1986 in music.

The Replacements' Tim pulled a shocking upset to win 1985. Let's see who wins 1986.

Billboard chart-topping albums of 1986:
Soundtrack - Miami Vice (cont. from '85)
Barbara Streisand - Broadway
Sade - Promise
Mr. Mister - Welcome to the Real World
Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston
Van Halen - 5150
Janet Jackson - Control
Patti Labelle - Winner in You
Soundtrack - Top Gun
Madonna - True Blue
Lionel Richie - Dancing on the Ceiling
Huey Lewis and the News - Fore!
Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
Boston - Third Stage
Bruce Springsteen - Live/1975-85

Billboard chart-topping singles of 1986:
Lionel Richie - Say You, Say Me (cont. from '85)
Dionne - That's What Friends are For
Whitney Houston - How Will I Know
Mr. Mister - Kyrie
Starship - Sarah
Heart - These Dreams
Falco - Rock Me Amadeus
Prince - Kiss
Robert Palmer - Addicted to Love
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Whitney Houston - Greatest Love of All
Madonna - Live to Tell
Patti Labelle - On My Own
Billy Ocean - There'll Be Sad Songs
Simply Red - Holding Back the Years
Genesis - Invisible Touch
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
Peter Cetera - Glory of Love
Madonna - Papa Don't Preach
Steve Winwood - Higher Love
Bananarama - Venus
Berlin - Take My Breath Away
Huey Lewis and the News - Stuck With You
Janet Jackson - When I Think of You
Cyndi Lauper - True Colors
Boston - Amanda
The Human League - Human
Bon Jovi - You Give Love a Bad Name
Peter Cetera - The Next Time I Fall
Bruce Hornsby and the Range - The Way It Is
The Bangles - Walk Like an Egyptian

What are your top three albums for 1986? We will keep a running tally and eventually have some sort of bracket. For me it would be:
1. Slayer - Reign in Blood
2. Metallica - Master of Puppets
3. Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill

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. R.E.M. - Life's Rich Pageant
5. Sonic Youth - Evol
6. Dwight Yoakam - Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.
7. Bad Brains - I Against I
8. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
9. Steve Earle - Guitar Town
10. Cromags - Age of Quarrel

honorable mentions:
bob seger - like a rock
dag nasty - can i say
dead kennedys - bedtime for democracy
elvis costello - king of America
fabulous thunderbirds - tuff enuff
husker du - candy apple red
megadeth - peace sells but who’s buying
samhain - november-coming fire
steve winwood - back in the high life
talking heads - true stories

stuff to check out:
the bangles - different light
bruce hornsby and the range - the way it is
camper van beethoven - camper van beethoven
the cocteau twins - victorialand
crowded house - crowded house
depeche mode - black celebration
genesis - invisible touch
madonna - true blue
nick cave - kicking against the pricks
nick cave - your funeral my trial
paul simon - graceland
peter gabriel - so
prince - parade
run dmc - raising hell
sade - promise
siouxsie and the banshees - tinderbox
soul asylum - made to be broken
talk talk - colour of spring
van halen - 5150
whitney houston - whitney houston

 

1. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
2. Metallica - Master of Puppets
3. Slayer - Reign in Blood

I don't know much from this year but I love this top three, haha.

 

1. Bruce Hornsby and The Range - The Way It Is
2. Genesis - Invisible Touch
3. 'Til Tuesday - Welcome Home

Excruciating Cuts:
Prince - Parade
Lionel Richie - Dancing on the Ceiling
Boston - Third Stage
Peter Gabriel - So
Paul Simon - Graceland
Peter, Paul, and Mary - No Easy Walk to Freedom
Bruce Springsteen - Live/1975-85
Journey - Raised on Radio

Others I love:
Steve Winwood - Back in the High Life
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Huey Lewis and the News - Fore!
Darryl Hall - 3 Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine
Janet Jackson - Control
Billy Joel - The Bridge
Wang Chung - Mosaic
Nanci Griffith - The Last of the True Believers
Madonna - True Blue
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
Van Halen - 5150
Lyle Lovett - Lyle Lovett
Tommy Keane - Songs from the Film

Good ones:
.38 Special - Strength in Numbers
Steve Earle - Guitar Town
Randy Travis - Storms of Life
Anita Baker - Rapture
Megadeth - Peace Sells...but Who's Buying?
Gordon Lightfoot - East of Midnight
Crowded House - Crowded House
Eric Clapton - August
Paul McCartney - Press to Play
Run-D.M.C. - Raising Hell
Billy Ocean - Love Zone
Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
Dwight Yoakam - Guitars, Cadillacs, etc., etc.
Cinderella - Night Songs
John Fogerty - Eye of the Zombie
Cyndi Lauper - True Colors
The Moody Blues - The Other Side of Life
Beastie Boys - License to Ill
Luther Vandross - Give Me the Reason

Not a fan:
Slayer - Reign in Blood

Targets for listening:
a-ha - Scoundrel Days
Bobby Brown - King of Stage
Bob Dylan - Knocked Out Loaded
Jermaine Stewart - Frantic Romantic
Talking Heads - True Stories
The The - Infected
Bad Brains - I Against I
Afrika Bambaata and the Soul Sonic Force - Planet Rock: The Album
Big Black - Atomizer
Billy Bragg - Talking with the Tax Man About Poetry
Elvis Costello and The Attractions - Blood and Chocolate
Sonic Youth - Evol
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
Throwing Muses - Throwing Muses
XTC - Skylarking
The Fabulous Thunderbinds - Tuff Enuff
Georgia Satellites - Georgia Satellites
Eddie Money - Can't Hold Back
Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band - Like a Rock
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Live Alive
Marti Jones - Match Game
Elvis Costello and the Attractions - King of America
Robert Cray Band - Strong Persuader
R.E.M. - Life's Rich Pageant
Pat Metheny and Ornette Coleman - Song X
Bodeans - Love and Hope and Sex and Dreams
The Smithereens - Especially for You
David and David - Boomtown
Timbuk3 - Gretings from Timuk3
Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians - Element of Light
Astor Piazzolla - Tango: Zero Hour
Poison - Look What the Cat Dragged In
The Rolling Stones - Dirty Work
Cameo - Word Up!
World Party - Private Revolution
Reba McEntire - Whoever's in New England

 

The Color of Money - Official Soundtrack.

 

This is a fun year.

 

how dare you

 

Skylarking is like top 5 of all time

 

Sales pitch for '86 :

The major label debut of the late, great, and super underrated Tommy Keene, "Songs from the Film". A power-pop genius.

Studio version from '86 as well as a random rippin' live version from Conan in '94.

i had the pleasure of seeing Tommy live twice before he passed; once opening for Matthew Sweet and once opening for the mighty Guided By Voices. Both times he was all class and truly enjoyable. I think a lot of you would like his stuff.

Also, 86 feels like a turning point of sorts - some big releases by established artists but a shift in style in a way, with Beasties, Slayer, RUN DMC, etc bringing in totally different sounds. And there's also the whole Dwight Yoakam / Steve Earle contingent repping the outlaw country. A fun year for sure.

 

1. Huey Lewis and the News - Fore!

Huey Lewis's early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor.

Fore! is their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip to be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself.

 

Probably doesn’t bode super well that I mostly agree with the serial killer

 

PLEASE everyone listen to the Hornsby record if you haven’t. It’s incredible

 

With ya here too!!

 

Context?

 

1. Bruce Hornsby & The Range - The Way It Is
2. R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant
3. Peter Gabriel - So

Some of the best pop songs ever on that Hornsby record. I'm never not amped to hear "Every Little Kiss." And the keyboard sound on that record is just larger than life. No wonder Justin Vernon wanted to pull some influence from Hornsby on Bon Iver, Bon Iver.

Lifes Rich Pageant was one of the first R.E.M. records that really clicked for me. The perfect midway point between their jangly '80s indie rock underdog phase and the alt-rock imperial phase they were about to enter with Document.

So is the only one of these three I don't love start to finish, but I think I might have had to put it here for "Red Rain," "Sledgehammer," and "In Your Eyes" alone. Tracks 7 and 8 are misses for me, but those three songs are so tremendous that they make up for any little lapses.

 

Fuck. Yes.

 

I'm assuming it was you who made me listen to that Hornsby record years ago.

 

That seems likely. I've been evangelizing for it for quite some time. He honestly has this particular melodic frequency that almost no other artist hits. Something about his chord voicings and the way he plays just hits emotional parts of my brain in such a unique way. I hope I never understand theoretically what it is that he does that hits me. I prefer the mystery. Just put "Every Little Kiss" and "Mandolin Rain" on a loop.

 

This is very well put - and I am excited to listen to this entire record this week. I definitely know it to be true about the title track and "mandolin rain". This album is considered his creative peak, right?

 

1. Paul Simon - Graceland
2. Cro-Mags - The Age of Quarrel
3. Slayer - Reign in Blood

Honorable mention: my release in July.

 

1. Paul Simon - Graceland
2. Elvis Costello - King of America
3. Lyle Lovett - Lyle Lovett
4. Bestie Boys - Licensed to Ill
5. Steve Earle - Guitar Town

 

Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill
Paul Simon - Graceland
'Til Tuesday - Welcome Home

@cshadows2887 and I may be the only 'Til Tuesday fans on this site haha

 

I definitely think so, but honesty, he has a really excellent catalog. Scenes from the Southside and A Night on the Town are only a hair behind the debut and when he went solo on Hot House he got really interesting. Dude has never been content to just play the hits; he's always restless. When I saw him live, he didn't play a single hit and he was calling out changes on the fly to the band during their extended improvisations. It was fucking thrilling.

The songwriting is just so undeniable. "What About Love", "Coming Up Close", "Lover's Day", "No One Is Watching You Now". Just amazing.

 

This year has the song I think I may be the biggest fan of alive, aka it's one of my favorite songs of all time and I've never met anyone who's as enthusiastic about it as me, no matter who I make listen to it. But "Tonight Will Be Alright" by Lionel Richie is absolutely fucking perfect. Gives me a whole bushel of feelings. And I think constantly about the line "Let's take a ride to a midnight honky tonk...and we'll set it on fire". Love that shit.