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

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.

which seems to me of a piece with other production in (mainstream) African-American music (that I heard) at that time. . .

For a few minutes, I really thought Hounds of Love had a chance to take the whole thing, but most of the time I was at least 75-80% certain that Remain in Light would win. It's just one of the super-canonical albums that few bad things are said about, and few good things are said about. In fact, it hardly ever gets talked about, but a lot of voters instinctively identify it with "the '80s."

Remain in Light makes sense as a consensus favorite since it really covers all the bases, particularly in terms of the aesthetic priorities typically found on this site. It's an arty, indie exercise in pleasingly formless noodling and amusingly pretentious lyrics. It's a big pop move, in which a bunch of brainy craftsmen and their branier producer make a go for the dance floor and pop charts and make a partial success of it. And it's an authentically funky record, as a bunch of white George Clinton fans process their love for '70s dance rhythms into their own eccentric reinterpretation of those rhythms.
I wished Prince would have had a shot for the #1 (even though I like Remain in Light better than Sign O' the Times or Purple Rain , and about just as well as my favorite Prince record, Dirty Mind ), but I think people forget how offensive and downright silly many people find Prince to be. Even here, you'll spot people mystified by the respect he receives, and people who never felt sufficiently curious about him to really give him a listen. A lot of people still seem to find it easier to admire Remain in Light as an intellectual statement (and a lot of people are still inclined to value music as a way of making intellectual statements) than Dirty Mind, although Dirty Mind is just as much a radical reinterpretation of punk, disco, and funk as Remain in Light.
I get the preference for Purple Rain over SOTT in that SOTT is a big, messy record that resists efforts to get a good handle on it. It's sprawling, chaotic, and with so many ideas that it can be rather intimidating. Purple Rain is safer, but it's also more coherent, easier to process after a single listen. SOTT is kind of tiring and can require a certain amount of work; Purple Rain makes its pleasures (and limitations) manifest on first listen. The fact that it's the "rockiest" of Prince album's probably makes it a good entry level Prince album for those too suspicious of his flash and pomp to give him a listen.

My poll, and where they ended up:

1 The Clash - Sandinista! 25
2 The Fall - The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall 0
3 The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy 20
4 Aztec Camera - High Land, Hard Rain 0
5 The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace 44
6 De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising 37
7 New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies 68
8 Public Image Ltd. - The Flowers of Romance 0
9 Stump - A Fierce Pancake 0
10 The Durutti Column - The Return of the Durutti Column 0
11 The Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands 0
12 Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Get Happy!! 0
13 The Specials - More Specials 0
14 Happy Mondays - Bummed 0
15 The Smiths - Meat Is Murder 0
16 New Order - Technique 16
17 Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - Doc at the Radar Station 45
18 New Order - Substance 38
19 The Teardrop Explodes - Kilimanjaro 0
20 Dexy's Midnight Runners - Don't Stand Me Down 0
21 New Order - Low-Life 0
22 The Jesus and Mary Chain - Automatic 0
23 The Smiths - The World Won't Listen 0
24 Prince - Sign ‘O’ the Times 5
25 The English Beat - I Just Can't Stop It 81
26 The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow 34
27 The Stone Roses - s/t 28
28 XTC - English Settlement 0
29 Malcolm McLaren - Duck Rock 0
30 The Smiths - The Queen is Dead 11

This was a great poll. Well done Tuomas! I'm surprised by the Top 10 + "Remain In Light" in particular.

Genuinely surprised at lack of:

Flowers of Romance
Don't Stand Me Down
High Land Hard Rain
Duck Rock
Get Happy
More Specials

and also surprised at me voting "Automatic" as I slagged it recently on the J&MC Thread. Which pushed "Dazzle Ships" off this list if I recall..

Well yeah, I don't think everything in it is rock, but the rock aspects make it less interesting for me. Take "When Doves Cry", for example - it's a brilliant song, of course, but I think it works as a piece of cold machine funk, and it shouldn't have a traditional guitar solo, like it does now. The guitar solo adds a conventional rock aspect to it which isn't needed, and which actually diminishes the stark minimal power it otherwise has. I think most songs on Purple Rain are fine as songs, but in them Prince uses a more traditional rock sound than on any other of his 80s albums, which makes Purple Rain less appealing to me. Though of course, this is because my background is in electronic and dance music, so rock things like electric guitar solos have little interest for me.

(x-post to Rudipherous)

Here's the NME's top 50 1980s albums, compiled in 1993 as part of a decade-by-decade sequence leading up to their all-time list:

1. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses ‘89
2. The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths ‘85
3. Three Feet High And Rising - De La Soul ‘89
4. Sign ‘O’ The Times - Prince ‘87
5. It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back - Public Enemy ‘88
6. Psychocandy - Jesus And Mary Chain ‘85
7. Hatful Of Hollow - The Smiths ‘84
8. Closer - Joy Division ‘80
9. Sound Affects - The Jam ‘80
10. Low-Life - New Order ‘85
11. Remain In Light - Talking Heads ‘80
12. Searching For The Young Soul Rebels - Dexy’s Midnight Runners ‘80
13. Bummed - Happy Mondays ‘89
14. Surfer Rosa - Pixies ‘88
15. The Lexicon Of Love - ABC ‘82
16. Swordfishtrombones - Tom Waits ‘83
17. Kilimanjaro - The Teardrop Explodes ‘80
18. Dare - The Human League ‘81
19. Parade - Prince ‘86
20. 16 Lovers Lane - The Go-Betweens ‘88
21. Rain Dogs - Tom Waits ‘85
22. This Nation’s Saving Grace - The Fall ‘85
23. Rum, Sodomy And The Lash - The Pogues ‘85
24. The Smiths - The Smiths ‘84
25. Blood & Chocolate - Elvis Costello ‘86
26. Don’t Stand Me Down - Dexy’s Midnight Runners ‘85
27. The Eight Legged Groove Machine - The Wonder Stuff ‘88
28. Crocodiles - Echo And The Bunnymen ‘80
29. Nebraska - Bruce Springsteen ‘82
30. The Nightfly - Donald Fagen ‘82
31. Talking With The Taxman About Poetry - Billy Bragg ‘86
32. Miss America - Mary Margaret O’Hara ‘88
33. Rattlesnakes - Lloyd Cole & The Commotions ‘84
34. George Best - The Wedding Present ‘87
35. Atomiser - Big Black ‘87
36. My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts - David Byrne & Brian Eno ‘81
37. Sister - Sonic Youth ‘87
38. Straight Out Of The Jungle - The Jungle Brothers ‘88
39. Heaven Up Here - Echo And The Bunnymen ‘81
40. Green - REM ‘88
41. Imperial Bedroom - Elvis Costello ‘82
42. You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever - Orange Juice ‘82
43. Midnight Love - Marvin Gaye ‘82
44. Like A Prayer - Madonna ‘89
45. Beautiful Vision - Van Morrison ‘82
46. Infected - The The ‘86
47. Meat Is Murder - The Smiths ‘85
48. New York - Lou Reed ‘89
49. Yo! Bum Rush The Show - Public Enemy ‘87
50. Warehouse: Songs And Stories - Husker Du ‘87

I'm surprised It Takes a Nation... remains the go-to hip hop album of the 80s. I love PE's first album, Yo!Bum Rush the Show, but Nation always seems a little too peas and carrots. It's political urgency makes it a powerful experience, but it always sounds to me like a record that tries harder to be respected and feared than liked and enjoyed. Obviously, Chuck D & Co try to create the moral terms for privileging an aesthetics of respect over an aesthetics of pleasure, but ultimately I just don't accept those terms.

Early similarities are shocking, seeing as how we bag on NME at every opportunity.

xp I just think Nation has better beats than Yo! does.

Tuomas - the fact that Prince always tipped so many different elements into his sound is exactly what makes him interesting to me. The attempt to be best at everything, rather than polarising, goes with the panethnic androgynous image that worked then but fell out of fashion after. I'm repeating myself now, but that's maybe a better way of expressing what I feel went wrong in the 90s. When Michael Jackson tried the trick in his 1991 comeback it just seemed totally out-of-place.

NME definitely lost its way at some point between that list and their all-time list from ten years later (the details of which I'll spare you, other than the Vines making no.96). In 1993 they were still interested in including as much as possible, albeit with a pretty similar indie slant to what we have here.

was at least 75-80% certain that Remain in Light would win. It's just one of the super-canonical albums that few bad things are said about, and few good things are said about. In fact, it hardly ever gets talked about, but a lot of voters instinctively identify it with "the '80s."

― Johnny Fever, Thursday, December 3, 2009 2:22 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

"once in a lifetime" was a super-definitive 80s video, certainly the most iconic they ever made. and i know RIL was a massive critical favorite at the time. but SIT seems much more of a piece with the 80s i remember (before i went down the druggy-indie sonic k-hole): pop-shiny, danceable & fun - clever in a mock-goofy sort of way, but with darker undercurrents. slots in w/ b-52s, cars, blondie, men at work, devo, adam ant, etc.

RIL was a massive critical favorite at the time

Well, there you go then

Tuomas, I can see why you wouldn't be into Purple Rain, on the basis of your overall taste. I don't really think of myself as very rock-oriented at this point, but I guess I still have more of a history with it than you do, and am more invested in it than you are (even if compared to most other people who post here, I'd say it's a marginal investment). The thing is, Prince is a really great guitarist. His guitar solos on "When Doves Cry" are certainly within the blues/rock tradition, but to me they also don't sound like just any old guitar solos, you know? (I've come across a lot of rock fans online who were never into Prince but who have been blown away at various points by his surprise guitar hero appearances on TV.) His guitar solos definitely don't sound generic to me (even though they are within that particular blues/rock idiom).