Blast From The Past Vol.3: 1985-1989

It's been a long time coming and, finally, the third edition of the "Blast From The Past" series is here! This time we take a look at the second half of the '80s and choose our 50 (plus 10) favorite albums released between 1985 and 1989, keeping in mind the rule of including only one album from each artist or band. The common perception is that the first half of the decade in question was richer in innovative, groundbreaking music and produced more classic albums that defined the indie-rock world and continue to be highly influential today. However it would be wrong to downplay the importance of the music that came out in the late '80s, since, one one hand, we had the continuous rise of the underground experimental guitar sound that culminated with the release, in 1988, of arguably the best album of the decade, Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation", and, on the other, this was the golden era of the hip-hop culture. Run DMC took the beat of the underground to the top of the charts and Public Enemy spearheaded politicized hardcore-rap, taking the rap game to another level. And let's not forget that at the tail-end of this period, a little known band called Nirvana released its debut album, recorded for about $600, on a hip new Seattle label called Sub Pop. And the rest is '90s history, coming in the form of a nice little list in the forthcoming "Blast From The Past, Vol.4".

Top 50 Albums of 1985 - 1989

1. Daydream nation - SONIC YOUTH
2. Surfer Rosa - PIXIES
3. This nation’s saving grace - THE FALL
4. It takes a nation of millions to hold us back - PUBLIC ENEMY
5. Songs about fucking - BIG BLACK
6. Psychocandy - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
7. Meat is murder - THE SMITHS
8. Document - R.E.M.
9. Bug - DINOSAUR JR.
10. Warehouse: Songs and stories - HUSKER DU
11. Mirage - MEAT PUPPETS
12. House tornado - THROWING MUSES
13. Life’s too good - THE SUGARCUBES
14. Blood and chocolate - ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS
15. Gas, food, lodging - GREEN ON RED
16. Valley of rain - GIANT SAND
17. My invisible lantern - SCREAMING TREES
18. In the Spanish cave - THIN WHITE ROPE
19. The firstborn is dead - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS
20. Isn’t anything - MY BLOODY VALENTINE
21. I - A.R. KANE
22. The Stone Roses - THE STONE ROSES
23. Bummed - HAPPY MONDAYS
24. Raising hell - RUN DMC
25. Criminal minded - BOOGIE DOWN PRODUCTIONS
26. The House of Love - THE HOUSE OF LOVE
27. Tallulah - THE GO-BETWEENS
28. Calenture - THE TRIFFIDS
29. Wild weed - JEFFREY LEE PIERCE
30. Charm world - YO
31. Bedtime for democracy - DEAD KENNEDYS
32. Mudhoney - MUDHONEY
33. Bleach - NIRVANA
34. Byram lake blues - 13 ENGINES
35. Babble - THAT PETROL EMOTION
36. Paid in full - ERIC B & RAKIM
37. 3 feet high and rising - DE LA SOUL
38. Straight outta Compton - N.W.A.
39. Saturday night! The album - SCHOOLY D
40. Our favourite shop - THE STYLE COUNCIL
41. George Best - THE WEDDING PRESENT
42. The eight legged groove machine - THE WONDER STUFF
43. Desperate fires - THE JET BLACK BERRIES
44. Hope against hope - BAND OF SUSANS
45. Frequency and urgency - SALEM 66
46. Lysergic emanations - THE FUZZTONES
47. First and last and always - THE SISTERS OF MERCY
48. Low life - NEW ORDER
49. Around the world in a day - PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION
50. Our beloved revolutionary sweetheart - CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN

And here is the "plus 10" part of the list; a selection of ten more albums that are equally worthy of inclusion, but will have to sit on the substitutes' bench for now: Mother Juno - THE GUN CLUB, Inky bloaters - DANIELLE DAX, Lick - THE LEMONHEADS, Buffalo Tom - BUFFALO TOM, The world by storm - THE THREE JOHNS, Let’s play domination - WORLD DOMINATION ENTERPRISES, Power - ICE T, Locust abortion technician - BUTTHOLE SURFERS, Land of the lost - WIPERS, The Young Gods - THE YOUNG GODS.