# Best Pazz & Jop Critics Poll Album 1982 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687 "2014-11-26T16:57:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/1 "2014-11-26T16:57:51Z")
Some great albums on this list - the top 6 are all classic, IMO. _Thriller_ scores low only because it was released so late in the year - it will show up again in a much higher placing on the '83 poll, so you’ll have another chance to vote for it if something else here catches your eye (although '83 has a few strong contenders, as well). Much as I love many of these albums (and would enjoy giving a vote to Flipper, even though it’s not the strongest album here), in the end I have to go with Marshall Crenshaw - as close to a perfect pop album as most mortals get; I listen to it for pleasure more than anything else on this list (_Thriller_ included). Happy voting! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/2 "2014-11-26T17:04:21Z")
For me, of those, it’s between Prince and Roxy Music, and I’ll go for Roxy Music, as this, to me, is their pinnacle. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/3 "2014-11-26T17:10:12Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > in the end I have to go with Marshall Crenshaw - as close to a perfect pop album as most mortals get A very worthy choice, and I can’t argue with your description. But I voted for _Imperial Bedroom_, since Elvis Costello at his best beats Marshall Crenshaw at _his_ best. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/4 "2014-11-26T17:36:40Z")
I agree in theory, but Elvis has been all over these lists and I’ve already voted for him, and honestly, while I love _Imperial Bedroom_, “Man Out Of Time” and “Shabby Doll” and “The Long Honeymoon” and even “Beyond Belief” don’t give me that rush of pop excitement that “Cynical Girl” and “Mary Anne” and “Someday, Someway” do. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/5 "2014-11-26T17:38:25Z")
I’ve never heard any of these, so I’m going to cast a protest vote for “It’s Hard”, one of the Who’s most underappreciated albums. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/6 "2014-11-26T17:44:07Z")
Voted for Michael Jackson in 1980, so I won’t vote for him. Easily went for Prince, like many songs on that album especially the self titled single “1999”. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/7 "2014-11-26T17:47:38Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’ve never heard any of these, so I’m going to cast a protest vote for “It’s Hard”, one of the Who’s most underappreciated albums. You’ve never heard _Thriller_ or _1999_? And really, _It’s Hard_ wasn’t so much underappreciated as straight-up awful. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/8 "2014-11-26T17:59:21Z")
Another year with Prince in the top 15, another vote from me for Prince. His Royal Badness just edged out The English Beat and Roxy Music, with the Boss, Marshall Crenshaw, and Donald Fagen not all that far behind. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/9 "2014-11-26T18:06:27Z")
The first three albums in the poll played incessantly for years. I still listen to “Imperial Bedroom”, but Richard Thompson won’t get many shots at this, and so he gets my vote. I should also mention that a “Thompson Family Album” is in the works, with Richard, Linda, Teddy, and some others I’m less familiar with. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/10 "2014-11-26T18:23:10Z")
I voted for Avalon. The ex and me used to groove to that album. And by groove, I mean groooove. Then we would sit in separate bathtubs in the back yard. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/11 "2014-11-26T18:30:20Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’m going to cast a protest vote for “It’s Hard”, one of the Who’s most underappreciated albums. Forget that; where the hell is _All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes_? I figured it must have just missed **woodstock** ’s top 15 cutoff, but I checked and it didn’t rank in the poll at all. WTF? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/12 "2014-11-26T18:33:46Z")
Neither album placed anywhere on the list - to hazard a guess, I’d say that’s because, outside of die-hard Who fans, nobody else considers them good albums. By any reasonably objective standard, every album on this list blows them away. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/13 "2014-11-26T18:37:08Z")
Picking Roxy Music for sentimental reasons and because I voted for a Prince album in an earlier poll. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/14 "2014-11-26T18:50:52Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > You’ve never heard _Thriller_ or _1999_? Neither MJ nor Prince have ever been my cup of tea. > [@](#): > > And really, _It’s Hard_ wasn’t so much underappreciated as straight-up awful. We’re all entitled to our opinions. Yours are simply wrong, that’s all. 🙂 > [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Forget that; where the hell is _All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes_? I figured it must have just missed **woodstock** ’s top 15 cutoff, but I checked and it didn’t rank in the poll at all. WTF? That’s a good one too - all of Pete’s '80s solo albums are gold, and “The Sea Refuses No River” is one of his best solo songs altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/15 "2014-11-26T19:11:47Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > That’s a good one too - all of Pete’s '80s solo albums are gold, and “The Sea Refuses No River” is one of his best solo songs altogether. \*Chinese Eyes \*is one of the first things that comes to mind when I think of 1982 (along with _Imperial Bedroom, Security, Beat, The Lone Rhino, Vacation_, etc.). I think it’s easily Townshend’s best work outside the Who. _It’s Hard_, OTOH, I consider…uh…problematic. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/16 "2014-11-26T19:16:39Z")
I wanted to vote for Richard Thompson…but…in the end, had to be Prince. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/17 "2014-11-26T19:16:42Z")
I’m waiting for the Kate Bush fans to chime in. Certainly the album cover was iconic. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/18 "2014-11-26T19:23:48Z")
I’m both happy and amused that at this moment the Thompsons are beating both Michael Jackson and Prince. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/19 "2014-11-26T19:26:50Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I’m waiting for the Kate Bush fans to chime in. Certainly the album cover was iconic. But was it even released in the US in 1982? I think it was initially import-only here. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687/20 "2014-11-26T19:38:16Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > But was it even released in the US in 1982? I think it was initially import-only here. It made the 1982 Billboard year-end chart at #157; as best I can tell it was released here that year. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1982/705687.md?page=2)