Best 80s Albums

tactics

Yesterday on twitter somebody asked what was the best LP released between 1980 & 1989. I thought I won't do my obvious pick. So I did a little year by year list that didn't include Talking Heads, The Fall, The Birthday Party, Prince, The Church, The Triffids, The Smiths, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine or The Pixies.

My pick in the end was My Houdini from Tactics but it could have been any of these or like a hundred others. Ever since I started this blog I've been meaning to write an article in praise of My Houdini. Maybe the time has come to finally put pen to paper about this undervalued post-punk/new wave classic.

1980- Out Of The Tunnel - MX-80 Sound

1981- My Houdini - Tactics

1982- Ice Cream For Crow - Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band

1983- Head Over Heels - Cocteau Twins

1984 - Let It Be - The Replacements

1985- At Home With You - X (The Australian band not the inferior one)

1986- Three Virgins - Axemen

1987- Children Of God - Swans

1988- Sixty Nine - AR Kane

1989- Max Q - Max Q

MX-80 Sound - Crowd Control

I've just realised that some of you out there have not heard or even heard of perhaps the greatest, definitely one of the coolest, certainly one of the most absurdly thrilling records of all time. 'What you on about?' I hear you say. MX-80. Sometimes they were MX-80 Sound. They were art punk metal prog cyborgs from the underground (well Indiana actually). Genre discrepancies are absofuckinglutely meaningless (aren't they always?) once this record is playing. Then all you know is its greatness.

Hello America

Hello France

 Hello Australia

Just another microbe....

A question for the ages

I can feel it...beyond my control....

Yes Yes Yes More, Refuckinwind!

There's more to life than being good

There will be stories in all the papers

You can go astray, do it your way



....I remember....

Everything is great baby

He's got fingers for eyes....

For those of you who just listened to Crowd Control for the first time I know what you are saying. "Wow, how has that LP not been part of my life until now?!!! It's the fucking greatest!! Thank you Space Debris." Now you can go tell all your friends, parents and pets that they should be into MX-80! Write into your favourite website to tell them you can't take them seriously because Crowd Control isn't in their top 10.

The 80s Again....

It doesn't get much better than this.

Here's a Top 100 LPs of the 80s list that isn't the usual rock-crit consensus. FACT certainly do their own thing and good on them for that. Good to see one of my all time favourite records Julee Cruise's Floating Into The Night getting some recognition, although I thought it came out in 1990 but no the date on the label on the vinyl says 89. Steve Roach's ambient masterpiece Structures From Silence, which is an endlessly listenable LP, doesn't usually make these lists so that's a pleasing surprise. Rapeman's LP makes another 2013 appearance which has surely pushed it into cult LP territory. The Cocteau Twins and Felt make it but AR Kane and Siouxsie And The Banshees miss out. The cult of Coil continues its ascendancy, with Horse Rotorvator making an appearance. This list is so hipster it doesn't include This Heat but has a This Heat side project! The same goes for Swans, no Children Of God but (World Of) Skin's 1st LP makes it. This is definitely a 2013 look at the 80s which FACT acknowledge. It's funny what's seen as hip or worthy from the 80s by the kids of 2013 (some of these writers were maybe there in very mini form). Virgo come in at no. 2 with their self-titled LP. Who the fuck are they? More music to discover from the 80s who'd have thunk it? Hang on no Birthday Party! What? No MX 80 Sound! Perhaps it's a joke list....

Ministry over this?! Naye.
Ministry over Pat Benatar?! No Way!