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

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.

52. Brian Eno / David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts [1981] (120 points, 17 votes)

http://www.zoilus.com/documents/bushofghosts.jpg

Yesyesyes, it's still a great album. I keep hearing from people that it sounds really dated, but I don't get that. So, a classic; both very good and veeery influential, and one of those very few albums with Bill Laswell on it that doesn't suck. Re: samples from that album, lots of 'em. Can't be arsed to check exactly which, but one Stereo MCs single was based on a groove from it, Goldie sampled "Mountain of Needles" (I think) etc.

― Janne Vanhanen, 8. kesäkuuta 2001 3:00

So what do we think? Obv., the cultural imperialism arguments that greeted it at the time have gotten significantly more, uh, complicated in the intervening years. We can leave that to Simon Frith and Nelson George to hash out. Plus, few records have foretold as much utter garbage as this one (Talvin Singh, I'm talkin' to you!).

BUT...purely on a musical level, while I find the production kind of chattery, it's not without some real charms — largely those in the electronic vein. And those rhythm guitars, even. I also kind of enjoy how the first side is the neo-rap side, with all the radio hosts/evangelists/etc., and the second is the more song-oriented side, with the mountain singers and what not — that one also has some remarkable electro-textures.

And though the techniques and so forth are definitely similar to those of Czukay's Movies, it's seems to me that the results were pretty far apart — Holger was really going for something else, I think. Oh, and my girlfriend really dug "Regiment" this morning.

Anybody got Tom's Papercuts piece on it?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), 10. elokuuta 2004 20:36

I second the anemic production values, but that's a hallmark of all of Eno's production work. Let's face it, his recordings SUCK sonically: thin, effete, trebly, no power or depth to them. I'm always amazed that he's never really called on this.

"Bush of Ghosts" always struck me as the worst sort of colonialist appropriation: two privileged Westerners gleefully tearing music of the "other" from its social context and just diddling with it (because they're privileged; because they can), reducing the cinders to nothing more than funny sounds and trippy noises. Now they may claim this to be a stroke of postmodern genius, but, truly, what meaning is there in any of the tracks? What do they ultimately communicate? If anything, each piece on the record only trivializes the source material, as in "see how impenetrably exotic and weird this stuff is?! – Funny third world chanting! Bizarro radio preachers! The umba-mumba religious songs of the savages!"

And if you think this doesn’t entail serious implications, just why do you think "Qu'ran" was hastily withdrawn from the LP? Some people were definitely bothered by (and vehemently objected to) the duo's appalling disregard for the meaning/depth of their sources. I remember Eno's response to this was along the lines of: 1) he didn't know that what he had done with this material would possibly be a source of major contention to someone, and, well, 2) isn’t that a telling statement? The great western boffin and dilettante didn’t do his homework (who cares what the “other’ thinks; “you mean their weird chanting actually means something to them?”), demonstrating that the material never ,meant anything more to him than an exotic texture of weird sounds to be used and altered. So Eno grumbled and caved into public pressure (or simply was forced to go along with what the record company had already decided to do). The rub is this: did he ever once think about the fact that perhaps the performers he hijacked would grumble about being on his record. Did he ask them? Was it ever in his mind that these people might possibly have opinions, or were even capable of them? And, if so, would they even count? Apparently not.

Byrne and Eno – whatever their intentions may have been – and I don’t believe they are/were consciously imperialist or trying to offend anyone, but, hey!, it's results that count, and ignorance is no excuse – can only but reduce their sources. "Bush of Ghosts" comes off as a tedious (and, let's face it – unintentionally offensive) exercise in how hip Byrne and Eno think they are – nothing more, nothing less. It’s as shallow as – and, really, not too different philosophically and aesthetically from 1950s “exotica” records by Les Baxter or Martin Denny (although those two composers made better records than Byrne and Eno, who replace the winsome naiveté of Baxter and Denny with a grating, cynical hipper-than-thou schtick). The individual tracks on the LP state nothing beyond the "exotic" textures weaved by two self-appointed hipsters: far out sounds from far out alien cultures set to (then) trendy funky beats and blasts of noise.

Holger Czukay, I think, achieved quite the opposite. If Byrne and Eno rendered everything they touched into pure nothingness (with disturbing imperialist implications), Czukay seemed first and foremost obsessed with depth, content, context, and – above all – great respect for his source material: 180 degrees away from Byrne and Eno's hipster sonic wallpaper jive. "Movies" revels in difference and the creation of new meanings: it’s a veritable wonderland of multiplicity and possibilities, pointing out oppositions, juxtapositions, tensions, and - yes – harmony. “Persian Love”, the piece from “Movies”that (superficially) most resembles anything from “Bush of Ghosts” achieves a hauntingly beautiful harmony between the diametrically opposite Iranian singing and the sugarplum Teutonic fairytale Muzik Czukay merged it with. What’s important here, I think, is this: the “western” music in this piece is not privileged, nor is the Persian singing “reduced” or trivialized. Ergo, many questions come to the fore as it plays: difference, boundaries – “boundary” in the utmost Deleuzian sense: the AND that is always between the two, the only place at which true multiplicity is found. Unfortunately, you will find none of this happening on any of the “Bush of Ghosts” pieces, which seem (consciously or not) designed to communicate absolutely nothing. All possibility is squashed, all context and content is bled,; everything is subordinate to Byrne and Eno’s shallow textures and damn the meaning (and consequence).

I recall a contemporary review of “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” that took the duo to task over this issue (was it in Trouser Press perhaps?), expressing mild outrage at their nerve and irresponsibility; asking the pertinent question of how Byrne and Eno might feel about the prospect of any of the performers they appropriated (and, incidentally, didn't pay) taking Eno and Talking Heads records and diddling about with those (and not pay them either). More to the point, Byrne and Eno sat happily atop the cultural hierarchy and thus felt entitled (and were enabled) to appropriate. Can’t say the same for those who were appropriated into “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts”. Not a two way street, is it?

― CJM, 11. elokuuta 2004 1:24

This album is completely and totally amazing. I never really thought I'd like it for some reason, just heard scraps of it here and there. What a revelation!

― Bimble, 30. kesäkuuta 2007 23:08

Nebraska way too low. Should've been top five.

Feels like we're way deep in some of the really big records already. Guess there's not going to be too many weird surprises to come from now on?

damn, guess that's it for springsteen

Yeah, I can't see The River showing higher than Nebraska (though it is great too.)

51. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man [1988] (121 points, 11 votes)

http://i41.tinypic.com/iqbojm.jpg

Songs of Love and Hate is one of the most perfect albums I've ever heard. His later synth stuff easily matches the early folk mumblings, esp. 'I'm your man'. Baffled by the hate for him. I tried one of his books though, it was unreadable.

― Affectian (Affectian), 29. toukokuuta 2003 18:08

Really, BBT? Had you heard the record before? "Tower of Song" and "I'm Your Man" are the best songs, I think. "Tower of Song" is really beautiful. "First We Take Manhattan" is pretty great as a kind of gesture of overblown grandeur. And you gotta admit it's pretty funny. Maybe you just don't like the synth textures?

― Broheems (diamond), 9. tammikuuta 2004 23:53

I've been wanting to do an "In Praise Of" type thread about I'm Your Man but it seems like it would be tough to do without getting deep into the lyrics, which would be a major undertaking in itself. But just in terms of the sound, it's sort of an unlikely combination that somehow succeeded much better than it should have. I think the spare acoustic backing of Cohen's early stuff tended to reinforce his weaknesses and made him sound more mopy, humorless, and po-faced than he really is. I'm not sure who is responsible for the arrangements on I'm Your Man but they are really quite breathtaking in their understated subtlety and fullness. The 80s-funky drum machine beats and the lovely syrupy female backup singers are a perfect foil to Cohen's somewhat flat, subterranean baritone - he sounds more keyed into the rhythm than on any other album of his that I've heard and he sounds like he's having more fun. He seems the most self-aware of how his voice comes across and he's able to laugh at himself. Considering the minimal nature of the arrangements, it's also amazing how much stylistic ground they cover: from the faux-Pet Shop Boys disco of "First We Take Manhattan" to the loping faux-country of "I Can't Forget" to the odd choice of classical guitar to accompany "Everybody Knows" to the faux-waltz of "Take This Waltz" - it all works much better than you'd expect it to. On later albums I've heard such as Ten New Songs which have similar instrumentation, somehow the spark is missing. They aren't as funky and fun. Even if it was only a one-album peak, what a peak it is.

― o. nate (onate), 9. kesäkuuta 2005 20:19

Another from my top five.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2fuk3iGxQxM/SmbWdQ4cvYI/AAAAAAAAClg/ByLrqamiuDg/s400/FF8.jpg

Thanks Tuomas!

I saw him live about a month ago and the "I'm Your Man" songs worked perfectly on stage--better than the 60s stuff for which he no longer quite has the voice.

I meant Leonard not Tuomas.

Good work!

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)
78. The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & the Lash [1985] (93 points, 16 votes)
77. Meat Puppets - Up on the Sun [1985] (94 points, 8 votes)
76. U2 - The Joshua Tree [1987] (95 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote)
75. Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual [1983] (95 points, 9 votes)
74. Galaxie 500 - On Fire [1989] (96 points, 10 votes)
73. X - Wild Gift [1981] (97 points, 9 votes)
72. The Chills - Kaleidoscope World [1986] (98 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote)
71. Roxy Music - Avalon [1982] (99 points, 10 votes)
70. Laurie Anderson - Big Science [1982] (99 points, 11 votes)
69. Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche 85 [1985] (100 points, 7 votes)
68. New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies [1983] (100 points, 16 votes)
67. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes [1983] (101 points, 12 votes)
66. Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen [1985] (104 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote)
65. Donald Fagen - The Nightfly [1982] (105 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote)
63. (tie) Tom Waits - Rain Dogs [1985] (106 points, 12 votes)
63. (tie) Cocteau Twins - Treasure [1984] (106 points, 12 votes)
62. Grace Jones - Nightclubbing [1981] (106 points, 12 votes, 1 first place vote)
61. Arthur Russell - World of Echo [1986] (108 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote)
60. Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full [1987] (111 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote)
59. Mekons - Fear and Whiskey [1985] (111 points, 8 votes, 2 first place votes)
58. The Cure - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me [1987] (112 points, 7 votes, 2 first place votes)
57. Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa [1984] (112 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote)
56. R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant [1986] (112 points, 12 votes)
55. Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me [1987] (115 points, 13 votes)
54. Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A. [1984] (118 points, 14 votes)
53. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska [1982] (120 points, 14 votes)
52. Brian Eno / David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts [1981] (120 points, 17 votes)
51. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man [1988] (121 points, 11 votes)

http://earbuds.popdose.com/jon/Sharon%20Robinson%202.jpg

Sharon Robinson has been Leonard Cohen's songwriting collaborator since the "I'm Your Man" time and probably has a lot to do with the transformation of his sound.

Awesome! Arvo Part made it! Was one of my nominees and one of my top picks as well. Was losing hope on seeing it anywhere on this list. Crossing my fingers for The Cramps, King Sunny Ade, Manuel Gottsching and Glenn Branca showing up next.

Chromatics do a cover which is pretty much this

so do Telefon Tel Aviv

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.

― Biodegradable (Derelict), Thursday, November 26, 2009 8:01 AM Bookmark

Fwiw, the other decade polls have seen a good deal more representation of black artists then this one.