OK, so El has come up with his 1983-1995 and first glance looks like we might agree on possibly 2 or 3. Let's look at the music covering my age 14-26 years.
1983: I was still in high school in North Dakota at the time, so none of the bands on El's list ever penetrated except for Culture Club on TBS "Friday Night Videos" (MTV had not come to my town, yet). Can't Slow Down by Lionel Richie got a lot of play on the radio and FNV. The Crossing by Big Country is an album that I really like now, but did not hear at the time. Bryan Adams' Cuts Like a Knife was huge in ND. Though I didn't know it at the time, the Steinman effect was the cause of my liking Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart. Script for a Jester's Tear by Marillion was an album that I came on year's later while tracking back the Marillion discography. Frontiers by Journey, Sports by Huey Lewis and the News, Texas Flood by Stevie Ray Vaughan - all have merits, but for music, cultural influence and all of the things that make a 14-year old boy sit up and take notice, nothing beats Eliminator by ZZ Top in 1983.
1984: No longer a nerdy freshman, now I was a nerdy sophomore. I think MTV came to town in the latter half of this year. I liked Martha Quinn, but not Nina Blackwood. Born in the USA by Bruce, Reckless by Bryan Adams, Chicago 17 by Chicago were good albums. My inner girl was satisfied with Self Control by Laura Branigan. Building the Perfect Beast by Don Henley had the best single with Boys of Summer and the best overall album for me. This was probably the last year in which I adhered closely to the top 40 for my favorites. I listened to Casey Kasem every week and had little opportunity to hear anything that wasn't fed to me. I started branching out in 1985.
1985: Silvertone by Chris Isaak was a strong debut as was Play Deep by The Outfield, but neither are close to my choice for best album of the year. In the summer of 1985, I heard a song that was so very different from most of the music I liked that I searched it out to find it. A British prog-rock band with a single charting in the upper 30's was not easy to find in North Dakota in 1985, but I eventually did find Misplaced Childhood by Marillion. This is the first concept album I ever remember hearing and definitely my introduction to progressive rock. A monumental album for me. No one else I knew liked it or wanted to hear it, so this was my album and the one I have listened to over and over since then.
1986: A Kind of Magic by Queen came to me as the soundtrack to the movie Highlander. Licensed to Ill by the Beastie Boys was the first intro of rap to North Dakota since they were white kids and it still holds up very well. Night Songs by Cinderella was the best pseudo-chick hair metal album that year, in my estimation. Guilty pleasures included Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi, The Final Countdown by Europe and The Ultimate Sin by Ozzy Osbourne. The album that best exemplified the dichotomy between my pop upbringing and a tendency towards prog rock was 1986's So by Peter Gabriel. It had the singles, but it also had something vaguely experimental, but non-threatening.
1987: A little more adventurous this year. I learned about Voivod from an Omni magazine article about their concept prog-rock featuring a space traveller as told through thrash metal. 1987 brought my favorite Voivod album Killing Technology. I also liked Trio by Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, The Joshua Tree by U2, Hysteria by Def Leppard and Appetite for Destruction by Guns 'n Roses. However, my best album of 1987 was the follow up to Misplaced Childhood, Clutching at Straws by Marillion. Another concept album from the band and their last with lead singer Fish (Derek Dick) before he parted with the rest of the band over creative differences. More about "New Marillion" later.
1988: Some good chick hard rock this year from former Runaways - Lita by Lita Ford, Up Your Alley by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. The Land of Rape and Honey is a techno-industrial album by Ministry that hinted at their move towards hard industrial metal and away from techno dance of their earlier albums. Due to my longstanding fondness for anything Roy Orbison, it was inevitable that I would like Traveling Wilbury's Vol. 1 even with the other artists attached. My choice for the best album of 1988 is See the Light by the Jeff Healey Band. Blues-rock guitar at its finest.
1989: The first post-Fish Marillion album, Season's End, came out this year. It was not bad, but a little uneven due to having some of the old singer-lyricist (Fish) and the new singer (Steve Hogarth) and his songwriting partner. Storm Front by Billy Joel was a decent album and the basis for a surprisingly good concert at the Worcester Centrum. Likewise, Journeyman from Eric Clapton spawned a good Centrum concert, though it presaged his descent from rock-guitar god to wussy acoustic strummer. Two good industrial albums came out - Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails and The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste by Ministry. I saw a really good concert at the Cyclorama in Boston with Nine Inch Nails and openers Fem2Fem, a lipstick lesbian band, and Marilyn Manson. Manson sucked then and never got any better. A new Orbison album, Mystery Girl, was a nice try, but too many misses. Thus, my best record of 1989 goes to the musical heir to Roy Orbison, Chris Isaak. His Heart-Shaped World was boosted by the half dozen people who saw (and liked) Wild at Heart, like me.
1990: Shake Your Money Maker by the Black Crowes, Damn Yankees by Damn Yankees, Violator by Depeche Mode (another album I did not appreciate until years later) are all decent choices. Traveling Wilbury's Vol. 3 was an abomination since Roy had passed in December of 1989 and the rest of the assclowns decided to record a second album without him. At the time, I would have said Damn Yankees, now I say Violator.
1991: Maybe I'm outside the mainstream, but Nirvana seemed OK to me, but not the best thing to ever hit music. The whole grunge thing kind of passed me by. Holidays in Eden was the first full-on Hogarth Marillion album and probably the last one I enjoyed. Trisha Yearwood by Trisha Yearwood is a good album, but check out the cover art. That's '80's hair at its finest. I think the clear cut best album of 1991 is Metallica by Metallica AKA the Black Album.
1992: Why We Fight by John Wesley Harding is my folk rock favorite. Mack Daddy by Sir Mix-A-Lot is my rap entry. Body Count by Body Count featuring Ice-T is the rap metal choice for the year. I agree that Automatic for the People is very good. My overall favorite album of the year is Psalm 69 (the one with the Greek letter title) by Ministry.
1993: 13 Above the Night is a good album by My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult as are Pablo Honey by Radiohead, Star by Belly and San Francisco Days by Chris Isaak. Exile in Guyville by Liz Phair is a very good album (though El does not agree), but is inherently flawed by its relationship to a Stones album I do not like. My pick for the top album of 1993 is Undertow by Tool.
1994: Dookie by Green Day was fun and Smash by The Offspring had a couple of really good songs. Weezer (the Blue Album) had several good songs. Whip-Smart is another decent outing by Liz Phair. I really liked The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails, but was dismayed by how many strippers used it for their music. Silly strippers...downer music means less dollars! (I don't do that anymore).
1995: Different Class by Pulp is really, really good. The Woman in Me by Shania Twain has one of my favorite country-pop singles, "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" Pieces of You is a very good, pre-pretentious Jewel album. Saw her in a show upstairs at Mama Kin in Boston with maybe 7 other people. She was not pleased. Garbage by Garbage, ...And Out Come the Wolves by Rancid and even Hi(tm), How Are You Today? by Ashley MacIsaac (a pop-fiddle mostly instrumental album) all merit mention, but I'll take The Bends by Radiohead.
In only two years of this span does a choice of El's even show up on my list for consideration: REM in 1992 and Pulp in 1995. Makes sense since both bands were introduced to me by El.
I'll finish my list Monday, but I suspect I will lapse into "Back in my day..." reveries as I move into my 30's. Tune in tomorrow!
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