Since someone's already hit the 90's, I thought it germane to start a list of favorite records from the 80's. Everything's fair game here, from punk to disco, new wave to hair metal, as long as it was released in the 80's.

Here are some of my faves:

1. The Replacements-Tim
2. The Waterboys-Fisherman's Blues
3. Echo and the Bunnymen-any of the first five records, although I lean towards Ocean Rain
4. The Go-Betweens- 16 Lovers Lane
5. Pixies-Doolittle
6. U2-The Joshua Tree
7. Robyn Hitchcock-I Often Dream of Trains
8. Husker Du-Warehouse: Songs and Stories
9. Bob Mould-Workbook
10. Flesh For Lulu-Long Live the New Flesh

I'm sure I'll kick myself for missing something later...

Guns and Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Skid Row - Skid Row
Sonic Youth - Confusion is Sex
Duran Duran - Rio
Kraftwerk - Computer World
AC/DC - Back in Black
Scorpions - Love at First Sting
Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy

Ok!! I'm ready. I was born ready. Let's do this...

1. De La Soul: 3 Feet High & Rising (1989)
2. The Smiths: Singles
3. Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique (1989)
4. Guns N Roses: Appetite For Destruction (1987)
5. Prince: Sign O' The Times (1987)
6. The Misfits: Walk Among Us (1982)
7. The Replacements: Pleased To Meet Me (1987)
8. Public Enemy: It Takes A Nation Of Millios... (1988)
9. Husker Du: New Day Rising (1985)
10. Van Halen: 1984 (1984)

can't really pick against these but someone's got to include 'remain in light' by the talking heads...that was 1980, right?

01. Violent Femmes
02. Replacements - Let it Be
03. Prince - Purple Rain
04. Feelies - Only Life
05. Beat Farmers - Tales of the New West
06. Marshall Crenshaw
07. Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace
08. Smiths - Meat is Murder
09. Camper Van Beethoven - Telephone Free
10. Los Lobos - How Will the Wolf Survive

OK, I attempted to be consistent here with other things I've already posted although I did not check how consistent I've been.
I've only included 10 here although there was no requirement to do so. Left off, undeservingly so, were Remain in Light, Imperial Bedroom, King of America, 1999, Sign of the Times, Dirty Mind, Smiths 1st, Graceland, Tim, Pleased to Meet Me, all of Chris Isaak's, Murmur, Strong Persuader and Pyschocandy.
Honorable Mentions certainly should go to VU, which was released, but obviously not recorded in the 80s, to London's Calling which would be one of the top 5 for sure, but which I see was released in December 1979 and to ...and a time to dance which is probably the best Los Lobos, but technically an EP.
It should be noted that, and I believe that Trouser Press is the guilty party, a book was released that graded all Alternative releases on a 0 to 10 scale. I have looked through that book alot while listening to new music and have never seen a 0 or 1 grade. Meat is Murder got a 2 rating which obviously must make it, in the words of mi compadre (tongue firmly in cheek), mark f, "the worst LP ever".

What a glorious decade!!

Hey mania, I don't think I can really respond yet to the post vis-a-vis
albums, but I will say that that stupid book (Spin, not Trouser Press) did give a Cheap Trick album a 1. Later, I should be able to get into albums, but since I'm here, I think I should mention that the best artists of the 80s included Talking Heads, The Smiths, Los Lobos, The Replacements, The Undertones, Prince, The Feelies, The Pogues, REM, The Pixies, Marshall Crenshaw, The Blasters, CVB, X, Husker Du and XTC (how did I forget that?) Any albums from these bands are (mostly) worthy. Later, gators

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mark f,

Kinda typical, but I don't curr.

1. Pixies - Doolittle and Surfer Rosa
2. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
3. De la Soul - Three Feet High and Rising
4. Talking Heads - Remain in Light
5. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
6. Black Flag - Damaged
7. My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything
8. Husker Du - New Day Rising
9. Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
10. Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy
11. The Stone Roses - s/t
12. Replacements - Let It Be
13. Tom Waits - Raindogs
14. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
15. Gang of Four - Solid Gold

Vaguely lame, typical list of 15 follows:

1. Talking Heads - Remain in Light
2. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
3. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
4. The Pixies - Doolittle
5. Joy Division - Closer
6. Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back
7. Prince - Purple Rain
8. Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
9. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
10. X- Los Angeles
11. Brian Eno - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
12. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy
13. Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
14. REM - Lifes Rich Pageant
15. The Stone Roses - s/t

Vykromomd,

Stop pretending, even if you could be lame, you couldn't. Also, I notice that you keep apologizing, even though there's no reason to. Later, gator.

I was born in 1989 so I'm slowly working backwards... don't laugh.

1. Kate Bush— Hounds of love
2. Tom Waits— Rain Dogs
3. Prince— Purple Rain
4. Tom Waits— Swordfishtrombones
5. Kate Bush— The Sensual World
6. The Pixies— Doolittle
7. Sinéad O'Connor— The Lion and the Cobra
erm... I don't know.

fav 80s albums?? this is not an easy topic. I've been working on an "essential 80s albums" list for quite some time for another forum. Only 1980-84 are finished at this point though.

Check it out at: http://www.i80s.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=54

MODS: Feel free to delete this post if you find it inaproppiate that I link to other forums.

quote:

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Originally posted by K-Bee:
MODS: Feel free to delete this post if you find it inaproppiate that I link to other forums.

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Fine with me, as long as you don't link to better forums.

Is this limited to albums we actually owned during the 80s?

Because then my list is like:

Madonna (all albums)
Cyndi Lauper- She's So Unusual
The Pointer Sisters - So Excited
Donna Summer - She Works Hard for the Money
The Big Chill (soundtrack)
Guns and Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation
The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
The SMiths - The Queen is Dead
REM - Green
Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses and 101

And that's about the extent of my collection, except the really embarrassing stuff like Milli Vanilli and Rick Astley (I was 12, okay?)

quote:

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Originally posted by KT:
Is this limited to albums we actually owned during the 80s?

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No, this can be records that you came to much later. They just had to be released between 1980 and 1989.

Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction
NWA - Straight out of Compton
Prince - Purple Rain
Public Enemy - It takes a nation of millions
RHCP - Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik (was that 80s?)

I love unusual best-of lists, but after listening to hundreds of 80's albums I've got few true surprises. My Top 10 in chronological order:

1) Joy Division - Closer (THE goth masterpiece)

2) Eno / Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (I prefer it to Remain in Light- more layered, adventurous, and IMO influential)

3) R.E.M. - Murmur

4) Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones (I think its better than rain dogs. Just seems more complete. I love his "pining love songs" for Kathleen.)

5) XTC - Skylarking (I dunno. English Settlement keeps growing on me.)

6) Paul Simon - Graceland (It's fantastic, but I like 90's Rhythm even better.)

7) U2 - The Joshua Tree

8) Pixies - Surfer Rosa (Crazier than Doolittle; I prefer it.)

9) Talk Talk- Spirit of Eden (Beautiful, brilliant. Probably my favorite on here.)

10) Stone Roses - Stone Roses (This one falls off the list when I'm in a different mood.)

Just some random comments I've been wanting to say for a long time for not reason: Unfortunately I'm more into rock than rap, but Public Enemy and Paul's Boutique are amazing. Prince sounds terribly dated today.
So does Jacko.
The Smiths are a fantastic band, but they never delivered that "perfect" album (Even Queen is Dead has Mr. Shankly and Some Girls...)
I think Psychocandy sounds truly infantile when compared with Loveless.
For you punk people- where's Mission of Burma?
And, also, Daydream Nation? I always admired SY but I never fell in love with their albums.
And KT- Let me just say that I'm glad I was too young to own albums in the 80's. That list IS embarrassing. (Don't ask me about my 90's list. Please.)

Good to see the Stone Roses getting some props.

Sonic Youth, Sister
Beastie Boys, Paul's Boutique
The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead
Pixies, Doolittle
Public Enemy, It Takes A Nation...
Boogie Down Productions, By All Means Necessary
The Stone Roses, s/t
Talking Heads, Remain in Light

Aside from my preferance for Sister over Daydream Nation, nothing to see here, I suppose.

When one grows old, one tends to ramble...

I have to confess, I've only recently started reading Pitchfork. As I've suggested elsewhere, I kind of dropped out of following new music for a number of years and during those years, well, let's just say way music journalism reached the young and the hip changed. A lot.

It took me all of about two minutes to figure out that the writers at Pitchfork, like feisty music critics everywhere, seem a bit more concerned with looking smart than in-depth music criticism, which is fine by me. One can get to know a music publication as much by what it covers as its content.

Which brings me to their Top 100 Albums of the 1980s.

Now, for good or for ill, that was my decade. I started buying albums in 1981. I quit working for a record store in 1990. I was there, day in and night out. So, Pitchfork's list came as no small surprise to me. Sure, there were lots of familiar titles, but Sonic Youth at number one? Two Pixies albums in the top ten? Where was Richard Thompson? What about John Hiatt?

Then I came across this line in the review of The Feelies' _Crazy Rhythms_...

"1980 was a good year for geeks-- for instance, I was born..."

1980? Born? Now I know how all of my friends who grew up in the 70s felt when I looked at their favorite albums of that decade with polite condescension while reaching for Big Star or Television. Today's feisty, young music critic (and no small number of people around here with some very good ears) came up with a very different perspective on the 80s than I have and that perspective informs their taste in music and probably new music itself.

My point? Dunno, but I have a fresh perspective on Grandpa Simpson's quote from The Simpsons,

"I used to be with it, but then they changed what "it" was. Now, what I'm with isn't it, and what's "it" seems weird and scary to me."

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