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

Well, my ballot won't help that top 10 - no Prince or Daydream Nation for me.

Looks like most of my favourite albums are not going to make the Top 30!

... what I mean is, they've gone already

I think 2 of my top 10 might make the list, and 2 more from further down my ballot. If a third of my picks makes the top 100 I'll be impressed.

35. ABC - The Lexicon of Love [1982] (173 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uB-0D-gV8mY/SFnTRmC0NrI/AAAAAAAAJrM/BiS-_mSXoIU/s400/abc

I'm sitting at my desk at work. I'm totally drained, feeling like I've run a marathon and close to tears. Why?

The reason is that I'm listening to The Lexicon of Love on headphones and I've just listened to All of My Heart as loud as I can stand. Isn't this song just the best fucking thing ever recorded? EVERYTHING about the track is perfect. Fry's vocals, the lyrics, the best intro ever - *that* opening chord, the piano arpeggios, David Palmer's thunderous snare thwack and skittering hi-hat, and the fretless bass prowling beneath. Fretless bass! - this track reclaims this godforsaken instrument from the clutches of the be-ponytailed session fop and turns it into a the sexiest sound imaginable.

The production - have keyboards ever sounded so epic and grand, yet without any trace of pomp? Anyone needs convincing that Horn is fucking god? Just play the 5 or so seconds after the first chorus which lead into the second verse about 5 different keyboard sounds collide and and burst into fragments. No, play ANY five seconds of this track.

Fry - a massive, massive voice, yet able to switch from despair to pleading to anger in a syllable. Listen the verse 2 "You'll be disappointed and I'll lose a friend" - oh God, overwhelming!

The strings - listen to the way they fade *slightly* 2/3 of the way through the chorus as Fry sings "Surrending, Remembering.." Also, the actual chords Ann Dudley uses for the string arrangement - simple, yet with a couple of twists which lift the vocals and let them fall.

I've lived with this album, this track for 20 years and it always has a similar effect. As well as the brilliance of the track itself it has, along with The Human League's 'Love Action', the ability to hit me with a feeling of nostalgia so tangible that I'm having to pinch myself to be sure that the last 20 years have really happened. I'm looking at my work colleagues, looking across at their desks and they're ghosts, strangers. From Martin Fry's opening line I'm back at University, walking across campus in the cold towards the lights of the Students Union. I'm with a group of friends - the girls look great, the boys are mucking about to impress, we've had a few drinks already and tonight we'll drink and dance and kiss and cry till we drop. That's the way I still feel. That's the way Martin Fry makes me feel. That's the way music makes me feel. I don't know what the question that I meant to ask is.

― Dr. C, 21. maaliskuuta 2002 3:00

It's one of those records that maybe one in every ten plays I'll have completely misjudged my wanting to hear and then it'll sound awful, and the next time I put it on it's business as usual (i.e. I love it). Scott Walker is like this too. I sometimes wonder if the times I hate it are me being lucid and the rest of the time I'm just being a ponce, though.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), 23. maaliskuuta 2004 17:59

One of the best first sides ever, which makes side two seem maybe just a hair weaker, but the album's still been one of my top 20 favorite discs for years. I'm not even sick of the singles, or turned off by the way so many still treat it like '80s kitsch.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), 23. maaliskuuta 2004 19:59

That's all I have time for today, I'll try to continue the countdown tomorrow.

u r a hero

Whaddya mean that's all you have time for?

Who broke my heart? Tuomas! Thomas!

(just kidding)

that was a wonderful write-up for 3 feet high and rising

hex was my #2...sorry B-52s =(

I'm delighted to see The Lexicon Of Love so high it was my number two. It's the album I've played the most throughout my life, it's outlasted any musical phases I've been through.

It's one of those great albums that is full of great moments that get me everytime. The bass kicking in on Show Me, the dramatic intro to Poison Arrow and of course the bit's where Martin speaks. Also it's so good that there are four classic singles on the album yet there's even better with Date Stamp which has to be one of the most perfect songs of all time.

Great poll/thread, but I think of A Different World as more 90s (87-93), especially the vibe in the picture.

Wow, I am shocked that 3 Feet High and Rising is so low. Makes me worried about what's actually going to be at the top of this list.

Would have thought the Steely Dan samples would have been beyond the pale for you!

xpost Too early for predictions?

I'd guess 5. Pixies - Surfer Rosa 4. PE - Millions 3. Prince - Times 2. Smiths - Queen is Dead 1. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

I'd be surprised if Daydream Nation is No. 1.

There's the small matter of 2 Jacko albums? But hey this is ILM.

I can see Thriller in the top 10, but I think Bad will struggle to somewhere in the 20s.

You think Bad will make it at all?!? Yikes.

I suspect Bad will not be on the list at all. And I agree, can't see Daydream Nation as number 1. Maybe Prince of the Smiths or PE though.

xp

closer will be in the top 5. and i am not sure if surfer rosa will be in front of doolittle. what about madonna and the beastie boys? they will both be in the top ten, i guess. daydream nation won't be no. 1 because it is shite and ilm knows it.

Disintegration, Closer, Hounds Of Love, Purple Rain and Appetite for Destruction will all be pretty high eh? Vote splitting will dash Talk Talk's chances. Shock win for the Alarm might still happen though.

Not to mention Oingo Boingo.

list is pretty rad so far - good job dudes - its order is pretty o_O but whatevs

thanks for yr seal of approval

Where is Depeche Mode in this?

Were they even nominated? I don't remember seeing them on the list. Their stock is low.

Several Depeche Mode albums were nominated, though I'm not sure if anybody cares

I predict a minimum of 20 of the following 25 will appear in the top 34:

1999, Children of God, Closer, Computer World, Daydream Nation, Disintegration, Doolittle, In the Flat Field, Isn't Anything, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Murmur, Music for the Masses, Psychocandy, Purple Rain, Remain in Light, Sister, Spirit of Eden, Surfer Rosa, Swordfishtrombones, The Colour of Spring, The Queen Is Dead, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Thriller, Tin Drum, Zen Arcade

I've pretty much given up hope for my personal favorites like Prayers on Fire, Head Over Heels, Horse Rotorvator, Halber Mensch, and Mambo Nassau appearing in the less than 9 slots remaining.

thanks for yr seal of approval

― Chillwave Is an Ill Wave (askance johnson), Saturday, November 28, 2009 1:31 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

o wasnt talkin abt u askance johnson

black celebration might have gotten a good number of votes maybe?

Really poor showing for metal on this list.

xpost it got one from me ;-)

Kinda depends on how many of us will deny our thrash metal years.

Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning, Reign in Blood, and are there enough votes for Powerslave?

I didn't vote cos bollocks to that really but then I have nobody to blame that To Mega Therion won't claim a Totally Fucking Deserved spot.

I'd take a guess at Remain In Light being number one. I think most of the other bands who will be high up will suffer from split voting, especially Prince and The Smiths.

I'm still waiting on my number one which I thought would make it easily but this has been a really unpredictable list on the whole. At this stage though I can rule out a few things I voted not being included, I guess Kid Creole & The Coconuts just aren't that popular on here.

i'm predicting a very strong showing for a certain Ms. Bush

http://taszara.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/laura-bush-killed-a-guy.jpg

http://www.twolia.com/blogs/zoboxrox/files/2009/03/barbara_bush_beautiful-7557361.jpg

saw that comin

I figure Thriller and Graceland will (rightly) place highly.

And So.

so ilx will resemble a Mojo or Q list?

i have still some hopes for outsiders like house of love, rattlesnakes, youth of america (will definitely be there), fire of love (ditto), miss america (probably not) etc. to show up

House Tornado is more likely than House Of Love IMO.

Finally all of my picks are being mentioned as contenders - I'll need to check out this "Q Magazine", it sounds spiffing.

Double Nickels in the top 5 or I'm permabanning somebody at random.

i know the quotes are shite (& i'm sorry) but i'm pretty honored to be quoted for both the Fall albums that placed...esp. honored to have my quote hot on the heels of that Mark S De La Soul quote, seeing that Sinker is kind of a hero of mine and I have that whole thread saved on my PC

top three will prolley be Sign o the Times, The Queen Is Dead, and Remain in Light. Sister & Daydream Nation will prolley be on the lower end of the top 10--perhaps right next to each other??? If Surfer Rosa makes top 10 I will be very pleased, though I expect it to be #11...

If AR Kane's 69 makes the list, that wd be awesome...

I think there's a good chance Purple Rain will be towards the top of the list -- maybe higher than Sign??

maybe...my best guess would be #10 though...I'll bet Thriller will beat PR...