Nominations for an 80s Albums That Rock Poll(inc indie/Alt,punk,metal,heavy/glam etc) CLOSES SUNDAY NIGHT 11:59 p.m. UK

hesheris an american term not used here but doesn't it just mean metal? because this is not a metal poll.

i think there's definitely a metal leaning but i feel like a hesher's spiral-bound notebook would also have zeppelin, ac/dc logos on it in ball point pen along with some dragons or a barbarian with a mace.

It's kind of a metal poll in the Stairway to Hell way.

xpost

Definition of a 'rocking' band: One that might conceivably have done a "Johnny B Goode" cover version.

So, that even includes the Sex Pistols, by default.

like the closest an REM album cover comes to dragons or mace-wielding barbarians is monster, which is appropriately their most "rocking" album?

yeah but a lot would say their worst

Occasionally, yes, but maybe not according to the way that you framed it - records where "our fondness for them has everything to do with how much they rock." That strikes me as a bit of a tall order. Not everyone's going to be voting for Motorhead or something and most of the records on the list add something else to the equation.

how do R.E.M. rock in ways which have not been framed? also, this "tall order" is IMO the premise of the poll. and, yes, I agree that many of the bands add something else; often this something else takes the form of conceptual/creative aggression. that is to say, many of the "arty" bands in this list are aggressively, even violently, pushing against conventional rock forms, which is in and of itself scans as a "rock" gesture (aggressive anti-rock as rock, with Neubauten probably being the best example of a band that "rocks" in this fashion, although their inclusion, with a few notable exceptions, admittedly stretches the definition of rock being used).

Fables of the Reconstruction has a burning book and a weird swinging object with the image of an ear on it behind a curtain.

ok if hellhouse wont say who he is i just have to assume hes BJO

how do R.E.M. rock in ways which have not been framed?

No, I was just saying that their music is never rock in a really black and white sense, but that that's also true of most artists on the poll.

conceptual/creative aggressive that is employed sonically.

ugh, "aggression" not "aggressive", fuck it, I need a break.

Watching Patti Smith (band) on Rockpalast, rightnow.

They rocking band, question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM-IGFv-knI

"hesher music" seems like a good enough proxy for rock that would comfortably exclude REM, if that's the goal.

― Philip Nunez, Monday, August 20, 2012 3:56 PM (29 minutes ago)

doesn't really work here, cuz whatever definition we are using has to allow room for shit like swans, this heat, PIL, etc.

"hesher music" as enjoyed by a drug-addled metalhead with a taste for arty extremes

Definition of a 'rocking' band: One that might conceivably have done a "Johnny B Goode" cover version.

So, that even includes the Sex Pistols, by default.

― Mark G, Monday, August 20, 2012 4:02 PM (26 minutes ago)

this is pretty much my definition, sharpened to: "might conceivably have done a respectable 'johnny b goode' and have had it fit in comfortably with their own original material."

no embeds please
xps

ps tee-total non-drug taking metalhead with a taste for arty extremes here

dangit, sorry AG, i forgot

but it's pretty funny, so i'm only sort of sorry

well it stops others opening the thread who might nominate or want to take part in the discussion.

cursed tubes

always stopping all this discussion

its because on some computers the thread loads to slowly or crashes completely if there's lots of youtubes.

i know, AG, and will be good to the best of my (admittedly limited) ability

good

Anyone want to nominate anything?

Autopsy - Severed Survival
Reagan Youth - Volume 1

Zeni Geva - Maximum Love + Fuck

<b>Bad Religion - No Control</b>

Eh...Bad Religion - No Control

if y'all are still taking noms:
Nuclear Assault - Game Over
Stretchheads - Five Fingers, Four Thingers...
Caroliner Rainbow Hernia Milk Queen - Rear End Hernia Puppet Show
Caroliner Rainbow Stewed Angel Skins - I'm Armed With Quarts of Blood
Pussy Galore - Right Now!
David Thomas and the Pedestrians - The Sound of the Sand
Dog Faced Hermans Every Day Timebomb

yep,thanks!

bump

and again

Destruction - Eternal Devastation

Any more?

I think I'm done w/the albums, but I prob. have a few more tracks to add before Sat. (so plz don't close the poll early)

oh
rollins band - do it
nomeansno - you kill me

"hesher music" as enjoyed by a drug-addled metalhead with a taste for arty extremes

I was idly thinking that this could be seen perhaps as a sort of 'rock' that can be traced back to roots in Who/Kinks/Cream/Hendrix/Zeppelin/Sabbath as opposed to the traditional canon that would also include Buddy Holly, Dylan, the Byrds, the Band, (Beatles and Stones even?), etc. I think the noise and improv elements still make sense in this context.

If we're talking about why, say, Springsteen is excluded, though, then you would also have say that this is all to the exclusion of the historical lineage from the Brill Building and Phil Spector. If you frame it as "Buddy Holly, Dylan, the Byrds, the Band," I suppose it makes it seem like it's the soft stuff that's being excluded as precedents, but it seems to me that it's also Roy Orbison, Del Shannon, Bobby Fuller, etc.

I think we're basically talking about "hard rock" and its various offshoots. Wikipedia describes it pretty well:

Hard rock is a form of loud, aggressive rock music. The electric guitar is often emphasised, used with distortion and other effects, both as a rhythm instrument using repetitive riffs with a varying degree of complexity, and as a solo lead instrument.[2] Drumming characteristically focuses on driving rhythms, strong bass drum and a backbeat on snare, sometimes using cymbals for emphasis.[3] The bass guitar works in conjunction with the drums, occasionally playing riffs, but usually providing a backing for the rhythm and lead guitars.[4] Vocals are often growling, raspy, or involve screaming or wailing, sometimes in a high range, or even falsetto voice.[5] Hard rock has sometimes been labelled cock rock for its emphasis on overt masculinity and sexuality and because it has historically been predominately performed and consumed by men: in the case of its audience, particularly white, working-class adolescents.[3]

I still think the distinctions are more sociological than that. Like Buddy Holly is out but Carl Perkins is in because he sounds like more of a hillbilly. Doesn't have anything to do with how rocking their records are.

Perkins has more of a blues-influence I think. Hard rock has more of the blues, soft rock is more influenced by folk.

Perkins probably has more blues AND more country than Holly - so what? Holly is excluded for being more of an innovator? His records are just as rocking as Perkins', perhaps more. And they are based in blues and country, not in folk.

(Obviously, he made a couple of pop recordings with an arranger also. I'm talking about the Crickets records.)

A reminder that Buddy Holly is not actually being excluded but is not present because he was not alive or recording music in the 1980s...

I'm not that familiar with Holly to tell the truth. If he's more blues-oriented then I think he's in that lineage too.

and carl perkins is more of a line-straddler anyway. i'd frame it as buddy holly vs. chuck berry & jerry lee lewis, both of whom rock in a much more aggressive fashion.

Of '80s artists, I think someone like John Cougar Mellencamp, whom I mentioned before, is a borderline case. Clearly he had pop crossover appeal, but he also rocked pretty emphatically and had a strong blues influence. So I'm not sure what the call would be on him. Or Bon Jovi for that matter.