The 80’s CD that means the most to me is Black Sea by XTC. They’d shed almost all of their rapidfire new-wave influences at this point. It still affects me to this day.
I can’t say they defined the 80’s, tho. I think that title would go to Synchronicity. The Police opened up the ska world for a lot of people. It always takes a tame popularized version of something to lure people in. To me, Joshua Tree was a bit uneven. I much prefer Achtung Baby, which was released in '89 or '90, so it could go on a list for either decade.
There’s a lot of good stuff above. Here’s a few of my picks below:
NEW WAVE The Hurting by Tears for Fears Let’s Dance by David Bowie RIO by Duran Duran (Cheeseball, but revolutionized music videos) Aural Sculpture by The Stranglers (yeah, i know, it defined nothing but it beats the f**k outta Duran Duran)
PUNK/ALTERNATIVE(back when it really was alternative) Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys (The defining example of hardcore) Frankenchrist by Dead Kennedys (the album’s mediocre but the H.R. Giger painting Penis Landscape stirred up all that Tipper Gore PMRC censoriousness that lasted the latter half of the decade) Zen Arcade by Husker Du (Turned hardcore into art) Violent Femmes by The Violent Femmes (Loved that hyper crunchy acoustic guitar)
ROCK Tim by The Replacements (Best rock record nobody’s heard) Life’s Rich Pageant by REM (Their commercial breakthrough & still my favourite) Synchronicity by The Police (Man, I loathe Sting’s solo stuff) Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi (WRETCHED!! Can’t deny it’s baffling popularity tho’) Appetite For Destruction by Guns’n’Roses (best hairspray metal album of the 80’s)
RAP RUN-DMC by RUN-DMC (Hugely influential) Licenced to Ill by Beastie Boys (White Boys can RAP!?)
My personal prefs-
[ul]
[li]Guns N’ Roses / Appetite for Destruction[/li][li]Jane’s Addiction / Nothing’s Shocking[/li][li]Husker Du / Zen Arcade[/li][li]Mettalica / Master of Puppets[/li][li]Trip Shakespere / Are You Shakespearienced?[/li][li]Van Halen / 1984[/li][/ul]
Since just about everything’s been mentioned by now, all I can do is second albums previously mentioned. My picks: Punk/alternative:
Husker Du - Zen Arcade - it was the most groundbreaking album of the time, though in my old age I prefer Warehouse: Songs And Stories (which took me about 10 years to appreciate)
R.E.M. - Murmur - though I’d have to add Chronic Town, even though it was just an EP.
The Replacements - Let It Be - broke them out of the hardcore gutter and showcased Paul Westerberg’s genius songwriting talents (really, everything they did through Pleased To Meet Me was great)
Gang Of Four - Entertainment! - Post-punk agitpop/funk, never really duplicated (this is where the Edge learned his guitar tricks)
The Clash - London Calling - their most diverse, if not their best, it gave “punk” bands their first taste of Establishment credibility.
The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs - The blueprint for 90s Britpop.
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back - revolutionary in sound and rhetoric; the first rap record that appealed to both bohemians and the people on “the street”. Mainstream rock/pop:
New Order - Substance - Disco you could be proud of.
Prince - Sign ‘O’ The Times - Better cut for cut than Purple Rain or Dirty Mind, and a double album in the bargain.
U2 - The Joshua Tree - See above.
Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska - in my opinion, his best-realized set, with none of the bombast that undercut the messages of many Born in the U.S.A. tracks.
Michael Jackson - Thriller - just for the sheer spectacle and media overkill that came to typify much 80s product.
Lots of great albums mentioned, but I’m surprised no one has brought up Speaking In Tongues by Talking Heads. Released in '83, Burning Down The House and This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) were all over the airwaves. It’s far from being my favorite Heads release, but it was certainly their breakthrough, and was followed with the very popular movie and soundtrack Stop Making Sense in '84.
You’re thinking of Land of Confusion, off of the Invisible Touch album.
Lovely thread! Nothing to add though. Well… a few.
[ul][li]Simple Minds - Alive and Kicking[/li][li]Talk Talk - It’s my Life[/li][li]Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome[/ul][/li]
Coldfire
[sub]Bill, call Mandy![/sub]
Music from the '80’s was the first music that felt like MY music.
The first albums that came to my mind were:
U2 - Joshua Tree
Madonna - Madonna
Prince - Purple Rain
A couple that no one has mentioned so far:
John Cougar Mellencamp - American Fool
The Cure - Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Simply hearing the word “album” makes me feel nostalgic! They don’t call them albums anymore…! Heck, I remember when we used to call them LP’s. Anyone remember what LP means?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by mouthbreather *
**as opposed to when? **[/QU
OTE]
As opposed to the 30’s-50’s when songs were musical, played by real human beings and not programmed. Call me old-fashioned, but I love music from the Big Band era. Popular music has been on a slow downward slide ever since.
As far as quality, better than Murmur, IMHO, is Life’s Rich Pageant. And better than Zen Arcade was Warehouse Songs, or Candyapple Gray.
As far as The Album, for sheer Zeitgeist-degree, Kraftwerk’s Computerworld, Duran Duran’s Seven and the Ragged Tiger, or the Beastie Boys.
Album of the 80s? Def Leppard’s Hysteria. The perfect mix of hard rock and heavy metal. Reminds me of how good the 80s ended and the 90s began: Def Leppard, Guns n Roses, Nirvana, Sound Garden, Metallica etc. Then came rap… And it never went away.
Yeah, I hate all that programmed 60s music.
It sure is a shame that no real human beings play musical songs anymore. Damn technocrats, ruining all our art.
Pump by Aerosmith. It made a great soundtrack for heavy drinking and all the other crap going in my life at the time.
When the Pump tour hit NYC, many female fans showed up wearing silk teddys. Well hello Mr. Tyler.