I've become a huge Rush fan in the last few years (and I spin "Perfect Strangers" all the time). But it's Metal Health that meant the most to me at the time. Its historical significance as the first #1 metal album should not be overlooked either.
Thunderbird, Love's a Bitch, and Slick Black Cadillac are every bit as worthwhile to me as the two mega-singles.
― Nate Carson, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 09:29 (3 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, Quiet Riot is interesting in that despite having a great guitarist in Randy Rhoads in their late 70s incarnation, they sucked. But Metal Health is great, even if Kevin DuBrow was the most punchable lead singer in metal. By Condition Critical they went back to sucking again. I remember checking that album out from my high school library and being damn glad I didn't spend money on it. I always think of Twisted Sister along with them, except TS had several solid albums. I'll soon by checking out last year's double CD reissue of Stay Hungry. Any fans of early Bon Jovi?
― Fastnbulbous, Wednesday, 3 February 2010 04:54 (3 years ago) Permalink
Going with "The Works" here. Queen's 1984-1991 work is largely a bit underrated. They did a lot of great stuff then, and the quality of the albums was consistently high every time around. I'd rank "The Works" ahead of anything else they did between "A Day At The Races" in 1976 and "Innuendo" in 1991.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Wednesday, 3 February 2010 15:31 (3 years ago) Permalink
Parts of Grace Under Pressure are almost like live drum and bass or something.
― Sundar, Wednesday, 3 February 2010 15:41 (3 years ago) Permalink
Now that's pretty much my least favourite Rush album, at least from before they became an ordinary hard rock band in the 90s.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Wednesday, 3 February 2010 15:51 (3 years ago) Permalink
i've heard like one of these albums and wish i owned at least half of them
― PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! (some dude), Wednesday, 3 February 2010 15:54 (3 years ago) Permalink
I don't think Grace Under Pressure is as good as the five previous albums but it has great moments. I still think it was an interesting experiment in using their instrumental virtuosity to trigger live electronics. "Distant Early Warning" is one of their best songs.
― Sundar, Wednesday, 3 February 2010 16:03 (3 years ago) Permalink
While I can't claim to have never heard a note of any of these, I did stop listening to commercial rock radio about the time punk happened. And I'm lolold, so didn't grow up with pop metal (or most of this stuff, really) at all. I think I still own Dire Straits, and maybe the Billy Idol. Record I'd probably be most likely to choose today: Fogerty. Maybe I still own that, too.
I did hear INXS' "What You Need" in a thrift store the other day for the first time in ages, and was kinda diggin' it.
― Such A Hilbily (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 3 February 2010 16:16 (3 years ago) Permalink
― PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! (some dude)
I have at one point or another owned 41 of these, and think I still have around 20 on cassette or cd. Formative music in formative years.
― EZ Snappin, Wednesday, 3 February 2010 17:56 (3 years ago) Permalink
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Thursday, 4 February 2010 00:01 (3 years ago) Permalink
voted sting only because nothing else jumped out and screamed pick me --
― jimmy_chop, Thursday, 4 February 2010 09:51 (3 years ago) Permalink
Afterburner over Building the Perfect Beast, with lots of soft spots for albums I've not heard in two decades.
― Euler, Thursday, 4 February 2010 09:57 (3 years ago) Permalink
Saw Rush on both GUP and PW tours and good grief they were tremendous.
May vote for Deep Purple just for the title song alone.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 4 February 2010 10:14 (3 years ago) Permalink
Poll closes in less than an hour. I downloaded last year's double disc reissue of Stay Hungry in flac, and it sounds like ass, and super quiet. Who screws up a lossless rip? I'm picking it up used at Reckless on my run home from work, and will have it playing when I check out the results.
― Fastnbulbous, Thursday, 4 February 2010 22:55 (3 years ago) Permalink
Great thread.
I was a latch-key kid, and this was the golden era of MTV so I was exposed to almost everything on this list.
What's crazy is that between my family (mom, dad, sisters and me), we owned 19 of these albums on either LP,CS,CD. Pretty sure Brothers In Arms and Dream Of The Blue Turtles were my dad's first CDs.
Anyways, I voted "Robert Plant - The Principle Of Moments 83" on the strengths of "In The Mood" and "Big Log" which were both pretty surreal and fuzzy experiments in pop by a dude with nothing to prove. Both songs still hold up really well... I have them on a playlist for road trips.
― ┌∩┐(◕_◕)┌∩┐ (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 4 February 2010 23:08 (3 years ago) Permalink
but.............. if I were to pick one song off all of these that I'd still rep for, it's gotta be:
― ┌∩┐(◕_◕)┌∩┐ (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 4 February 2010 23:12 (3 years ago) Permalink
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 5 February 2010 00:01 (3 years ago) Permalink
Anyways, I voted "Robert Plant - The Principle Of Moments 83" on the strengths of "In The Mood" and "Big Log" which were both pretty surreal and fuzzy experiments in pop by a dude with nothing to prove
Yup! I said so in the Plant solo thread. He'd already conquered the world, so why not experiment with the sounds of the times? Pretty good experiments too.
― Inculcate a spirit of serfdom in children (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 5 February 2010 00:08 (3 years ago) Permalink
Paltry show of votes. I somehow missed Rebel Yell being on this list and probably would have voted for that over Quiet Riot now that I think of it.
― Nate Carson, Friday, 5 February 2010 02:25 (3 years ago) Permalink
Wow, Men At Work - Cargo at #2? I had that album, but I don't remember anything from it. I guess I need to hear it again.
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 5 February 2010 02:32 (3 years ago) Permalink
Cargo is actually pretty good. First record I bought on release day - loved Business As Usual (my first LP purchased with my own money) and the follow-up came so quick I was just primed for it. Sadly, their next record, Two Hearts, is kind of crap.
― EZ Snappin, Friday, 5 February 2010 03:13 (3 years ago) Permalink
list compares v. favorably to the "mainstream rock albums of the 2000s" poll i saw recently
― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 5 February 2010 03:16 (3 years ago) Permalink
Cargo has their two best singles ("It's a Mistake," "Overkill").
― Inculcate a spirit of serfdom in children (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 5 February 2010 03:26 (3 years ago) Permalink
So back to Twisted Sister. Dee Snider was such a great frontman -- his hilarious drag queen look in the classic videos, his ability to inject humor and fun into the music without being ironic, and his eloquent defense of metal at the PMRC hearings.
Is it even possible for another Dee to exist in 2010? Also, with TS, Quiet Riot, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Ratt, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Poison, etc. selling millions of albums in 83-87, I'm kind of surprised there weren't a lot more bands like them. Or maybe there were, particularly bubbling out of L.A. like a catchy case of crabs, but not many others that were very good.
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 5 February 2010 23:46 (3 years ago) Permalink
Steve Shasta -- I agree with your assessment of the Robert Plant albums as "surreal, fuzzy experiments." I remember first hearing cuts from his solo debut in 1982 and thinking I hadn't heard anything like it before. I got my hands on the flac of the remastered box set that came out a couple years ago, and it sounds great. Shaken 'n' Stirred has aged well, like an abstract painting with occasionally bright colored pop hooks nestled in it. I've never heard Now and Zen, and will listen later today.
― Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 18:35 (3 years ago) Permalink
Is it even possible for another Dee to exist in 2010?
― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 18:42 (3 years ago) Permalink
The only albums from this list that I ever owned were Brothers in Arms and Listen Like Thieves, but I also heard a fair bit from Dream of the Blue Turtles because of being around people who had it and the hits getting lots of airplay. Actually if I was to go out and pick up one of these now, I'd probably get the Sting, because I do remember liking some of those songs.
― o. nate, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:24 (3 years ago) Permalink
Wow, Now and Zen is just awful. AMG is totally on crack, best solo album my ass. I never bothered with albums from 88-90 by others like Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, Kate Bush, etc. at the time because this is what I expected -- too many cheesy background vocals and atmospheric sound design resulting in badly dated piles of tuneless mush.
― Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:39 (3 years ago) Permalink