Not my favourite decade for music, far from it, in fact i started to lose interest in contemporary pop-rock music ( i must have been inundated with all the wrong stuff) and get into opera! And so i became old before my time.
I did like The The: Infected, but when i was living in Yorkshire of course noone could ever manage to say the band’s name.
Oh, one of the best things from the 80s i’m familiar with is the classical minimalist serenely spiritual John Tavener: The Protecting Veil
There’s a ton of great stuff out there from the 80s, you just have to dig a bit. IMO, some of the interesting music came out of that decade.
The Jesus & Mary Chain – Psychocandy
Joy Division – Closer
We,, Bolo, i’ll have to check out some of your favourites obviously! Thanks for the links. I liked some of the Eurythmics. Oh and
The Smiths: The Queen is Dead
Leonard Cohen: I’m your Man
i had a very happy birthday in the late 80s, 1988 i think, at a Chilean restaurant with a woman singing to guitar and her hubbie was in the exiled group Caliche, old fashioned Andean music. Very nice people, bastard Pinochet.
Caliche: Winds of the South
talking heads – remain in light
elvis costello – imperial bedroom
pixies – doolittle
public enemy – it takes a nation of millions to hold us back
xtc – skylarking
public image ltd – second edition
new order – power, corruption & lies
tom waits – rain dogs
x – los angeles
sonic youth – daydream nation
the smiths – the queen is dead
joy division – closer
paul simon – graceland
jonzun crew – we are the jonzun crew
george clinton – computer games
eric b + rakim – paid in full
kraftwerk – computer world
michael jackson – thriller
this heat – deceit
kate bush – hounds of love
peter gabriel – so
the b-52’s – wild planet
the jesus and mary chain – psychocandy
the minutemen – double nickels on the dime
husker du – zen arcade
beastie boys – paul’s boutique
prince – sign o the times
depeche mode – black celebration
duran duran – rio
a flock of seagulls – a flock of seagulls
the buggles – the age of plastic
glenn branca – the ascension
warning – warning
david bowie – scary monsters (and super creeps)
tuxedomoon – desire
wall of voodoo – call of the west
japan – gentlemen take polaroids
captain beefheart – doc at the radar station
john foxx – metamatic
squeeze – east side story
young marble giants – colossal youth
echo and the bunnymen – ocean rain
u2 – war
rem – murmur
manuel gottsching – e2-e4
galaxie 500 – on fire
brian eno/david byrne – my life in the bush of ghosts
orchestral manoeuvres in the dark – dazzle ships
laurie anderson – big science
the human league – dare
visage – visage
daf – alles ist gut
the psychedelic furs – talk talk talk
bill nelson – the love that whirls (diary of a thinking heart)
stand ridgway – the big heat
linton kwesi johnson – bass culture
abc – the lexicon of love
john zorn – naked city
savage republic – ceremonial
felt – forever breathes the lonely word
soft cell- non-stop erotic cabaret
the teardrop explodes – kilimanjaro
leonard cohen – i’m your man
roxy music – avalon
yaz – upstairs at eric’s
siouxsie and the banshees – kaleidoscope
and so many more
i love the 80s, such a rich and criminally under-appreciated decade in music.
I’m half way through the tracks. The Yellow Magic Orchestra live on youtube is brilliant, Bolo.
Kenji: Yeah, that live YMO performance is sick (there are four parts on youtube). The album version of the track is somewhat less organic. Sakamoto is just a genius at coming up with iconic melodies. His lead riff near the beginning is great. And the brilliant jazz fusion guitarist Watanabe Kazumi is a great addition to the set.
YMO are hot
The Waterboys The Waterboys
A Pagan Place The Waterboys
This Is the Sea The Waterboys
The Lexicon of Love ABC
Moving Hearts Moving Hearts
Heaven or Las Vegas The Cocteau Twins
Treasure The Cocteau Twins
Four-Calender Cafe The Cocteau Twins
Rum Sodomy and the Lash The Pogues
The Woman I Loved So Well Planxty
The Photographer Philip Glass
Not that it matters too terribly much, but Heaven or Las Vegas is from 1990. Fantastic record, though.
Roxy Music – Flesh & Blood
Quincy Jones – The Dude
Kraftwerk – Computer World
Cameo – Word Up
Prince – Controversy
Philip Glass – Koyaanisqatsi
Berlin – Pleasure Victim
Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones
The Smiths – Hatful of Hollow
Rolling Stones – Tattoo You
Van Halen – 1984
Idlewild – Everything But The Girl
Marvin Gaye – Midnight Love
New Order – Substance
Van Morrison – Avalon Sunset
Miles Davis/ Marcus Miller – Tutu
Metallica – Kill ’Em All
Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.
Human League – Travelogue
so much more…
The Cure – Pornography
The Cure – Disintegration
a few more:
THE PIXIES
SONIC YOUTH
Gang of Four – Solid Gold
The Fall – Hex Induction Hour
Dinosaur Jr. – You’re Living All Over Me
The Replacements – Let it Be
The Feelies – Crazy Rhythms
Brian Eno – Ambient 4 On Land
Mission of Burma – Signals, Calls, and Marches
Echo & the Bunnymen – Porcupine
The Lounge Lizards – The Lounge Lizards
John Zorn – The Big Gundown
The Wipers – Youth of America
The Shining Soundtrack
NME C-86 Comp
^ Thank you, Cat!
The 80s are my favorite decade, music wise (Post-Punk, No Wave, Neue Deutsche Welle, French Cold Wave, Shoegaze, …). An excerpt of my fav albums:
Faith · Pornography · Disintegration
– by The Cure
Closer · Unknown Pleasures
– by Joy Division
Algorythmes
- by Charles de Goal
Johnny Johnny · Echo, bravo
- by Edith Nylon
The pilgrim’s progress
- by Clair Obscur
Ego eyes · By pass · Try out
- by Kas Product
L’aventurier · Le péril jaune
- by Indochine
Passions divisées · Le repos des enfants heureux
- by Trisomie 21
S/T
- by Leitmotiv
Seven Songs · The Culling Is Coming
- by 23 Skidoo
The Graveyard and the Ballroom · I’d Like To See You Again
- by A Certain Ratio
Happy Birthday
- by Altered Images
And Also The Trees
- by And Also The Trees
Playing with a Different Sex · Live In Berlin
- by Au Pairs
I Am A Horse · Solid Glass Spine
- by Ausgang
In the Flat Field · The Sky’s Gone Out · Burning from the Inside
- by Bauhaus
Prayers on Fire
- by The Birthday Party
Isn’t Anything
- by My Bloody Valentine
Some Bizzare Album
- by B-Movie
Lindy’s Party
- by The Bolshoi
Too Many Creeps · Snakes Crawl · You Taste Like the Tropics
- by Bush Tetras
Red Mecca
- by Cabaret Voltaire
Script of the Bridge · What Does Anything Mean? Basically · Strange Times
- by The Chameleons
Psychocandy · Darklands
- by The Jesus and Mary Chain
Live in New York
- by James Chance and the Contortions
Sax Maniac
- by James Chance
Lesson No.1 For Electric Guitar
- by Glenn Branca
Garlands
- by Cocteau Twins
Die Puppe
- by Die Form
Horse Rotorvator · Scatology
- by Coil
Room of Lights
- by Crime and the City Solution
Dreamtime
- by The Cult
The Rhythm Section Sticks Together
- by The Dancing Did
Dark Adapted Eye
- by Danielle Dax
Dead Can Dance · The Serpent’s Egg
- by Dead Can Dance
Mind Your Own Busines
- by Delta 5
Zulu Rock
- by Lizzy Mercier Descloux
Lies To Live By
- by Del Byzanteens
Oh, No! It’s Devo
- by Devo
Alles ist gut · Für immer
- by DAF
Der Karibische Western
- by Die Haut
A Taste of DNA
- by DNA
Echo & the Bunnymen
- by Echo & the Bunnymen
Kollaps · Zeichnungen des Patienten O. T. · Halber Mensch · Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala
- by Einstürzende Neubauten
Fireside Favourites
- by Fad Gadget
Flesh for Lulu
- by Flesh for Lulu
Entertainment!
- by Gang of Four
Grauzone
- by Grauzone
Monarchie und Alltag · Glut und Asche
- by Fehlfarben
Die Letzte Rache
- by Der Plan
Palais Schaumburg
- by Palais Schaumburg
Untitled
-by Sprung Aus Den Wolken
The Wirtschaftswunder
- by Wirtschaftswunder
Everything
- by Die Tödliche Doris
Nunsexmonkrock
- by Nina Hagen
When Cherished Dreams Come True
- by In the Nursery
Klaus Nomi · Simple Man
- by Klaus Nomi
Kleenex/LiLiPUT
- by LiLiPUT
The Eye
- by KUKL
Optimo
- by Liquid Liquid
No Man’s Land
- by Lene Lovich
Everything
- by Lydia Lunch + Teenage Jesus & the Jerks + 8-Eyed Spy
Malaria!
- by Malaria!
John Gavanti
- by Mars
Minimal Compact
- by Minimal Compact
Mesh and Lace
- by Modern English
Signals, Calls and Marches
- by Mission of Burma
The Early Years
- by Moev
No Rest for the Wicked
- by New Model Army
Movement · Low-Life
- by New Order
T.V.O.D. / Warm Leatherette
- by The Normal
Rewind / T-Vision
- by Norma Loy
Talk Talk Talk
- by The Psychedelic Furs
Flowers of Romance · This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get
- by Public Image Ltd.
I Can’t Live In A Living Room
- by Red Zebra
It’s a Condition
- by Romeo Void
Meat is Murder · The Queen Is Dead
- by The Smiths
Epic Garden Music
- by Sad Lovers & Giants
Kaleidoscope
- by Siouxsie & the Banshees
The Slits
- by The Slits
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
- by Soft Cell
Jeopardy
- by The Sound
Filth · Cop · Greed
- by Swans
Speaking in Tongues
- by Talking Heads
Westworld
- by Theatre of Hate
Theoretical Girls
- by Theoretical Girls
Greatest Hits
- by Throbbing Gristle
Tones on Tail
- by Tones on Tail
Half Mute · Desire
- by Tuxedomoon
For Madmen Only
- by UK Decay
Baby Turns Blue
- by The Virgin Prunes
Violent Femmes
- by Violent Femmes
Alien Boy · Youth of America
- by Wipers
Incubus Succubus · Qual
- by X-mal Deutschland
Demystification
- by Zounds
Computer World
- by Kraftwerk
Black Celebration · Music for the Masses
- by Depeche Mode
Liaisons Dangereuses
- by Liaisons Dangereuses
Lounge Lizards
- by The Lounge Lizards
Sonic Youth · Confusion Is Sex
- by Sonic Youth
Suicide
- by Suicide
I was actually a teenager in the 80s:
All Pixies
All Prince
All The Smiths
All Public Enemy
All Replacements
Kill em All and Master of Puppets – Metallica
Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart – Camper Van Beethoven
Appetite for Destruction – Guns n Roses
Daydream Nation – Sonic Youth
New Order singles
80’s sucked
My god, Max Slobodin – you covered just about everything I could think of! But there are a few others no one’s mentioned:
- Joe Jackson, Night and Day
- Tears For Fears, Songs From the Big Chair
- Thomas Dolby, The Flat Earth
- Sade, Promise
- The Police, Ghost in the Machine (no one’s mentioned this?)
- Genesis, Abacab (“Keep It Dark” and “Dodo” are still hot)
- Peter Gabriel, Security (hearing it then was like peering into the future)
- King Crimson, Discipline
- Dire Straits, Love Over Gold
- Pink Floyd, The Final Cut
- Laurie Anderson, Mister Heartbreak (even more futuristic than Big Science)
Movie scores: Stewart Copeland, Rumble Fish; Vangelis, Blade Runner (actually not released in its original form until ’94); John Williams, The Empire Strikes Back (a clinic in use of leitmotivs in film scoring); Ennio Morricone, Once Upon a Time in America
The Fall- This Nation’s Saving Grace
Loop- Heaven’s End & Fade Out
David Thomas The Sound Of The Sand
Tom Verlaine Flashlight
Scott Walker Climate Of Hunter
Einsturzende Neubauten Their entire eighties run- Kollaps through Haus Der Luge- astonishing.
Ornette Coleman Virgin Beauty
Art Bears The World As It Is Today
Lou Reed The Blue Mask
Richard Hell & The Voidoids Destiny Street
The Golden Palominos Vision Of Excess/Blast Of Silence/A Dead Horse
Richard Thompson Shoot Out The Lights
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Your Funeral, My Trial
Talking Heads Remain In Light
Voivod Killing Technology
Godflesh Streetcleaner
Harold Budd Abandoned Cities
One more: The Clash, “London Calling.”
Grey Daisies, I don’t think the OP wanted to see a list of all the records put out in the 80s…
@Grey Daisies
that list… oooommgg… you have superlative taste… marry me! (in a platonic sense, of course)
@Prudence
kidding aside, GD’s list is hardly comprehensive…. especially given the areas of postpunk/newwave/neue deusche welle/coldwave/minimal synth/etc, you, i, or anyone else really has no idea how deep the honeypot is… man, i find out all the time of some obscure ep or an album that was put out on cassette for only 500 copies. the traditional argument is that the quantity of music (or anything for that matter) is independent and most often inverse to its quality. in terms of the early 80s, this argument holds astonishingly little water. by violating the laws of physics, the era of postpunk and its related and interconnected genomes has shown enormous vitality, versatility, and psychic charge.
Take a look at the 1981 mixes over here. I seem to be on a link frenzy as of late.
Well, here’s a dozen:
Tom Waits – Rain Dogs
The Waterboys – This Is The Sea
Bob Dylan – Oh Mercy
The Cocteau Twins – Victorialand
Laurie Anderson – Big Science
Loudon Wainwright III – Therapy
Philip Glass – Mishima
De La Soul – 3 Feet High And Rising
Mike Oldfield – QE2
Lou Reed – New York
Steely Dan – Gaucho
The The – Mind Bomb
@Greg – London Calling came out in 1979.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – From Her to Eternity, Tender Prey
Dead Kennedys – Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, In God We Trust, Inc., Plastic Surgery Disaster
Crass – Christ: the Album, Feeding of 5000
Rudimentary Peni – Death Church
Killing Joke – Killing Joke
Metallica – Master of Puppets
Zounds – The Curse of Zounds
Black Flag – Damaged
Operation Ivy – Energy
Music of the 80’s was the best. I’m serious. My favorite albums are:
True Blue – Madonna
Like A Prayer – Madonna
Reckless – Bryan Adams
Pump – Aerosmith
Whitney Houston – Whitney Houston
Back In Black – AC/DC
Rio – Duran Duran
Diamond Life – Sade
Blackout – Scorpions
Into A Secret Land – Sandra
Genesis – Genesis
Like A Virgin – Madonna
Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi
Hunting High And Low – A-Ha
Stay On These Roads – A-Ha
Runaway Horses – Belinda Carlisle
Heaven On Earth – Belinda Carlisle
Forever Your Girl – Paula Abdul
Break Every Rule – Tina Turner
Foreign Affair – Tina Turner
Faith – George Michael
Heart Shaped World – Chris Isaak
Joshua Tree – U2
Heart of Stone – Cher
Ride the Lightning – Metallica
She’s So Unusual – Cyndi Lauper
Revenge – Eurythmics
Rhythm Nation – Janet Jackson
Boonoonoonoos – Boney M
Loa Angeles – X
Appetite for Destruction – Guns N’ Roses
The Trinity Session – Cowboy Junkies
and some others…
Dare/Love and Dancing – The Human League…. hah.
Bruce Springsteen – The River, Nebraska, Born in the USA, Tunnel of Love
Prince – Purple Rain, Sign of the Times
Elvis Costello – Imperial Bedroom, King of America
Peter Gabriel – Melt, Security, So
The Police – Zenyatta Mondatta, Syncronicity
Billy Joel – Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain, An Innocent Man, The Bridge
Aerosmith – Permanent Vacation, Pump
Paul Simon – Graceland
Metallica – Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, And Justice for All
U2 – Boy, The Joshua Tree
REM – Murmur, Life’s Rich Pageant, Document
Guns n Roses – Appetite for Destruction
AC/DC – Back in Black
The Replacements – Let it Be, Tim
Bob Dylan – Infidels, Oh Mercy
Neil Young – Freedom
Tom Petty – Hard Promises, Long After Dark, Full Moon Fever
Dire Straits – Making Movies, Love Over Gold, Brothers in Arms
Def Leppard – Pyromania
Lou Reed – New York
The Traveling Wilburys – Vol. 1
Duran Duran – Rio
Rush – Moving Pictures, Grace Under Pressure
Since nobody has mentioned Elvis Costello yet, I’ll do it.
My favorite albums of his from the 1980s are Imperial Bedroom and Blood & Chocolate. I would love to include Armed Forces (his best album, according to me), but it’s from 1979.
Any other Costello fans out there?
6000, I just mentioned EC in the post above yours and he’s one of my favorites. What about King of America? An amazing incorporation of country music into his own style. Little Palaces is a highlight from that album.
bolo tie
I think this neglected decade deserves some love. Here’s a top 20, though it’s really difficult to even put one together, to be honest. No particular order here:
Charlie Fawn – S/T (1980) (track)
Psychedelic Furs – Mirror Moves (1984) (track)
XTC – Black Sea (1980) (track w/ amusing vocal edit)
X-Teens – Love And Politics (1984) (track)
Takumi – Meat The Beat (1983) (track)
X – Los Angeles (1980) (track)
The Verlaines – Hallelujah All The Way Home (1985) (track)
Fingerprintz – Distinguishing Marks (1980) (track)
Yellow Magic Orchestra – BGM (1981) (track)
Momus – The Poison Boyfriend (1987) (track)
Momus – Don’t Stop The Night (1989) (track)
Films Misprint (1980) (track)
Nu Shooz – Poolside (1986) (track)
Sonic Youth – Sister (1987) (track)
Felt – Forever Breathes The Lonely Word (1986) (track)
The Bats – Daddy’s Highway (1987) (track)
Togawa Jun Unit – Kyokuto Ian Shoka (1985) (track)
My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything (1988) (track)
Stiv Bators – The Lord And The New Creatures (1983) (track)
Paul Roland – Burnt Orchids (1985) (track)