Desert Island Albums (C.M.C. 10th Anniversary Edition)

The World Wide Web has just turned 29 today and Cool Music Central (the Blogger version) is now 10! Being active for almost one-third of the internet’s life on this platform (and actually much longer if you take into consideration that the very first C.M.C. incarnation materialized in 1999, in a now long gone domain) is certainly no mean feat and deserves to be celebrated with a special music list, the kind of which I have never attempted before.

Over the years I have published in Cool Music Central a great number of music lists; you can say that my obsession with list-making is actually one of the main drives for starting this blog in the first place (and this one as well, where you’ll find only lists). All of these lists however are always focused on a particular period of time (the albums of the month, the year, the decade). I have never tried in the past the seemingly impossible task of compiling a list of my all-time favorite records, my desert island album list if you will, and I guess that the time has finally come in this post, our 615th, marking C.M.C.’s 10 year anniversary.

To be able to narrow down the number of albums that make up C.M.C’s Desert Island list to a reasonable Top 50, certain rules had to be put in place:

The first prerequisite to consider an album eligible for inclusion was to have it in physical format, so the starting point for this list was the approximately 3500 albums currently in my record collection. A side effect of this rule is that although there is no specific time limit for the selection, in reality the albums that make up this list are all released between 1976 and today, since my record shopping has always been focused in the period after the punk explosion.

The second rule was to choose only one album from each band or artist for possible inclusion in the Top 50 in order to have a wider variety of voices represented and to avoid making this list another tribute to The Fall and the late, great Mark E. Smith, whose stellar releases could easily occupy about one-fifth of it. With this rule, I was able to narrow down the number of albums that could be in the Top 50 to about 200.

The last rule was to try to have a balance between all the periods represented in this list, although for the punk and indie rock sound that we favor, the years between 1977 and 1988 is the golden period.

With all the above rules in place, our Desert Island Album list has taken the shape of the Top 50 we present today. Of course there are many other albums equally worthy of inclusion, so in order to give a more complete picture of our all-time favorites, you will find below a further 150 selections in chronological order and with the second rule lifted. These are (at least for now) the 200 albums that have created Cool Music Central’s ultimate soundtrack, and the Spotify playlist below is what we are listening to all this week in celebration of our 10th anniversary!

C.M.C.'s Desert Island Top 50

01. Perverted by language - THE FALL (1983)
02. Daydream nation - SONIC YOUTH (1988)
03. Nevermind - NIRVANA (1991)
04. Rid of me - P.J. HARVEY (1993)
05. All mod cons - THE JAM (1978)
06. Entertainment! - GANG OF FOUR (1979)
07. Unknown pleasures - JOY DIVISION (1979)
08. Remain in light - TALKING HEADS (1980)
09. Meat is murder - THE SMITHS (1985)
10. Psychocandy - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN (1985)
11. Never mind the bollocks here's The Sex Pistols - THE SEX PISTOLS (1977)
12. London calling - THE CLASH (1979)
13. Surfer Rosa - PIXIES (1988)
14. Ramones - RAMONES (1976)
15. Zen arcade - HUSKER DU (1984)
16. Songs about fucking - BIG BLACK (1987)
17. It takes a nation of millions to hold us back - PUBLIC ENEMY (1988)
18. Life’s rich pageant - R.E.M. (1986)
19. From her to eternity - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS (1984)
20. Juju - SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES (1981)
21. Live through this - HOLE (1994)
22. Siamese dream - SMASHING PUMPKINS (1993)
23. Bug - DINOSAUR JR. (1988)
24. Meat Puppets II - MEAT PUPPETS (1984)
25. Throwing Muses - THROWING MUSES (1986)
26. Slanted and enchanted - PAVEMENT (1992)
27. Sweet oblivion - SCREAMING TREES (1992)
28. Gentlemen - THE AFGHAN WHIGS (1993)
29. Is this it - THE STROKES (2001)
30. Turn on the bright lights - INTERPOL (2002)
31. Elephant - THE WHITE STRIPES (2003)
32. Songs for the deaf - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE (2002)
33. Definitely maybe - OASIS (1994)
34. This Year's Model - ELVIS COSTELLO (1978)
35. XTRMNTR - PRIMAL SCREAM (2000)
36. Sun - CAT POWER (2012)
37. To be kind - SWANS (2014)
38. House of GVSB - GIRLS AGAINST BOYS (1996)
39. The hot rock - SLEATER - KINNEY (1999)
40. The magic city - HELIUM (1997)
41. Bakesale - SEBADOH (1994)
42. Return to cookie mountain - TV ON THE RADIO (2006)
43. Fever to tell - YEAH YEAH YEAHS (2003)
44. Franz Ferdinand - FRANZ FERDINAND (2004)
45. Good news for people who love bad news - MODEST MOUSE (2004)
46. Whatever people say I am, that's what I am not - ARCTIC MONKEYS (2006)
47. Sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit - COURTNEY BARNETT (2015)
48. St. Vincent - ST. VINCENT (2014)
49. LCD Soundsystem - LCD SOUNDSYSTEM (2005)
50. High violet - THE NATIONAL (2010)

Further recommended listening:

Pink flag - WIRE (1977)
Marquee moon - TELEVISION (1977)
Suicide - SUICIDE (1978)
The modern dance - PERE UBU (1978)
Real life - MAGAZINE (1978)
Live at the witch trials - THE FALL (1979)
Fear of music - TALKING HEADS (1979)
Setting sons - THE JAM (1979)
Closer - JOY DIVISION (1980)
Sound affects - THE JAM (1980)
Crocodiles - ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN (1980)
Kilimanjaro - THE TEARDROP EXPLODES (1980)
Fresh fruit for rotting vegetables - DEAD KENNEDYS (1980)
Los Angeles - X (1980)
Crazy rhythms - THE FEELIES (1980)
Playing with a different sex - THE AU PAIRS (1981)
The flowers of romance - PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED (1981)
The fire of love - THE GUN CLUB (1981)
The gift - THE JAM (1982)
Hex enduction hour - THE FALL (1982)
A kiss in the dreamhouse - SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES (1982)
The days of wine and roses - THE DREAM SYNDICATE (1982)
Pornography - THE CURE (1982)
Fire dances - KILLING JOKE (1983)
Before Hollywood - THE GO-BETWEENS (1983)
Violent Femmes - VIOLENT FEMMES (1983)
Over the edge - WIPERS (1983)
Mommy’s little monster - SOCIAL DISTORTION (1983)
Burning from the inside - BAUHAUS (1983)
Power, corruption and lies - NEW ORDER (1983)
The wonderful and frightening world of... - THE FALL (1984)
The Smiths - THE SMITHS (1984)
Atom drum bop - THE THREE JOHNS (1984)
Native sons - THE LONG RYDERS (1984)
This nation’s saving grace - THE FALL (1985)
Gas, food, lodging - GREEN ON RED (1985)
Valley of rain - GIANT SAND (1985)
Blood and chocolate - ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS (1986)
Bend sinister - THE FALL (1986)
Sister - SONIC YOUTH (1987)
Warehouse: Songs and stories - HUSKER DU (1987)
Document - R.E.M. (1987)
Mirage - MEAT PUPPETS (1987)
Life’s too good - THE SUGARCUBES (1988)
The House of Love - THE HOUSE OF LOVE (1988)
Bummed - HAPPY MONDAYS (1988)
In the Spanish cave - THIN WHITE ROPE (1988)
Green - R.E.M. (1988)
Isn’t anything - MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1988)
My invisible lantern - SCREAMING TREES (1988)
House tornado - THROWING MUSES (1988)
Frenz experiment - THE FALL (1988)
Tender prey - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS (1988)
Automatic - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN (1989)
Monsters - MEAT PUPPETS (1989)
The Stone Roses - THE STONE ROSES (1989)
Doolittle - PIXIES (1989)
Extricate - THE FALL (1990)
Goo - SONIC YOUTH (1990)
Every good boy deserves fudge - MUDHONEY (1991)
Swift-work - THE FALL (1991)
Trompe le monde - THE PIXIES (1991)
Uncle Anesthesia - SCREAMING TREES (1991)
The real Ramona - THROWING MUSES (1991)
Fontanelle - BABES IN TOYLAND (1992)
Dirty - SONIC YOUTH (1992)
Dry - P.J. HARVEY (1992)
Code: Selfish - THE FALL (1992)
Henry’s dream - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS (1992)
New west motel - THE WALKABOUTS (1993)
Saturation - URGE OVERKILL (1993)
Independent worm saloon - BUTTHOLE SURFERS (1993)
In utero - NIRVANA (1993)
Too high to die - MEAT PUPPETS (1994)
Let love in - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS (1994)
Cruise yourself - GIRLS AGAINST BOYS (1994)
At action park - SHELLAC (1994)
Enter the Wu-Tang (36 chambers) - WU-TANG CLAN (1994)
Deadsexy - SCARCE (1995)
University - THROWING MUSES (1995)
Scream, Dracula, scream - ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT (1995)
No joke! - MEAT PUPPETS (1995)
Mellon collie and the infinite sadness - THE SMASHING PUMPKINS (1995)
My brother the cow - MUDHONEY (1995)
Garbage - GARBAGE (1995)
To bring you my love - P. J. HARVEY (1995)
In the long still night - GALLON DRUNK (1996)
White light white heat white trash - SOCIAL DISTORTION (1996)
Black love - THE AFGHAN WHIGS (1996)
Dust - SCREAMING TREES (1996)
New adventures in hi-fi - R.E.M. (1996)
Too many days without thinking - SWELL (1997)
Brighten the corners - PAVEMENT (1997)
Dig me out - SLEATER-KINNEY (1997)
I can hear the heart beating as one - YO LA TENGO (1997)
Celebrity skin - HOLE (1998)
1965 - THE AFGHAN WHIGS (1998)
Powertrip - MONSTER MAGNET (1998)
Acme - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION (1998)
Keep it like a secret - BUILT TO SPILL (1999)
Stories from the city, stories from the sea - P.J. HARVEY (2000)
The unutterable - THE FALL (2000)
R - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE (2000)
Group sounds - ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT (2001)
White blood cells - THE WHITE STRIPES (2001)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB (2001)
Stephen Malkmus - STEPHEN MALKMUS (2001)
Source tags and codes - AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD (2002)
Yoshimi battles the pink robots - THE FLAMING LIPS (2002)
One beat - SLEATER-KINNEY (2002)
Coral fang - THE DISTILLERS (2003)
Abattoir blues / The lyre of Orpheus - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS (2004)
Desperate youth, blood thirsty babes - TV ON THE RADIO (2004)
Funeral - THE ARCADE FIRE (2004)
Silent alarm - BLOC PARTY (2005)
Gimme fiction - SPOON (2005)
Let’s stay friends - LES SAVY FAV (2007)
23 - BLONDE REDHEAD (2007)
Icky thump - THE WHITE STRIPES (2007)
We were dead before the ship even sank - MODEST MOUSE (2007)
Favourite worst nightmare - ARCTIC MONKEYS (2007)
Dig, Lazarus, dig!!! - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS (2008)
Antidotes - FOALS (2008)
Dance mother - TELEPATHE (2009)
Exploding head - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS (2009)
Fantasies - METRIC (2009)
Your future our clutter - THE FALL (2010)
I will be - DUM DUM GIRLS (2010)
Let England shake - P.J. HARVEY (2011)
Wild Flag - WILD FLAG (2011)
Only in dreams - DUM DUM GIRLS (2011)
Visions - GRIMES (2012)
Blues funeral - MARK LANEGAN BAND (2012)
Bloom - BEACH HOUSE (2012)
Factory Floor - FACTORY FLOOR (2013)
Shaking the habitual - THE KNIFE (2013)
Silence yourself - SAVAGES (2013)
Indigo meadow - THE BLACK ANGELS (2013)
Manipulator - TY SEGALL (2014)
Nikki nack - TUNE-YARDS (2014)
Warpaint - WARPAINT (2014)
Have you in my wilderness - JULIA HOLTER (2015)
The agent intellect - PROTOMARTYR (2015)
Currents - TAME IMPALA (2015)
Teens of denial - CAR SEAT HEADREST (2016)
My woman - ANGEL OLSEN (2016)
Human performance - PARQUET COURTS (2016)
American dream - LCD SOUNDSYSTEM (2017)
Masseduction - ST. VINCENT (2017)
The underside of power - ALGIERS (2017)

The 7s, part 3: US 1987

Some of our all-time favorite albums were released in years ending in 7. As we are waiting to see what 2017 has in store for us, we have already revisited the great punk rock debuts of 1977 and looked for obscure UK indie gems in Cherry Red's C87 compilation.

For the third installment of this series we are returning to 1987, but this time we are selecting tracks from 5 seminal albums that defined the '80s US alt. rock scene and greatly influenced what was to come in the next few years leading up to the grunge explosion that shook up the mainstream of the early '90s. Here is our US alternative rock Top 5 of 1987:

1. Songs About Fucking - BIG BLACK

Bad Penny

2. Sister - SONIC YOUTH

Schizophrenia

3. Warehouse: Songs and Stories - HÜSKER DÜ

Ice Cold Ice

4. Document - R.E.M.

The One I Love

5. Mirage - MEAT PUPPETS

Liquified

1989: Top 50 Singles

And with this post our '80s Singles project comes to an end. Since last March, we've been posting monthly the playlists of our 50 favorite singles of the year from 1980 onwards and now we're finally standing at the doorstep of the '90s as we unveil our 1989 Top 50 Singles list which is topped by "Monkey Gone To Heaven", one of Pixies finest moments.

The environmentally conscious track was released as a single in March 1989, paving the way for Pixies' second full-length album "Doolittle". "Monkey Gone To Heaven", the band's first major label release in America (they had just signed to Elektra Records in the States, while they remained with 4AD in the UK), is also notable for adding for the first time strings in their explosive sound, using cello and violin to create the calm before the inevitable, apocalyptic guitar storm that follows this Monkey to Heaven as Black Francis counts from 5 to 7, from Man's to God's number.

Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven

Here's 1989's Top 10 Singles:

1. Monkey Gone To Heaven - PIXIES
2. Blues From A Gun - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
3. Fools Gold - THE STONE ROSES
4. Kennedy - THE WEDDING PRESENT
5. Blew - NIRVANA
6. Just Like Heaven - DINOSAUR JR.
7. Dizzy / Santa Claus - THROWING MUSES
8. Cab It Up / Dead Beat Descendant - THE FALL
9. Fight The Power - PUBLIC ENEMY
10. Me, Myself And I - DE LA SOUL

Click here to see the complete Top 50 list and click play below to listen:

Next month our Singles projects enters into the '90s. Stay tuned...

1988: Top 50 Singles

I don't like to dwell on the past too much but if I had to choose my favorite year for music, I'd go with 1988 without much hesitation.

This was the year Sonic Youth gave us "Daydream Nation", their masterpiece and one of the finest guitar rock albums of all time, Pixies left us stunned with their powerful full-length debut "Surfer Rosa", The Sugarcubes came out of Iceland's glaciers with "Life's Too Good", one of the most inventive pop records ever made, The House Of Love took indie-pop to another dimension, Happy Mondays perfected the indie-dance hybrid, My Bloody Valentine revealed their true potential for greatness, Public Enemy made the ultimate hip hop album, Dinosaur Jr. discovered new ways of combining raw power with pop melody and that's only half the story. In fact most records in our Top 20 of 1988 have "Album of the Year" potential while quite a few of that year's releases have played a major role in influencing the music that we listen today.

As you would expect from a year with so many great albums, 1988 also had a considerable wealth of killer singles to choose from. Click here to check out our Top 50 Singles of 1988 topped by Sonic Youth's definitive moment, the magnificent "Teenage Riot", and press play below to listen:

PS.: Did I mention that there were not one but two great Fall albums that year?

1987: Top 50 Singles

One of hip hop's greatest moments, Public Enemy's third single "Rebel Without a Pause", is at the top of our Best Singles of 1987 list which you can check out here.

Before the end of the year that Public Enemy made their groundbreaking debut with "Yo! Bum Rush the Show", the band was already aiming to raise the bar even further. The goal was achieved with the mind blowing "Rebel Without a Pause", a single that can proudly stand next to any radical highlight in the history of not just rap music but the whole of rock'n'roll. As Chuck D said it best, this is "soul, rock and roll comin' like a rhino".

Listen to our Top 50 Singles of 1987 in full here:

 1987 Singles

1986: Top 50 Singles

One of The Fall's classic tracks, their version of the 1966 single "Mr. Pharmacist" by San Francisco psychedelic garage-rockers The Other Half, is at the top of our "Best Singles of 1986" list which you can see in full at Cool Music Database. It is one of the precious few tracks from The Fall's ultra-prolific '80s period that the always forward-looking Mark E. Smith may still choose to include in the band's live set today. The b-side of the single, the brilliant "Lucifer Over Lancashire", is in itself "track-of-the-year" material and another worthy addition to our Killer Tracks Hall of Fame.

The Fall - Mr. Pharmacist

Click play at the widget below to stream a playlist featuring most of our Top 50 Singles of 1986 and go here, here and here to listen to the three missing entries.

1985: Top 50 Singles

Our '80s Singles project is going steady: head over to Cool Music Database for the list of our Top 50 Singles of 1985 topped by one of The Smiths defining songs, the glorious "How Soon Is Now?".

Unbelievably, this pop masterpiece was originally released as the b-side to "William, It Was Really Nothing", but on January '85 it finally got its own release as a single, backed by "Well I Wonder". By that time most Smiths fans already had the song in their record collections on way or the other (it was also included in the '84 compilation "Hatful of Hollow"), resulting in an unflattering chart placing, reaching only as far as number 24 on the UK Singles Chart. But is there anyone who truly believes that the pop charts have ever told the truth about the history of pop music?

Listen to most of the tracks in our Top 50 in the widget below and go here for the missing entry at number 23.

The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?

1984: Top 50 Singles

Upside Down - The Jesus And Mary Chain (Creation)

1984, the year of The Big Brother, turned out to be a vintage year for noise rock. It seems that underground music was getting more and more fierce and noisy as a reaction to the conservatism of the Reagan and Thatcher era and the tame, plastic pop that was dominating the charts of the time.

Right at the end of that year, the drilling guitars and out of control decibels of "Upside Down" introduced the world to the riotous, groundbreaking noise-pop of The Jesus And Mary Chain, a Glasgow gang of misfits fronted by the brothers Jim and William Reid. Their simple but effective method of songwriting buried catchy '60s pop melodies and primitive garage rock beats to a swelling sea of guitar feedback that mercilessly assaulted the listener’s ears. Once the three minute wild ride of "Upside Down" was over, the buzzing in your eardrums warned you against repeating this ungodly racket, but it was already too late - your brain was already hooked to the thrilling tunes hidden inside the formidable wall of noise.

In the almost three decades that followed, countless bands have based their careers in this glorious noise-pop combination that came fully formed in The Jesus And Mary Chain’s breakthrough 7inch and expanded upon a year later in "Psychocandy", their classic debut album. No wonder that the recent documentary on Creation Records took its title from this very single. Listen once again to "Upside Down", our favorite single of 1984 below and click here for the complete list of our Top 50 Singles of 1984 (most of which you can listen to in the playlist at the end of this post).

The Jesus And Mary Chain - Upside Down

You can also checkout here and here respectively our Vintage Tracks posts on two other top tracks of that year, Sonic Youth’s noise paean "Death Valley '69" and Hard Corps’ pioneering electro "Dirty".

1983: Top 50 Singles

Our '80s trip continues in Cool Music Database - click here to check out the list with our 50 favorite singles from 1983, a year with plenty of annoying pop that dominated the charts but also rich in alternative music classics.

The choice of the number one single was particularly tricky this time, as 1983 was the year that The Smiths made their debut with their first two instant classic singles, "Hand In Glove" and "This Charming Man", while Bauhaus ended their run with one of their best ever singles, the epic goth masterpiece "She's In Parties".

In the end though my choice had to be the anthem that defined the newly formed indie-dance hybrid, New Order's "Blue Monday", a single instantly recognizable by its triumphant drum machine attack that is designed to conquer any dance floor within seconds. Another interesting trivia about "Blue Monday", typical of the eccentric Factory Records' history, is that due to the original 12" single's elaborate die-cut sleeve that resembles a giant floppy disc (remember them?) designed by Peter Saville, the record company would lose money on each copy sold. The sleeve became progressively more simple with each repressing so that the huge demand would be met and the company would actually be able to make a decent profit from it (see also here).

Click play below to listen to our Top Singles of 1983:

New Order - Blue Monday

1982: Top 50 Singles

Another blast from the past from Cool Music Database: the list with our 50 favorite singles from 1982 can be found over there, while here you can press the widget's play button below and listen to them all.

If you also check out the list of our Top Albums from that same year, you can easily understand that 1982 was the year of The Jam for me. Paul Weller's band started the year with its third UK No.1 single, the double A-side "Town Called Malice / Precious" released on January 29, continued with the excellent, soul and funk influenced sixth album "The Gift" which also reached the top spot in their country, and closed it with the shock announcement of their leader's decision to split up the band at the height of its popularity. Weller's ever-changing moods led him to the eclectic pop of The Style Council and, to his credit, he never gave in to the temptation of reforming his legendary band, stating that "The Jam's music still means something to people and a lot of that's because we stopped at the right time, it didn't go on and become embarrassing" - words of wisdom, indeed.

The Jam - Town Called Malice

1981: Top 50 Singles

After completing the presentation of the lists with all of our favorite albums from the late '70s to the present date in Cool Music Database, I have recently started a new monthly series of posts there with our Top 50 Singles from each year, starting with 1980 last month. The latest list with our selections for 1981 can be found here and, thanks to this nifty Grooveshark widget, can also be streamed below:

Check out also below The Gun Glub giving a killer performance of our Top 1981 tune "Sex Beat", taken from the Cherry Red "Psycho Cats" DVD: 

The Gun Club - Sex Beat (live)

And since Blurt's obscure but excellent single "The Fish Needs a Bike" is the only track missing from the widget (it's replaced by The Replacement's first 7" "I'm in Trouble", a perfectly formed punk ditty that prepared us for the greater things that were to come from them), hear it below in all its glorious madness:

 Blurt - The Fish Needs A Bike

1980: Top 50 Singles

With the unveiling of our "Best Albums of the '00s" list last month in Cool Music Database, we have finally completed the project of presenting all of our top albums lists from the last three decades. Starting today, a new series of posts begins in C.M.D. and the focus this time is on the singles. Click here to check out our 50 favorites from 1980 led by the first UK No.1 chart single for The Jam, the mighty blast that is "Going Underground", a track that still resonates with the same urgency 31 years later (it was originally released on March 10, 1980). 

Better still; hit play on the widget below to stream our full 1980's Top 50 - this is Radio C.M.C.!

 

Best Albums Of The '80s

For the past few months I've been posting lists with the best albums from each year of the '80s on Cool Music Database and finally, last week, the process was completed with the 1989 selection. Those lists have been in existence for several years and were first published in the original Cool Music Central site, hosted on Netscape websites between 1999 and 2008.

Instead of posting the lists on the new blog in their original version, I decided that this was a good opportunity to revise them, rethinking the all-important ranking with the benefit of hindsight and adding albums that I've discovered more recently as I searched the net for previously hard to find releases. The result of all this research is more complete and well-informed lists (still 100% subjective, of course), but it also means that it will take several more months until we have all the lists from the '80s to the present day in one place.

To mark the completion of the '80s part of the project (and before we move on to the detailed '90s lists, starting next month), a list with C.M.C.'s 200 favorite albums of the '80s has just been posted on Cool Music Database. You can see the complete list here and you'll be also able to find it on R.Y.M. with easier access to information on the albums and artists. But before you start clicking away, you can scroll down to watch videos related to the Top 3 albums and to check out the tip of the iceberg, our Top 25 Albums of the '80s:

Sonic Youth - Silver Rocket


The Fall - Tempo House (live in Hacienda)


The Pixies - Broken Face (live)

Top 25 Albums of the '80s

1. Daydream nation - SONIC YOUTH
2. Perverted by language - THE FALL
3. Surfer Rosa - PIXIES
4. It takes a nation of millions to hold us back - PUBLIC ENEMY
5. Songs about fucking - BIG BLACK
6. Zen arcade - HUSKER DU
7. Document - R.E.M.
8. Meat is murder - THE SMITHS
9. The gift - THE JAM
10. Remain in light - TALKING HEADS
11. Closer - JOY DIVISION
12. Psychocandy - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
13. This nation’s saving grace - THE FALL
14. Sister - SONIC YOUTH
15. Fire dances - KILLING JOKE
16. Juju - SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES
17. Blood and chocolate - ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS
18. Life’s too good - THE SUGARCUBES
19. Bug - DINOSAUR JR.
20. Automatic - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
21. The Smiths - THE SMITHS
22. The days of wine and roses - THE DREAM SYNDICATE
23. Over the edge - WIPERS
24. Violent Femmes - VIOLENT FEMMES
25. Sound affects - THE JAM

The '80s Strike Back - Episode C86

At the start of the current decade it was the spirit of late ’70s punk as well as early ’80s post-punk and new wave that became the dominant influences on most of the new bands of the time (The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol) that came to shake things up and bring the indie-rock sound back into the spotlight. As we come closer to the end of the Zeros, it is the underground guitar sound of the mid-80s that comes to the forefront as the main inspiration of the new breed. Bands like Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Manhattan Love Suicides, Love Is All or Glasvegas demonstrate an obvious adoration for a sound that flourished around 1986 in the UK and was captured in the historic cassette compilation C86 released by the N.M.E.

To catch up with the storyline of the mid-80s UK indie scene, let me remind you that 1985 was the year that saw the release of one of the most influential albums of that decade, "Psychocandy" by the Jesus And Mary Chain. Creation Records, Alan McGee's company that was responsible for unleashing J.A.M.C. to the unsuspecting pop world, was releasing some of the singles that wrote the '80s indie-pop history book, songs like "Up the hill and down the slope" by The Loft, "I'm alright with you" by The Pastels or Primal Scream's debut 7" "All fall down", while in Leeds a new band going by the name of The Wedding Present was making its presence felt with first single "Go out and get 'em boy!". All this was happening while the limelight was on The Smiths who were at the pinnacle of their career.

As you can understand, this burgeoning independent music scene was the joy of the British music press, and in 1986 N.M.E. decided to release the infamous C86 cassette compilation featuring some of the most promising new groups of the era. Next to Primal Scream and Wedding Present who found wider fame soon enough (coincidentally the bands opening and closing this compilation) we find groups like The Pastels, The Shop Assistants, The Mighty Lemon Drops, The Soup Dragons, Age Of Chance, Half Man Half Biscuit, McCarthy (where Tim Gane got his start before forming Stereolab) or Close Lobsters that although never enjoyed the same level of success, their value is evident by the influence they had on the groups that started making waves shortly after (the late ’80s - early ’90s "shoegazers") as well as on those of the current generation.

Add to all this the fact that My Bloody Valentine were also taking their first steps in the same period, a band that basically created its own school with many followers even in today’s music scene (School Of Seven Bells, Asobi Seksu, Howling Bells to name but a few) and you can easily understand why 1986 is the new 1966 or 1976, namely the new cool year from the past ripe for plundering (as you can also read in this Guardian article about Crystal Stilts).

For further evidence of the ’80s influence on the new hot names of 2009 (and for your musical enjoyment of course) here’s a vintage 1987 video from The Pastels for the single "Crawl babies" (from their excellent debut "Up for a bit with The Pastels") and two from a couple of New York’s finest new bands, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Crystal Stilts. It’s "Everything with you" from the former’s 2009 self-titled debut and "Departure" from the latter’s 2008 debut "Alight Of Night":

The Pastels - Crawl Babies


The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Everything with you


Crystal Stilts - Departure

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.

Blast From The Past Vol.2: 1980-1984

In the second installment of our "Blast From The Past" series we focus on the first half of the 80s and present our 50 favorite albums from that period. I remind you that the rule of including just one album per band still stands, otherwise there would be like 5 Fall albums in here, turning this list into the Best of Mark E Smith (perhaps the subject of a future post).

Top 50 Albums of 1980-1984

1. Perverted by language - THE FALL
2. Remain in light - TALKING HEADS
3. Closer - JOY DIVISION
4. The Smiths - THE SMITHS
5. Sound affects - THE JAM
6. Zen arcade - HUSKER DU
7. Fire dances - KILLING JOKE
8. Juju - SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES
9. Crocodiles - ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
10. Murmur - R.E.M.
11. The days of wine and roses - THE DREAM SYNDICATE
12. From her to eternity - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS
13. Over the edge - WIPERS
14. The fire of love - THE GUN CLUB
15. Violent Femmes - VIOLENT FEMMES
16. Before Hollywood - THE GO-BETWEENS
17. Playing with a different sex - THE AU PAIRS
18. Fresh fruit for rotting vegetables - DEAD KENNEDYS
19. Meat Puppets II - MEAT PUPPETS
20. Los Angeles - X
21. Pornography - THE CURE
22. Power, corruption and lies - NEW ORDER
23. Burning from the inside - BAUHAUS
24. Garlands - COCTEAU TWINS
25. The flowers of romance - PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED
26. Crazy rhythms - THE FEELIES
27. Damaged - BLACK FLAG
28. Double nickels on the dime - MINUTEMEN
29. Mommy’s little monster - SOCIAL DISTORTION
30. Let it be - THE REPLACEMENTS
31. Living in darkness - AGENT ORANGE
32. Atom drum bop - THE THREE JOHNS
33. Kilimanjaro - THE TEARDROP EXPLODES
34. The Pretenders - THE PRETENDERS
35. Psychedelic jungle - THE CRAMPS
36. Vs - MISSION OF BURMA
37. Hex breaker - THE FLESHTONES
38. Native sons - THE LONG RYDERS
39. Treeless plain - THE TRIFFIDS
40. Desire - TUXEDO MOON
41. Dare - HUMAN LEAGUE
42. After the snow - MODERN ENGLISH
43. The Psychedelic Furs - THE PSYCHEDELIC FUR
44. Get happy - ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS
45. World shut your mouth - JULIAN COPE
46. Underwater moonlight - THE SOFT BOYS
47. Solid gold - GANG OF 4
48. Junkyard - THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
49. Tocsin - X-MAL DEUTSCHLAND
50. The crackdown - CABARET VOLTAIRE

And here's ten more album that could have been on this list, if I was compiling it on a different day: My life in the bush of ghosts - DAVID BYRNE & BRIAN ENO, Sonic Youth - SONIC YOUTH, Sandinista - THE CLASH, Black sea - XTC, Computer world - KRAFTWERK, Sons and fascination - SIMPLE MINDS, War - U2, High land hard rain - AZTEC CAMERA, Gravity talks - GREEN ON RED, Curse of Zounds - ZOUNDS.