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

Tuomas I mustn't forget to say a BIG thanks. This poll was actually a ton of fun.

My ballot:

1. Kate Bush - The Dreaming
2. Japan - Gentlemen Take Polaroids
3. Coil - Horse Rotorvator
4. XTC - The Big Express
5. The Chameleons - Strange Times
6. Peter Gabriel - 3
7. Pet Shop Boys - Please
8. Sonic Youth - EVOL
9. King Crimson - Discipline
10. Janet Jackson - Control
11. This Heat - Deceit
12. Tears for Fears - The Hurting
13. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju
14. Prince - Dirty Mind
15. The Police - Synchronicity
16. Depeche Mode - Black Celebration
17. The Pretenders - Learning to Crawl
18. Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
19. My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything
20. Devo - Oh, No! It's Devo
21. The English Beat - I Just Can't Stop It
22. Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
23. Prince - 1999
24. XTC - Black Sea
25. Fela Kuti - Original Sufferhead
26. The Smiths - The World Won't Listen
27. Slapp Happy - Acnalbasac Noom
28. Sade - Stronger Than Pride
29.The Human League - Dare!
30. Michael Jackson - Thriller

Kinda surprised the Police didn't place.

oh yeah, PROPS TO TUOMAS!

since everyone else is doing this

1. David Bowie - Scary Monsters (83)
2. Kraftwerk - Computer World (8)
3. Talking Heads - Remain in Light (1)
4. Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain (3)
5. Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club 1963
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Prince - 1999
ESG - Come Away with ESG
The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
Prince - Sign ‘O’ the Times
Joy Division - Substance
Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
AC/DC - Back in Black
Sonny Sharrock - Guitar
Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II
The Mekons - Fear and Whiskey
New Order - Brotherhood
Rush - Moving Pictures
Glenn Branca - The Ascension
Colourbox - s/t
Michael Jackson - Thriller
De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
Sparks - Angst in My Pants
New Order - Substance
The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms
Fugazi - 13 Songs
Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
Tones on Tail - Pop
Pixies - Doolittle

5. Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club 1963

an '80s album???

Man, Back in Black had to be close.

my boring, canonical ballot. only 6 didn't place. BORING.

1. Arthur Russell - World of Echo (61)
2. R.E.M. - Murmur (6)
3. Michael Jackson - Thriller (9)
4. Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain (3)
5. Talking Heads - Remain in Light (1)
6. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska (53)
7. Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth (29)
8. Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden (14)
9. ESG - Come Away with ESG
10. The Cure - Disintegration (24)
11. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (7)
12. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (2)
13. The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour (36)
14. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love (4)
15. Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Mambo Nassau
16. N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton
17. The Human League - Dare! (23)
18. R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant (56)
19. Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual (75)
20. The Cure - Pornography (41)
21. This Heat - Deceit
22. Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
23. Pylon - Gyrate
24. Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA (54)
25. Brian Eno / David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (52)
26. Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full (60)
27. Talking Heads - The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
28. Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (84)
29. Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction (27)
30. King Sunny Ade and His African Beats - Juju Music

well, 8 didn't place if you actually know how to count.

If I had known Remain in Light had a chance to come in first, I would not have voted for it.

we should all redo our ballots now that we know how this came out, then send to Tuomas for reclaculation, and then have a thread for the CORRECTED ILX 1980s ALBUM POLL RESULTS!!

5. Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club 1963

an '80s album???

― mascara and ties (Abbott)

Hell yeah! Not a lick from this surfaced until 1985. IMO the best live album ever. My favorite album that year.

It seems several people included this, so maybe it will sneak into the top 150.

I made this list but forgot to email it:

Steve Reich - Tehillim
Rush - Moving Pictures
Voivod - Nothingface
Sonny Sharrock – Guitar
Pat Metheny & Ornette Coleman - Song X
Bernard Parmegiani - La Création du monde
Fred Frith / René Lussier - Nous Autres
Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4
John Zorn - Naked City
Joy Division - Closer
Sonic Youth - EVOL
Thinking Plague - In This Life
Sonic Youth - Sister
The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs
R.E.M. - Murmur
Nirvana - Bleach
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
Peter Gabriel - 3
Fred Frith - Gravity
Redd Kross - Neurotica
Voivod - Dimension Hatröss
De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
Meredith Monk - Dolmen Music
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Peter Gabriel - 4 / Security
Crass - Penis Envy
Kate Bush - The Dreaming

I wonder if Rush, Voivod, or Sonny Sharrock might have placed.

I don't know why I neglected the Beastie Boys. Paul's Boutique is probably better than those Smiths albums.

I made this list but forgot to email it

So I "threw away" a couple of my votes on things you nominated and then you didn't even vote for them? (Oh well, I'm always a Nader voter, no matter what I'm voting in.)

Sorry!:(

My entry. I think I did it in a hurry and overgothed. If I had the chance to do it again I'd probably change half of these.

1. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy
2. The Cure - Pornography
3. Scraping Foetus off the Wheel - Hole
4. Big Black - Atomizer
5. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Your Funeral...My Trial
6. The Stone Roses - s/t
7. Siouxsie and the Banshees - A Kiss in the Dreamhouse
8. Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
9. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands
10. The Cure - Faith
11. The Sisters of Mercy - First and Last and Always
12. Big Black - Songs About Fucking
13. Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
14. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju
15. The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & the Lash
16. Cocteau Twins - Treasure
17. The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
18. Bauhaus - Burning from the Inside
19. The Cramps - Songs the Lord Taught Us
20. Soft Cell - The Art of Falling Apart
21. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
22. Dead Can Dance - The Serpent's Egg
23. Tones on Tail - Pop
24. Boredoms - Soul Discharge
25. Love and Rockets - Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven
26. This Mortal Coil - It'll End in Tears
27. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
28. Loop - Fade Out
29. The Teardrop Explodes - Kilimanjaro
30. Xmal Deutschland - Tocsin

My ballot:

1. Slapp Happy - Acnalbasac Noom
2. Joy Division - Closer
3. Dexy’s Midnight Runners - Searching for the Young Soul Rebels
4. This Heat - Deceit
5. Nirvana - Bleach
6. Galaxie 500 - On Fire
7. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
8. Laurie Anderson - Big Science
9. My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything
10. Daniel Johnston - Hi, How Are You?
11. De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
12. The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour
13. The Chills - Kaleidoscope World
14. Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
15. The Go-Betweens - Tallulah
16. The Vaselines - Dum-Dum
17. Brian Eno / David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
18. Devo - Freedom of Choice
19. The Pastels - Up for a Bit with the Pastels
20. Scott Walker - Climate of Hunter
21. Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby
22. Television Personalities - And Don't the Kids Just Love It
23. Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa (ECM 1984)
24. Chris & Cosey - Heartbeat
25. Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
26. Sonic Youth - Sister
27. N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton
29. Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
29. Arthur Russell - World of Echo
30. Meredith Monk - Dolmen Music

I'm glad to see that o.nate also voted for Slapp Happy, and I think if even only one other person had voted for it then it might have made the cut, as we both had it so high. DAMN YOU, ILX. Also, I'm really not sure why I put Happy Nightmare Baby above so many other good records - it's not that great.

abanana, nice to see another vote for Guitar.

sweet another person who voted for heartbeat!

If I had 35 spots, Heartbeat might have made my ballot too.

xxxpost Abbott voted for Acnalbasac Noom too.

And yay someone else who voted for Climate Of Hunter!

Did she? Goddamn, a) she is awesome, and b) we must have missed it by so little.

Here's my ballot. The order is some weird combination of strategery and actual affection.

1. The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour
2. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
3. Scott Walker - Climate of Hunter
4. The Chills - Kaleidoscope World
5. The Verlaines - Hallelujah All the Way Home
6. Sonic Youth – Sister
7. Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa (ECM 1984)
8. The Fall - Grotesque (After the Gramme)
9. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
10. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
11. Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
12. The Fall - Perverted by Language
13. Nirvana – Bleach
14. The Chills - Brave Words
15. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Architecture & Morality
16. The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs
17. ABC - The Lexicon of Love
18. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
19. The Verlaines – Juvenilia
20. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
21. INXS - Listen Like Thieves
22. Minor Threat - Complete Discography (1988 compilation)
23. The Smiths - Meat Is Murder
24. Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill
25. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
26. Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
27. Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
28. Talking Heads - The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
29. XTC - English Settlement
30. The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come

my 9 that didn't make it:

04. The CURE - Standing On The Beach
13. The CURE - The Head On The Door
18. Indigo Girls - S/T
20. The Psychedelic Furs - Talk, Talk, Talk
24. Fugazi - 13 Songs
25. They Might Be Giants - Lincoln
26. U2 - War
27. Galaxie 500 - On Fire
28. Nirvana - Bleach

on fire is #74!

fyi bohemian cat disapproves of these ballots

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/71/64/a99b793509a0266608727110.L.jpg

email.y thx! The only reason I didn't rate it higher is I felt it was kind of cheating as I think Acnalbasac Noom is rly a '70s album, like it only made it in the '80s on a technicality.

ha I mean emil.y

oh man we voted for difft Devo albums...I wonder what it wld have take for the Spudboys to spot.

Also it looks like Police votes were split 3 ways... maybe that's what happened to Blue Nile as well between Hats and Rooftops...

Abbott, yeah, I had that problem initially with Acnalbasac, but after it was nommed I listened to it so much in order to judge whether I thought I could vote for it as an '80s album rather than a '70s one that I ended up loving it so much more than Casablanca Moon, and just generally becoming obsessed by it - there was no other placing aside from #1 that I could give it, really.

The Devo was a tough one for me, as neither eligible album was as good as their other stuff. So in the end it was a bit of a haphazard choice. But they had to be in there somewhere.

(Also, haha, the singer in my band constantly refers to me as 'emaily', so I kinda like it now.)

This was amazing, gripping reading. I didn't vote, but thanks, Tuomas!

This was a mixture of strategic, and very un-strategic, voting. I really wanted Laurie Spiegel to place (and with all the talk about her recently on ILM, I thought there was a chance others would try to force the issue), but her album is certainly not my absolute favorite of the 80s.

1. Laurie Spiegel - The Expanding Universe
2. Willie Rosario - The Salsa Machine
3. Héctor Lavoe - Strikes Back
4. Sonora Ponceña - New Heights
5. Eddie Palmieri - s/t

6. X - Wild Gift
7. Prince – Purple Rain
8. Kate Bush - The Dreaming
9. Jon Hassell / Brian Eno - Fourth World, Vol.1: Possible Musics
10. X - Los Angeles

11. The Durutti Column - The Return of the Durutti Column
12. Fred Frith - Gravity
13. Steve Reich - Tehillim
14. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
15. Meredith Monk - Dolmen Music

16. Kraftwerk - Computer World
17. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
18. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Once Upon a Time: The Singles
19. X - Under the Big Black Sun
20. XTC - English Settlement

21. Michael Jackson - Thriller
22. Talking Heads - Remain in Light
23. Bob Marley & the Wailers - Uprising
24. The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk
25. The Smiths - Meat Is Murder

26. Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual
27. Linton Kwesi Johnson - Making History
28. Trouble Funk – Drop the Bomb
29. Prince - 1999
30. Diamanda Galás - The Litanies of Satan

(Preceded by some very un-strategic nominating.)

i didn't even know this was goin on until too late

Dude, you gotta get in there.

Still surprised 90125 wasn't at least in the lower part of the poll.

I really should have voted for this. I can't exactly defend this record but I'd rather listen to it than certain records I did vote for.

Here's my ballot with albums that didn't place bolded. The only album I'm really surprised didn't place is So.

1. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

2. R.E.M. - Reckoning
3. Michael Jackson - Thriller 

4. Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
5. Roxy Music - Avalon 

6. Paul Simon - Graceland

7. Keith Whitley - I Wonder Do You Think of Me
8. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love 

9. Peter Gabriel - So
10. New Order - Substance

11. Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA 

12. Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction
13. Prince - Sign ‘O’ the Times
14. R.E.M. - Murmur
15. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Automatic
16. Camper Van Beethoven - Key Lime Pie
17. Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel of Love
18. Richard & Linda Thompson - Shoot Out the Lights

19. Neil Young - Freedom
20. The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs
21. The Cure - Standing on a Beach / Staring at the Sea: The Singles
22. Indigo Girls - s/t
23. Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session

24. Ronnie Milsap - Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
25. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Dazzle Ships
26. Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden 

27. Bob Dylan - Saved
28. John Cougar Mellencamp - Scarecrow
29. Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full
30. Billy Bragg - Talking with the Taxman About Poetry

Part of the reason why I was sad that the original 80's albums poll results was never revealed was because I was sure Hysteria placed in the top 100 and I wanted to see where it would fall.

here's my ballot. feel somewhat crummy about the indie-pop focus, to the exclusion of most metal and all rap/r&b, but i am what i am. plus nightclubbing should have been at least 6 slots higher. hell, the whole thing would almost certainly have been very different if i'd given myself more than a couple hours at the last possible moment to process the nominations and organize a ballot. ah well...

1) Sonic Youth - Sister
2) Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription
3) Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby
4) Arvo Part - Tabula Rasa
5) Laurie Anderson - Big Science
6) A.R. Kane - 69
7) Butthole Surfers - Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac
8) Pixies - Doolittle
9) R.E.M. - Murmur
10) Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues
11) Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream of Trains
12) Camper Van Beethoven - Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
13) XTC - Skylarking
14) Wipers - Youth of America
15) Devo - Freedom of Choice
16) Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
17) Big Black - Atomizer
18) Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
19) Prince - 1999
20) Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
21) Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction
22) Pussy Galore - Dial 'M' for Motherfucker
23) Scraping Foetus off the Wheel - Nail
24) Rush - Moving Pictures
25) The dB's - Like This
26) Gun Club - Fire of Love
27) Slayer - Reign in Blood
28) Motörhead - Ace of Spades
29) Saint Vitus - Born Too Late
30) Savage Republic - Tragic Figures

do not in the least regret sticking happy nightmare baby way up there at the top. love that record to death.

I didn't vote for Straight Outta Compton because, while I listened to it a lot at the time and in the few years thereafter, the lyrics always kinda pissed me off, and I've thought worse and worse of that aspect of the album as the years have passed.

Besides, posting your ballots and stuff, I thought it would be fun to discuss the actual results. Were you surprised that Remain in Light won? I certainly was, I knew they were popular here, but I didn't expect them to win. At first I was expecting SOTT to win, it was leading the poll for the first week or so of voting. Though maybe some of you think two Prince albums in the top 5 is too much already?

I was kinda disappointed that Purple Rain beat SOTT, though I guess it should've been obvious. To me Purple Rain is more conventionally "rock" and safe than SOTT or 1999 or Controversy, which makes it more boring. Plus the title track is too long and tedious, Prince has written much better ballads for other albums.

Did Slayer really get 666 points? \m/

I filled my poll in without consulting my previous set of votes - which I've added in brackets. 19 out of my 30 placed in the 100.

1 (3) The The - Soul Mining
2 (2) The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow
3 (5) Malcolm McLaren - Duck Rock
4 (1) Prince - Sign ‘O’ the Times
5 (13) ABC - The Lexicon of Love
6 (7) Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
7 (18) Anita Baker - Rapture
8 (24) Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
9 (6) Kraftwerk - Computer World
10 (14) De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
11 (11) The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
12 (12) Yazoo - Upstairs at Eric's
13 (10) The Beat - I Just Can't Stop It
14 (16) Brian Eno / David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
15 (-) Heaven 17 - Penthouse and Pavement
16 (-) Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
17 (9) Madonna - Like a Prayer
18 (4) Everything But The Girl - Eden
19 (15) The Human League - Dare!
20 (-) Run-D.M.C. - Raising Hell
21 (-) Talking Heads - Remain in Light
22 (23) Orange Juice - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
23 (8) The Stone Roses - s/t
24 (-) The Lounge Lizards - s/t
25 (-) Michael Jackson - Thriller
26 (17) The Smiths - Meat Is Murder
27 (30) Prince and the Revolution - Parade
28 (19) New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies
29 (-) Bhundu Boys - Shabini
30 (-) The Au Pairs - Playing with a Different Sex

Remain In Light's victory was a major surprise. I was expecting Sign 'O' The Times to walk it.

xpost to self. READ THE WHOLE THREAD BEFORE POSTING NEXT TIME. damn.

Were you surprised that Remain in Light won?

A bit, once we got down to known unknowns I thought Nation of Millions would have a monopoly on the hip-hoppy/political/novelty vote ('novelty' not as an insult, by the way). But most things winning would've been some kind of surprise to me. I don't use ILX to the enormous extent that it seems some do - I just dip in and out of the odd thread that bumps whatever I'm interested in at the time. So there are always new posters to discover, or new topics or tunes that were big but that I hadn't been aware of. And vice versa, things that seem important to me turn out not to be a big deal in ILXworld - it was a bit weird to be scoffed at for thinking Appetite For Destruction might win, as it and GnR are certainly a big event in my music universe.

I knew Talking Heads were popular here, they have elements to appeal to more than one niche, and most importantly Remain In Light is a damn good album, so it's a satisfying conclusion. I had in on this morning to celebrate - but my CD has got all scratched and it won't play properly. Woe.

To me Purple Rain is more conventionally "rock" and safe than SOTT or 1999 or Controversy, which makes it more boring. Plus the title track is too long and tedious, Prince has written much better ballads for other albums.

I just can't get into the songs on SOTT as songs. I sort of admire the ambitiousness of SOTT, and admire how well everything is done, in terms of musicianship anyway, but it doesn't draw me in. To me Purple Rain has much better hooks, which isn't always required, but it certainly can be a plus. It doesn't sound that rock to me (despite the blazing guitars), maybe because of the production, which seems to me of a piece with other production in African-American music at that time. But I haven't listened to this lately and maybe I forget how rock it is and maybe the production (which I don't entirely like) is just typical 80s production. I do agree that the title track is nothing very special, but the rest of the album makes up for that, for me.