Ghosts of Top Ten Lists Past

I was rummaging through some old boxes at my parent's house yesterday and I uncovered a list of top ten albums of the year that I had done in the mid-80's. These were the first and last top tens I did until 2000.

It is quite the time capsule of what I was into at the time. 85'-87' were pretty seminal years as far as my music fandom went. It may have been the peak of my music fan obsession. 80' and 81' were my Beatle years. 82'-83' had a lot of "new wave" like Elvis Costello,XTC, Talking Heads,Squeeze and Joe Jackson ;synth-pop (Heaven 17, Thomas Dolby and Thompson Twins, anyone?) ; new romantics (hello, ABC), Two-Tone (Specials, English Beat and Madness) and punk survivors like The Jam and The Clash. 1984 I started to embrace a lot of the rootsy American bands (Long Ryders, Three O'Clock, Dream Syndicate, Blasters,True West, Los Lobos,Green On Red, The Gun Club) that were making a name for themselves on college radio and starting to creep onto the fringes of the mainstream via modern rock stations like The Quake in San Francisco or KWOD in SacTown. British band like Echo and the Bunnymen, The Alarm, The Pogues and The Smiths figured highly in 84',too.

Concurrent with all of this, especially since about 84', was my interest in older music, "source music" as Guy Kyser once said. Through my buddy, Morgan Young, I learned all about the 60's American and British bands other than The Beatles, bands who became the backbone of my entire music collection and sensibility--though that other stuff I listened to is still a part of me too. On my own I investigated soul, funk, 50's rockers,rockabilly and some country.

Yet what is happening at the time is what you can actually experience first hand and so these lists document a time when I would obsessively follow these band and know everything about them I could (all that one could in the pre-internet stone-age),as if my life depended on it. I still love music, but it would never be quite the same again. I don't think it ever is once you are no longer a teenager.

Anyway, the lists are accurate I suppose. I am shocked that there is no Pogues on any of these lists (must of forgot them), as well as being baffled as to why Naked Prey made it twice; I don't remember much about those roots rocking dudes. No surprise to see my big four of that era all over these lists: Husker Du, The Replacements, R.E.M. and The Smiths.

Then, as is now, they are not the most cutting-edge lists you will ever see. They represent stuff that was maybe on the more popular and accessible side of what passed for "alternative" or "college radio" type music.More than half are on major labels. I can't pretend I was discovering the most obscure or hip bands back then or now. That said, these acts, with the exception of R.E.M., were hardly selling huge quantities of records. I guess my love of The Beatles has set me up for a lifetime of needing music that was catchy, hooky,song-driven. No matter the style, I think all of these records qualify as having that. Anyway, without further ado, here are those lists.

Top 10 1985

1) Husker Du- "Flip Your Wig"

2) Husker Du- "New Day Rising"

3) The Replacements- "Tim"

4) The Smiths-"Meat is Murder"

5) Green on Red- "Gas, Food, Lodging"

6) Shriekback- "Oil and Gold"

7) R.E.M.- "Fables of the Reconstruction"

8) Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers- "Rockin and Romance"

9) Billy Bragg- "Brewing Up With"

10) Camper Van Beethoven- "S/T"

Honorable mentions: XTC "Big Express"; Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper "S/T"; Jefferey Lee Pierce "Wildweed"; Jesus and Mary Chain "Psychocandy"; Channel 3 "Last Time I Drank", Talking Heads "Little Creatures".


Top 10 1986

1) Peter Case- "S/T"

2) Elvis Costello -"King of America"

3) Screaming Blue Messiahs- "Gun Shy"

4) Husker Du- "Candy Apple Grey"

5) R.E.M.- "Life's Rich Pagent"

6) The Cramps- "A Date with Elvis"

7) The Housemartins- "London 0 Hull 4"

8) Elvis Costello and the Attractions- "Blood and Chocolate" (In retrospect, should not be on this list)

9) The Smiths- "The Queen is Dead"

10) Naked Prey- "Under the Blue Marlin" (Still trying to figure out why they are here)

Honorable mentions: Billy Bragg "Talking with the Taxman About Poetry"; Let's Active "Big Plans for Everybody"; XTC "Skylarking"; The Redskins "Neither Washington Nor Moscow".


Top 10 1987

1) Husker Du- "Warehouse: Songs and Stories"

2) The Replacements- "Pleased To Meet Me"

3) The Meat Puppets- "Huevos"

4) R.E.M.- "Document" (This should not be on here either; first lame album of their career)

5) Warren Zevon - "Sentimental Hygiene" (He sticks out like a sore thumb. Great album despite the bloated 80's production)

6) Thin White Rope- "Moonhead" (Might seem like a nod to the hometown boys, but it really is a great album)

7) Dinosaur- "You're Living All Over Me" (Before they had to add the "Jr" to their name)

8) The Gun Club- "Mother Juno"

9) The Screaming Blue Messiahs- "Bikini Red"

10) Naked Prey- "40 Miles From Nowhere" (Again with these guys--why?)

Honorable mentions: Sonic Youth "Sister"; Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers "Modern Lovers 88' "; The Soup Dragons "Hang Ten".