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

sorry emil.y for making you feel like an nme reader

Yeah, I see your point, and I can appreciate it. On one level PiF is the perfect rap album, it's almost impossible to find a flaw in it. It's just that there are certain things I most like in rap that I can't get out of it, which is why I rate some other rap albums higher, even if they are less perfect that PiF. It's kinda like I feel about certain intricate pieces of abstract art: I can totally appreciate what they're trying to do, and admire the craft that's put into them, but they don't touch me in ways some other art pieces do.

(x-post to A Hoy Hoy)

sorry emil.y for making you feel like an nme reader

― liverpolol da don (a hoy hoy)

I don't know why this is making me lol so hard, but it is. I feel better now, thank you.

i guess so. its like punk albums that don't give a toss about any of the related politics or whatever or pop albums just about dancing. if they are done perfectly, i don't give a toss that there is no expansive themes. it still has a message i guess: "i am so fucking good at this that i am going to make an album about it". if rakim and marley didn't the ability it would be ridiculous but i dunno, it just works sooooooooooo well.

59. Mekons - Fear and Whiskey [1985] (111 points, 8 votes, 2 first place votes)

http://nobrasil.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/0553.jpg

Fear and Whiskey was the first one I ever heard (back in '86), so that's the one for me.

― JN$OT, 4. toukokuuta 2007 13:19

give mekons another chance, man, they rule - start with Honky Tonkin', Retreat from Memphis, I love Mekons, Fear and Whiskey, Curse of the Mekons...fuck it, most of them are great. Oh, and definitely see them live - that's half of it right there

― roger adultery (roger adultery), 12. maaliskuuta 2003 23:10

This isn't even hard - the Gang of Four released two fantastic albums and numerous single sides before sliding irreparably to "Karate Kid 2" - for nearly a quarter of century, they managed only "Hard," an inconsequential live album, two hideous "comeback albums" and a meager amount of solo work. Their more recent comeback album is actually excellent, but features only 25+ year old tunes.

The Mekons have had their ups and downs, and it's probably fair to say that - despite early classics such as Never Been In A Riot," "Where Were You?", "Teeth," "Rosanne," "Guardian," "Snow," "Karen" and a few others - the Gang of Four were more consistent early on. But for both bands, I've only compared two albums and related singles -since then the Mekons have been generally great - sometimes incredible (I'd cite "Fun 90," "Rock And Roll," "Fear & Whiskey" and "So Good It Hurts" as some of the best releases in the past 20 years) and always at least worth a spin. More than I can say for "Mall" or "Shrinkrapped" or "Dispossession" or introducing the world to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And that's not even including the many odd perfect moments that the Mekons still manage - their weird but perfect remake of "Sporting Life" last year, for one.

Plus they have a sense of humor!

Mekons by a mile.

― dee xtro (dee xtro), 19. helmikuuta 2006 5:18

xxxxxp a hoy hoy:

Polls are never about objective truth or universal consensus, but about demographics. This poll is telling us something not about music but about who we are.

I started lurking here years ago in part because of past polls, which (seemed to) place a hazy focus on strands of music emerging out of the common hinterlands of (mostly european) pop and experiment in the 80s, but welcomed genius arriving from other corners. Thats more or less my trajectory, too. Those who see the best of modern music as a continual divergence of musics of the African diaspora, and there's a lot of merit to the idea, generally found other forums.

shame that my #1 has been pretty much the only album w/ a shitty cover so far tho. the artwork of the 80s was terrific according to this thread of records i've never heard.

Derelict- I know. But hiphop does have a pretty big ilx following and its not like there werent great hiphop albums made in the eighties, so i feel it should at least have someone bang on about it. now there isn't just 1 token rap record on this list though it doesn't seem as bad. And I did also vote and nominate a bunch of lol indie.

There's rap on Fear and Whiskey.

there's a new Mekons version of "Sporting Life"?!?!

XP

That's an old quote, probably referring to Punk Rock album

cool, thanks! I never gave that the chance I should have.

58. The Cure - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me [1987] (112 points, 7 votes, 2 first place votes)

http://blog.funkygog.de/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/the-cure-kiss-me-kiss-me-kiss-me-front.jpg

i got my grandmother to buy this record for me for christmas the year it came out

― From Rax to Rich's (jjjusten), 18. helmikuuta 2009 5:24

I got my parents to let me buy this album by telling them I heard a song from it at a church dance (which was true).

― i'm shy (Abbott), 18. helmikuuta 2009 5:37

I remember when John bought this album and played it for me; the last time I had as strong an avaricious reaction to music was when my brother first played his Controversy album for me in 1981.

I don't know what my mom thought about my obsession with this album; I used to play "The Kiss" over and over and over, then I started playing side 3 over and over and over, then I started playing side 2 over and over and over, then finally I taped it and gave the original back to John so he wouldn't pummel it and just listened to it over and over and over and over again.

I have to vote "Like Cockatoos" on this, except for that my real vote is going to "The Snakepit", by which I mean I'm voting "Hot Hot Hot!!!" which of course is a smokescreen for my vote for "The Kiss" the translates to "How Beautiful You Are..." because how could I possibly not vote for "Just Like Heaven" and "Catch" is a must-have but "Torture" is so alluring and grimy and nothing is as visceral as "All I Want" and I can't live without "One More Time" and FOR FUCK'S SAKE THIS WHOLE ALBUM IS FANTASTIC, EVEN THE TWO SONGS I DON'T LIKE ALL THAT MUCH ARE INDISPENSIBLE

― Lots of praying with no breakfast! (HI DERE), 18. helmikuuta 2009 17:24

Even something like "The Caterpillar" (which just came on) has a genuinely brilliant, in fact near-perfect build-up, introducing so many musical and emotional themes with busy percussion, playful piano leads and some dramatic off-kilter strings. It's not quite as spectacular as, say, "The Kiss" or "Pornography" or "Homesick" or whatever, but it further adds to the fact that Smith really knew how to write a motherfukken song, and REALLY knew how to make a song's sound work with its title and lyrical themes.

― Mequophidiophobia: fear of the beer snake (country matters), 18. helmikuuta 2009 20:26

I'm surprised it took so long for The Cure to show up. Figured vote-splitting would knock several albums down closer to the bottom (or maybe there will just be a cluster of them here in the middle).

57. Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa [1984] (112 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote)

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/06/ba/b431793509a01daf8b708110.L.jpg

Today I learned that the mentor and former boss of one of my two dearest friends passed on. My friend is crushed and I'm doing what I can to help, as I can. For now, though, stuck at home sick, I have put on Tabula Rasa and marvelling once again at what a pure, beautiful expression of sheer grief "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten" is.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), 16. helmikuuta 2005 22:05

Someone at work loaned me one or two Pärt CDs several years back, but I didn't have much of a response. (It didn't helped that he framed them in the context of Steve Reich, who he knows I like, comparing Reich unfavorably to Pärt.) However, I just borrowed some Part from the library (a recording with Tabula Rasa, Fratres and Symphony No.3, and I'm enjoying it. I'm interested in the way it is at times so traditional and yet so contemporary, all at once.

― Rockist Scientist, 1. syyskuuta 2007 1:14

the ECM release of tabula rasa is my single favorite piece of music ever written/performed/recorded, and if i could listen to only one piece of music ever again until i died, it would absolutely unquestionably be this one.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), 13. joulukuuta 2005 22:40

Yay! And also wow, I really didn't expect that one to get in. Some absolutely breathtaking moments in these pieces.

awesome

I did not vote for this but have no problem with its placing, beautiful album.

I'm gonna get a bit emo here, but whatever... Some time ago I was asked to pick some classical tunes for a funeral of someone who had died suddenly and unexpectedly. I started a thread on ILM to ask for recommendations, and someone (I think it was Dan) recommended "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten". I'd never heard it before, so I donwloaded it, and listened to it... I was totally shattered, I couldn't help but cry. There's something so deeply sad Pärt has managed to express in that composition that I can't imagine any other musical piece ever conveying the same.

my #1

Excellent placing, gives me hope that Solo Piano by Philip Glass may still make it.

I like the variations of "Fratres" quite a lot too. Even though Pärt is (I think) best known for his "holy minimalist" choral compositions, I prefer these pieces to the choral stuff I've heard. "Cantate Domino Canticum Novum" and "Magnificat" are very pretty though.

Hmmm, I voted for that Arvo Part, though for some reason I was under the impression that I was voting for Alina. I guess it doesn't matter, they are both gorgeous.

KMKMKM was my no. 1, really surprised to see it so low.

I went (mostly) very canonical in my votes, but I have to echo others here who've said what an amazing list this is so far. Loving it.

love 'Cantus' but 'Summa' from the 'Arbos' LP is my favourite Pärt that i've heard

56. R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant [1986] (112 points, 12 votes)

http://991.com/newgallery/REM-Lifes-Rich-Pagean-109884.jpg

I'm as bored of REM thread as the rest of you, but I just threw these two albums on for the first time in aeons and, whaddya know, Life's Rich Pageant was the winner, as expected.

In retrospect it augurs a rather uneven period from which they didn't emerge until the release of Out of Time, but it's one of the very, very few albums where a band writes songs chronicling a nascent political consciousness without choking on its own farts. "I Believe," "These Days," and "What If We Give It Away" seem even more hopeless today than they did in 1986. The lyrics can be ghastly, but the playing is consistently superb, like in "The Flowers of Guatamala," which is one of the best Velvets imitations ever written (Bill does Moe Tucker pitter-patter, Peter does his best Sterling 12-string glisten). And the throwaway cover ("Superman") would be the career highpoint of many a band.

As for Docment...the second side is pretty damn weak. Only "Finest Worksong" and "Exhuming McCarthy" on the A rock/swing as much as, say, "Just A Touch."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), 6. joulukuuta 2005 3:24

I remember a little predictable grousing in some places about "selling out" in re: LRP. As someone who bought it the week it came out -- if not the day, it depends on whether I was able to convince a parent to drive me to the record store -- I thought the grousing was nerts. I loved the record, played it nonstop for weeks. And I was happily shocked when "Fall on Me" got a little play on the local rock station.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), 6. joulukuuta 2005 4:40

LRP is odd for me. Not bad odd - I totally love it. Green was the first tape I bought, and my brother had Document, so that was my basis. As I explored R.E.M., I got LRP, and it took me a while - the punkiness of it was off-putting to my young ears.

But with time, I came to see it as what it is: a - may I say this? - tour de force of R.E.M.'s strengths. It's like a showcase of their considerable powers. "Fall on Me" (Michael's favorite, as you may know) is essence of R.E.M., with Mike Mills harmonies and jangling (I'm a rock critic!) guitars. And the rest of the songs already cited showed how R.E.M. could swing from folk to rock and back again.

So yeah, it's an odd little album. It's weird, because its perfection somehow, oddly, makes it forgotten. It seems like it's universally acclaimed, yet rarely discussed. Almost taken for granted.

But that may just be me.

― Justin, 6. joulukuuta 2005 5:22

already regretting I didn't place this higher on my ballot

I like this album, but not as much as Chronic Town and Murmur.

55. Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me [1987] (115 points, 13 votes)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2172/2107540517_6ba4474418_o.png

i'm with Michael: "Your Living All Over Me", "Bug" and "Where You've Been" = pure genius. The Crazy Horse that's actually good and hard. My favorite still is the "Your Living...", that shit burns. As for Dinosaur vs. Sebadoh? No contest: stargazers vs. self-absorbed bastards.

― Omar, 2. maaliskuuta 2001 3:00

You're Living All Over Me is just so much genius... the warm and somnambulant production, the songs that warp from alt_byrdsy prettiness to absolute sabbath heaviness, for seemingly no reason; the songs about bugs and moths that are immediately smothered by avalanches of feedback... ah. yes.

― stevie (stevie), 15. lokakuuta 2003 10:52

you're living all over me is so good. i declare dino to be my band-of-the-week.

― don't start a RYE-OTT! (plsmith), 13. tammikuuta 2006 7:22

I like this album, but not as much as Chronic Town and Murmur.

― Dan S, Thursday, November 26, 2009 11:19 AM

Chronic Town would have been top 5 for me if it hadn't been DQ'd on some bullshit technicality >:-[

Would have been top 5 for me, too. voted for Murmur instead

Voted Bug instead, guess it won't make it. Glad to see Dinosaur Jr. make it.

So happy to see that here, I love that particular album so much. Love the way that the delirious sweetness of some of the tunes is just smashed right into some steel-clad and totally headbanging riffs. Some of the best gig going experiences of my teens were just being stood in the middle of the crowd at Dinosaur shows with my eyes shut and my head just swimming in the sound, and all the while all these bodies were piling in from every which way. I think somehow that Yr Living All Over Me was a lot truer to that sense of chaos than Bug was, but I know that's a very subjective analysis.

ugh i thought that 'you're living all over me' would make top 20 at the very minimum. if i'd have numbered my ballot it very well could have been my #1

Also I would say that Yr Living All Over Me is a much better record than Daydream Nation which I think owes a huge debt to it. Harder rocking, more concise, much better tunes, more emo heft and a lot less self-conscious.

Plus isn't the idea behind "Teenage Riot" what if J.Mascis was President?

Yeah, that's right. Plus the 'Eliminator Jr' reference etc.

Somebody warn me now if there's the possibility of there being no Van Halen or AC/DC on this list.

AC DC maybe. Guns n Roses probably. Van Halen doubtful.

just want to reiterate HOW MUCH LOVE i have for this dinosaur jr. album. makes me want to play video games and eat cereal in my friend's basement from middle school

This is also their last record befor the cover art went to shit IMO.

54. Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A. [1984] (118 points, 14 votes)

http://mystilllife.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/bruce-springsteen-born-in-the-u-s-a-1984-ape.jpg

Title track is one riff played over and over (when it devolves into gasps and yells it might as well be Suicide) paired with nightmarish lyrics about unemployment and vietnam. That Reagan tried to use it as his campaign theme song makes it even more amazing. I like a lot of these tracks but that song totally blows me away.

― da croupier, 6. joulukuuta 2007 17:27

This album is like the first five songs of Check Your Head that my college roommate played over-and-over. I've heard all the hits, even the sub-top 20 songs like "I'm Going Down" and "Cover Me", so many times on the radio that I just can't listen to them anymore.

Hopefully by the year 2014, I'll be able to sit down and listen to this album again without thinking I've got Magic 105's all-Bruuuuuuuuce Weekend going on in my ears.

And I've always hated "Born in the USA", cool lyrics notwithstanding.

― Pleasant Plains, 6. joulukuuta 2007 18:03

I heard "Born in the U.S.A." in the grocery store the other night, started listening to the lyrics, and, man, what a bring-down. I was thinking about the beat-too-much narrator and his all-gone buddy the rest of the evening. It's hard to believe such a bleak song was a hit. And it works in spite of (because of?) skeletal melody and song form. So: the Boss.

― Brad C., 20. lokakuuta 2008 22:47

I like his synth-pop. "Born In The U.S.A.," "I'm On Fire," "Dancing In The Dark," "Brilliant Disguise," "Streets Of Philadelphia" stuff like that. He tends to lay off the anus-clenched fifteen-syllables-in-room-for-ten horrid "rock poetry" on those numbers. That said, the lyrics on "The Rising" are categorically his worst ever. His fame peaked with Born In The U.S.A because that's his best album.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), 20. marraskuuta 2002

anus-clenched?

I like thinking of 'I'm On Fire' as synth pop. If you mentally add in a load of echoey effects, it even actually sounds a bit like Suicide.

So glad that Dino Jr album made it, that was my #31 choice...

I'm adding Arvo Part and Mekons to my 'to hear' list.

Springsteen fans have a complicated relationship with this record. It gets overlooked because of its mass appeal and popularity. And the production is certainly a bit dated. But on the other hand, the songs are world class. When something as catchy as I'm Going Down gets buried in the middle of side 2, you know you've got the hot hand.

In regards to The Mekons, look for Mekons Rock n Roll, too. Odds are that one will show up here in about ten albums or so.

53. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska [1982] (120 points, 14 votes)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Nebraska1982.JPG/600px-Nebraska1982.JPG

"Atlantic City"

So there's this guy, and he's spent all his money on God knows what. Maybe just groceries and repairing his car, although he probably goes out and raises hell now and then. Problem is, now that his money's all gone he doesn't know how to impress his lady anymore. He sort of needs to, because she doesn't really love him anymore, and he's basically forgotten how. So this opportunity comes up to kill two birds with one stone, he can take her on vacation to a crumby, cut-rate, shit-ass resort town with a beach covered in used condoms, but it's a day out, right? And she might remember why she loved him, although that probably won't happen, and even so, he's got other things on his mind. Like, the only reason he got to go on this trip in the first place is because he figures if he hangs around with some criminals, problem solved. Now, these criminals don't fuck around. They kill people and blow their houses up, all that good stuff. He knows what they're into, although you get this feeling that he'll crap out when it gets down to the shit. So what he's doing is putting himself into a potentially lethal situation and sort of strongly hinting that the bitch doesn't give him shit about it because she's getting something out of it too, and deep down, he wants something out of it he knows he probably won't get, and in the end he'll probably be dead and the bitch probably doesn't give a shit.

But does he LOVE her?

I dunno, but I LOVE this fucking song. This album just gets better and better the more I listen to it.

― dave q, 3. joulukuuta 2001 3:00

this is the springsteen album for people who don't like springsteen!

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), 29. joulukuuta 2005

It's pretty obviously of a diferent genre than most Springsteen records, that genre being oh-so-dark authentic Folkie stuff. This being a genre which spawned the likes of Gillian Welch, I want no part of it, even though Nebraska's ok. I wonder what these folks you talk of think of the similar, but superior The Ghost Of Tom Joad, though...

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), 18. joulukuuta 2002 3:42

interesting question. i quite enjoy nebraska, too, and i don't have much love for the rest of his production (with the odd exception, of course).
just as johnny cash's first rick rubin record, nebraska is cut down to the basic elements of vocal and guitar. no saxophones, cheesy keyboards or little steven. that sort of gives a chance to listeners who are repelled by springsteen's usually more dramatic 'knives-flashing-in-the-torchlight-kills-high-school-prom-king-turned-alcoholic-in-front-of-the-ol'-diner-in-the-smalltown'-kind of aesthetic.
i basically consider nebraska a folk record, not a usual bruce springsteen rock record, and that's why i like it, i guess.

― Jay K (Jay K), 18. joulukuuta 2002 12:00

Gavin in Leeds, I reckon that 'Fear And Whiskey' is one of the best records to ever come out of Leeds.

I like thinking of 'I'm On Fire' as synth pop

Chromatics do a cover which is pretty much this

Gavin in Leeds, I reckon that 'Fear And Whiskey' is one of the best records to ever come out of Leeds.

Cool! I only know 'Where Are You', I'm going to search F&W out.

Speaking of the references above, Nebraska includes the song "State Trooper", which was directly inspired by Suicide. To the clips thread.