Favourite SST Release of... 1984

fuck. II vs Zen Arcade vs My War for me.

am thinking Zen Arcade > II > My War. but its close.

http://blogs.citypages.com/pscholtes/Minutemen%201984.jpg

^^winners. lock thread.

Double Nickels!!!!

So, why didn't Husker Du put Eight Miles High on Zen Arcade? Just imagine how great that would have been.

My gut feeling says Minutemen, so I'll vote for them, even though I don't own any of their records anymore. (Had this one and What Makes A Man Start Fires and a few other ones back before my late '80s indie purge.) Do still own Meat Puppets II and Zen Arcade, but only on CD. Don't even have my "Eight Miles High" 45 anymore. (Also didn't realize that Black Flag put out 4 albums that year; that's pretty crazy. I stopped listening after Slip It In, which I never liked much. Kind of wish I still had My War though.)

listened to my war for the first time in a zillion years not that long ago and it sounded very cool. one of those cases where i might like it more now than i did then.

I love the first three songs on Slip It In better than anything else they did post-Damaged, but I never got into My War.

I think the sound on Slip It In stands up better than on the other albums too. Kira adds a lot.

in general, i do like hearing minutemen a LOT more now than i did then. back then i really only wanted to hear project mersh, van halen cover, and little man with a gun in his hand. but i have lots more love for all their stuff now. i had to grow into it, i guess. whereas, husker du spoke perfectly to my drug-addled 16 year old brain back then.

i didn't buy meat puppets 2 when it came out. up on the sun was the first one i bought. which is a shame, cuz i would have loved it at 16.

1984 really was, like, year zero for me. i heard SO MANY amazing things for the first time. i mean, i was already a punk/harcore/new wave/rap fan in 1984, but i heard stuff that definitely changed my life that year. i started listening to the grateful dead in 1984!

SAINT VITUS

Puppets just barely over Minutemen.

My call: 1: Double Nickels. 2: Zen Arcade. 3: Meat Puppets II. 4: My War.

That being said, and despite having much love for the top 3, I'm voting for Saccharine Trust. I would LOVE to hear a clean copy of it, as I just know it'll knock me on the floor (though Jack Brewer sent me the copy I have, so I can't complain with what I've got!).

1984 ... it was a very good year. Paz and Jop results:
1. Bruce Springsteen: Born in the U.S.A. (Columbia) 1757 (136)
2. Prince and the Revolution: Purple Rain (Warner Bros.) 1687 (136)
3. Los Lobos: How Will the Wolf Survive? (Slash) 1123 (102)
4. The Replacements: Let It Be (Twin/Tone) 937 (76)
5. Tina Turner: Private Dancer (Capitol) 808 (80)
6. R.E.M.: Reckoning (I.R.S.) 793 (76)
7. The Pretenders: Learning to Crawl (Sire) 702 (72)
8. Hüsker Dü: Zen Arcade (SST) 658 (58)
9. Lou Reed: New Sensations (RCA Victor) 586 (60)
10. Run-D.M.C.: Run-D.M.C. (Profile) 523 (55)
11. Cyndi Lauper: She's So Unusual (Portrait '83) 517 (50) *
12. Bangles: All Over the Place (Columbia) 458 (52)
13. Ramones: Too Tough to Die (Sire) 405 (38)
14. Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime (SST) 362 (35)
15. The dB's: Like This (Bearsville) 350 (40)
16. Womack & Womack: Love Wars (Elektra '83) 272 (28) *
17. Laurie Anderson: Mister Heartbreak (Warner Bros.) 267 (28)
18. Rubén Blades y Seis del Solar: Buscando America (Elektra) 257 (20)
19. Laurie Anderson: United States Live (Warner Bros.) 247 (14)
20. Meat Puppets: Meat Puppets II (SST) 213 (26)
21. Neville Brothers: Neville-ization (Black Top) 204 (21)
22. The Smiths: The Smiths (Sire) 187 (14)
23. Let's Active: Cypress (I.R.S.) 176 (18)
24. Tom Verlaine: Cover (Warner Bros.) 156 (19)
25. Van Halen: 1984 (Warner Bros.) 156 (13)
26. Del-Lords: Frontier Days (EMI America) 155 (20)
27. Linton Kwesi Johnson: Making History (Island) 153 (14)
28. George Clinton: You Shouldn't-Nuf Bit Fish (Capitol '83) 149 (16) *
29. U2: The Unforgettable Fire (Island) 149 (15)
30. King Sunny Ade and His African Beats: Aura (Island) 149 (14)
31. Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense (Sire) 148 (17)
32. ZZ Top: Eliminator (Warner Bros.) 148 (14) *
33. Peter Wolf: Lights Out (EMI America) 135 (16)
34. The Gospel at Colonus (Warner Bros.) 130 (15)
35. Lyres: On Fyre (Ace of Hearts) 114 (12)
36. The Everly Brothers: EB 84 (Mercury) 110 (12)
37. P. Funk All-Stars: Urban Dancefloor Guerillas (CBS Associated/Uncle Jam '83) 110 (11) *
38. Del Fuegos: The Longest Day (Slash) 108 (12)
39. The Special AKA: In the Studio (Chrysalis) 102 (10)
40. Rickie Lee Jones: The Magazine (Warner Bros.)

All of it! Best label ever?

The Minutemen by a shade, but for purely emotional reasons.

Definitely Minutemen, but Slip It In is a close second. "The Bars" is such an amazing track. I never liked Hüsker Dü very much at all.

Double Nickels. The crowning achievement of what was probably the greatest year for indie/alternative rock.

Minutemen

Greatest year for indie/punk/whatevs and one of the best for mainstream rock/pop too. 1984 was a blazing hole of goodness.

Will prob have to be honest and vote for Dbl Nckls because it was like one of the foundation stones of my brain at the time, and still is. But it will KILL me not to vote for My War.

YOU'RE ONE OF THEM

Greatest year for indie/punk/whatevs and one of the best for mainstream rock/pop too. 1984 was a blazing hole of goodness.

― T. Geithner look-alikes permeate carparks (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, March 24, 2010 12:47 PM (5 minutes ago)

My copy of the Saint Vitus LP was purchased from milk carton ilxor Tim Ellison some years back for a barely believable $1 plus postage

voted Zen Arcade however

Tim made a solitary post just a coupla months ago (can't remember the thread)

"Also didn't realize that Black Flag put out 4 albums that year; that's pretty crazy."

Isn't this cuz they didn't release any records in the previous three due to a lawsuit?

Clearly Zen Arcade vs. Double Nickels although I might just vote II so I don't have to choose.

Isn't this cuz they didn't release any records in the previous three due to a lawsuit?

That's it exactly. Though they did release Everything Went Black during that period, which apparently resulted in a night in the cells for Greg and Chuck - unless that's an apocryphal story.

Puppets just barely over Minutemen.

― Jazzbo, Wednesday, March 24, 2010 4:21 PM (55 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah same for me, but someday i have to sit down with MY WAR and SLIP IT IN.

I can dismiss regrets of not voting for II or Zen by reminding myself I like both bands' subsequent LP even better.

glad I have 6 days to decide, i was 14 in 84 when punk rock changed my life

a little part of me really wants to vote 025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9vhkaiVW7E

Double Nickels On The Dime (not even close)

IMPOSSIBLE POLL

voted 8MH, fuk teh h8rz

2x nickls competition is none, love 2 more than most albums tho

i was 14 in 84 when punk rock changed my life

Me too. We were fucking corn dogs.

Actually no I heard most of these albums at the beginning of 85. But I was still 14. And a fucking corn dog.

^^that song you're referring to always always always gives me goosebumps

hella tender 4 sure

Whole album is a fucking e-ticket thrillride, even "You Need the Glory".

Yes. The jumping two-note figure that ends each two bar phrase is a heart tugger.

14 yo me "who the fuck is E Bloom?" Now BOC is probably my favorite of the bands shouted out to in that verse.

Damn would totally sit around a back yard fire with y'all right now.

Mr. Narrator

027 Hüsker Dü Zen Arcade

This is Bob Dylan to me!

time monitor
space measure-er

real things
condition-ing

I know Double Nickels inside-out yet only like 5 of the song titles

So dig this big crux.

which apparently resulted in a night in the cells for Greg and Chuck - unless that's an apocryphal story.

several nights, and it sounds like a pretty grisly experience

the do, the how, the why, the where, the when, the what
can these words refine that truth?

we are cuss words

fuck i have no idea. argghgh

i must look like a dork

man...probably gonna vote minutemen

but surviving you always is so dope

almost tempted to vote for 8 miles high

jjj don't you mean you can't decide can't decide can't decide ANYTHIIIIINNNGG

my war is the origin-point for all grunge, right? and that and st. vitus are the origin points for all doom metal?

Vitus or those guys that were something to do with Kelly Osbourne's dad, I guess

didn't the first possessed record come out in like 83?

OK I went for 8 Miles High in the end, brevity wins out over the sprawling double albums. Not much talk about Meat Puppets II? Could be a dark horse.

awww man u guys quoting double nickels makes me reconsider the vote i already cast for II

i started listening to the grateful dead in 1984!

did the meat puppets have anything to do with that?

Vitus or those guys that were something to do with Kelly Osbourne's dad, I guess

smartass

but seriously My War (and later, SV's first album) is the point where Sabbath becomes a cool indie reference-point in addition to being heavy metal's primal father, right?

Yeah, and the Buttholes.

xpost I got all into American Beauty in '85 and that DEFINITELY was because of the Pups.

i voted zen arcade for its sprawl and its mystery and its hooks and its very strange-sounding and very beautiful wall of guitar squall. the fact that new day rising came out six months later somehow makes it even better.

double nickels and II -- double ones? -- are runners up by, like, one or two thousandths of a point.

Double Nickels, I think I said why I love it so much on the '80s poll thread, can't quite remember what but the gist was that it's such a joyful, start-of-summer record for me.

Someone tell me about Family Man, cos I don't know a single track off that.

Love all these Double Nickels quotes. I'm fucking overwhelmed!

Someone tell me about Family Man, cos I don't know a single track off that.

Half Henry Rollins spoken word, half instrumental jams iirc. Not my thing at all.

Family Man was in the mix Zeitgeist-wise, but I liked Rollins's spoken-word a lot better immediately after Black Flag, more humor, seemed a lot happier.

Meat Puppets II and Double Nickels on the Dime are both so important to me that I couldn't chose. Voted for Suck Vitus.

I know Double Nickels inside-out yet only like 5 of the song titles

There's maybe a dozen I can't attach titles to, and that's why I didn't attempt to

Give an album's full track listing from memory

when that thread first appeared.

Black Flag - Live 84 ON CASSETTE

went for What Makes a Man Start Fires in the first poll, so I won't deny Meat Puppets twice

although i could also vote for II on account of it being totally perfect

I wish you could have 2 votes in these polls as minutemen appear to be running away with it.

My War probably my favorite on the list these days, but Double Nickels is a sentimental favorite and the quotes on the thread are gettin' to me. Gets my vote.

"I won't stick any of you unless and until I can stick all of you" from family man is the jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjpt4VNRqRA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH_ukAUl0ZM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6nX0mGv7-4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSnfMBi4aRs

Bob's guitar on Turn On The News is fucking godlike. Brilliant song with brilliant guitar.

Eight Miles High

The pinnacle.

My first Husker purchase and possibly the best.

Fucking huge

Saint Vitus v Minutemen v Zen Arcade for me...

I voted Saint Vitus in the end just so they got a vote as they deserve it, but ZA is the best album here.

but you know what? I like them all.

what a year for a label.

1985 would also belong to SST. But what about 1986? I have a gut feeling that's when Homestead takes over?

Someone should figure out a labels best year in the 80s, then poll each labels best year against each other and see who wins.

i'm assuming def jam had some ridiculous ass year too but i'd have to look

you just volunteered!

hurrah!

Lol I think there's a specific year in the mid-80s where Sire would have been my champion label.

you volunteering to help him?

Nooooooooo

just name the labels here then he can compile a poll once we sorta agree on labels/years

SST
Homestead
Touch & Go
Def Jam
Sire

who else?

Sub Pop ?

Epic! (if one of the albums you put out in any given year is thriller, you're probably dominating that year no matter what else you or anyone else puts out)

Blast First
Dischord

http://www.bsnpubs.com/warner/distributed/sire.html

Here's a discography of Sire Records albums. '81, '83, '84 are all great.

I'm sure the Minutemen will win by a wide margin. For me, it's dead even between Meat Puppets II and "Eight Miles High." I want to vote, so I'll go with "Eight Miles High" as the one that had the greater effect on me at the time. I might be wrong, but I think it came out slightly in advance of Zen Arcade; I remember thinking that this was a far as you could possibly take something. And, as I've written elsewhere on this board, that's exactly how it played out for me; I thought a lot of Zen Arcade consisted of them doing stuff that they'd already moved past. And then they got great again with the next two albums, but only because they changed.

embarrassing, but i only know a handful of these records ... anyone want to make me a mix? SST 84!?

Voted for Saint Vitus in the end.

hmm there's not that one year of def jam i was really counting on....they didn't put out as many albums as i thought!

Wow that Sire catalog, yeah. I wonder how long I could sustain myself on only the Sire and SST catalogs 1980-1985.

Beggar's Banquet would probably need to be added to the list, no? Maybe Creation? Factory, obv.

xpost Tyler I am shocked!!!

i know the husker and minutemen stuff, but my war is the only Black Flag record from this list I have ... and for some reason I don't have any Meat Puppets!

that's fucked up dude, you'd love up II & especially on the sun

i meant you'd love II & especially upon the sun

up on the sun

i guess i gotta get it. always meant to get around to the meat puppets but never did.

i'd be super-shocked if you didn't like up on the sun

We can hip you to highlights of their later records later but yeah just start with II and Up.

voted live 84

i think every album might get at least one vote.

up on the sun is soooooo great.

i just bought it!

am i the only person who doesn't like meat puppets II? just totally doesn't work for me, hate the vocals.

it's not my favorite meat puppets record by any stretch, and now that i think about it i'd rank them: in a car > s/t > up on the sun > II

and i don't know if i've ever heard any of them past that. i guess i should check out huevos sometime?

xpost Naw, I just cannot get past those weak vox. Never understood the love at all.

great album, but i love all their 80s stuff bar the 1st one that i just couldnt get into.

vote!

was listening to II a bunch this weekend....that's a real dusty trip. love it.

Huevos wasn't "weird" enough for some old-school fans but it's pretty awesome zztop style driving boogie rock.

oh and yeah i can totally understand the singing being a block to enjoying II but it's all about the wailing axes

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Too High to Die is a good intro if you can't get past the vocals on the SST records. Leary did some good knob twiddling on them, and Kirkwood could sing better and its a very strong set of songs.

"Family Man" is my favorite Black Sabbath album!

I mean, the one by Black Flag is pretty good, too, though.

maybe every album will get at least one vote then

went with my heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI8uE_yguPE

Me, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKVTWhgXce0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSZuL7XwNWA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-TccVzt0gU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHdbqHvsUz4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd4cRXmWt3o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0IWHxvswLk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52scMVXF2mc

Greatest cover version ever?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBKyBlJ_JN8

Those two doubles are truly twin titans, but I'm gonna give it to II, just because it's the one I most feel like hearing right now. But yeah, everything up there is pretty good-to-great.

I like that label-of-the-year idea - I've always had an affinity for Sire in 1977, Warner/Reprise in '69, and Elektra in '67.

i dont think anyones gonna do the best label of 84 sadly

There's some year of Bizarre/Straight that includes both Starsailor and Lick My Decals Off, Baby iirc-- that's a contendah!

Rough Trade was crazy in 1980 - Pere Ubu, Swell Maps, Young Marble Giants, Raincoats, Pop Group, Cabaret Voltaire, The Fall, James Blood Ulmer, TV Personalities, Essential Logic, Robert Wyatt, Slits, Delta 5, Scritti Politti, the Prefects...

last chance to vote..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2syLYOiO3c

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

wow

All the more impressive that husker du got the vote split and still won.

I had hoped that ZA and DNOTD might tie actually. Cuz both are great albums.

wtf!

Nice surprise! But tinged with sadness that I was the only one who voted for Saccharine Trust.

However you were right pfunkboy - every album got at least one vote!

didn't realize there were so many damn Husker fans lurking about.

Let me reiterate: wow. Between this and the other SST poll, it would seem that Husker Du has a lot more goodwill out there than I thought. Hooray for that.

Husker Du are liked round here, but they're outnumbered by Minutemen fans and DNOTD fans are a lot more vocal. But tbh i think a lot love both, but HD fans cant agree on what is their best album while Minutemen fans generally do. Hence DNOTD usually doing well in the polls.

Remember to vote in Favourite Hüsker Dü Album?

Favourite SST Release of... 1985

as i said in the last poll, i pretty much expect Husker to dominate any poll they're in after this: your favorite run of SST releases by one band

022 Saint Vitus Saint Vitus 13

Wow, I'm kind of surprised! Sup fellow dirtheads.

Hurrah for vitus

Husker Du are liked round here, but they're outnumbered by Minutemen fans and DNOTD fans are a lot more vocal.

this poll would suggest otherwise, kerr

not really, im pretty sure there was more shout outs on this thread for Minutemen, but I get your point via the results.

stevie you spelled d15turb@nc3 wrong...

i... aw shit.

Proud to be a St Vitus 13%-er for life! We should all get tattoos.

or meet up at a gig since they reformed.

I remember my friend's big brother telling me that if I liked St Vitus so much I should check out Sabbath, who I was only vaguely aware of at 14. I thought he was a stupid hippy.

When did you become a stupid hippy?

about 10 minutes after the events recounted above, when he put on Snowblind

Supernaut did it for me.

Butthole Surfers did it for me when I realized 'Sweat Loaf' was a Sabbath riff.

Walking Seeds did it for me with their version of 'Iron Man' on Skullfuck.

the entire 80's dirtbag underground scene was a conspiracy to get kids into sabbath

These are good poll results. One of the very few times Ive picked the winning horse.

http://www.factmag.com/2016/02/29/kira-roessler-black-flag-oscar-sound-editing-2016/

saw that posted on the ile Oscars thread

This is the best ever!