Mt. Rushmore: 1985

 

     My contender list for 1985 is a solid 7 albums that are all very good. The three that didn't quite make the cut were: The Replacements Tim, Tears For Fears Songs From the Big Chair and The Jesus and Mary Chain Psychocandy. I also considered Sting, The Smiths and Phil Collins. Not bad for runners up. 

     Spoiler alert: 1985 is probably the beginning of a run of number one albums by a little band from Athens, GA. The top spot goes to Fables of the Reconstruction (or Reconstruction of the Fables). This is R.E.M.'s most dense and dark album, they had a miserable time recording it and I LOVE it. Sometimes you have to suffer for your art. "Driver 8" is indisputably the song that defines the R.E.M. sound. It starts with that tremendous Peter Buck riff, then Stipe comes in with "The walls you built up, stone by stone. Fields divided one by one". One of my favorite lines is "Power lines have floaters so the airplanes won't get snagged". "Kohoutek" maybe be the most beautiful song in the R.E.M. catalog. "Feeling Gravity's Pull" the most surrealistic. This is the first verse: "Fell asleep and read just about every paragraph. Read the scene where gravity is pulling me around. Peel back the mountains, peel back the sky. Stomp gravity into the floor. It's a Man Ray kind of sky. Let me show you what I can do with it. Time and distance are out of place here". FUCK! That's not even mentioning "Maps and Legends" and "Green Grow the Rushes". 

     Number two is Scarecrow by Mellencamp. Maybe it's corny, but I love ol' John Cougar Mellencamp. I'm also from a small Midwestern town and I found him relatable when I was younger. Scarecrow marked a  major step up in his songwriting. There are some great tracks on this album: "Rain on the Scarecrow", "Small Town", "Lonely Ol' Night", "Rumbleseat" and "R.O.C.K. in the USA". I'm glad I got him on a Mt. Rushmore.

     Number three is an album that kind of baffled me when it was released in 1985; Power Windows by RUSH. I was not a big fan of all the keyboards, but I powered through and learned to love it. "Big Money" and "Marathon" are standout tracks, but my favorite is "Middletown Dreams". It's kind of akin to the spirit of Mellencamp and Springsteen. The chorus is great, "Dreams flow across the heartland feeding on the fires. Dreams transport desires, drive you when you're down. Dreams transport the ones who need to get out of town". I guess that's more escapist like Springsteen, rather than Mellencamp. 

     Finally, a band that I forgot about in 1987, but they had a great two album run with Bangin" and my number four album for 1985, Play Deep...The Outfield. This album is so good and features the tracks, "Your Love", "All the Love" and "Say It Isn't So". Fantastic pop music. I was well into adulthood before I discovered they were British. Why would a band from the UK call themselves The Outfield? Crazy. 

     Looking ahead to 1984, it appears to be very good. Gonna have to make some tough cuts, like Diamond Life by Sade. "Smooth Operator" is like sex on a stick. Just sayin'. Peace.

Mt. Rushmore: 1986

 

     1986 was a mixed bag for albums. In the middle of the eighties, my contenders list has two country records and a jazz album. My Mt. Rushmore has three repeat bands. However, none of those is the no-brainer number one. My contenders for 1986 were: Dwight Yoakam Guitars, Cadillacs..., Steve Earle Guitar Town, Miles Davis Tutu and The Bangles Different Light. 

     The obvious number one is So by Peter Gabriel. What is left to say about So. Great songs. Amazing, groundbreaking videos. "Red Rain" is one of my all-time favorite songs. This album owned 1986. It was interesting that Peter Gabriel, Genesis' Invisible Touch and GTR (featuring Steve Hackett) were all huge that year. 

     Surprise, surprise number two is Life's Rich Pageant by R.E.M. What an amazing, underrated album. Apart from the one hit "Fall on Me" this album has three of my favorite R.E.M. songs that never get any run; "These Days", "I Believe" and "Cuyahoga". The playing, vocals and lyrics all come together on those tracks. The beginning of "Cuyahoga" is great: "Let's put our heads together and start a new country up. Our father's, father's father tried. Erased the parts he didn't like. Let's try to fill it in". 

     Number three is the debut self-titled album from Crowded House. Crowded House emerged from the band Split Enz, who had a stellar hit single "I Got You". The strength of that track pushed Neil Finn's songwriting to the forefront. They get lumped in with the one-hit wonder bands due to the success of the single "Don't Dream It's Over". However, "Something So Strong" is another fantastic hit from this album. It started a four album run that most bands cannot touch. Except R.E.M. 

     Finally, The Smithreens sneak in again with Especially For You. This album has their iconic song "Blood and Roses", as well as, "Behind the Wall of Sleep" and "Strangers When We Meet". For my video this time, I will skip "Sledgehammer" since eveyone has seen it a million times and do "Blood and Roses" instead. Looking at 1985, it's pretty dire, but I can probably squeak out four albums. Most of them wouldn't make it any other year though. Peace.

Mt. Rushmore: 1987

 

     1987. The year I graduated from Central Michigan University. It was a solid year for albums. There was a battle for supremacy between the two biggest alternative bands of the eighties. However, they finished second and third to my number one. A couple things before we get to the Mt. Rushmore. First, the contenders that didn't make it were: The Replacements Pleased to Meet Me, 10,000 Maniacs In My Tribe and The Bats Daddy's Highway. Second, I wanted to mention a compilation album that would have made the cut if it was an actual studio album, Juvenalia by The Verlaines. Juvenalia is a collection of singles and B-sides that is basically a greatest hits album. Check out the tracks "Death and the Maiden", "Doomsday", "Joed Out", "You Cheat Yourself of Everything That Moves" and "Pyromaniac". This is a stellar comp. 

     Number one is Midnight Oil's Diesel and Dust. I love this album, even though I have no knowledge of Australian politics or history, which is what they are mostly on about. Midnight Oil tend to be written off as one-hit wonders for "Beds are Burning". This album alone has at least three hits, "Beds", "Dreamworld" and "Dead Heart". Every song is a banger; my favorite being "Sometimes". Most powerful and passionate political album. 

     Number two is the album that could not be avoided in 1987, Johua Tree by U2. Obviously, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "With or Without You" are great songs, but I have hear them too many times. Can't deny them, though. My favorite tracks are "Where the Streets Have No Name", "In God's Country" and the incendiary "Bullet the Blue Sky". 

     Number three is by the other alternative rock behemoth of the eighties, R.E.M.'s Document. Even though many don't care for Document as an album, it did break the band into the mainstream with the huge singles "The One I Love" and "It's the End of the World as We Know It". It also has one of my least favorite R.E.M. tracks, "Finest Worksong". I really love everything else on Document, especially "Disturbance at the Heron House" and "Oddfellows Local 151". Spoilers: Every R.E.M. album from the IRS years will be on my Mt. Rushmores. Sorry, not sorry.

     Finally, a brilliant album I came to later in life, Dinosaur Jr.'s You're Living All Over Me". This is a DYI indie underground classic. And it has a crazy cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven". 

     Looking ahead, these mid-80's years are going to be a little thin on albums, but we'll come up with four every year. If nothing else, there's more R.E.M. Peace.

 

Mt. Rushmore: 1988

 

     So, 1988 will definitely have some carry over from the 1989 post. It's a solid year of good albums, but not really a no-brainer number one. This will be a personal preference Mt. Rushmore, so before we begin here are the runners up: Sonic Youth Daydream Nation, Crowded House Temple of Low Men, Living Colour Vivid, Dinosaur Jr. Bug and R.E.M. Green. 

    I've been going back and forth on my number one, but I will go with Love Junk by The Pursuit of Happiness. This is a terrific Canadian power pop album with scorching female backing vocals. Moe Berg's songwriting is hilarious and poignant. I still play the shit out of this album. The standout tracks remain "I'm an Adult Now" and "She's So Young". The whole album is pop-tastic. If you've never listened to it please go correct your horrible life decisions. 

     Number two is The Travelling Wilburys. What an astounding collection of musical talent...and Zimmerman. I love Petty, Harrison and Lynne. Orbison is fine. Dylan in the context of the Wilburys is acceptable. "End of the Line" and "Handle With Care" are bona fide classics. Here's something scary. I'm almost 58 years old. Guess how old these guys were in 1988. Tom Petty 37. Jeff Lynne 41. George Harrison 45. Zimmerman 47. Roy Orbison 52. What the bleep!

     Number three is Green Thought by The Smithereens. Great album, great tracks, love these guys. Only a Memory. House We Used to Live In. Drown in My Own Tears. Green Thoughts. I think they get overlooked because they only had a few great albums of original material, then did a bunch of covers albums. 

     Finally, last years number one band The Pixies with Surfer Rosa. Not as accessible as Doolittle, but what a tracklist: Gigantic. Where is My Mind? Bone Machine. Broken Face. Cactus. Vamos. Couldn't go back-to-back though. Looking ahead to 1987, there seems to be four albums that stand out, so pretty easy Mt. Rushmore next time. Peace. 

Mt.Rushmore: 1989

 

     After my 1990 post, I considered changing my Mt. Rushmores for the eighties to singles instead of albums. The '80's is the decade of hit singles and one-hit wonders. Album concepts had been disabused by Punk at the end of the seventies. However, I am going to forge ahead with albums. Some of these years are going to be slim pickings, but that is the case with every decade. I might reconsider this for the sixties, since conceptual albums really weren't a thing until the middle of the decade. We shall see. Anyhow, let's back into the eighties at 1989. I'm locked in with my number one, but the other three are still up for grabs, even as I sit here typing. 

     I almost went Easter Island Head with my number one, Doolittle by The Pixies, but I will come up with three more eventually. Obviously, Doolittle is one of the seminal albums in the history of alternative rock. Black Francis (Frank Black), Kim Deal and band are at their peak here. Debaser. Wave of Mutilation. Monkey Gone to Heaven. Gouge Away. Here Comes Your Man. All part of the canon. Really the whole album is tremendous. I wasn't cool enough to be listening to The Pixies in 1989, but I found my way to the band when I was ready to receive them. That's one of the great things about music.

     For number two, I decided to go with the album I played the shit out of in 1989. A great band and one of my guilty pleasures, The B-52's with their last great album, Cosmic Thing. What? Your tin roof rusted! Even though I prefer the early, surfy B-52's, this album is fun-tastic. "Love Shack" was a juggernaut in 1989. One of my favorite tracks is the nostalgic "Deadbeat Club". I love the first verse, "I was good, I could talk a mile a minute on this caffeine buzz I was on. We were really hummin'. We could talk every day for hours. We belongto the Deadbeat Club". The other singles "Roam" and "Channel Z" are also standouts. The B-52's are one of the most singular bands in the history of pop music. 

     Number three is Tom Petty's first solo album, Full Moon Fever. To be fair, there was considerable Heartbreakers action on this album, but it was transcendant due to the magic of Jeff Lynne. All his work with Petty and the Wilbury's (individually and as a super group) was unstoppable. Even though I'm not a huge fan of the universally loved and overplayed "Free Fallin'", this album is amazing. I Won't Back Down. Runnin' Down a Dream. Love is a Long Road. Yer So Bad. Free Fallin'. One of my favorite covers is Petty's version of The Byrds (Gene Clark) "Feel A Whole Lot Better". All hail Jeff Lynne!

     Before I reveal my number four, here are the other contenders: Stone Roses, Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique, De La Soul 3 Feet High and Rising, XTC Oranges and Lemons, Tin Machine and Bob Mould Workbook. Even though most of these albums are technically better than my number four, 11 by The Smithereens, this was just a personal choice. In 1989, the four bands I listened to the most were R.E.M., The Pursuit of Happiness, The B-52's and The Smithereens. I got to see The Smithereens a year or two before lead singer Pat DiNizio died. They were amazing live. 11 has three of their canonical tracks, "Girl Like You", "Yesterday Girl" and "Blues Before and After". Jim Babjak is one of my favorite guitarists. He plays a lot of jangly Rickenbacker, which is my wheelhouse. Anyhow, that's my 1989 Mt. Rushmore. Looking ahead to 1988, it seems pretty solid. Might have some repeat offenders. Peace.

Mt. Rushmore: 90's Recap

 

     Maybe it's just recency bias, but the nineties was the best decade for rock albums(1990 and 1998 notwithstanding). As we proceed through the "slow cancellation of the future", there may never be another period of new, creative music; just nostalgia for shoegaze, or power pop, or disco or The Beatles. It could be argued that the eighties was a better decade for singles, but certainly not albums. The seventies was the decade of great live albums. The sixties was a decade of great singles from diverse genres. Ironically, they weren't making vinyl records to any great extent in the nineties. It's only now with the resurgence of vinyl that we can here The Bends on LP. The RUSH reissues of their nineties albums are going for huge dollars online. When I started these nineties Mt. Rushmores, I declared that The Soft Bulletin would be the best album of the decade. As I have actually gone through the exercise I soon discovered I was wrong. There were so many 5 star albums. Something in my brain tried to retcon that Nevermind really wasn't that big of a deal. How do you rank a crazy album about Anne Frank? How do you choose between The Bends and OK Computer? How did Teenage Fanclub not have a number one on my list? Did Sloan name themselves after he urinals?

     Part of me doesn't want to rank the number ones from the nineties. The rankings could literally change everyday. So this is my ranking for today. Peace.

1)  Nevermind

2)  The Bends

3)  In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

4)  The Soft Bulletin

5)  OK Computer

6)  It's a Shame About Ray

7) Transmissions From the Satellite Heart

8)  Bee Thousand

9) One Chord to Another

10) Blue Sky Mining

 

     

     

Mt. Rushmore: 1990

 

     What was I listening to in 1990? Windham Hill and old jazz. 1990 was a wasteland for rock. Half of my contenders for this year aren't rock or jazz albums. Michael Hedges (who was actually a tremendous guitarist that I have posted about previously), Dwight Yoakam (who is one of my favorite singers and Buck Owens fan) and John Zorn's Naked City (spoilers, it's number four on the Mt. Rushmore). There's only one album under consideration that I actually listened to when it came out. Seriously, Kurt Cobain saved rock music. All that being said, I did come up with a solid three albums and John Zorn, which is just fun. 

     Number one is a tough call, so in fairness I will give it to the album I was actually listening to in 1990; Midnight Oil's Blue Sky Mining. This album has Oils classics "Forgotten Years", "King of the Mountain", "Blue Sky Mine" and "One Country". I especially love "Forgotten Years". It's a straight up burner with one of the best choruses ever. And they shot the video in a cemetary. Other great tracks are "Stars of Warburton" and "River Runs Red". This was an impressive follow up to Diesel and Dust, which is a hard album to follow. 

     Number two is perrenial favorites The Flaming Lips with In a Priest Driven Ambulance. This is the best album of the pre-Steven Drozd era. Wayne's lyric are bonkers and Jesus-ey. "Used to be alright, but things got strange. Used to take all night, but things have changed and God walks among us now", "There you are. You stand in the rain and the rain fills your brain and it makes you think that God was fucked up when he made this town. There you stand with your bleedin' hands and you don't understand why you work so goddamn hard to be anything at all. There you are. You drive in your car and you wish for the stars and you end up face down in the road dead as fuck". "I was born the day they shot a hole in the Jesus egg". My favorite line is from "Stand in Line"; "Ten men stand in line waitin' for some personality to be put out on the corner, but it ain't garbage day". Now I feel bad making this number two. 

     Nunber three is Vehicle by The Clean. I posted about this album before, so please go back and check that out. Love the Flying Nun bands. 

     And finally John Zorn's Naked City. This mostly instrumental album is also bonkers. There are inspired originals as well as fantastic covers, like Henry Mancini's "Shot in the Dark". A must listen for anyone that likes unhinged instrumental music. It's like revved up Raymond Scott. Tomorrow will be a '90's recap. Peace.