Now this is how it started: THE ILX 1980s ALBUM POLL RESULTS!!

you're saying that you take full responsibility

Of course!

Seriously though, I played the fuck out of that album when it was released. I missed the boat on bands like the Smiths (a few years before my time), so PHM was MY soundtrack for teenage angst and alienation, which was helped by the fact that only about four other kids in my high school listened to NIN and even my gf was a bit afraid of me because I listened to this stuff. Good times.

yeah i like it too. :) my favorite nin album by a long shot. didn't make my list, but i aint too bummed that it came in higher than x, y and z things that i love more. them's the breaks.

Yeah, I'm going to try to enjoy the poll and not complain about exact rankings for once (I'll probably fail at this, but at least I'll try). The range of albums I listened to in the 80's was actually fairly limited, and my ballot was a bit boring (= canonical) so I'm really interested to see how this poll turns out.

Re: most friends being freaked out by NIN ... none of the NIN fans I knew were wearing black clothing and eyeliner every day, we were, for the most part, normal kids who just didn't want to hear GnR 24/7. Today it's a bit hilarious to think that the majority opinion considered NIN to be the most screwed-up music imaginable, but anyone who grew up around the same time as me hopefully understands :)

Some short Atomizer threads for further reading:

POLL: Best Song on Atomizer
Best song on Atomizer that isn't 'Kerosene'
BAZOOKA JOE vs. PASSING COMPLECTION

none of the NIN fans I knew were wearing black clothing and eyeliner every day, we were, for the most part, normal kids who just didn't want to hear GnR 24/7. Today it's a bit hilarious to think that the majority opinion considered NIN to be the most screwed-up music imaginable, but anyone who grew up around the same time as me hopefully understands

truth. occupying the demographic middle ground between metalheads, indie kids and electro-pop fans, NIN had really broad appeal.

84. (tie) Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues [1983] (87 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3e/Talking_Heads_-_Speaking_in_Tongues.jpg

some talking heads fans are fond of saying that speaking in tongues was the beginning of the end. while this is certainly not remain in light, it deserves far better than that. matter of fact, i think that it's the closest TH rekkid in spirit to talking heads '77 -- that is, when they were as much about quirky FUN as being innovative (or whatever).

― Eisbär (llamasfur), 19. toukokuuta 2005

I think this is a perfect record.

― On a Strict El Cholo Diet (Bent Over at the Arclight), 19. toukokuuta 2005 7:52

the later albums are good when you're older. like my mom is always listening to speaking in tongues.

― Pablo Cruise (chaki), 28. marraskuuta 2003 7:44

see that's how you do it

I'm betting for Stone Roses getting the top place

No way. I'm hoping for The Queen Is Dead to be No. 1, but I know it won't be.

The Queen Is Dead was the early leader, if I read between Tuomas's lines correctly. I've become much less fond of it as time passes - the bit round the turn just seems weaker and weaker.

I've been working my way through the Talking Heads albums - haven't got to Speaking In Tongues yet, but they're not bad as bands go.

ACTUALLY

though i'm glad it placed - how could it not? - i'm pretty surprised for the low numbers here. only 8 of a hundred or so people even included? i weep for thee, ilm.

this is pretty close to the best american album of the 80s. i put it in at something like #10, in retrospect a hideous travesty of justice but hey i was in hurry. in its pop ambitions, humor, variety and rhythmic drive, it easily eclipses the now more lauded remain in light - the perfect fusion of the dark funk experimentalism of their previous records and the wide-eyed art pop to come.

god i love this record! maybe the first i ever listened to with headphones on, a pen and pad of paper at hand, furiously pausing and rewinding so i could transcribe and understand every word. this when i was about 15, so i call bullshit on this being an old people's record. there is no way in which it fails to rule and i am a goddam chump for not putting it in at #1.

"...surprised for BY the low numbers here."

I voted for Pyromania because of the mood I have been in. Maybe five years from now I will vote for something else. I don't care about filler, I don't care if it isn't perfect. I voted for Billy Idol too and I haven't listened to that album in years. I don't care about "perfect" records, it's all about the representation with me. I'm just voting for Def Leppard because I have always loved them. I've just been in a bad mood, there are too many opinions on the internet, I put this type of music on in the car when my passengers' conversation distracts me.

83. David Bowie - Scary Monsters [1980] (89 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote)

http://img11.nnm.ru/b/1/1/7/a/b117aa2b2b6863b0d9d0c65effa7a7fa_full.jpg

The first side of Scary Monsters is near-perfect, but the second side leaves a lot to be desired.

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), 17. kesäkuuta 2004 17:06

Seeing that album cover again reminds me of how beautiful it is.

Another vote for the title track, for the outro yelling.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, 3. lokakuuta 2007 1:19

I picked this up recently and I'm loving most of it, but "Ashes to Ashes" stands out because it sounds like 5 different ideas for choruses, any one of which would be the best part of nearly every other artist's songs, lined up, one after another, in a never cycle.

― Z S, 3. lokakuuta 2007 3:41

No, no, no Scary Monsters is Bowies masterpiece. I remember it getting 7 stars in Record Mirror and it's totally justified. It has probably the best sequenced side one of any record ever. Lodger is great of course, but it sounds like a practise run compared to Scary Monsters.

― Billy Dods, 11. toukokuuta 2002 3:00

Okay, that's the first of the things I voted for to show up, kind of surprised it's this low though.

― a dimension that can only be accessed through self-immolation (contenderizer), Tuesday, 24 November 2009 11:57 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what album are you actually on about here?

82. Scraping Foetus off the Wheel - Nail [1985] (91 points, 5 votes, 1 first place vote)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000NO1T2G.jpg

It had been a couple of years since I'd heard Nail, but today I did.

How the hell did I remember all those lyrics?

HEEEEEEELLLLLLLO operator give me no-man's land
Collect call to no one at all
Been yellin' into an empty closet
To the point of no return and no deposit

killer stuff.

― StanM (StanM), 7. lokakuuta 2006 19:12

its past midnight.
i have listened to melodic indie pop all day to realign my head for weekend festival.
so why is it, before i go to sleep i now have an urge to listen to Nail on headphones.
LOUD.

― mark e, 11. heinäkuuta 2009 2:29

Always loved Hole and Nail...especially Nail. Have had a harder time getting into the others, unfortunately.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), 4. marraskuuta 2004 16:25

jim thirlwell is a hero

Great sleeve art.

great sleeve art.
great album.

81. The Beat (aka The English Beat) - I Just Can't Stop It [1980] (91 points, 13 votes)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GQtuh1Q_luQ/SNkT326fUtI/AAAAAAAAC8g/WpWosLwFDs8/s400/The+Beat+-+Just+can%27t+stop+it+-.jpg

I didn't find such a thread, but I truly think this is a magnificent album, a 10 out of 10 with any measures.
It's called ska, but very much different from the Specials or Madness.
My favourites are the dashing, post-punk songs like "Click Clock" or "Noise In This World", but there are no weak tracks at all.
And yes, David Steele was the best bassist ever born, at least for me. Also liked the sometimes Byrds-like guitar play of Andy Cox, and of course Saxa is the coolest member of the band.
The other two albums are good also, but not such a big classic as this one.
So am I the only fan??

― zeus, 8. huhtikuuta 2005 1:15

i love the consistancy of sound on this album. probably the darkest sounding ska album ever made!!!

― charleston charge (chaki), 8. huhtikuuta 2005 1:31

That record truly brings back fond memories of my later high school years. M. White is OTM about this being a party record. I used to carry the vinyl to parties with me, just in case.

― kwhitehead (stephen schmidt), 8. huhtikuuta 2005 18:58

^^^ have still never listened to this entire record.

another terrific sleeve

I didn't even notice The Beat on the nominations. I always thought it was late 70s but googling says May 1980.

I don't know what happened to the "Tunnel of Love" cover picture... First it was there, but now I can't see it anymore. If a mod reads this, maybe you could reinsert a pic there?

scary monsters was my #1

Tunnel of Love photo seems to be showing again. Thanks again for doing this, Tuomas. I'm sorry I missed the ballot

in re: pretty hate machine, i first heard it i guess around when it came out, when my girlfriend's roommate pulled out a cassette of it and said, "this guy my mom used to babysit has an album out." we listened to it and we all thought it was overwrought and kind of hilariously abrasive, but we liked "head like a hole." we were all sort of surprised when he became a Big Star.

I got "Pretty Hate Machine" on cassette about a year after it came out. One week later, the tape disappeared and I have never found found out what happened to it. I haven't heard the album since (barring the singles, obv.). I wonder if my Mom threw it out because she thought it was evil or something (this was not typical behavior of my mother, but who knows).

btw Tuomas you shouldn't feel the need to hunt down unambiguously positive comments! just ones that look intersting.

When Pretty Hate Machine came out, my friends and I thought it was fairly tepid in the company of Skinny Puppy, Front 242, and Nitzer Ebb, but I thought the sampling was worthwhile: Reznor supposedly spent a full month listening to Ocora-type recordings to get the tribal chants and background percussion that litter it (as in the "Head like a Hole" intro). With the Adrian Sherwood involvement, Reznor was looking like an American Mark Stewart, and that was promising.

There was universal agreement (among my friends, fellow college DJs who cared about EBM), however, that we hated the teen self-pity angle of the lyrics. Pre-NIN industrial lyrics weren't poetry, but they at least were trying to describe a distopian version of our world some of us felt was immanent. I still like his instrumental work, and Nothing has supported or rereleased artists I adore (Autechre, Coil).

80. Various - The Indestructible Beat of Soweto [1985] (93 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b351/MrClivver/vinyl%20pics/SH105813m.jpg

one of my favorite records evah, but i was once mocked in an IM chat for it, so i don't talk about it in public anymore

― jess (dubplatestyle), 15. kesäkuuta 2003 18:09

That's one of those records that was feted as a classic so often for so long and played so often in various social settings, record stores, etc., that I got a little sick of it and haven't listened to it in years. I'm not even sure I still own a copy. If I want to hear something from that time/place, that's not where I would go anyway (search Boyoyo Boys, Malathini, or Malombo). Nonetheless, I remember it being a lot of fun way back when. I never bothered with the additional volumes; anyone else?

― Lee G (Lee G), 16. kesäkuuta 2003 22:10

the cassette that turned P.S. on is Gumboots: Sax Jive Hits no. 2. I.B. is still no. 1 for me because having listened to a lot of the stuff myself I've never heard anything better, which is not to say "as good"--I play Kings & Queens of Township Jive: Modern Roots of the Indestructible Beat of Soweto just as much. it's all early '70s stuff, faster and more R&B than the first Indestructible Beat, and way more giddy. as Jess sez, the sweet/sourness of TIBOS makes it a bit richer.

― M Matos (M Matos), 16. kesäkuuta 2003 22:28

Nothing I voted for has appeared yet! Not sure whether this means my tastes are so canonical that all my votes will be in the upper half, or so weird that they're mostly out of the running.

Certainly would have voted for Speaking in Tongues in an ideal world but I rate both live records higher (maybe higher than any of their studio albums) and they squeezed it out.

"I Just Can't Stop It" is so perfect.

Nothing I voted for has appeared yet!

Same here, but we're only a fifth of the way in

A friend of Finnish descent with a particularly fine booty had other friends calling it "The Pride of Finland." While I'm sure it's still fine, it's had a good 12 year run, and she would not mind passing on the title to someone else. I nominate Tuomas to be the new Pride of Finland!

If 2 Foetus albums can make the cut, I suspect there's hope for the rest of my selections: the proto-goth/4AD love is strong in these parts.

79. The The - Soul Mining [1983] (93 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/sm1.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/sm2.jpg

Let me just start by saying this album held monolithic status upon it's release back in 1983. It's likely I learned about it from a cable TV program in my hometown of Calgary, Alberta called FM Moving Pictures, which featured a local rock critic and the manager of a record store talking about music, sometimes playing the odd video, more often than not playing a song while a camera zeroed in on the record cover that featured the song that was playing.

Anyhow, I find it odd that from the age of 11 to 13, that this album resonated so strongly with me. During this period, I was also heavily into The Cure and The Smiths, while still dabbling in the top 40, wisely steering clear of the likes of Mister Mister and Opus ("Live Is Life" still makes me want to punch puppies.)

Matt Johnson's self analytical lyrics aside, I think there's incredibly brilliant pop moments throughout Soul Mining. From "This Is The Day" to "Uncertain Smile" (oh that glorious sun streaming through the window in May piano solo courtesy of Jools Holland). And it's likely that my Peter Gabriel fetishism was piqued by Zeke Manyika's African polyrhythms on "Giant".

But 23 years later, I can still put this album on, and I'm floored by the musical invention, the sense of melody, and Johnson's very unique lyrical approach.

What says you?

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), 12. tammikuuta 2006 7:00

astonishingly the original vinyl lp ended at GIANT and not PERFECT the way every cd issue since does.

this may have been the first album i ever heard that showed me there was a world outside of what you heard on daytime radio 1 or read about in SMASH HITS. i was going out with my first ever girlfriend and she had this brother. he had SURFER ROSA. i preferred this.
still do.

matt j went all worthy and shouty on us in later years and
despite me liking them a lot at the time, the subsequent albums don't match up to either their critical appraisal or their status among
the gloomy would-be hip indie types circa 85-89.

i notice GIANT has crept up in balearic circles as a reference point, sort of like a uk BORN UNDER PUNCHES.

why is there no "..seven..." in the countdown at the start?

― piscesboy, 12. tammikuuta 2006 18:17

i am so delighted to see such fond recollections of SM. i worked thruout the peiod of SM and Infected for some bizarre (the company which managed matt at the time). i particularly remember with fondness arranging a kids tv interview which matt and stevo insisted shouls take place at the war room in whitehall; much to everyone's consternation. there was a real sense this album kicked against the prevailing wisdom and i guess this holds true today. i saw matt v recently and he is still writing (unfortunately) without a deal, but he appreciates the love which people have for this period of his work. the only source of bitterness being the availablitiy of the material which is under licence to sony. stevo (the honcho of some bizarre) and matt are real heroes of independent music!!

― alan kaier, 13. tammikuuta 2006 4:07

I was dismissive of Pretty Hate Machine at the time because I felt it ripped off The The. NIN did put on some good live shows, but I still prefer The The.

in grad school a couple years ago, a prof referenced The The and I think he was hoping to seem cool and edgy and whatnot, but all the students just stared back at him with glazed looks, most of them seemingly thinking "what are you going on about, old man?"

^ all our futures

Is the woman on the Soul Mining cover supposed to be Nina Simone?

http://houseofmirthandmovies.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/nina-simone.jpg

there goes my second album (of 30) selected (the first one was meat puppets ii). soul mining should have charted higher. what a glorious album. i am very curious about how many of my choices will make the top 100. 10, 15, 20? i suppose more like 20 as i more or less picked canonical stuff.

thats three albums on which Jim Thirlwell has featured (Frank Want = Jim)
at this rate he will be the ILM 80s icon.

I discovered 'Soul Mining' recently. It's amazing. 'This Is The Day' especially. Not as good as 'Infected' (which wasn't nominated! WTF!) or the recent 'NakedSelf' but probably on a par with 'Dusk'.

I've already posted today about how JGT's cover of ShrunkenMan is epic. He OUGHT to be some sort of icon; he's a genius.

"soul mining" is by far the best album of the the. "uncertain smile" alone is worth more than all other the the albums combined except "blue burning soul" (was that nominated?) but that was originally a matt johnson solo album anyway.

"uncertain smile" is great but i think jools holland wibbles on for just a tiny bit too long

and come on, 'infected'. oh man.

I suppose a few more are coming today, but here's the story so far:

100. Robyn Hitchcock: I Often Dream of Trains [1984] (75 points, 5 votes)
98. (tie) Scraping Foetus off the Wheel - Hole [1984] (76 points, 5 votes)
98. (tie) Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription [1987] (76 points, 5 votes
97. Big Black - Atomizer [1986] (77 points, 8 votes)
96. Associates - Sulk [1982] (79 points, 6 votes)
95. Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking [1988] (79 points, 7 votes)
94. Def Leppard - Pyromania [1983] (80 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote)
93. Thomas Dolby - The Golden Age of Wireless [1982] (80 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote)
92. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Dazzle Ships [1983] (80 points, 9 votes)
91. Run-D.M.C. - Raising Hell [1986] (80 points, 10 votes)
90. Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II [1984] (81 points, 9 votes)
89. Prince and the Revolution - Parade [1986] (83 points, 10 votes)
88. Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel of Love [1987] (86 points, 7 votes)
87. Pet Shop Boys - Actually [1987] (86 points, 8 votes)
86. Pet Shop Boys - Please [1986] (87 points, 8 votes)
84. (tie) Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine [1989] (87 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote)
84. (tie) Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues [1983] (87 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote)
83. David Bowie - Scary Monsters [1980] (89 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote)
82. Scraping Foetus off the Wheel - Nail [1985] (91 points, 5 votes, 1 first place vote)
81. The Beat (aka The English Beat) - I Just Can't Stop It [1980] (91 points, 13 votes)
80. Various - The Indestructible Beat of Soweto [1985] (93 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote)
79. The The - Soul Mining [1983] (93 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote)

and here's a spotify playlist with all the ones on there on it

http://open.spotify.com/user/thomp1985/playlist/7vewFkAlw3bKDbMNziktOF

sadly, no foetus

78. The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & the Lash [1985] (93 points, 16 votes)

http://www.ifsociety.com/img_upload/records/1661r.jpg

xp I've got a soft spot for the singles ("Pair of Brown Eyes" and "Sally MacLeanne" at the time, right?), but yeah, I'm going for the fast crazy drunken sick-bed opener too. Closest thing on here to Red Roses For Me, which I actually like even more. (This is still a great album, though. 'Twas downhill from here, though the next one was pretty good, too.)

― xhuxk, 26. tammikuuta 2009 22:01

cool, i was going to start a pogues thread because i've been listening to Rum Sodomy & The Lash non-stop all week. classic for its creation of water-tight, perfect aesthetic world, complete on its own terms - ie, for 43 minutes you live in the Pogues version of reality and there isn't a chink of light, no gaps in their vision.

POO is impossible but i'll say 'A Pair Of Brown Eyes' because my girlfriend's in the video! (and it's a classic video too)

― pete b. (pete b.), 13. kesäkuuta 2003 14:59

I adore Red Roses for Me and Rum, Sodomy & the Lash in their entirety and bits and pieces after that, notably "Gridlock" and "Young Ned of the Hill" (both off Peace & Love). Completely lost interest after that. "Church of the Holy Spook" on Shane first solo album is a great, rolicking single, though.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), 14. kesäkuuta 2003 13:08