As I have reviewed the albums of 1981, I've had strong feelings of nostaglia. I remember spending hours in my room listening to WLAV out of Grand Rapids and records by RUSH, Triumph and April Wine. So now my Mt. Rushmore will probably be clouded. I was having a hard time after my number one, but I'm going to go with the albums I was obsessed with at the time. The albums that will not be making the cut are: The Police Ghost in the Machine, Men at Work Business as Usual, The Go-Go's Beauty and the Beat, Def Leppard High and Dry, The Kinks Give the People What They Want, AC/DC For Those About to Rock, Genesis ABACAB, Van Halen Fair Warning, Ozzy Diary of a Madman, U2 October and Black Sabbath Mob Rules. That's some good shit.
The obvious number one is Moving Pictures by RUSH. Red Barchetta. Tom Sawyer. YYZ. Limelight. The Camera Eye. Witch Hunt. Vital Signs. What an amazing album. "Limelight" is probably my favorite RUSH song of all-time. It's top three for Alex Lifeson guitar solos. I still have my original LP and it is worn out and beat to shit. I have probably listened to it over 200 times in my life.
The record I listened to second most in 1981 was Allied Forces by Triumph. Even though they were written off as RUSH Jr., I love Triumph. Last year I got the 40th anniversary box set of Allied Forces which has a ton of cool stuff. Rik Emmett is one of my favorite guitarists. I forgot about their album Never Surrender, partly beacause it was released in Canada in 1982 and the US in 1983. It was also tremendous. I remember hearing Triumph live on the King Biscuit Flower Hour all the time. "Magic Power" and "Fight the Good Fight" were such great singles.
Let's keep the Canadian train rolling with number three, Nature of the Beast by April Wine. These guys were also a staple of the King Biscuit Flower Hour. "Just Between You and Me" and "Sign of the Gypsy Queen" were huge to me. Such an underrated band.
OK. My Mt. Rushmore can't be all Canadian. Number four is an album that I also played the shit out of and an artist whose career was killed by MTV: Don't Say No by Billy Squier. I got sucked in by "The Stroke" and stayed for "In the Dark", which is an all-time classic. Great, great, great album.
Looking ahead to 1980, my number one is obvious again, but I have a metric shit ton of contenders for the other three spots. IT IS LOADED! Once again, I will do a recap of the Eighties number ones after that. The Eighties numbers ones are definitely an step down from the Nineties. They are still great though. Peace.
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