An Ear For An Era: 1988

1988 meant I was 5 years old, I could bike, I could read, and I didn't particularly concern myself with music. But it was happening, man! Lots of good stuff I would appreciate later in life! Indie/college/alternative was still in a good place even though the first hints of its takeover-in-a-lesser-form-in-the-90s could be spotted. You know, the 90s when the popular stuff was called "alternative" but then what was it an alternative to at that point? When it got confusing. And other stuff was going on. I'll start with Weird Al.

I think Even Worse may have been my first Weird Al tape. I have vivid memories of purchasing the tape at a store and they didn't take off the security tag so we had to use my dad's pocket knife to bust it out. I think there was a crack in the tape case because of it. I made a music video with my friend for "Fat" where we put pillows under our shirts and basically acted out as many parts as we could. "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long" has always been a favorite. And all the puns on "I Think I'm A Clone Now" are just too much great to handle. He has a lot of great puns on the album as a whole but "Clone" takes it to the next level with such gems as "I guess you could say I'm really beside myself," and "Born in a science lab late one night without a mother or a father, just a test tube and a womb with a view."

Ok just had to get that out of the way. Even Worse is probably in my top 3 Weird Al albums after all!

Hip hop took something of a turn around this time, didn't it? Not that BDP was all innocent and peaceful and clean, but the dirty got dirtier based on what I have. Ice-T with his sex jams (at least he clarifies "Safe sex that is...but that's another song"). Slick Rick was very clever on The Great Adventures of Slick Rick.

But who really owned it was Public Enemy. It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is one of those statement albums. Chuck D with his righteous anger and intelligence, Flava Flav still being somewhat tolerable, Terminator X just driving everything hard. Something about the angry intelligence makes it much more terrifying for white America because assuming we're paying attention we know he's right.

Public Enemy "Prophets of Rage"

Similarly, NWA's Straight Outta Compton had a good angry feel to it and Dr. Dre made some great beats early on for sure. The anger towards the man is a little more directed at cops than the overall system but effective regardless. Ultramagnetic MCs' Critical Beatdown is a good one but it seems to be laid out much more simply than the people really pushing things forward. Great rhymes and styles but in an old school simplicity that makes it seem a little behind in context.

Punk rock. Last year it was The Descendents and this year it's All. I have an appreciation for All that they did, particularly for the Fort Collins, CO scene, but the first actual All album I bought in high school was Allroy For Prez. Which was an EP. I didn't particularly care for just how darn soft it was at the time. Now I'm ok with it though.

The Pogues' If I Should Fall From Grace With God is one that coincidentally enough came up St. Patrick's Day weekend. It touches on a lot more different styles than Red Roses For Me, the other Pogues album I have. It pulls in influences to a point where some of the songs aren't even all that perfect for St. Patrick's Day! There's my favorite Christmas song ("Fairytale of New York"), ballads like "Lullaby Of London," and one of my favorites, a Spanish influenced drinking/partying song called "Fiesta."

Is this the place to place Big Black? I guess for now at least I'll put Touch & Go and Dischord stuff under punk rock. I'd wanted to get this album for years and finally did eventually (I think shortly before I got to see their big reunion show at that Touch & Go Anniversary Block Party thing I flew out to Chicago for). I feel like they got even harder and angrier as they went on and wrapped things up. Their whole discography is this pure rage, pre-NIN industrial with the crunchiest attainable guitar sound by the best guitar rock sound engineer in the biz.

Big Black "L Dopa"

Fugazi has begun! Of course I have their first two EPs in the form of the 13 Songs CD, but I set the years correctly and got to hear the Fugazi EP as originally released (the first 7 of 13 songs). So we have "Waiting Room," one of their best known songs. We have the earliest example (in my collection at least) of the hardcore scene tackling the problem of sexism in "Suggestion." We have basically some very seasoned veterans joining forces to form a band with seemingly no learning curve. Playing organically together to create something amazing on their very first EP.

Fugazi "Bad Mouth"

I also hit my first actual album by The Ex, that great underrated Dutch punk/chaos band that has been around since the 70s (and still going strong today!). Aural Guerilla is the sound of a great political punk band evolving for a decade and not sitting still. I just love the high distortion on the guitar and vocals and the swirling chaotic (sorry for using that again but it's the most apt description I've got!) drumming going on here.

College rock!

What I said in the intro about seeing the first hints of the popularity of alternative rock showing up was mostly because of R.E.M.'s Green. Kind of a breakthrough for them (they would later become one of the biggest bands of the 90s). And it has the song "Stand" which would later receive the "Weird Al" parody treatment and while "Weird Al" is very hip to the new sounds, he probably wouldn't have parodied a song that wasn't a gigantic hit. That's my frame of reference right now.

Besides that, the underground that would remain somewhat underground was reaching new highs.

I seem to be responding a lot more personally to Dinosaur Jr's 1988 album Bug more than 1987's You're Living All Over Me. Not sure why. But I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Bug. It seemed more passionate or something. Maybe it was just the circumstances of how it came up or something. Or maybe it's actually better.

Sonic Youth put out their most highly regarded album that has since entered the library of congress, and that was Daydream Nation. I don't know what I can say about this but I feel like I need to say a lot about it. They were young then. Creating something impossibly mature but in a really playful way. Putting mature skills to use in creating something that just sounds fresh and fun and somewhat loose. The authoritative vocals from Kim & Thurston, the way their guitars interplayed, the noise noise noise, the LOUD, the quiet, the uneasiness and scream and distortion! Every song a shove but also a suite, it's everything.

Sonic Youth "Candle"

I honestly cannot reach a final decision about my favorite Pixies album. Doolittle was my first and holds a dear place in my heart, but Surfer Rosa has always been hot on its heels and a part of me seems to think/know it is the superior of the two. Maybe. Something about it feels a bit rawer. Probably songs like "Something Against You." The screaming is powerful here. And Joey Santiago's guitar is a bit more vicious on this album, such as on "Vamos" when he comes up with so many different squawks to make his guitar make on a very forward moving beat (I remember being blown away when I saw them on their initial reunion tour by how much of the Pixies' uniqueness could be attributed to Santiago's inventiveness on the guitar). And it has a Kim Deal song! And the songs that are softer, acoustic style? Two of the greatest songs they ever recorded. There's the ever popular "Where Is My Mind?" and then there's my favorite track, one that has guided me through long distance relationship hatred (not hatred but obsession and anger and hell):

Pixies "Cactus"

I'll call it right there. Done.

In other comments...

• Thomas Dolby. Aliens Ate My Buick. A nerd of nerds, one of the last great new wave albums maybe? Mostly it's nerdy funk.
• I feel like I'm past talking about classic rock and that's kind of how I place The Traveling Wilburys. So I'll put this here. Roy Orbison is very missed. So is George Harrison now. That Vol. 1 is a good album. It just kind of sounds like a bunch of legends having a great time.
• I dig Camper Van Beethoven.
• Leonard Cohen's I'm Your Man actually sounds ok in the context of other late 80s music. Meaning the over-production I noticed when I first listened to it out of context is less noticeable when lots of the surrounding music is also over-produced. And "Take This Waltz" is another damn gem from this genius songwriter.
• The debut from My Bloody Valentine is pretty astonishing for a debut.
• Operation Ivy's Hectic EP is a part of the version of Energy I have on CD so it's kind of like it's here. I think I'll hold off and write about them in full when I hit Energy though.
• Lincoln is probably one of They Might Be Giants' stronger efforts.
• Fishbone album! Truth and Soul shows a band that is clearly in the minority of black bands in punk rock fighting against the pressures that come from that.

So what's next?

1989. We wrap up the 80s. But I have a lot to chew through so this may take a while (473, my highest song count yet!)

Hip Hop: Beastie Boys return. De La Soul shows up. So does Young MC! (looks much more positive this year)

College/Whatever: Disintegration is the best album ever! Depeche Mode keeps new wave alive a little bit longer. Early Nirvana! The other greatest Pixies album! My only Public Image Ltd album! Stone Roses. More Yo La Tengo.

Old People: Bob Dylan returns with a great album! So does Elvis Costello! And Lou Reed! Queen. 

Punk: Crimpshrine! Fugazi delivers the second half of 13 songs with the Margin Walker EP. The Mr. T. Experience. Operation Ivy for real this time. Slint means math rock is a thing! Vandals go country.

Popular: Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814. 

An Ear For An Era: 1984

In 1984 I turned 1. How old are kids when they start kind of understanding things and singing along with songs? I'm not sure. So I don't know how old this song was and how old I was, but my earliest memories song-wise are singing along to Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called To Say I Love You" with my mom. Cheesy as it is, that song will always take me back. At my wedding I picked the too-cool Magnetic Fields' "Nothing Matters When We're Dancing" for my first dance with my wife, but I picked the not-cool-enough-for-anything "I Just Called To Say I Love You" for my dance with my mom.

Stevie Wonder "I Just Called To Say I Love You"

Bruce Springsteen was also kind of cheesy on the surface with Born in the USA. After Nebraska, I feel like he kind of earned that singing-like-it's-the-most-important-thing-in-the-world thing he was known for. All the working class anthems are now kind of perfect here. I like a lot of the songs. I don't know if I need to share any because they're so well known and I try to point to the obscure. You know all those singles from this album? "Glory Days," "Dancing In The Dark," "Darlington County," "No Surrender," etc? Yeah, I think they're great too!

But now I'm super cool and hip. I listen to punk rock and obscure soul and other things spoken about on this blog.

The only Hüsker Dü album I own is Zen Arcade. I think I should get more. I think I like it more than other Bob Mould projects. But that's just me. I want to hear him rock out a little more because he's good at that. But this album is a good mix of punk and pop and other boundaries of punk that were broken as they recorded this. It's hard to pick one track because of all the different directions it goes in but since I said I like to hear Mould rock out here's a pretty straightforward punk rock track.

Hüsker Dü "I'll Never Forget You"

Speaking of fierce, Scratch Acid may be the fiercest punk rock in my collection. Yow screams with such intensity and I'm pretty excited I have a few years of material from the collection The Greatest Gift. I went to the Touch & Go 25th anniversary block party thing a few years ago and it featured (among lots of other amazing acts) a Scratch Acid reunion. At this time however I was suffering from an unfortunate bout with plantar fasciitis and couldn't stand for very long. I suffered hard for my rock & roll but as I stood in the huge gathering crowd for (I think it was) Sally Timms or something (something Mekons related), the pain increased and I hadn't yet gotten into Scratch Acid so I was the one person leaving the area as Scratch Acid was setting up and people were highly confused by my actions. If I had made the effort to listen to them before this I probably would have stuck it out...but it was an all day thing, man! My foot was killing me! I still heard them but I could have been up in it, around the 10th row of people. Regrets. Here is an awesomely sleazy song that just kills my feet and your ear drums (turn it up loud!).

Scratch Acid "She Said"

Now a completely different but still vaguely punk rock thing: The Pogues! I first heard The Pogues in high school when I was watching a public access music video show (they mostly played punk rock) and some Pogues live performance played after a Rancid song. I think I remember thinking of them as not punk, just a Celtic band, and as I was sooooo punk rock I considered it something of a guilty pleasure (Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly were the celtic PUNK bands, after all!). Now I just feel guilty for ever having any guilt about it. I loved the ugly/beautiful thing that I can't quite explain. It's a perfect ugly/beautiful combination, what they do. Not afraid to sound ugly in the vocals, screaming, but having the backing of perfectly executed Celtic folk, they have become my favorite drinking music. Red Roses For Me is actually my second Pogues purchase (after If I Should Fall From Grace With God, which I'll talk about when we hit 1988). There are just a ton of great songs on here, I want to be in a crowded pub raising a pint and singing these songs. When I went to Ireland last year I listened to this album to get excited and for a week before the trip this song kept getting in my head and got me very very very excited:

The Pogues "Streams of Whiskey"

Can I please go back there tomorrow?

I hadn't heard from Leonard Cohen in a while but here he is! Various Positions has hints of cheesy 80s production (not as bad as I'm Your Man, however) but it's mostly pretty solidly grounded. There's a kind of weird echo on the vocals but it does just kind of give it more weight. It has "Hallelujah" on it so what else do you need to know? One of the greatest songs ever written, a song I have to stop everything to listen to when it comes on. Even if Jeff Buckley's version is the definitive version, there's a lot to like about Cohen's original version.

Hip hop! Afrika Bambaataa took the next logical step (or the first logical step?) and featured James Brown on a track, "Unity Part 1 (The Third Coming)." It's kickin'! And then I had my intro to Fat Boys, which epitomizes the whole novelty thing that hip hop may have been in danger of falling into. I quite enjoy Fat Boys, but the stuff from 1984 seems a little too disco. Still could be fun to listen to at a party. But a new group came along to push hip hop forward, to rescue it from obscurity by taking things a little more seriously. Run-D.M.C. is of course who I'm talking about. Their back-and-forth vocals are really cool, really good on my short attention span. Here they are being socially conscious before backpacking was a thing (related to hip hop).

Run-D.M.C. "Wake Up"

Is Purple Rain the crowning Prince (& The Revolution) achievement? Just brilliant front to back, all over, I feel like it's similar to Born in the USA in that I can't really pick out an obscure track because the whole thing is so well loved. I don't know what I can say about this album because I don't have personal stories about it and everything's been said. Brilliant songwriting, Prince kind of lasted longer than Michael Jackson and while he didn't have a Thriller I think his sustained career during this period makes him the real king of pop. And the way he incorporates rock & roll, particularly on the closing title track, is pretty epic. Did you see him do that song at the super bowl halftime show that one time? I think he's the best super bowl halftime performer ever.

...And another classic by "Weird Al" Yankovic. In 3-D really pushed his game forward. This is no longer bedroom (or bathroom or whatever) recordings. No more banging on an accordion case for percussion. No more need to have everything accordion based (but he still uses it a lot). The parodies sound closer to the originals production-wise. I think it being the early 80s lended itself well to this, because so many popular songs already sounded goofy. Particularly "Safety Dance." Of course a song about The Brady Bunch would sound funny set to that melody. Because it's a funny sound. "Eat It" was one of his biggest hits ever, "I Lost on Jeopardy" was one of my personal favorites (particularly the video!), and "Nature Trail To Hell" made me nervous to get this tape because it had the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks word in the title and I didn't want to get in trouble (I looked at this tape a lot of times before I bought it and kept going to different Weird Al tapes...it was probably one of my last Weird Al tape purchases as I collected them all). But what I'm going to share here is his first in a series of brilliant polkas he put together on almost all of his albums. Medleys of popular songs done in polka style. My first exposure to a lot of these songs. I thought it'd be a fun lesson in music history to listen to all the polkas sequentially, but then I realized he's all over the map here. His later albums mostly covered current hits, but this one jumps back and forth between the 80s and the 60s (and I know later on he'd do one entirely devoted to Bohemian Rhapsody and another devoted to the Stones) so it wouldn't really be in order. Still. Here's a quick rundown of what we've covered and where we are now in this AEFAE project.

"Weird Al" Yankovic "Polkas on 45"

Other stuff to say about stuff:

• The Cars' "Drive" is so 1984.
• The Vandals' When In Rome Do As The Vandals is too damn goofy. Actually I think it's the goofiness of the whole album that makes the satire "Slap of Love" not sit right with me. Too serious of a subject to approach in that way when everything else on the album is about skinheads not being allowed in mohawk town and space nazis and such. I don't know, I'm having a hard time explaining this.
• Depeche Mode. I don't have whichever album this is but "Blasphemous Rumours" is a damn good song.
• Serge Gainsbourg's Love on the Beat is an odd one. Essentially taking the Serge Gainsbourg formula but replacing the beautiful orchestral arrangements with cheesy 80s beats (and English choruses that only hint about what he's singing about in French). I can't quite get behind it. We do get our first sampling of Charlotte Gainsbourg though, the very young girl (12 years old!) singing on "Lemon Incest." Creepy that that's the name of the song but I couldn't tell you what it's about.
• Madonna's "Like A Virgin" is a song I always move back and forth between Weird Al's version when I sing it and don't think about it too much. "Better give me all your gauze nurse" etc.
• Van Halen was "Hot For Teacher" (and you know, they had that whole album 1984 in 1984 but I only have "Hot For Teacher").
• R.E.M. I liked Reckoning more. Good jangly guitars that would soon dominate the indie rock world. Hey! We're getting into the indie rock world now!
• Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!
• Carmel had another brilliant cut "Bad Day." Love that voice!
• Queen was back to rockin' on The Works. I feel like "Radio Ga Ga" is more relevant today than it was in 1984.
• Dead Kennedys' "Kinky Sex Makes The World Go 'Round" is a super effective creepy track that is just way too full of truth.
• 99 Luftballons.

Next time:

1985. The best Cure album? Brian Ferry solo? Dead Kennedys have changed a lot since the 70s. Descendents are back on here. Fishbone! The last great album according to Stephin Merritt (Psychocandy). Mekons! the end of Minor Threat! Prince continues to own the world (in a day). Rites of Spring (whoa emo's here already??). Everybody Wants To Rule The World. Tom Waits continues to be amazing. And another classic from Weird Al.