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Celeb News: Slant's Best albums of the 80's
ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/8/2006
Posts: 42,086
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Slant's Best albums of the 80's
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10. Kate Bush, Hounds of Love. My mother, a freak for the Victorian, once defied by father by naming me not after him, his father, and his father's father, but after an Emily Brontë character, so it was destiny that lured my imagination to the wily, windy moors from which Kate Bush appears to sing these tales of longing and remembrance. The album is a haunting—lush with playful and dramatic dreaming, metaphor and symbolism, motifs of running and hiding, beats that gently fall like raindrops. She plays child, woman, beast, and witch, standing on the ground but sounding as if she's flying through the sky. She is hunter and huntee at once, and she makes you feel her transformation from one to the other, quite literally, with a howling. A whistle becomes a gust of wind, and it takes you away in its wraith-like arms to a place of very warm comfort. EG
9. De La Soul, 3 Feet High & Rising. De La Soul were easy and breezy when it seemed everyone else winning the game preferred sleazy. So you just knew white folks from the Pazz & Jop roll call all the way down to college DJs in Wyoming were going to flip their token for the '60s utopianism and overachieving, carnivalesque sonic display of 3 Feet High & Rising (as they later would over Deee-Lite's plastique-fantastique, vitamin C-infused inversion of underground house). But you can't listen to Prince Paul's stitchery with the Funkadelic bounce of "Me Myself and I," the saxy "Potholes in My Lawn," or the scratching of "Buddy" and still hold that against them. EH
8. Prince, 1999. If Prince's reign over the airwaves ended a good deal earlier than the year he predicted the world itself would end in 1999, the album still marked the grand crossover moment for the decade's most versatile, least predictable pop superstar. Positioned between—and embodying the strengths of both—the rambunctious, genre-defying immediacy of Dirty Mind and Controversy before it and the dick-waving rock majesty of the Purple Rain soundtrack that followed, 1999 is an expansive, disturbed communiqué from the nexus of naked funk and sexual obsession. "Some people tell me I've got great legs." Nope, this is not your grandfather's rhythm and blues. EH
7. Joy Division, Closer. The fact that Joy Division's very name is synonymous with '80s post-punk despite their having released only one album in the decade speaks to Closer's looming impact on the genre it helped propel. A similar shadow was cast by frontman Ian Curtis's death shortly before the album's release, lending Closer an added layer of mystique to the band's already-bittersweet unfulfilled promise. Though the remaining members would go on to form seminal synth-pop group New Order, Closer exists as Joy Division's magnificent epithet. Its songs are beautifully crafted dirges, with thrumming, ghostly synths and plumbing basslines bolstering Curtis's imaginative but morbid lyricism. KL
6. Talking Heads, Remain in Light. Paul Simon's Graceland gets much of the credit for the revival of African-inspired pop music in the mid-'80s, but the Brian Eno-produced Remain in Light broke that ground six years earlier with a joyous meld of Afrobeat and post-punk. This is Talking Heads at their best, a band that had once teased its listeners with full-fledged worldbeat experimentation now reveling in the interplay between South African harmonies, new wave looping, and funk rhythms. Remain in Light is, in effect, one long, finely crafted global jam session, delivered by a group of musicians who can ably handle its assortment of eclectic parts and intricacies. As predictable as it might be to point to "Once in a Lifetime" as a perfect microcosm of everything that's right about Remain in Light, the point holds true: The track, like its album, is blithe, bizarre, noisy, unpredictable, and a deliciously energetic slice of pop virtuosity. KL
5. Beastie Boys, Paul's Boutique. Those who dismissed the music of the Beastie Boys as hackneyed frat-boy gimmickry—and those who expected these three white Jews to descend into novelty caricatures—were forced to eat their words with the release of Paul's Boutique. And though it was a complete commercial disaster in 1989, this spastic blitzkrieg of pop-culture references and madcap sampling marks the moment where the Beastie Boys were taken seriously as artists. The trio redefined the posse-rap dynamic with their furious to-and-fro changeovers, punctuating their rhymes with sassy samples to further energise their unorthodox sound. Paul's Boutique is the sound of hip-hop sneaking into mainstream consciousness, purchasing property in affluent suburbia and inner cities alike, all thanks to three born-again punk rockers. HJ
4. The Clash, London Calling. A large part of the musical narrative of the '80s involves the parasitic influence of punk, as its rough attitudes and stripped-down approach spread out to consume and incorporate outlying genres. One of the first instances of this spread occurred as the decade was just dawning, on a sprawling album that expands to cover Jamaican ska, northern soul, and American pop, creating both a searing document of a world in flux and a convincing precedent for the rest of the decade. All this in addition to a sharp lyrical sense, which espouses revolutionary rhetoric without sounding completely idiotic. JC
3. Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Now that hip-hop has become so intractably linked to mainstream pop, the idea of a hip-hop album as revolutionary as It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is hard to fathom. In the nearly 25 years since the album's release, hip-hop culture has been embraced by the very nation of millions Public Enemy railed against. It may not sound as groundbreaking as it once did (though, thanks to the Bomb Squad's most creative productions, it's still catchy as all hell), but it's a testament to Public Enemy's power and intelligence that the album's ferocious political outrage and its damning portraits of institutionalized racism and class warfare are still as relevant as they've ever been. JK
2. Prince and the Revolution, Purple Rain. On which Violet the Organ Grinder takes us to church and straight into the confession box. The album may not possess the salaciousness of Dirty Mind, but even at its softest, its most "mature," it exudes a rapturous sense of feeling. From elevators to hotel lobbies and beyond, Prince resigns himself to love and makes you feel the funky stirrings of his heart, perhaps most expressively on "The Beautiful Ones." From here to there, life to death, there's a startling, telling fixation on movement. This is, after all, a companion piece to a film that ostentatiously depicts the Kid's rise to fame. And there's no fall here, only one gorgeous climax after another, immaculately and luxuriously sustained from beginning to end. EG
1. Michael Jackson, Thriller. What additional praise can be heaped on Michael Jackson's genre-mashing magnum opus except to say that even the lesser hits like "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" are perfectly rendered pop gems? That seven of the album's nine tracks were all Top 10 hits reinforces how much of a culture-defining gargantuan Thriller was and continues to be. And yet, despite the well-earned acclaim and its unquestionable unification of fans across class, age, gender, and racial lines, Thriller is an album steeped in angst and loneliness. Lest we forget from years of grotesque eccentricity, Jackson was once the original Kanye West, and this album was his own dark, twisted fantasy—a glimpse into a creative but fissured mind that sought, above all things, unquestionable greatness. MJ achieves that countless times on Thriller, arguably the most sublime 42 minutes of pop music ever recorded. KL
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Others:
11. Prince, Sign o' the Times
13. R.E.M., Murmur
15. The Cure, Disintegration
17. R.E.M., Document
20. Madonna, Like a Prayer
22. Cyndi Lauper, She's So Unusual.
23. New Order, Power, Corruption & Lies
24. U2, The Joshua Tree.
27. David Bowie, Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps).
31. Janet Jackson, Control.
33. Madonna, Madonna.
35. Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A.
37. Guns N' Roses, Appetite for Destruction.
40. Grace Jones, Nightclubbing.
43. Janet Jackson, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814.
46. Sinéad O'Connor, The Lion and the Cobra.
47. Eurythmics, Touch.
48. Michael Jackson, Bad
49. Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman.
Complete list : http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/f...80s/308/page_1
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Member Since: 12/4/2008
Posts: 6,296
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31. Janet Jackson, Control.
43. Janet Jackson, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814.
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Member Since: 8/23/2010
Posts: 16,089
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3 albums in the top 11 (yeah I just invented that), what kind of musical consistency. The others could NEVER.
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Member Since: 8/23/2010
Posts: 16,089
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Oh Public Enemy and De La Soul. 
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Member Since: 3/16/2011
Posts: 6,580
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22. Cyndi Lauper, She's So Unusual.
40. Grace Jones, Nightclubbing.
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Member Since: 5/14/2011
Posts: 1,518
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Kate Bush's House of Love is the best.
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Member Since: 11/18/2011
Posts: 7,791
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Am not here for them snubbing Queen 
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Member Since: 6/10/2011
Posts: 6,946
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I'm glad Madonna made the list three times. 
And "Like a Prayer" is the second highest female album on the list, the first being "Hounds of Love" (gotta listen to that one)...
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Member Since: 11/8/2011
Posts: 14,458
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No Stevie Nicks, Bella Donna 
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Member Since: 3/18/2008
Posts: 40,057
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Not on the Top 5, not a valid list.
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Member Since: 12/5/2009
Posts: 9,974
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Prince slaying the list
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Member Since: 6/1/2010
Posts: 65,177
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The top three is amazing.
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Member Since: 2/17/2012
Posts: 33,611
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Purple Rain should have beaten Thriller.... Thriller was too obvious of a choice and definitley isn't the best album of the 80s (all the other albums on the top 10 are better).
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Member Since: 12/5/2009
Posts: 9,974
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Originally posted by madonnas
Purple Rain should have beaten Thriller.... Thriller was too obvious of a choice and definitley isn't the best album of the 80s (all the other albums on the top 10 are better).
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Yup it is so overrated.
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Member Since: 6/1/2010
Posts: 65,177
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Quote:
Originally posted by madonnas
Purple Rain should have beaten Thriller.... Thriller was too obvious of a choice and definitley isn't the best album of the 80s (all the other albums on the top 10 are better).
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Have you listened to every album in the top 10? De La Soul? Public Enemy? Just wondering.
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Member Since: 8/16/2010
Posts: 15,137
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Originally posted by Cap10Planet
Have you listened to every album in the top 10? De La Soul? Public Enemy? Just wondering.
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I was going to ask the same question. Color me skeptical. 
The top 3.
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Member Since: 12/8/2010
Posts: 17,643
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4. The Clash, London Calling. A large part of the musical narrative of the '80s involves the parasitic influence of punk, as its rough attitudes and stripped-down approach spread out to consume and incorporate outlying genres. One of the first instances of this spread occurred as the decade was just dawning, on a sprawling album that expands to cover Jamaican ska, northern soul, and American pop, creating both a searing document of a world in flux and a convincing precedent for the rest of the decade. All this in addition to a sharp lyrical sense, which espouses revolutionary rhetoric without sounding completely idiotic. JC
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Member Since: 3/5/2011
Posts: 15,589
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Quote:
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3. Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Now that hip-hop has become so intractably linked to mainstream pop, the idea of a hip-hop album as revolutionary as It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is hard to fathom. In the nearly 25 years since the album's release, hip-hop culture has been embraced by the very nation of millions Public Enemy railed against. It may not sound as groundbreaking as it once did (though, thanks to the Bomb Squad's most creative productions, it's still catchy as all hell), but it's a testament to Public Enemy's power and intelligence that the album's ferocious political outrage and its damning portraits of institutionalized racism and class warfare are still as relevant as they've ever been. JK
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One of my favorite albums of all time.Pioneers,
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11. Prince, Sign o' the Times
31. Janet Jackson, Control.
43. Janet Jackson, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814.
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Sign O The Times is my fave Prince album. And at Janet finally getting her dues from the critics.
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Banned
Member Since: 10/5/2011
Posts: 904
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Originally posted by ImpressiveInstant
I'm glad Madonna made the list three times.
And "Like a Prayer" is the second highest female album on the list, the first being "Hounds of Love" (gotta listen to that one)... |
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Member Since: 6/4/2010
Posts: 38,919
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Death at me knowing Prince would be perched on the list before I even entered the thread Wurq sis!
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