The Pogues - If I Should Fall from Grace with God Maybe not quite as stunningly good as Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash but an absolute blast. Anything with "Fairytale of New York" is immediately worth the time. EPMD - Strictly Business Excellent. Funkier and with more groove than basically any hip-hop I've heard from this era. I'd probably put it ahead of even the excellent Public Enemy and Run-D.M.C. albums from this timeframe. Poison - Open Up and Say...Ahh! Pretty close to meeting my very narrow definition of a guilty pleasure. But the hooks, energy, and nice sharp guitar solos are all there when I'm in the mood. I debated whether maybe they're a greatest hits band for me, but it won me over by the end. Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Sessions Pleasant surprise. Beautiful, slow, sad indie country. It's not easy to make "Walkin' After Midnight" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" fit perfectly alongside your own compositions. To also make "Sweet Jane" sound right at home is a magic trick. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation It almost had me. There are some moments of real beauty in the washes of guitar noise. But for me it was too long and not enough of the songs grabbed me. I'd definitely revisit it in the future though. Steve Earle - Copperhead Road Awesome. Just one of the best country records I've heard. Can't imagine what the conservative country establishment made of him Ultramagnetic MCs - Critical Beatdown I'd sort of heard the name Kool Keith before, but now I definitely need to hear more of him. Dude's a monster MC. Living Colour - Vivid Really intriguing mixture. Lots of metal. Some glam touches. Very soulful vocals. Politically engaged and socially conscious lyrics. Fascinating listen.
Listened to The Land of Rape and Honey by Ministry, which probably wasn't for me really. It's an aggressive, bleak mix of industrial noise, meeting electronic sounds and metal. It really doesn't sound like much else from this sort of period, and you can hear it's influence on the likes of the nu-metal sound that would appear in the mid-90s, as well as stuff like Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails. Didn't really work for me at all, but I can see how people would have liked this. There's also a sample in one of these songs that sounds exactly like Homer Simpson saying "D'Oh", which wouldn't have been possible in 1988!
I'm late, but I'll be on time for the next one... 1. Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys Vol 1 2. Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back 3. NWA - Straight Outta Compton First listens I dug: Bad Religion - Suffer Brian Wilson - Brian Wilson Janes Addiction - Nothing's Shocking Talking Heads - Naked Underworld - Underneath The Radar
I've been trying to get into Sonic Youth since I was 16-17, and still can't enjoy full albums from them somehow. Appreciate and respect what they do, just can't get into it besides a track here and there. Kind of an off year this was, personally. 1. R.E.M. - Green 2. Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking 3. Traveling Wilburys - The Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1
Wow and yeah to double down on that I count about 10ish albums from '89 on my playlist that I'd personally rate higher than REM's Green. Looking forward to this one.
@cshadows2887 i will also echo that Scenes from the Southside is very very good. I would just say I'm not familiar enough with it still to properly rate it. Listened to the whole thing through last week though and it certainly hits a certain spot for me. Hornsby's albums also sound great in the fall, if that makes sense at all? For an artists that I think is sometimes criticized as sounding very "of his time", I'd disagree and say his music has a pretty timeless feel to it.
I feel like the key is that the writing is timeless, so even if some production may be “of its time” it doesn’t age. Tunnel of Love is another good example of that phenomenon, imo.
Oh shit, I never posted my list in here! 1988 was a pretty light year for me in terms of albums I love. I'll have to grab some recs from this thread to check out.
Yeah I agree with you the 80's music was really nice, sometimes I listen to these songs and it's sound pretty well. But nowadays everybody is interested in hip-hop but no buddy gives attention to lyrics they just love the best beat pack.
I somehow totally forgot about Ministry .... I know they were very very big in certain circles. Had to go back and add their late 80s albums to my playlists to at least check them out. I know their big moment came in '92 with a Lolla main stage slot and "Jesus built My Hotrod" with Gibby Haynes. What a wild song. But don't know much else about the band. what song had that sample you referenced? Very curious.
wow, it REALLY does sound like "d'oh!". I am picturing this roundtable discussion between Matt Groening and Dan Castellaneta during Season 1 tapings where Matt pushes play on a boombox, this Ministry song starts playing, and Matt says to Dan "I want Homer's 'annoyed grunt' to sound more like THIS." Lmao