. Maybe there's enough sentiment to even push it past Unforgettable Fire and Achtung Baby. For those who need the full list in chronological order, here it is:

• Boy (1980)
• October (1981)
• War (1983)
• The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
• The Joshua Turee (1987)
• Rattle and Hum (1988)
• Achtung Baby (1991)
• Zooropa (1993)
• Pop (1997)
• All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)
• How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)
• No Line on the Horizon (2009)

U2 plans a reggae album this year?!?

U2 could release a second album this year. And this one could be a reggae album.

The story goes that while the band was recording its No Line on the Horizon disc, members simultaneously put some reggae tracks to tape. The new album would be called Songs of Ascent.

"We're making a kind of heartbreaker, a meditative, reflective piece of work, but not indulgent," Bono told Rolling Stone magazine. "It will have a clear mood, like Kind of Blue. Or A Love Supreme would be a point of reference, for the space it occupies in people's lives, which is to say, with that album, I almost take my shoes off to listen to it."

The Gleaner newspaper in Jamaica points out that U2 did first make it big on Island Records, the same label that made a star out of Bob Marley (whom Bono inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 1994).

[AP photo]

U2 handles Letterman's Top 10 list

You decide. What's funnier: U2 handling the Top 10 list on David Letterman this week ... or U2 guest-starring on The Simpsons ... or U2 on The Simpsons in Spanish?

U2's best album? Totally 'Unforgettable'

U2 has produced a ton of great work in its 33-year career. Songs we know by heart. Songs that raise the blood pressure to levels requiring yet another trip to the doctor's office. And when we see a video of Bono marching out on stage with that white flag during Sunday Bloody Sunday on the Under A Blood Red Sky video, we still get the chills.

But which album from U2 reigns supreme? (It's certainly not No Line On The Horizon, the latest offering, which hits store shelves today.) Stuck in the '80s co-host Sean Daly and I debate this question daily -- usually between bites of delicious burritos at lunch. And for all his spraying of refried beans and salsa verde, Daly has yet to get the answer right.

Quite simply, it's 1984's Unforgettable Fire, an aptly titled LP so brilliant that it had to be recorded in an Irish castle. I still have my concert shirt from their Tampa show on that tour. After a thousand or so washings, the bandmembers' faces now look like the statues on Easter Island -- and it fits me like a glove (a surgical glove) -- but I refuse to part with the decomposing shirt, the memories of that show or my feelings toward this incredible album.

Go read his case for Achtung Baby here, but bring a napkin, because his defense of that '90s schlock is messier than dollar taco day at our favorite Mexican cafe.

THREE REASONS 'UNFORGETTABLE FIRE' IS BEST:

1. THE TRIBUTES ROCK: Everyone remembers the band pouring out its admirations to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Pride (In the Name of Love) and MLK. But don't dismiss Bono's love letter to the other king in Elvis Presley and America, the lyrics of which were improvised in one take at the encouraging of producer Brian Eno.

2. IT NEARLY MADE ME A JUVENILE DELINQUENT: Oct. 1, 1984, is Unforgettable too, because I — and many more from the senior class at Countryside High that year — blew off school to stand in line to buy the record on its release date. Detentions awaited most of us the next day, but nobody had any regrets.

3. IT'S EVEN BETTER LIVE: On the momentum of the album, U2 took the stage for 1985’s Live Aid show in London. After an epic and dreamy 12-minute performance of Bad, U2's legacy -- and that of Unforgettable Fire -- was firmly secure: Simply the best.

(Pausing now while you rush to download the album again. Then please drop a comment declaring the winner.)

U2 is losing its grip with reality

The new single by U2, Get on Your Boots, has slipped out onto the Internet, and Times pop music critic Sean Daly has it posted on his blog. Click here to give it a listen.

My first impression: It sounds like a 14-year-old Bono has joined a marginally bad Monkees cover band that only performs songs composed by a drunken Bob Dylan. Yeah, it sucks.

Will the rest of No Line on the Horizon sound similarly awful? We'll find out March 3.

Can U2 become relevant again?

To paraphrase Monty Pyton, they're not dead yet. But when it comes to our '80s heroes from Dublin, it just seems like U2 hasn't been getting any better for quite a while.

But with the Bono & Co. sent to play at Barack Obama's inauguration next week and a new album coming out March 3, maybe things are looking brighter for the band.

Neil McCormick of the Telegraph in London had an early listen to  U2's No Line in the Horizon and tells as much as he can about it online without breaking the "no early reviews" edict from the publisher. Here's his take:

"It is dense, twisty, shiny, modern pop music, a big mash up of Eno ambience, Edge electricity, rhythm and soul. There are verses and choruses, though not necessarily in that order (and quite often its hard to tell which is which). It doesn't feel the need to hit you over the head, but has the Ninja confidence to sneak up and take you unawares. It makes love like it's making war. It hasn't frontloaded all its big guns. There is a surge in the middle perfectly timed to quell any uprising, and a killer twist at the end."

Am I the only one out there who thinks this isn't necessarily a good review? Read between the critic-ese, and any regular '80s fan isn't going to feel all that enthusiastic.

Still, I have a 5-point plan for making U2 relevant again. And if this actually works, all I want is the Edge's cowboy hat from the late '80s and a chance to play drums just once on Sunday Bloody Sunday.

REBUILDING THE LEGEND OF U2:

1. FORGET THE BAD: Go find and burn every single copy of Rattle and Hum. Seriously. Never, ever listen to it again. That's where things starting going astray.

2. REMEMBER THE GOOD: Record all future albums in Slane Castle, where the brilliant Unforgettable Fire album was born.

3. BE MORE ANIMATED: Make a guest appearance on The Simpsons again. (Probably won't help the career, but it'd give me a reason to watch the show again.)

4. HELP THE NEEDY: Do three-part podcast interview on Stuck in the '80s after flying its host to chronicle the making of a new live album and DVD at Red Rock.

5. EMBRACE ZEN: Ditch the sunglasses, Bono, and regrow the mullet.

[Live Aid photo]

U2 finally ready to release new album

U2 is ready to release its first new album in more than four years on March 2. The new disc -- No Line on the Horizon -- follows 2004's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

No Line was recorded in Dublin, New York, London and Morocco, according to the band's label, Interscope Records. The album was originally to be released in November, but was delayed when frontman Bono wasn't happy with the final results, according to media reoprts.

The disc was produced with Brian Eno, Danny Lanois and Steve Lillywhite. Tracks recorded with producer Rick Rubin have been tossed out, Interscope says.

"It's a great record, but it deserves the time. Labels need to work with artists to help them achieve their best work, not to jam records out that are half-baked or three-quarters baked," Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine told Billboard last month.

Billboard says one source who has heard some of the songs in their early form describes them as "amazing and a little out there."

[Publicity photo]

Van Halen's M&M fetish is confirmed!

Remember the urban legend about how hard-rocking Van Halen demanded all brown M&Ms be removed from their backstage spreads during the '80s? Well, some 25 years later, it's finally confirmed.

The Smoking Gun, which admits to having searched for verification for 10 years now, finally got its hands on a Van Halen backstage rider from 1982. Sure enough, there's a "no brown M&M" clause in there. Click here to see the full document.

Among the other interesting demands:

• The band specified exactly which vegetables it wanted any given day. Brussels sprouts and spinach on even days; peas and green beans on odd days.
• Plenty of Tab diet cola and lime-flavored Gatorade.
• As for alcohol: Schlitz Malt Liquor, Jack Daniels bourbon, Stolichnaya vodka and Blue Nun white wine.
• Even more bizarre: Herring in sour cream for deli trays ... and one large tub of KY jelly.

If you haven't checked out TSG's full list of riders from '80s artists, you're missing out. They ones for Men At Work (no Vegemite!), Billy Idol (he likes I Can't Believe It's Not Butter), U2 (Rolling Rock in bottles only), Def Leppard (no eggs!),   Billy Joel (no recliners) and more.