1987

                A surprisingly solid year.  For some reason, I’d thought of ’87 prior to this project as a nadir of the 80s, but it might in fact be the strongest year since ’82.  There are a bunch of big, mostly worthy, albums from a lot of acts that have been active through the decade, both in the alt-rock underground and in the mainstream, but there’s also all of a sudden a whole lot of signs of life in the underground.  ’86 was more or less a dwindling year, as the big scenes on both sides of the Atlantic started to flicker.  Some (most) of the established bands were still doing good work, but it had been awhile since I’d heard new bands to really get excited about.  That changes on both sides of the Atlantic, and in both rock and hip-hop this year.

                But first, big albums from big acts.  A bunch of the old 60s-70s survivors have new albums this year, and they’re generally pretty good but not great.  Bruce Springsteen’s breakup album Tunnel of Love has great lyrics, but the heavy 80s production that kinda worked on Born in the U.S.A. fails him here.  Credit for not trying to duplicate himself, as both Mellencamp and Petty did recently.  Yes are also back, with a record that’s very similar to 90125, but I think an improvement.  Still not a patch on classic Yes, or even as good as Drama, but they’re starting to sound more comfortable with their awful 80s production, which in turn makes them sound a bit more like Rush this year.  Rush, for what it’s worth, are actually scaling back their heavy production this year, returning to cleaner, more ‘classic’ sound, but sounding surprisingly conventional (and dueting with Aimee Mann).  Finally, among the oldsters, George Harrison comes out of nowhere with another solo record, not changing his sound much but scoring his biggest hit with “Got My Mind Set On You,” a song a significant portion of my readership would pick as song of the year, and which was quite accurately parodied as “This Song Is Just Six Words Long”.  Fun, but not exactly substantial or among his best work, which fits as a description for pretty much all the acts just mentioned.

                Far more impressive are the albums from two of the biggest R&B stars of the 80s, Michael Jackson and Prince.  Apparently “Bad” was originally supposed to be a duet between the two, which would have been unspeakably awesome.  Instead, we get a pair of excellent albums from the two of them that nevertheless illustrate their very different approaches to music-making.  Jackson, like the true product of Motown that he is, has a winning formula and will be damned if he’ll deviate from it, so Bad is very much a record in the mode of Thriller, with , I think, as high or even higher highs.  “Smooth Criminal” is my favorite MJ song, and “Bad” trumps “Beat It” in the Jackson doing a rock song category.  However, it’s also a bit less consistent than Thriller, with more tracks that just don’t do it for me.  It is, however, really remarkable just how Jackson was able to dominate pop music for a decade basically on the back of only two albums (and a couple of tracks from Off The Wall).  A big contrast from Prince, who put out an album a year almost every year since his debut.  Prince differs from Jackosn not just in his profligate output, but also in his willingness to experiment and revamp his sound.  Parade was a departure from Around the World in a Day was a departure from Purple Rain, and Sign ‘O The Times may be Prince’s masterpiece just because he’s exploding in every direction at once.  At times it’s a bit overwhelming.  Like Springsteen’s The River, it’s a record where I’ve listened to it for years, but every time discover another song I’d overlooked in the past.  This time it’s “Hot Thing,” an electro-funk number that’s a worthy successor to “D.M.S.R.”

                Moving more into the rock world, we get career-best records from two bands working a stadium-ready post-punk.  I’ve already started thinking of Midnight Oil as an antipodal U2, with the political lyrics and post-punk textures, and this year even their album covers are similar.  Both also sound basically like they did on the last record, but with a slightly more radio-friendly songcraft.  In Midnight Oil’s case, this means they sound more than a little like R.E.M., esp. on “Dreamworld,” while U2 are continuing to make Eno-style pop songs.  The big three hits off The Joshua Tree are far weirder structurally than you generally notice, having been deadened by their constant radioplay, but they’re very much in the tradition of such previous Eno Wall of Sound productions as “Heroes” and “Once in a Lifetime,” esp. “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Where The Streets Have No Name.”  The Joshua Tree is basically U2 taking the Unforgettable Fire sound and making it more pop, so they’re pretty much just taking early-80s post-punk pop, although with hints on side 2 of their upcoming roots turn (where they sound not unlike Midnight Oil followers).

                U2 are hardly the only ones making radio-friendly post-punk this year (and this is probably the last great year for the post-punk bands).  Public Image mark II, following the solo-album-in-all-but-name that was Album follows very  much in that one’s vein, certainly sounding more like that record than the early experimental PiL.  Also, if Album had a “real” supergroup, with Ginger Baker and Steve Vai, the new PiL is a post-punk supergroup, with former members of the Damned, the Pop Group, and Magazine.  Yet still sounds a lot like the pop-metal of the last one notwithstanding.  Who would have thought Johnny Rotten would have ended up like this?  Pretty good listen, but much more the twilight of a genre than a step forward like the earlier records were.  Which is pretty much the same I’d say for Wire.  I like The Ideal Copy-era Wire well-enough, sounding like they do like a more abstracted and arty U2/New Order type band, but they’re not a patch on the first three records.  If they were just another new band, I doubt I’d give them another listen.  New Order, though, have another year of singles without albums, but do put out probably their finest moment in their remake of “Temptation,” combining the experimental bent of their earlier stuff with the greater polish of their later period.  Still, it’s not exactly innovative or a bold step forward, just a consolidation of strengths, which is pretty much the case for all the post-punks this year.

                Even the Mekons are basically in consolidation mode this year, with the third of their shambolic country-rock trilogy.  This one is, however, probably my favorite, and not coincidentally basically sounds like a Band tribute record.  You understand why they were hardly chartbusters, although I can’t help but wonder to what degree Uncle Tupelo, who start laying down demos this year, were influenced by their punk-country sound.

                Speaking of the US, this is the last year we can talk about the Big Three of American alt-rock.  The Hüskers put out their last album, but finish strong.  Warehouse isn’t nearly as impressive as their last double, but while that was a deliberate epic, this is just a collection of excellent songs in their late-period pop-punk style.  You get the sense that they dumped all these songs to make sure they got released before the band splintered.  Still, if this record had come out just 5 years later, it would have been a Thriller-style monster, with almost every song sounding like it could have been a hit in the post-Nirvana radioscape.  A testimony to the band’s influence, I suppose.  Also, I’m almost surprised to realize how much I’m going to miss Hüsker Dü going forward…

                R.E.M. and the Replacements are also sounding somewhat more radio-friendly this year, but still uncompromised.  Document is basically a consolidation record for R.E.M., building on the more rocking sound of Lifes Rich Pagent, with perhaps a little more confidence in their rock-songcraft.  At any rate, “The One I Love” and “It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” are the earliest R.E.M. songs to get the attention of a wider audience, and both are worthy, still sounding like they’re bringing their folk-rock background to a more Hüsker-like type of rocker.  The Replacements, however, mature in a wholly different way, with the horn-heavy and shockingly polished Pleased To Meet Me.  The early Replacements buried their excellent pop-rock songs under deliberately sloppy performances, but I don’t understand why this record didn’t do better, esp. with its studio-polished but not glossy production (recalling the classic Stones records with a seamless incorporation of a horn section).  Those early records had energy but not discipline, and later Replacements records will have the polish but not the fire, but right here they hit the sweet spot (even if the previous two had slightly better songs and a sound that fit more comfortably among the rest of alt-rock).

                But even with a series of good record from established bands, what’s really exciting about ’87 is the rise of a whole bunch of promising new acts.  The ones to attract the most attention chart-wise were Guns ‘N Roses, who have the most striking debut I’ve heard in awhile.  Possibly this is because the punks and their followers favored releasing stuff as soon as they had songs, in dribs of singles and EPs and half-baked debuts, rather than burnishing their material into a single cohesive debut statement.  Regardless, Appetite for Destruction is a very strong record, esp. for a first release.  Also what’s surprising is how poorly it fits with what’s around it.  There’s some touches of the LA funk-metal scene, but this isn’t really a metal record, and it’s certainly not a punk record.  It gets grouped with the hair-metal bands, and while GnR share a glam influence with those bands, that doesn’t really fit either.  What GnR really sound like is, essentially, an Aerosmith fronted by Rob Halford.  It’s interesting that Aerosmith’s sound could basically be reduced to “Zeppelin playing the Stones,” but while GnR has a very strong Aerosmith influence, they don’t sound really so much like those constituent elements.  It is fitting, anyway, that Aerosmith make their comeback this year as well, since the two bands sound so similar to each other.

                I did mention that GnR sound vaguely like the LA funk-metal scene, and this is especially true insofar as new act Jane’s Addiction sound a lot like a not-very-good more arty GnR on their debut.  GnR and the alt-rockers will end up basically hating each other, but certainly sound a lot like Jane’s Addiction this year.

                If Jane’s Addiction is one major sign of things to come, by far the biggest is that ’87 really is the birth of grunge as a subgenre.  Pearl Jam got a lot of flack for not being as “pure” grunge as the likes of Nirvana or Soundgarden, but Pearl Jam (and Mudhoney) precursor band Green River puts out their debut before either of those bands are even formed.  Truth be told, they sound a lot more like Mudhoney with better guitar-playing than Pearl Jam, and there aren’t great songs yet, but it’s still a bracing debut.  It’s just refreshing to hear a band with a strong Stooges influence again after all the production and polish, or the frantic thrashing of hardcore, which dominated post-Sex Pistols.  Certainly Seattle grunge starts here.

                One thing that becomes clear, however, is that while Seattle was an epicenter, it was far from the only scene incubating a grunge-type scene.  The Flaming Lips have been mining their distortion-heavy garage-rock sound for awhile now, but it certainly fits with the grunge bands.  In New York, Sonic Youth have started moving from being a guitar-heavy art band into being an art-rockin’ guitar band, meaning they’re starting to learn the joys of writing songs instead of just guitar-noise compositions.  I understand why people prefer the earlier Sonic Youth, but they’re wrong: here’s where Sonic Youth start to get good (and also influential for things to come). 

                But this year especially it seems like Boston can make as much a claim to be the birthplace of grunge as Seattle (maybe the genre just thrives in places where it’s frequently grey and rainy).  Challenging GnR for best debut of the last few years are the Pixies, who put out their first EP this year.  It’s remarkably fully-formed, showcasing a band that sounds like it can explode in any direction at once.  It also, listened to in context, sounds basically like an experimental band working in the hardcore tradition.  They have too good production to sound like an SST band, but sentiment-wise the Pixies are weird enough to fit somewhere between the arty songcraft of the Minutemen and the sheer power of Black Flag.  Not grunge, but clearly a link.  More clearly grunge are Dinosaur Jr., who crack their formula on their second album, which is basically Hüsker Dü-style songs with Neil Young-esque guitar heroics on top.  So that’s basically grunge, right there, if not as aggressive as, say, Green River (or the Pixies). 

                Neil Young himself, by the way, puts out his most straightforward album in a long time.  Life still has an ill-suiting 80s production gloss, but is pretty much a collection of straightforward Crazy Horse rockers.  Maybe too straightforward, though.  There are some decent songs here, but not really any great ones.  Possibly some songs would be better with better production, but this is Young’s most conventional record since at least Comes A Time, and consequently, while not his worst, his most forgettable record in awhile. 

                So if grunge is starting to form in the US underground, the next big thing in the UK underground is also starting to bubble to the surface, and it’s pretty diametrically opposite to grunge.   Where grunge is dour and downtempo, Madchester is colourful (deliberate UK-style spelling) and upbeat, music for dancing.  Like grunge, it’s percolating in the underground rather than bubbling to the surface, but the Happy Mondays basically have their sound down already, borrowing heavily from the funk sounds of Big Audio Dynamite and acid house (of which I have little in my collection), but adding a more Iggy Stooge-like element in their thuggish frontman.  On their debut, they’re not exactly “competent,” sounding kinda like a group of thug who love BAD and stole some instruments and tried to play them, but it’s a fun sound, and they’ll get better soon.  The other big band of Madchester, the Stone Roses, aren’t as close to there yet, still mired in a beatless jangle-pop sound, though their songcraft is getting better.  Still sounding a lot like the Smiths, who break up this year, just in time for the next big sound to break in the UK.  The Fall, on the other hand, as befitting a Manchester band, have already discovered the Madchester sound, and are starting to play  around with it (and simultaneously mock, as they do).

                Finally, a major breakthrough in hip-hop as well, with the debut of Eric B. & Rakim.  Rakim is basically the Jimi Hendrix of rapping, radically transforming the technique of rapping in a way that everyone else will spend years trying to follow, and doing so in a way that has never been bettered.  His lyrics aren’t especially remarkable, but his flow is a breakthrough.  Even previous greats like Run-D.M.C. relied on a stomping, heavily rhythmic cadence in their rhymes, but Rakim twists and weaves almost like a jazz singer.  Eric B. is a breakthrough himself, with a minimalist rhythmic sound that points to hip-hop beats as innovative in their own right, as opposed t0 simply chopped-up samples of existing funk or rock tracks.

                And I’d just like to close this year with a post-script on 1983:  I just recently picked up the Meat Puppets’ II, and it really deserved some mention in ’83.   Not only would it have been a real sign of life in an otherwise rather dim year, but their acid-fried country-punk sound goes a long way to explaining the early influences on the Flaming Lips, even if the Mekons still sound like a bigger influence on the later alt-country stuff.

Song of the Year:  Two nominations this year.  Guns ‘n  Roses, like so many mid-80s bands, are a band I respect more than I love, but they had one undeniable moment of greatness, and it’s “Sweet Child ‘O Mine,” not coincidentally the song on their debut that sounds the most original and least indebted to Aerosmith.  My other pick coincidentally features a future GnR bassist, but otherwise has nothing in common.  Still, even if Pleased To Meet Me isn’t the Replacements’ best album, “Alex Chilton,” a tribute from one unjustly ignored cult band to another, is probably their best song.  Of course, if it were December now, I’d pick the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” over either of these.

Album of the Year:  A lot of big records this year, but several of them are much weaker on their second side than their first (i.e. The Joshua Tree, Appetite for Destruction).  And Document is basically just a consolidation from Lifes Rich Pagent.  So I’ll give the edge to Sign ‘O The Times, possibly Prince’s best moment, and certainly his most ambitious; and remarkably ambitious to be basically the product of a single man.

Artist Most Benefiting from Reevaluation:  Possibly Eric B. & Rakim.  I didn’t realize how radical a leap forward they were in both vocal and instrumental technique.

Artist Most Diminished in Reevaluation:  The Stone Roses, but only a little.  For all they get credit for being at the cutting edge of a scene, the Mondays were there well before them, and even the Fall started incorporating acid house/funk beats before the Roses. 

               

Album List

Aerosmith - Big Ones

Big Black - Headache

Big Black - Heartbeat

Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic - Between Fires

Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic - Sonic Geology

Bob Dylan - Live 1961-2000: Thirty-Nine Years of Great Concert Performances

Bruce Springsteen - The Essential Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen – Tunnel of Love

Camper Van Beethoven - Popular Songs of Great Enduring Strength and Beauty

Chuck Brown - The Best Of Chuck Brown

Classic Ruins - Lassie Eats Chickens (bonus)

David Bowie - Best Of Bowie

Dead Kennedys - Misc.

Devo - Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology

Dinosaur Jr. - Ear-Bleeding Country: Best Of Dinosaur Jr

Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me

Dio - The Very Beast Of Dio

Elvis Costello - Out Of Our Idiot

Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full

Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac

George Harrison - Best Of Dark Horse 1976-1989

Green River - Dry As A Bone

Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction

Happy Mondays - Double Easy: The U.S. Singles

Hüsker Dü - Misc.

Hüsker Dü – Warehouse: Songs and Stories

Jane's Addiction - Up From The Catacombs: The Best Of Jane's Addiction

John Lee Hooker - The Ultimate Collection 1948-1990

Judas Priest - Metal Works '73-'93

Michael Jackson – Bad

Michael Jackson - The Essential Michael Jackson

Midnight Oil - 20,000 Watts R.S.L.: Greatest Hits

Midnight Oil – Diesel & Dust

Neil Young – Life

Neil Young - Lucky Thirteen

New Order - Retro

New Order - Substance

Ozzy Osbourne - Tribute

Pet Shop Boys - Discography: The Complete Singles Collection

Primal Scream - Children Of Nuggets IV

Primal Scream - Shoot Speed (More Dirty Hits)

Prince – Sign ‘O The Times

Prince - The B-Sides

Prince - The Hits

Public Image Ltd. – Happy?

R.E.M. - Document

Red Hot Chili Peppers - What Hits!?

Run-D.M.C. - Greatest Hits

Rush - Chronicles

Sonic Youth - Sister

Steve Earle - The Best Of Steve Earle

Stevie Ray Vaughan - The Real Deal: Greatest Hits Vol. 2

The Cure - Galore (The Singles 1987-1997)

The Cure - Wedding Songs

The Fall - 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong: 39 Golden Greats

The Flaming Lips - Oh My Gawd!!!

The Grateful Dead (live incomplete) - Postcards Of The Hanging: Grateful Dead Perform The Songs Of

The Jesus & Mary Chain - 21 Singles

The La's - The La's

The Mekons - Honky Tonkin'

The Mekons - I Have Been to Heaven and Back..., Vol. 1

The Mekons - Where Were You?

The Pixies - Come On Pilgrim

The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God [Bonus Tracks]

The Ramones - Mania

The Replacements - All for Nothing

The Replacements - Pleased To Meet Me [Expanded Edition]

The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs

The Smiths - Singles

The Stone Roses - The Complete Stone Roses

The Style Council - The Singular Adventures Of The Style Council

The Vaselines - The Way Of The Vaselines

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Playback II: Spoiled & Mistreated

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Playback IV: The Other Sides

U2 - B-Sides 1980-1990

U2 - The Best Of 1980-1990

U2 - The Joshua Tree

Uncle Tupelo - No Depression

V/A - 12 Classic 45s

V/A - '80s Hits Back

V/A - Children Of Nuggets I

V/A - Children Of Nuggets IV

V/A - Samba Soul 70!

V/A - Sub-Pop Sampler

V/A - Trainspotting

Wire - 1985-1990 The A List

X - Beyond & Back: The X Anthology

Yes – Big Generator

Yo La Tengo - Prisoners Of Love