Infinite MonkeysThere is a post, which will come later (much later) in which one or more Monkeys will explain how we know each other. But I should not forget to mention that I know Monkey David because of music, and I own several albums in my collection either directly or indirectly because of my relationships with Monkeys Brad and David.
Don't get the wrong idea. As Fingers liked to say when we were roommates, "We are not presently lovers."
Anyway, there are two major factors at play here - what albums fairly represent the best of 80's music, and which of those albums you would place in the hands of an impressionable student at a Christian school. This is difficult - it would have been easier when I was younger and didn't have kids. Now I'm a grouchy old codger who won't let his daughters watch most Nickelodeon programs because they're so disrespectful to adults. (Except Spongebob. He's the coolest. Thank God for TiVo.)
Also, I've got to make something of an artistic compromise here. Although I usually prefer to recommend albums that are NOT compilations, if you're trying to introduce a 21st Century Schizoid Youth to music that was likely made before they were born, you can't afford to be an ideologue. Give them a good compilation, preferably one that was put together by the band OR that follows a "rule" such as "only A-sides" or something similar. Record label assembled compilations usually suck.
So, I will start my post with ten single CD's that will show a young person what was good about 80's rock, followed by an "extended remix" of great individual albums by 80's bands that will be a good list for them to collect after they're "hooked".
1. The Smiths: Singles (for kids with more cash, buy the two "Best..." discs instead) Yes, there are some great songs strangely missing. Where is "Cemetry Gates"? How in the world did "What She Said" get excluded? But these are all great songs, and a cross-section from their collection, which is important.
2. The Cure: Staring At The Sea - The record had all of their singles, the CD has all of their videos which is a superset of the former. It stops at 1985, so you miss great stuff from "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" and their masterful "Disintegration", but you also don't have to hear crap from "Wild Mood Swings" and some of the other bad stuff from the 90's. Again, for kids with a 2-disc Cure budget, I would recommend two live records - "Show" and "Paris", which cover most of their good material from the beginning up through "Wish".
3. Echo & The Bunnymen: Songs to Learn And Sing - Singles again, and really good ones, too. Big budget kids, buy the 4-disc "Crystal Days" collection. Woohoo!
4. New Order: Substance (Disc 1) - You can find this disc all by itself on half.com pretty frequently. Of course, I'd recommend both discs, as Disc 2 has most of their B-Sides & some remixes, along with the fantastic "1963". None of their later 1-disc collections come close to this. Their recent 4-disc "Retro" collection is excellent, though - particularly if you can find one of the early pressings that came with a bonus disc including the full 18-minute version of "Elegia".
5. U2: Best of 1980-1990 - I hesitated here, because of the absolutely damnable offense of omitting "Gloria" while including every farging single from the horrible "Rattle And Hum" album. But again, we've got a cross-section. Perhaps a better choice? "Under A Blood Red Sky", an 8-song mini-album from the "War" tour that captures their early magnificence. And since it's a mini-album, you'll save enough money to buy the "Wide Awake In America" EP, which has great live versions of "Bad" and "A Sort Of Homecoming", along with the gorgeous b-side "Love Comes Tumbling".
6. King Crimson: Discipline - This isn't a greatest hits album, but it is so good from beginning to end, I simply could not exclude it. Adrian Belew and Tony Levin help Fripp & Bruford re-invent Crimson without resorting to cheap new-wave histrionics like the Buggles or arena rock drivel like Asia. Attention Geoff Downes: I'm talking to you! (My eventual disclosure of guilty pleasures will reveal my hypocrisy here...) Alternate: the 2-disc "Absent Lovers" which is a live concert from the "Three of A Perfect Pair" tour. Includes almost all of Discipline (including the rarely-played title track) along with great songs from the other two 80's Crim albums like "Sleepless" and "Heartbeat".
7. R.E.M.: The Best of R.E.M. (Import) - This was released by IRS records in Europe and includes, really, the best tracks from their first five albums and EP. When this disc came out, I almost would have picked the exact same track selection. I may differ now, but it's still great. I mean, to include "Green Grow the Rushes" on a "best of" collection takes a spine. Way to go! If you can't find this one, just buy "Murmur", "Reckoning", or "Fables of the Reconstruction". Don't bother with "Eponymous", it's just not as good as any of these three records.
8. The Pixies: Doolittle - Brad will slap me here, because when we were discussing this with Fingers, I insisted that the Pixies were not an 80's band but were, in fact, one of the first 90's bands. But when I saw that he'd recommended "Surfer Rosa" to be the first Pixies album an impressionable mind hears, I had to protest! "Rosa" is a great album, make no mistake, but it's like giving heroin to a high schooler when they want to experiment with drugs for the first time. If you want to get 'em hooked, start with "Doolittle", which is a fantastically balanced mix of noise and pop, with songs that they might even recognize. I also think it's their best album. For two-disc budgets, just buy "Death To The Pixies", which has two discs (one live, one studio) crammed with good stuff.
9. This is a tough one - trying to pick between Bauhaus, Tones on Tail, and Love and Rockets. It's near impossible, so I'll go with this: If you like harder, darker post-punk, then either buy Bauhaus's single disc "Crackle" or, better, the two volumes of "1979-1983". If you like it dark, but not so hard, then buy any CD release from Tones on Tail, but preferably the 2-disc "Everything" collection. If you like your lyrics dark, but your melodies a little brighter, then go for either "Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven" or "Express" from Love and Rockets. My current favorite? Tones on Tail.
10. Squeeze: Singles 45's & Under - Squeeze was a band that did a couple of good albums, but they were a singles outfit. They also have a really great live album called "A Round & A Bout" which is a little hard to find, but has better versions of most of their good songs up to and including the "Frank" album.
Honorable Mention #1 - The Art of Noise: Daft - This is an import, too. Hard to find, but worth it. After all of the rock and roll, you need to chill, and this collection, which includes "Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise" in its entirety, along with almost all of "Into Battle" and the "Moments in Love" single.
Honorable Mention #2 - David Sylvian: Gone to Earth - You HAVE to get the 2-disc set, just reissued and available at Discipline Global Mobile. The second disc is all instrumental and to label it "ambient" just doesn't do justice to the amazing chill-out power of this record. Throw your smooth jazz crapola away and listen to Sylvian, Fripp and Bill Nelson. Also, it's good make-out music for people who are too cool for make-out music.
Okay, so we're done with the introductions. I left out some great bands (it was hard to exclude The Replacements, and maybe I shouldn't have - If your name isn't Azrael Abyss, buy "Pleased to Meet Me" instead of the Bauhaus/Tones/L&R selection. To be literate in great 80's music, here are some of the records I simply wore out. I'll try not to include more than one from each band, and they are in no particular order:
The Cure - Disintegration
The Replacements - Let It Be (you already bought "Pleased To Meet Me", right?
New Order - Low Life
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
Propaganda - A Secret Wish
The Police - Ghost In The Machine
R.E.M. - Anything on the I.R.S. Records label
Oingo Boingo - Good for Your Soul
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Big Country - The Crossing
Simple Minds - Sparkle In The Rain
The Alarm - Declaration
Camper Van Beethoven - Key Lime Pie
Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking
Age of Chance - 1000 Years of Trouble (this is almost impossible to find on CD, or vinyl for that matter, but try)
Aztec Camera - "Jump" EP
The Call - Reconciled
Dream Academy - Dream Academy
The Church - Heyday
The Clash - London Calling
Colourbox - Colourbox
The Dream Syndicate - The Medicine Show
The Cult - Electric
Japan - Oil on Canvas
The dB's - Like This
Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward
Don Dixon - Most of the Girls Like To Dance But Only Some of the Boys Like To
Dramarama - Cinema Verite
Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
The English Beat - Special Beat Service
The Fixx - Shuttered Room
Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars
Husker Du - Candy Apple Grey
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
Peter Gabriel - Security
Talking Heads - Remain In Light
Tears For Fears - The Hurting
Thomas Dolby - The Golden Age of Wireless
Ultravox - Quartet
Wire - The Ideal Copy
X - Live At The Whiskey A Go-Go On The Fabulous Sunset Strip
Big Audio Dynamite - Tighten Up Vol. '88
The Jam - Snap! (CD is called Compact Snap!)
The Jazz Butcher - Draining The Glass (a collection - the original records are very hard to find)
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy
Joe Jackson - Night and Day
Let's Active - Cypress / Afoot (CD has both)
Love Tractor - Love Tractor / Till The Cows Come Home (CD has both)
Love and Rockets - Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven
Bauhaus - In The Flat Field
Tones on Tail - Everything (it really has almost everything they ever released)
Michael Penn - March
Nik Kershaw - Human Racing (a little embarassed about this, but I loved this album)
Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream of Trains
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Hyaena
The Smithereens - Especially For You
Squeeze - Babylon and On
Sting - Bring on the Night
Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing
10,000 Maniacs - In My Tribe (Note: they removed "Peace Train" from this in later pressings, and the album completely falls apart without it. This is/was the ONLY good 10,000 Maniacs record.)
Uh, that should do it. I know there are others that I left out, but I've been typing for over an hour, so it's time to stop.
Oh - and if the kid wants something "Christian", there are only two records he needs to own, Steve Taylor's "I Predict 1990" and Larry Norman's "Only Visiting This Planet". (Yes, the Larry Norman record is from 1972 or so, so that leaves only one good Christian album in the 80's). These are both still in print, as far as I know.
Posted by RobbL at January 26, 2004 11:06 PM | TrackBack