1981 in music.

Talking Heads' Remain in Light won 1980. Let's see who wins 1981. Big down year, personally, for me.

Billboard chart-topping albums of 1981:
John Lennon and Yoko Ono - Double Fantasy (cont. from '80)
REO Speedwagon - Hi Infidelity (cont. from '80)
Styx - Paradise Theatre
Kim Carnes - Mistaken Identity
Moody Blues - Long Distance Voyager
Pat Benetar - Precious Time
Foreigner - 4
Stevie Nicks - Bella Donna
Journey - Escape
The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You
AC/DC - For Those About to Rock We Salute You

Billboard chart-topping singles of 1981:
John Lennon - Just Like Starting Over (cont. from '80)
Blondie - The Tide is High
Kool and the Gang - Celebration
Dolly Parton - 9 to 5
Eddie Rabbit - I Love a Rainy Night
REO Speedwagon - Keep on Loving You
Blondie - Rapture
Hall and Oates - Kiss on My List
Sheena Easton - Morning Train
Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes
Stars on 45 - Stars on 45
Air Supply - The One That You Love
Rick Springfield - Jessie's Girl
Diana Ross and Lionel Richie - Endless Love
Christopher Cross - Arthur's Theme
Hall and Oates - Private Eyes
Olivia Newton-John - Physical

What are your top three albums for 1981? We will keep a running tally and eventually have some sort of bracket. For me it would be:
1. Black Flag - Damaged
2. Rush - Moving Pictures
3. U2 - October

What are some of the forgotten gems from the year? What is overrated? What did you discover at a young age and what did you discover later?

YEARS IN MUSIC • forum.chorus.fm

 

rest of the top 10:
4. New Order - Movement
5. Tom Petty - Hard Promises
6. Adolescents - Adolescents
7. The Cure - Faith
8. Squeeze - East Side Story
9. The Replacements - Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
10. Roky Erickson - The Evil One

honorable mentions:
black sabbath - mob rules
blue oyster cult - fire of unknown origin
the cars - shake it up
the gun club - fire of love
iron maiden - killers
king crimson - discipline
merle haggard - big city
minutemen - the punch line
ozzy osbourne - diary of a madman
the police - ghost in the machine
the rolling stones - tattoo you
x - wild gift

stuff to check out:
david byrne and brian no - my life in the bush of ghosts
depeche mode - speak and spell
echo and the bunnymen - heaven up here
gang of four - solid gold
genesis - abacab
grace jones - nightclubbing
kim carnes - mistaken identity
Kraftwerk - computer world
moody blues - long distance voyager
motley crue - too fast for love
phil collins - face value
prince - controversy
psychedelic furs - talk talk talk
siouxsie and the banshees - juju
sparks - whomp that sucker
tom verlaine - dreamtime

 

Some incredible singles this year. Not in love with (or haven't heard) many of the albums tho

1. Black Flag - Damaged
2. The Go-Gos - Beauty and the Beat
3. The Cure - Faith

 

Mike Vallely is the lead singer of Black Flag now??

 

1. Dan Fogelberg - The Innocent Age
2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Hard Promises
3. ABBA - The Visitors

Excruciating cuts:
Foreigner - 4
Phil Collins - Face Value

Others I love:
Pat Benatar - Precious Time
Prince - Controversy
Bobby Womack - The Poet
Hall and Oates - Private Eyes
Rush - Moving Pictures
Journey - Escape
Pretenders - II
Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
Tygers of Pan Tang - Spellbound
Rick Springfield - Working Class Dog
Billy Squier - Don't Say No
.38 Special - Wild-Eyed Southern Boys
Carl Carlton - Carl Carlton
Rosanne Cash - Seven Year Ache

Good ones:
The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You
The Time - The Time
Blue Oyster Cult - Fire of Unknown Origin
Marvin Gaye - In Our Lifetime
Stevie Nicks - Bella Donna
Garland Jeffreys - Escape Artist
Billy Joel - Songs in the Attic
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Angela Bofill - Something About You
Quincy Jones - The Dude
Lindsey Buckingham - Law and Order
The Cars - Shake It Up
Elvis Costello and The Attractions - Trust
The Moody Blues - Long Distance Voyager
Joan Jett - Bad Reputation
Kim Carnes - Mistaken Identity
Ray Parker, Jr. and Raydio - A Woman Needs Love
The Go-Go's - Beauty and the Beat
The J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame
Electric Light Orchstra - Time
Al Jarreau - Breakin' Away
Loverboy - Get Lucky
Van Halen - Fair Warning
Billy Ocean - Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)
Jefferson Starship - Modern Times
Toto - Turn Back
Merle Haggard - Big City
Echo and the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here
George Jones - Still the Same Ole Me

Targets for listening:
Alabama - Feels So Right
Earth, Wind, and Fire - Raise!
Genesis - Abacab
Rick James - Street Songs
The Neville Brothers - Fiyo on the Bayou
Police - Ghost in the Machine
Bauhaus - Mask
Black Flag - Damaged
Einstruzende Neubauten - Kollaps
David Byrne and Brian Eno - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Gun Club - Fire of Love
Heaven 17 - Penthouse and Pavement
Human League - Dare
Motorhead - No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith
Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark - Architecture and Morality
Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk
Siouxsie and The Banshees - JuJu
Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
Tom Tom Club - Tom Tom Club
X - Wild Gift
Greg Kihn Band - Rockihnroll
Joan Jett and The Blackhearts - I Love Rock and Roll
Santana - Zebop!
Stray Cats - Stray Cats
Styx - Paradise Theater
The Tubes - The Completion Backwards Principle
The Who - Face Dances
Rickie Lee Jones - Pirates
Squeeze - East Side Story
Human Switchboard - Who's Landing in My Hangar
Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Fresh Fruit and Foreign Places
Black Uhuru - Red
Romeo Void - It's a Condition
Au Pairs - Playing with a Different Sex
The dB's - Stand for Decibels
David Lindley - El Rayo-X
Smokey Robinson - Being with You
Yoko Ono - Season of Glass
Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
Sheena Easton - Sheena Easton
Girlschool - Hit and Run
Shot in the Dark - Shot in the Dark
Aswad - New Chapter
Jim Steinman- Bad for Good
Teena Marie - It Must Be Magic
Willie Colon and Ruben Blades - Canciones Del Solar De Lose Aburridos
Gary "U.S." Bonds - Dedication
Franke & the Knockouts - Franke & the Knockouts
The Alan Parsons Project - The Turn of a Friendly Card

 

has been for a bit now, yeah. it’s embarrassing. ginn wanted a paycheck. should have left the legacy in tact.

 

would October fall under the former “don’t like” category?

 

I’ve actually never heard it. It could probably have gone on my targets list, but I listened to Boy last week so realistically it probably wasn’t happening this week

 

As I give The Innocent Age a valedictory listen today, I’m pretty damn certain you’d love this @Craig Manning. Everything about it suits your sensibilities. Ambitious. Nostalgic. Lyrically reaching. Great sequencing.

I know a double album is a big ask, but yeah, very convinced you’d be into it

 

1. Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
2. Dead Kennedys - In God We Trust
3. The Cure - Faith

Never Too Much is just an absolutely perfect album, it's light, soulful, poppy and funky. Brilliant songwriting and without doubt one of my absolute favourite RnB or Soul albums from any time frame. Definitely (I think...) goes a little under the radar, but it's an absolute must hear.

Just an EP, but In God We Trust is Dead Kennedys at their most righteously angry, taking major influences from the American hardcore scene that was happening around them. Nazi Punks Fuck Off is an all-time punk track, and We've Got a Bigger Problem Now shows them in full sardonic rage.

Faith is perhaps not one of my most played Cure records, but I always love it whenever I put it on. Dense and dark, without much of the pop sheen they'd add a little later, it's a gloomy listen, but some great tracks on here.

Honourable mentions;

Black Flag - Damaged: A hugely influential hardcore record, showing Black Flag at their most direct and furious, before they'd morph into more experimental directions after this.

Adolescents - Adolescents: A great and oft-imitated pop-punk track, with some great bratty songwriting that was often missing in 80s American punk. Amoeba was in Tony Hawks 3, so instantly brings back memories of playing that.

Marvin Gaye - In Our Lifetime: Gaye's penultimate album, and he's in fine form, full of disco and funk, and plenty of pop.

Joy Division - Still: A double album that functions as a B-side collection, as well as a live recording of the last ever Joy Division show, which has a real sort of morbid thrill to it, hearing a band right at the very end. Not necessarily essential, but an interesting listen.

Minutemen - The Punch Line: Minutemen's first album, but comes in at just 15 minutes, with 18 tracks, showing their twitchy, rapid approach to songwriting.

Mission of Burma - Signals, Calls and Marches: A great post-punk band that straddled the line between hardcore punk and indie rock. One of those bands where that classic Velvet Underground line applies to them, "[They] didn't sell many records, but everyone who bought one went out and started a band."

 

I legit get a huge grin every time I see how much you love that Vandross album, man. What a joy it is

 

It’s just absolutely perfect , on almost continual rotation with me, always in the mood for a bit of Luther Vandross, he makes everything seem so effortless.

 

Truly one of the smoothest voices to ever grace R&B, which is saying something given the genre.

 

to be honest, 1981 is a very light year for stuff I know

1. Stevie Nicks - Bella Donna
2. George Harrison - Somewhere In England

first listens that could make the list

Elvis Costello - Trust
Elvis Costello - Almost Blue
Phil Collins - Face Value
Marvin Gaye - In Our Lifetime
Lindsey Buckingham - Law and Order
The Police - Ghost In The Machine
Tom Petty - Hard Promises
Van Halen - Fair Warning

 

1981 mix

 

Listen to Fogelberg, Steve. I’m evangelizing with the fervor of a money-grubbing television preacher this week.

 

ok fine, you have my attention. I will tomorrow

 

I listened to the first half of Age Of Innocence today. I hoped to listen to it all together, but so it goes.

“Nexus” is the highlight for me so far. Really cool song.

It’s very sugary music, very sentimental, I want to rub dirt on it, but I’m looking forward to the rest of the record

 

That’s Joni on the descant on “Nexus” btw

Side 4 is the best part of the record, imo.

 

Listening to the s/t by Shot in the Dark (who were Al Stewart’s backing band for a stretch) off a vinyl record of my Dad’s and it’s honestly causing me great distress. It’s SO good and it’s never once been issued in CD, never been streaming. I’ve never even been able to find an illegal rip. That’s so bleak to me that great albums can just disappear

Edit: Scratch that. It’s apparently FINALLY on Spotify after all this time. Can’t tell you how often I’ve looked for it. That’s a relief that at least it’s there to be discovered

 

1. Motley Crue- Too Fast For Love
2. The Police- Ghost In The Machine
3. Black Flag- Damaged

 

the byrne and eno album is so so so good

 

So far, I've given a first listen to:

Genesis - Abacab
X - Wild Gift
Earth, Wind, and Fire - Raise!
Shot in the Dark - Shot in the Dark
Teena Marie - It Must Be Magic
Police - Ghost in the Machine
The Neville Brothers - Fiyo on the Bayou

 

Fiyo on the Bayou is a great album. I might like Yellow Moon a bit more overall songwise, but Fiyo has a really cool mood.

And their 1990 album Brothers Keeper has a charming early 90’s vibe. Songs aren’t as good, but the title track rips

 

genesis and grace jones on the docket for today