Tag: The 1980’s
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Bruce Hornsby and The Range ‘Scenes From The Southside’ (1988)
Unlike many folks who identify New Years Eve as the beginning of the year, for me that process starts during Thanksgiving. It’s a day of identifying the things you’re thankful for certainly, but it’s also a moment for reflecting on the journey you took over the past year and a reminder that another year awaits…
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Echo & the Bunnymen ‘Ocean Rain’ (1984)
Like any good cultural steward of teens who came of age in the mid-aughts I watched Donnie Darko on Halloween evening this past Friday after taking the kids trick or treating. It’s a fantastic film with a world-class soundtrack that adds so much depth to the film. At any rate, the movie opens up with…
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Eddie Murphy ‘How Could It Be’ (1985)
Eddie Murphy’s fearless stand-up, unforgettable Saturday Night Live sketches, and his ability to bring humor, charm, and swagger to every role he played is infamous. But not many people have any idea Eddie Murphy was actually a pretty damn solid musician as well. And in 1985 at the height of his fame as one of…
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Mötley Crüe ‘Too Fast For Love’ (1981)
Mötley Crüe had yet to reach the height of their powers during their debut album (1989’s Dr. Feelgood being their high water mark imo) but you could hear the beginnings of their glam metal greatness beginning to form. The whole band is a little rough around the edges technically on this album, especially the rhythm…
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Scream ‘Still Screaming’ (1983)
Scream’s debut album Still Screaming cemented their place as one of the most vital voices in the D.C. hardcore punk scene alongside legends like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, and Government Issue. The 80’s were a time when the city was becoming a hotbed for raw, politically charged music. Known for their blend of speed, aggression,…
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Kajagoogoo ‘White Feathers’ (1983)
Kajagoogoo carved out their spot in the very crowded 1980s new wave scene with a shimmering blend of synth-pop hooks and a fashion sense that perfectly mirrored their sound—colorful, sleek, and unmistakably of the MTV music video age. Their breakout hit “Too Shy” off White Feathers embodied the era’s obsession with styles and weird ass…
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Rick Astley ‘Hold Me In Your Arms’ (1988)
Internet memes aside I’ve always been a massive fan of Rick Astley. For the sake of being succinct, here’s what I shared when I wrote about his smash hit album Whenever You Need Somebody: For people in my generation Rick Astley is pretty much exclusively known for nothing more than “Rickrolling”, which is basically the…
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Thompson Twins ‘Into The Gap’ (1984)
The Thompson Twins crystallized their new-wave trance pop vision with Into The Gap. It was the album the trio would forever be known for and saw them hit both their commercial and creative zenith in one fell swoop. Known for their sleek synth-pop sheen, the group blended Tom Bailey’s knack for indelible hooks with Alannah…
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Rick James ‘Street Songs’ (1981)
When Street Songs dropped in 1981 Rick James was already a star but Dave Chappelle’s infamous “I’m Rick James, bitch!” skit two decades later reanimated the album for a whole new generation. Suddenly millennials like me who hadn’t been alive when “Super Freak” topped charts were quoting James while laughing our ass off in our…
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REO Speedwagon ‘Hi Infidelity’ (1980)
REO Speedwagon has always seemed a little cheesy to me and that didn’t change much after listening to Hi Infidelity. If you like idea of bringing a doo wop band into the context of 80’s rock balladry then they’re gonna be right up your alley. It’s just a part of town I frequent that much.…
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Stormtroopers of Death ‘Speak English or Die’ (1985)
Despite being a side project of Anthrax’s Scott Ian, Stormtroopers of Death have had a pretty significant legacy in the American hardcore and metal scene. They were one of the first bands to fuse hardcore punk and thrash metal together, garnered pretty significant controversy for their deliberately offensive lyrics, and were credited with popularizing the…
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Whodini ‘Escape’ (1984)
Whodini is one of those groups that define 80’s hip hop. They’ve got the slow grooves, heavy synths, and staccato vocal delivery down pat. Their 1984 hit “Friends” is a signature track that lands on pretty much every damn hip hop playlist paying homage to the early days of genre, pairing a haunting synth groove…
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Prince ‘Around The World In A Day’ (1985)
When Prince followed up his blockbuster Purple Rain with 1985’s Around the World in a Day he steered pretty hard hard into a sonic palette that owed as much to late-’60s psychedelia as to his own Minneapolis funk. The title track hints at that eclectic story and signaled a more technicolor sound was to come.…
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The Sugarhill Gang ‘The Sugarhill Gang’ (1980)
The Sugarhill Gang’s self-titled debut from 1980 is basically considered the first full-length hip hop studio album, which makes it a pretty awesome historical landmark. Anchored by the song “Rapper’s Delight” which had been released a year prior as a single, The Sugarhill Gang proved rap’s mainstream potential and effectively marked the moment rap moved…
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Run D.M.C. ‘Raising Hell’ (1986)
Raising Hell made history as the first hip hop album to go platinum (and then multi-platinum) and marked a pretty significant turning point in pop culture where rap broke into the commercial mainstream. The album was released in 1986 and blended hard-hitting beats with rock guitars, most famously with their crossover hit “Walk This Way”…
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Skid Row ‘Skid Row’ (1989)
If you name your band Skid Row in 1989 you better be fully ready to bring the glam metal heat front to back, especially if you’re an East Coast based band. It’s a bold stake to smash into the ground considering the history of how Skid Row in Los Angeles basically defined that era of…
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Midnight Oil ‘Diesel And Dust’ (1987)
I was taking a sauna with my dad earlier today and got to chatting about some of his favorite bands from the 80’s. He mentioned Midnight Oil as one of those bands that sort of flew under the radar commercially in Minnesota at the time but one that he always connected with on both a…
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The Lookouts ‘Spy Rock Road’ (1989)
The Lookouts were known for a couple of things in their brief history as a band. For starters, the band was based in Laytonville which is basically a remote mountain community on the outskirts of Mendocino County in California. To give you some context, the 2020 census was 1,200 people which certainly doesn’t scream “punk…
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Mission Of Burma ‘Signals, Calls and Marches’ (1981)
In the early 80’s Mission of Burma was known for their intense, angular sound that blended punk energy with experimental noise and art-rock sensibilities. This combination played no small part in crystallizing the American post-punk movement. They stood out from a lot of their contemporaries in the space by using atypical sounds like tape loops…
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Hüsker Dü ‘Zen Arcade’ (1984)
In the canon of American underground hardcore music few bands have cast a shadow as long and as quietly commanding as Hüsker Dü. These dudes basically wrote the playbook for hardcore punk becoming commercially viable, transitioning into a more alternative-focused band in the 80’s based off the sheer strength of the songwriting from guitarist/vocalist Bob…
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Marshall Crenshaw ‘Marshall Crenshaw’ (1982)
Marshall Crenshaw channels classic influences like Buddy Holly and the Beatles without sounding overly derivative. It’s a fun little jangle pop record, filled with crisp guitar work and tightly structured songs that do their damnedest not to overstay their welcome. There’s actually a good amount of complexity swirling underneath in both the vocal melodies and…
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Echo & the Bunnymen ‘Heaven Up Here’ (1981)
I’ve been on a bit of a sad boi kick lately which means Echo & the Bunnymen’s Heaven up Here is an obvious choice to take for a spin. This album is the sound of a band abandoning jangly romanticism for something murky and introspective.
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The Cure ‘Pornography’ (1982)
By 1982 The Cure had reached a breaking point. Pornography was the final installment in their so-called goth trilogy from the early 80’s and it sure as hell sounds like a band clawing its way through darkness while barely holding it together.
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Shenandoah ‘The Road Not Taken’ (1989)
Late 80’s country music revels in storytelling, celebrating everyday life with sincerity, gentle melodies, and harmonious vocals. Shenandoah’s album The Road Not Taken embodies that comforting nostalgia.
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L.A. Guns ‘Cocked and Loaded’ (1989)
L.A. guns came up in the grimey glam metal scene of 1980’s Los Angeles and has an interesting family tree connection with Axl Rose and hard rock heavyweight Guns N’ Roses. Cocked and Loaded is their magnum opus.
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Rosanne Cash ‘Seven Year Ache’ (1981)
Growing up as the daughter of Johnny Cash meant Rosanne Cash was born into country music royalty, but that kind of legacy casts a long shadow especially with the turbulence of her childhood. Johnny separated from Rosanne’s mother Vivian in 1962, remarried amidst countless affairs, had significant substance abuse issues, and faced high-profile legal run-ins…
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Foreigner ‘4’ (1981)
Foreigner’s magnum opus 4 is the kind of album that doesn’t pick a lane. Instead it swerves across the whole damn highway like someone who’s maybe had a few too many bourbons. It’s packed with arena-sized rockers like “Juke Box Hero” (a personal favorite of mine as a kid) and “Urgent”, all big massive riffs…
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Virgin Prunes ‘…If I Die, I Die’ (1982)
If you’re into Bauhaus or have a real hankering to dive into the world of gothic post-punk avant-garde rock, do I ever have a band for you. Weird chants, moody instrumentals, saxophone solos out of nowhere, …If I Die, I Die has it all in spades. Was this album a bit of a struggle to…
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Operation Ivy ‘Energy’ (1989)
Founded by future Rancid members Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, the Berkeley-based Operation Ivy had the distinction of being an incredibly influential band in the ska punk scene despite the short-lived nature of their existence. They only released one full length album during the course of their two-year career (Energy) and buoyed by their raucous…
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Rush ‘Moving Pictures’ (1981)
I have never been the biggest Rush fan but goddamn have I always been a Neil Peart fan. When Peart joined Rush in 1974 the band transformed from a blues rock trio into a progressive rock powerhouse largely due to Peart’s intricate rhythms, polyrhythmic mastery and unmatched precision behind the kit. He was a professor…
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Buster Poindexter ‘Buster Poindexter’ (1987)
The story behind Buster Pointdexter is incredible– David Johansen was the snarling frontman of the seminal proto-punk band New York Dolls during the early days of his career. And while the smoke-filled clubs of New York City had long been home to Johansen, by the mid-’80s he was ready for a transformation. Trading in his…
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The Exploited ‘Punks Not Dead’ (1981)
The Exploited are one of the definitive Oi! punk rock bands, a movement that emerged in the UK during the early 1980s as a raw, working-class response to the more art-school direction punk had taken. Punks Not Dead by The Exploited is largely considered one of the defining albums of the sub-genre. By combining aggressive,…
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Steely Dan ‘Gaucho’ (1980)
For all intents and purposes Walter Becker and Donald Fagen from Steely Dan were psychopaths. These dudes completely redefined what the word meticulous means during their grueling studio sessions, displaying an obsession with perfectionism that basically dragged everyone involved along with them down into a never-ending rabbit hole. The recording of Gaucho is probably the…
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Ramones ‘Animal Boy’ (1986)
I remember the first time I heard “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg”. I was about 14 years old, at home watching Jack Black’s classic movie School of Rock (an absolute favorite of mine). The song is playing during a montage scene that features Black showing the kids a history of rock genres and footage of some…
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Anthrax ‘Among The Living’ (1987)
Anthrax is one of the titans of American thrash metal. Alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer, they helped define the genre in the 1980s. Fast, aggressive, and unrelenting, their music stood out with a mix of humor, pop culture references, and a punk-inspired attitude. Among The Living is the album that cemented their place in the…
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The Blasters ‘American Music’ (1980)
The Blasters are a rare childhood friends become music stars success story– brothers Paul and Dave Alvin formed the band with their childhood friends John Bazz and Bill Bateman in Downey, CA during the spring of 1979. Adding boogie-woogie pianist Gene Taylor into the band, they released their debut album American Music in 1980 that…
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