XTC

I've had some of their music for quite a while now but I'm only recently getting really into it.

They started out in the 70s and most of their known stuff is from the 80s, but they were still active until quite recently.

Very much a predecessor to Blur's experimental pop (Blur even wanted one of them to produce "Modern Life Is Rubbish"), but I'd say they're actually more ambitious and complex than Blur most of the time.

Their 1986 album "Skylarking" is considered one of their best, despite the fact that it didn't sell very well at the time and that the recording sessions with Todd Rundgren (who did a very good job in the end) were quite strained.

Here is a video of them performing slightly earlier material - "Yacht Song" from their 1982 album "English Settlement". It might even be one of their last live performances seeing as their main man Andy Partridge had a breakdown around that time, turning them into a studio band.