We’re into the '80s now, and hopefully these lists will prove it wasn’t just a decade of disposable synth pop and overproduced robotic r&b. I count at least 5 albums on this list that were released in '79, which in a way is too bad - I would have voted for Entertainment! if it had been on that list without a second thought; I’m still voting for it here, because it’s one of the greatest albums of all time IMO, but it sucks to have to pick it over so many great albums that actually came out in 1980 like Get Happy!! and Dirty Mind and Remain in Light. Much as I love London Calling, it was more a roots move (admittedly great), while these other albums were more forward-looking. And I consider Off The Wall MJ’s strongest album, so the whole list is almost an impossible choice. Still, Entertainment! it is for me. It will be fun to see how everyone votes on this one.
Empty Glass. No contest.
One of Pete’s best solo albums, and it’s such a wild deviation from what he’d been doing with the Who.
Jesus H. Christ - that list is damn near perfect. Each new one was like “Oh THAT one”…
Can’t vote but one of the best lists ever…
Oh, if anyone was wondering, the Peter Gabriel album on this list is the melting face cover album (the one with “Games Without Frontiers” and “Biko”). Some other great albums that made the list but not the top 15 were The Feelies, Crazy Rhythms; X, Los Angeles; The English Beat, I Just Can’t Stop It; Joy Division, Closer; Squeeze, Argybargy and the first Specials album.
Wait - why can’t you vote? We need all the music geek votes we can get in these things!
Holy Christ, I’d forgotten how good these years were. It’s ridiculous to think of best albums in a year like this…
- The Clash: London Calling
- Talking Heads: Remain in Light
- Pretenders: Pretenders
- Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Get Happy!!
- Gang Of Four: Entertainment!
- Peter Townshend: Empty Glass
- Rockpile: Seconds Of Pleasure
…but I have to go with The Clash because of how much it meant to me. Still, i was lucky enough to see the Remain in Light tour, and the Heads with Adrian Belew lasted in my memory for a long time.
XTC, Black Sea; Dead Kennedys, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables.
Undoubtedly - neither of those made the critics’ poll list, though (which seems odd in the case of XTC).
I can’t imagine NOT voting for Prince, Peter Gabriel or The Pretenders alone - let alone the other love I have for so many others. I mean, I love Rockpile, fercrissake…
Picking one would feel like a betrayal to the others, and I am a big enough geek that I couldn’t do that…and I can’t believe I just typed that.
Oh, I get it, but the whole idea of these polls is that it’s going to be a Sophie’s Choice. There’s no way I could pick one of these over the others in my actual life, but it’s a fun experiment here on the boards.
Yeah, that’s a pretty awesome list. I’m torn between London Calling and Remain in Light for the top slot, but almost the entire group are pretty worthy. I talked up The Clash album last list, so I guess I’ll go with them - it’s not been often you run across double albums that are truly worthy of being double albums. It wouldn’t work with Sandinista ( which should have been a single powerful disc IMHO ), but here it does. Sheer volume of quality material gets them the win.
ETA:
Man, what a great year for music. I’ve been listening to my Feelies albums again recently - just great stuff.
That little riff that runs through “Pet You and Hold You”…
Then I wanna pick The (English) Beat!
Seriously, I wouldn’t know which to pick - I listen to many, even most, of those albums regularly. I am not a huge Springsteen guy but deeply respect the River. Off the Wall is MJ’s best and he deserves respect. Pete and Empty Glass is brilliant…
Just an embarrassment of excellence…
In the absence of Joy Division and The Specials, I’m voting for PIL - but it’s a very strong year again. I could never get on with Gang of Four though. They’re the sort of thing I normally like, but they’ve never clicked with me.
Hm. I just noticed that, starting in '79, there was also a Pazz & Jop singles poll. Maybe after I’m done with all these other polls I’ll do those.
A great selection, but Talking Heads still stand out a mile for me.
As I thought, this year I stop voting for Elvis. Get Happy!! was a very enjoyable album–I quite like it–but Remain in Light is just superb.
Michael Jackson.
Mine’s the first vote for Dirty Mind (as it should be). Were it not on this list, it’d be a battle-to-the-death between Remain in Light and Pretenders. And I honestly have no clue who would’ve emerged victorious.
I chose London Calling, but this is a ridiculously top heavy list. No matter what I pick leaves far too much unchosen.