The first year of the '80s decade just might be, musically speaking, my favorite of them all; this was after all the beginning of a rich musical adventure that started with me as barely a teenager engaging with the gems below and concluded with The Cure’s Disintegration 9 years later as a young adult, with so many varied and wonderful stops along the way.
Man, has it really been 40 years?
There are so many records I loved that year but here are, in alphabetical order by artist, my Top 5:
AC/DC Back in Black [Atlantic]
There's not much I can say about this one except that it brings back fond memories of listening to it with my dear friend Yiik-Funk Chong [RIP] and that I love it as much now as I did then. ALL killer no filler, indeed. Also, all these years later, the glorious intersection where Chuck Berry and Black Sabbath meet remains as awesome as ever and just sounds sooooo good.
PETER GABRIEL self-titled aka 'Melt' [Mercury]
I don't think my music directly reflects the indelible impact this album had on me, but it was along with King Crimson's Discipline [Warner Bros-1981] the album that made me want to be not just a musician but an artist as well, and evokes a time when I would eat, breathe, sleep and dream music, as if nothing else could sustain me. Man...
THE POLICE Zenyatta Mondatta [A&M]
Derided not only by the band itself (especially Sting, for the band not having enough time and too mush pressure to adequately put an album together) but the press, as well. However, we who love it have had the last laugh: it's a banger and along with the previous year's Regatta de Blanc, the primo example of the classic Police sound. (I'll always be grateful to my then-new friend Mr. S for lending me the
first three Police records in one shot, which I then proceeded to
absorb in chronological order, gazing at each vinyl record as it spun on
the turntable of our parents’ living room sound system, and culminating
with Zenyatta.)
THE PRETENDERS self-titled [Sire]
The opening salvo by Chrissie Hynde
and her killer band of co-horts was not just the best thing they ever
did, it towers over the rest of their catalog. And in the majority of
cases, dramatically so. (It is, after all, recognized as one of the
greatest debut albums in rock history.) I actually remember exactly where I was the first time “Brass in Pocket” came on the radio. Yeah...
VAN HALEN Women and Children First [Warner Bros.]
You
won’t find any big hit singles like on the previous two releases but
the first VH album of all self-penned material is arguably their most
cohesive and representative. Just check out the stomp and swagger of
“…And The Cradle Will Rock”, “Everybody Wants Some"—immortalized in the
‘80s teen flick Better Off Dead—“Fools”,
“Take Your Whiskey Home” and one of the band’s very best songs, “In A
Simple Rhyme”. It was my introduction to VH and remains to this day, oh so near and dear to my heart.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
GENESIS Duke [Atlantic]; DARYL HALL Sacred Songs [RCA]; HALL & OATES Voices [RCA]; PAUL McCARTNEY II [Columbia]; MOTORHEAD Ace of Spades [Bronze]; OZZY OSBOURNE Blizzard of Ozz [Jet]; RUSH Permanent Waves [Mercury]; XTC Black Sea [Virgin].
