Pitchfork's Top 100 Albums Of The 80's

somecleric · 11-18-2002, 07:44 PM

www.pitchforkmedia.com are doing their top 100 albums of the 80s list today and tommorrow. Today was 100-51, tommorrow is 50 to 1. There's some interesting albums in the top half, including Mission To Burma | Signals, Calls & Marches at 53 (I would have thought it'd be higher), Bruce Springsteen | Nebraska at 60 (was surprised at this one, was sure it'd be higher), The Replacements | Pleased To Meet Me at 71 (the album, apart from Can't Hardly Wait, is total crap) and David Bowie | Scary Monsters at 93 (behind Kate Bush, yikes). I'm giddy in anticipation of their top 50, here's my predictions for the top 10:

9. My Bloody Valentine | Isn't Anything

Loveless was pitchfork's top album of the 90s, and I can't see them ignoring this album. Nowhere near as groundbreaking as Loveless, still a very solid album, and as the Cocteau Twins are already showing strong in the top half of the list, I'm sure this one will be up near the top.

9. U2 | War

U2 have yet to appear in pitchfork's list, and while they may love all things indy, they can't ignore U2 right? The Unforgettable Fire is the obvious pitchfork pick for top U2 album, and The Joshua Tree the obvious pick of casual fans, but I think pitchfork are going to honour this album instead, as they like to throw those curves.

8. Sonic Youth | Daydream Nation

This was Loveless for the 80s, and it's exactly the type of album pitchfork love.

7. Public Image Ltd | Second Edition

I'm not sure if they'll count this, as it's technically a reissue of a 1979 record, but pitchfork like to cheat when their favorites are involved, and you know they're going to find some way to get Johnny Lydon's lesser known but superior band in the top 10.

6. 808 State | Newbuild

Honestly, I don't know whether this or 90 will be on the list, but I'm confident one of them will be. 90 was probably the more accomplished album, but Newbuild is name checked more.

5. Wire | A Bell Is A Cup...

Wire's best album, and Ryan Schrieber won't let U2 be ahead of Wire on the list.

4. The Replacements | Let It Be

Again, this spot could go to Let It Be or Tim, but bet on pitchfork to go with the Twin Tone release over the Sire release.

3. The Smiths | The Queen Is Dead

Wouldn't be the 80s without The Smiths.

2. Joy Division | Closer

This and #1 could flip flop. Depends on whether pitchfork think the 80s greatest contribution is it's post-punk brilliance and synth's legacy or the underground's indy ethics.

1. Pixies | Doolittle

Every album pitchfork loves owes at least a little to this album. Top 3 for sure and my bet for #1.

Also, I expect The Cure, Siouxsie, Blondie, The Police, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Talulah Gosh, XTC, Nick Cave (possibly in guise of The Birthday Party) and Depeche Mode to show up in the top 50 too, as they're all conspicuously absent from the top half of the top 100.

And the most horrible omission I expect? Tom Waits | Swordfishtrombone. If it's on the list at all, I expect it'll be top 5, but I'm pretty sure it'll be overlooked.

Nimbik · 11-19-2002, 02:28 AM

010: Joy Division
Closer
[Factory; 1980]

Murmurs of "...too soon..." and "...what if..." will never be far from Ian Curtis' final statement. Closer was the fulfillment of the colossal promise of Joy Division's brooding debut masterpiece, Unknown Pleasures, but it promised even more in return; Curtis's eventual suicide would leave those expectations tragically unrealized. Though it's easy to diminish the significance of what Joy Division left behind by second-guessing what could have come after, that would be more tragic. The true impact of Joy Division's bass-leading, minimalist works is still being fully realized; echoes of the themes of fear, alienation and loss they championed still resonate in so much music. That they might have gone on to surpass this fractured, wrenching catharsis is irrelevant; this is what is, and it is a thing of uncompromising beauty. --Eric Carr

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
009: Public Enemy
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
[Def Jam; 1988]

Public Enemy was the real deal: a codified cultural force featuring an off-the-hinges production team (The Bomb Squad), the black-nationalist scholar (Professor Griff), menacing Para-Military types (The S1W's), the B-Boy (Flavor Motherfuckin' Flav), and the mouthpiece that held it all together (Chuck D). The unrelenting momentum of Chuck's radical rhetoric was matched pound-for-pound by The Bomb Squad's dense, revolutionary soundghettos; while Flav (who repped both big clocks and crack rocks) did his gyrating dance around armed Black Panther rejects, making Public Enemy possibly the finest example of Hip-Hop Theater, ever. And when all these elements gelled on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Public Enemy became the equivalent of a Molotov Cocktail thrown into the ever-growing cultural necropolis of Reagan's 1980s. --Sam Chennault

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
008: Tom Waits
Rain Dogs
[Island; 1985]

Tom Waits' life-as-theater has been onstage for nearly three decades, yet of all his albums, this one edges to the top of the pile. The second installment in his German art song/"Island trilogy", Rain Dogs has the strongest songs and the surest grip on its own wanderings. With his hobo-centric lyrics reinspired by a move to New York City, Waits belts out "Union Square" and then rumbles out ballads like "Time"; the bleak vaudeville comes with accordion and pump organ wheezing out oompahs, while the percussion clanks, romps and slinks ("Clap Hands"). And then there are the guitars: Keith Richards shows up to make Waits look young and healthy, but it's Marc Ribot whose icepick lines best suit Waits' verses, and who owns the riff on "Jockey Full of Bourbon". But c'mon, Waits, surely you could have stopped Rod Stewart from destroying "Downtown Train". --Chris Dahlen

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
007: Pixies
Surfer Rosa
[4AD; 1988]

Surfer Rosa snapshots the Pixies when they were still young, fresh-faced, and (I assume) speaking to each other. Frank Black's demonic one-man choir is already snuff-film disturbing, Kim Deal's voice charms, having yet to be thoroughly scorched by cigarettes, David Lovering's meaty fills float in ethereal reverb, and Joey Santiago proves himself master of the one-note riff. Maybe it's Albini on the knobs, but Santiago's six-string, sounding like a bee with its finger in a socket, is a key element here, bloodbath-battling Black's tongue-speaking through "Something Against You" and "Vamos". The band jumps from the abstract weirdness of tracks like "Broken Face" and "Tony's Theme" to the effortless pop immediacy of timeless indie wonders like "Where Is My Mind?" and "Gigantic". How one band could toe the line between jagged, artful unpredictability and sublime melodic bliss is anyone's guess, but their gift has not been equaled since, and Surfer Rosa, easily their strangest and most chaotic outing, remains an unparalleled example of rule-smashing innovation in independent music. --Rob Mitchum

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
006: The Smiths
The Queen Is Dead
[Sire; 1986]

In a way, this is the Smiths album-of-choice by default, as it's the record that feels least like it was built around a few great singles. The pacing and sequencing are key, starting off with one of the band's most urgent songs (the title track) moving to the jaunty and clever "Frankly Mr. Shankly", before eventually getting around to the incredible "Cemetery Gates". The back half has two of the finest songs of the modern guitar-pop era ("The Boy with a Thorn in His Side" and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out"), some of Morrissey's funniest lyrics ("Bigmouth Strikes Again"), and no filler. A new batch of lonely and alienated American teenagers discovers The Smiths every year. The reason is simple: few other bands could ever provide an antidote to adolescent yearnings as powerful as The Queen Is Dead. --Mark Richardson

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
005: R.E.M.
Murmur
[IRS; 1983]

Not widely noticed when it was released, R.E.M.'s first full-length album was surely a milestone: a clean break from everything else on the radio, Murmur introduced the band's simpler, stripped-down, almost folky sound and its straightforward but insidious music. Guitarist Peter Buck jangles more gently than his garage or power-pop peers (like, say, producer Mitch Easter's Let's Active); but without a doubt, it's Michael Stipe who defines the band with his deadly combination of feminine sensitivity and masculine, stoically cryptic vocals. And they brought great songs-- "Radio Free Europe", "Pilgrimage", "Moral Kiosk", "Catapult"... everything sounds just as good, and even as refreshing, two decades later. If any one album were single-handedly responsible for inventing alternative rock, this would be it. --Chris Dahlen

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
004: Pixies
Doolittle
[4AD; 1989]

Quick-- pick the most influential alternative rock band of all time. If you didn't choose The Pixies, I'll give you another chance. In the meantime, listen to Doolittle and learn from your mistakes. In all of indie/alternative, there may be no single album more borrowed from, adapted, or flat-out ripped-off than The Pixies' follow-up to Surfer Rosa. Steve Albini once dismissed the band as "boring college rock", and he was half right-- The Pixies were college rock in 1989. (The "boring" half was obviously added to pad his notoriety, as anyone who could call this band boring is surely The World's Biggest Asshole.) Doolittle is almost senselessly varied-- mood-altering hooks, poetically insane lyrics, larynx demolishing screams and surreal croons, surf, thrash, pop, slow burns and races to the finish line... Let me put it this way: if not for Doolittle, there would be no Pitchfork. In other words, the influence of this record is so vast that, fifteen years on, it has altered the course of this very moment. --Eric Carr

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
003: Beastie Boys
Paul's Boutique
[Capitol; 1989]

Once upon a time, three Brooklyn Jews lost their Def Jam street cred. They'd already been punks and raunchy pop-rappers, and damn if they didn't find themselves lost as to what to be next-- until down swooped the Brothers Dust. These fairy godbrothers helped them usher forth a dense samplorama that tanked sales-wise because it was so much smarter than its predecessor. Paul's Boutique was free of riff-slag, and boasted mostly unfunny, intimidatingly allusive lyrics. Just as the African-American Gwendolyn Brooks opened up doors for poetry, allowing epics to be written about dehumanizing Chicago tenements, the Beasties expanded hip-hop's domain to namecheck Salinger, Dickens, Galileo, and Newton. So ahead of its time, it should be on a 90s list. Odelay would owe it back rent if they didn't have the same landlords. --William Bowers

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
002: Talking Heads
Remain in Light
[Sire; 1980]

As the 1970s gave way to the 1980s, the Talking Heads found themselves at an awkward time: after punk, which they were at first associated with, had become synonymous with three chords and a sneer, but before the arrival of new wave. So they congregated in a Nassau studio with Brian Eno and created a record without precedent-- one that merged the restlessness and anxiety of the former genre with the futurism of the latter. The resulting album, drawing influence from tribal Africa, is massively percussion-fueled, dense with elaborate polyrhythms and elastic bass. Adrian Belew's bizarre guitar work flavors the music with erratic, technological pings and effects, even nailing modem noise with crystalline foresight. Byrne's lyrics are at their surreal best here, with shapeshifting as a recurring theme, but also at their most affecting on songs like "Once in a Lifetime", which poignantly addresses the passage of time and the crossroads at which we find ourselves during life, and "Listening Wind", whose haunted refrain finds us sympathizing with a man for whom terrorism is the last hope for preserving his culture. Both daringly experimental and pop-accessible, Remain in Light may be the Talking Heads' defining moment. --Ryan Schreiber

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
001: Sonic Youth
Daydream Nation
[Blast First/Enigma; 1987]

I could sit here and force-feed you dietary information about Daydream Nation's purported Importance, and because it's ended up as our 80s MVP, perhaps that's expected. But really, the reason I like Daydream Nation better than anything else spawned between 1980-89 is that, hell, it's just the greatest fucking album. Few musical moments are more guaranteed to bring me joy than the joyous riff and snare rim clicks that kick off "Teen Age Riot". Never was the elusive Sonic Youth balance of noisecraft/songcraft kept so gloriously intact-- despite containing few songs under five minutes, this is still the most accessible album they ever made (including even that brief period when they were trying to be accessible). Thank their confidence in allowing themselves to stretch out their improv legs in the studio, to present the record with bright, clear production, to keep all the SKREEERAWWWKKK within the context of actual melodic songs. Thank the highest Lee ratio ever to be found on SY product, and unparalleled composition consistency from Thurston and, gasp!, Kim. Daydream Nation was a noisy punctuation mark to the evolution of sub-radar rock in the Reagan years, and as long as people are still listening to guitars, it will remain a milestone. --Rob Mitchum

Good list, glad the Beasties, Pixies and Sonic Youth get their dues

Synd D`nys · 11-21-2002, 12:25 AM

No "Moving Pictures" anywhere on that list is a complete sham.

quechal · 11-21-2002, 12:35 AM

nice list. although, i and probably everyone esle would argue with placement (expecialy guns and roses at 59 instead of the top 10) very few could aruge with it as a whole

somecleric · 11-21-2002, 01:41 AM

I completely forgot about rap and hip hop. Ooops.

Still, I got 4 of the top 10, and 2 more of my picks were in the top 20, with one in the top 30.

Still shocked they left Wire off, and chose Joshua Tree over War for their U2 pick, and 808 State I figured would get a mention for it's key posistion in music history.

Glad Tom Waits got #11 and #8 though, dismayed Nick Cave got left off completely.

Synd D`nys · 11-22-2002, 12:57 AM

Quote:

and chose Joshua Tree over War for their U2 pick

I expected The Joshua Tree to be higher actually.

Merauk · 11-22-2002, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by somecleric
chose Joshua Tree over War for their U2 pick

The only thing Joshua Tree did was prove that U2 was dead (at least to me). My U2 collection stops at Unforgettable Fire.

Scary Monsters was definitely a top 15 album.
Rum, Sodomy, & The Lash top 20.
Sign 'O' The Times top 10 (certainly better then Purple Rain swap at worst).
Trust > Get Happy.
De La Soul right on the money there, under rated band for sure.

The Pixies while good are hardly in my mind the greatest most influential band of the 80's. I would see REM or The Smiths falling into that category (Talking Heads definitely deserved more props in the list as well).

Prodigious · 11-22-2002, 09:12 AM

'scuse me but where the hell is queen - greatest hits?

oh well. a list with like 10 sonic youth and pixie (who?) albums seems kinda peculiar anyway

Millie · 11-22-2002, 10:22 AM

A decent list overall, but noticeably incomplete at certain points. I guess that's the problem with making "Top 100" lists -- there were simply too many brilliant albums in that decade to limit to 100. Any attempt to do so is bound to make its mistakes. For what pitchfork's list is, though, it's not a bad start by any means.

Oh, and War >>>>>>> Joshua Tree, thx.

somecleric · 11-22-2002, 02:47 PM

Pitchfork are about independent music, first and foremost, so unless a mainstream album was so big (and quality) they couldn't justifiably ignore it, or was so influential it had to be included, they're going to leave it off.

And I can't believe you haven't heard of The Pixies Prodigious. You've probably heard of The Breeders though, sadly. And The Pixies were more influential than The Smiths and REM combined. The Smiths, while amazing, failed to inspire any other great bands until Suede, over 6 years later. REM have been an important source for many great artists, but I can't think of any bands that owe their existence to REM, not any notable ones, anyways. The Pixies, on the other hand, gave us Pavement, Modest Mouse, Nirvana, Weezer, Guided By Voices, Built To Spill, Mudhoney, Jane's Addiction, Yo La Tengo and hundreds more bands. In short, The Pixies changed American independent music.

Talking Heads got #2 on the list, and their other great albums were all late 70s, so I'm pretty sure they got what they deserved.

Synd D`nys · 11-22-2002, 03:10 PM

I was suprised Def Leppard: Hysteria wasn't on the list as well. Say what you will about Lep, the album was about the best 80s pop metal had to offer and sold about 20 million some odd copies.

Merauk · 11-22-2002, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by somecleric
In short, The Pixies changed American independent music.

Yeah after a little band called REM and I.R.S Records created independent music with a little single called "Radio Free Europe". The entire alternative/independent movement (if you want to call it that) started with REM and college radio. Without REM there would be no Pixies.

somecleric · 11-22-2002, 04:04 PM

REM were really, really important, but I think you're giving them a little too much credit. Husker Du, The Replacements, The Meat Puppets, Wire, The Fall, The Mekons, Sonic Youth and XTC can all be pointed to as the birth of American independent music too. REM are a key band, but The Pixies were a major source point for nearly every major indy rock group of the past 12 years. Everyone respects REM, but hardly anyone is trying to be them. Everyone wants to be Frank Black and Kim Deal.

Merauk · 11-22-2002, 04:14 PM

REM brought indie music to the main stream. Ask your mom who Bob Mould and Husker Du is and she will look at you funny. Even my mom knows who REM is.

Are they as musically creative as some of the bands listed no. But their influence on music industry was far greater then any of the bands you list. Without REM the bands we all know and love probably would have all existed but nobody would be playing their records on the radio nor putting out their CD's. REM made record companies and radio stations play independent music.

That aside up until Green the made really good music to.

somecleric · 11-22-2002, 05:09 PM

The Replacements and Husker Du were both signed to majors (1985) before REM (1987).

The Replacement's Tim charted two years before REM's Document, their breakthrough into the mainstream.

REM may have been instrumental in gaining alternative music acceptance in the mainstream in the same way Nirvana did, but in terms of breaking new industry ground for independent music, they were following in the footsteps of Husker Du and The Replacements, and musically they aren't anywhere near as important as The Pixies amongst modern American indy rock.

REM may have kicked things off with 'Radio Free Europe', but The Damned did the same thing with 'New Rose' and punk, 5 years earlier, and The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and The Clash still get all the credit there. No one tries to convince people the Damned were more important.

11-18-2002, 07:44 PM	#1 (permalink)
somecleric Registered User Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 121 -1 Internets	Pitchfork's Top 100 Albums Of The 80's www.pitchforkmedia.com are doing their top 100 albums of the 80s list today and tommorrow. Today was 100-51, tommorrow is 50 to 1. There's some interesting albums in the top half, including Mission To Burma \| Signals, Calls & Marches at 53 (I would have thought it'd be higher), Bruce Springsteen \| Nebraska at 60 (was surprised at this one, was sure it'd be higher), The Replacements \| Pleased To Meet Me at 71 (the album, apart from Can't Hardly Wait, is total crap) and David Bowie \| Scary Monsters at 93 (behind Kate Bush, yikes). I'm giddy in anticipation of their top 50, here's my predictions for the top 10: 9. My Bloody Valentine \| Isn't Anything Loveless was pitchfork's top album of the 90s, and I can't see them ignoring this album. Nowhere near as groundbreaking as Loveless, still a very solid album, and as the Cocteau Twins are already showing strong in the top half of the list, I'm sure this one will be up near the top. 9. U2 \| War U2 have yet to appear in pitchfork's list, and while they may love all things indy, they can't ignore U2 right? The Unforgettable Fire is the obvious pitchfork pick for top U2 album, and The Joshua Tree the obvious pick of casual fans, but I think pitchfork are going to honour this album instead, as they like to throw those curves. 8. Sonic Youth \| Daydream Nation This was Loveless for the 80s, and it's exactly the type of album pitchfork love. 7. Public Image Ltd \| Second Edition I'm not sure if they'll count this, as it's technically a reissue of a 1979 record, but pitchfork like to cheat when their favorites are involved, and you know they're going to find some way to get Johnny Lydon's lesser known but superior band in the top 10. 6. 808 State \| Newbuild Honestly, I don't know whether this or 90 will be on the list, but I'm confident one of them will be. 90 was probably the more accomplished album, but Newbuild is name checked more. 5. Wire \| A Bell Is A Cup... Wire's best album, and Ryan Schrieber won't let U2 be ahead of Wire on the list. 4. The Replacements \| Let It Be Again, this spot could go to Let It Be or Tim, but bet on pitchfork to go with the Twin Tone release over the Sire release. 3. The Smiths \| The Queen Is Dead Wouldn't be the 80s without The Smiths. 2. Joy Division \| Closer This and #1 could flip flop. Depends on whether pitchfork think the 80s greatest contribution is it's post-punk brilliance and synth's legacy or the underground's indy ethics. 1. Pixies \| Doolittle Every album pitchfork loves owes at least a little to this album. Top 3 for sure and my bet for #1. Also, I expect The Cure, Siouxsie, Blondie, The Police, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Talulah Gosh, XTC, Nick Cave (possibly in guise of The Birthday Party) and Depeche Mode to show up in the top 50 too, as they're all conspicuously absent from the top half of the top 100. And the most horrible omission I expect? Tom Waits \| Swordfishtrombone. If it's on the list at all, I expect it'll be top 5, but I'm pretty sure it'll be overlooked.

11-21-2002, 12:25 AM	#3 (permalink)
Synd D`nys The root of all evil Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Hockeytown, U.S.A. Posts: 548 -1 Internets	No "Moving Pictures" anywhere on that list is a complete sham. __________________ EverQuest free since 7/03

11-22-2002, 10:22 AM	#9 (permalink)
Millie More Adventurous Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 5,590	A decent list overall, but noticeably incomplete at certain points. I guess that's the problem with making "Top 100" lists -- there were simply too many brilliant albums in that decade to limit to 100. Any attempt to do so is bound to make its mistakes. For what pitchfork's list is, though, it's not a bad start by any means. Oh, and War >>>>>>> Joshua Tree, thx. __________________

11-22-2002, 03:10 PM	#11 (permalink)
Synd D`nys The root of all evil Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Hockeytown, U.S.A. Posts: 548 -1 Internets	I was suprised Def Leppard: Hysteria wasn't on the list as well. Say what you will about Lep, the album was about the best 80s pop metal had to offer and sold about 20 million some odd copies. __________________ EverQuest free since 7/03

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11-19-2002, 02:28 AM	#2 (permalink)
Nimbik Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 78 -1 Internets	010: Joy Division Closer [Factory; 1980] Murmurs of "...too soon..." and "...what if..." will never be far from Ian Curtis' final statement. Closer was the fulfillment of the colossal promise of Joy Division's brooding debut masterpiece, Unknown Pleasures, but it promised even more in return; Curtis's eventual suicide would leave those expectations tragically unrealized. Though it's easy to diminish the significance of what Joy Division left behind by second-guessing what could have come after, that would be more tragic. The true impact of Joy Division's bass-leading, minimalist works is still being fully realized; echoes of the themes of fear, alienation and loss they championed still resonate in so much music. That they might have gone on to surpass this fractured, wrenching catharsis is irrelevant; this is what is, and it is a thing of uncompromising beauty. --Eric Carr - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 009: Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back [Def Jam; 1988] Public Enemy was the real deal: a codified cultural force featuring an off-the-hinges production team (The Bomb Squad), the black-nationalist scholar (Professor Griff), menacing Para-Military types (The S1W's), the B-Boy (Flavor Motherfuckin' Flav), and the mouthpiece that held it all together (Chuck D). The unrelenting momentum of Chuck's radical rhetoric was matched pound-for-pound by The Bomb Squad's dense, revolutionary soundghettos; while Flav (who repped both big clocks and crack rocks) did his gyrating dance around armed Black Panther rejects, making Public Enemy possibly the finest example of Hip-Hop Theater, ever. And when all these elements gelled on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Public Enemy became the equivalent of a Molotov Cocktail thrown into the ever-growing cultural necropolis of Reagan's 1980s. --Sam Chennault - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 008: Tom Waits Rain Dogs [Island; 1985] Tom Waits' life-as-theater has been onstage for nearly three decades, yet of all his albums, this one edges to the top of the pile. The second installment in his German art song/"Island trilogy", Rain Dogs has the strongest songs and the surest grip on its own wanderings. With his hobo-centric lyrics reinspired by a move to New York City, Waits belts out "Union Square" and then rumbles out ballads like "Time"; the bleak vaudeville comes with accordion and pump organ wheezing out oompahs, while the percussion clanks, romps and slinks ("Clap Hands"). And then there are the guitars: Keith Richards shows up to make Waits look young and healthy, but it's Marc Ribot whose icepick lines best suit Waits' verses, and who owns the riff on "Jockey Full of Bourbon". But c'mon, Waits, surely you could have stopped Rod Stewart from destroying "Downtown Train". --Chris Dahlen - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 007: Pixies Surfer Rosa [4AD; 1988] Surfer Rosa snapshots the Pixies when they were still young, fresh-faced, and (I assume) speaking to each other. Frank Black's demonic one-man choir is already snuff-film disturbing, Kim Deal's voice charms, having yet to be thoroughly scorched by cigarettes, David Lovering's meaty fills float in ethereal reverb, and Joey Santiago proves himself master of the one-note riff. Maybe it's Albini on the knobs, but Santiago's six-string, sounding like a bee with its finger in a socket, is a key element here, bloodbath-battling Black's tongue-speaking through "Something Against You" and "Vamos". The band jumps from the abstract weirdness of tracks like "Broken Face" and "Tony's Theme" to the effortless pop immediacy of timeless indie wonders like "Where Is My Mind?" and "Gigantic". How one band could toe the line between jagged, artful unpredictability and sublime melodic bliss is anyone's guess, but their gift has not been equaled since, and Surfer Rosa, easily their strangest and most chaotic outing, remains an unparalleled example of rule-smashing innovation in independent music. --Rob Mitchum - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 006: The Smiths The Queen Is Dead [Sire; 1986] In a way, this is the Smiths album-of-choice by default, as it's the record that feels least like it was built around a few great singles. The pacing and sequencing are key, starting off with one of the band's most urgent songs (the title track) moving to the jaunty and clever "Frankly Mr. Shankly", before eventually getting around to the incredible "Cemetery Gates". The back half has two of the finest songs of the modern guitar-pop era ("The Boy with a Thorn in His Side" and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out"), some of Morrissey's funniest lyrics ("Bigmouth Strikes Again"), and no filler. A new batch of lonely and alienated American teenagers discovers The Smiths every year. The reason is simple: few other bands could ever provide an antidote to adolescent yearnings as powerful as The Queen Is Dead. --Mark Richardson - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 005: R.E.M. Murmur [IRS; 1983] Not widely noticed when it was released, R.E.M.'s first full-length album was surely a milestone: a clean break from everything else on the radio, Murmur introduced the band's simpler, stripped-down, almost folky sound and its straightforward but insidious music. Guitarist Peter Buck jangles more gently than his garage or power-pop peers (like, say, producer Mitch Easter's Let's Active); but without a doubt, it's Michael Stipe who defines the band with his deadly combination of feminine sensitivity and masculine, stoically cryptic vocals. And they brought great songs-- "Radio Free Europe", "Pilgrimage", "Moral Kiosk", "Catapult"... everything sounds just as good, and even as refreshing, two decades later. If any one album were single-handedly responsible for inventing alternative rock, this would be it. --Chris Dahlen - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 004: Pixies Doolittle [4AD; 1989] Quick-- pick the most influential alternative rock band of all time. If you didn't choose The Pixies, I'll give you another chance. In the meantime, listen to Doolittle and learn from your mistakes. In all of indie/alternative, there may be no single album more borrowed from, adapted, or flat-out ripped-off than The Pixies' follow-up to Surfer Rosa. Steve Albini once dismissed the band as "boring college rock", and he was half right-- The Pixies were college rock in 1989. (The "boring" half was obviously added to pad his notoriety, as anyone who could call this band boring is surely The World's Biggest Asshole.) Doolittle is almost senselessly varied-- mood-altering hooks, poetically insane lyrics, larynx demolishing screams and surreal croons, surf, thrash, pop, slow burns and races to the finish line... Let me put it this way: if not for Doolittle, there would be no Pitchfork. In other words, the influence of this record is so vast that, fifteen years on, it has altered the course of this very moment. --Eric Carr - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 003: Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique [Capitol; 1989] Once upon a time, three Brooklyn Jews lost their Def Jam street cred. They'd already been punks and raunchy pop-rappers, and damn if they didn't find themselves lost as to what to be next-- until down swooped the Brothers Dust. These fairy godbrothers helped them usher forth a dense samplorama that tanked sales-wise because it was so much smarter than its predecessor. Paul's Boutique was free of riff-slag, and boasted mostly unfunny, intimidatingly allusive lyrics. Just as the African-American Gwendolyn Brooks opened up doors for poetry, allowing epics to be written about dehumanizing Chicago tenements, the Beasties expanded hip-hop's domain to namecheck Salinger, Dickens, Galileo, and Newton. So ahead of its time, it should be on a 90s list. Odelay would owe it back rent if they didn't have the same landlords. --William Bowers - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 002: Talking Heads Remain in Light [Sire; 1980] As the 1970s gave way to the 1980s, the Talking Heads found themselves at an awkward time: after punk, which they were at first associated with, had become synonymous with three chords and a sneer, but before the arrival of new wave. So they congregated in a Nassau studio with Brian Eno and created a record without precedent-- one that merged the restlessness and anxiety of the former genre with the futurism of the latter. The resulting album, drawing influence from tribal Africa, is massively percussion-fueled, dense with elaborate polyrhythms and elastic bass. Adrian Belew's bizarre guitar work flavors the music with erratic, technological pings and effects, even nailing modem noise with crystalline foresight. Byrne's lyrics are at their surreal best here, with shapeshifting as a recurring theme, but also at their most affecting on songs like "Once in a Lifetime", which poignantly addresses the passage of time and the crossroads at which we find ourselves during life, and "Listening Wind", whose haunted refrain finds us sympathizing with a man for whom terrorism is the last hope for preserving his culture. Both daringly experimental and pop-accessible, Remain in Light may be the Talking Heads' defining moment. --Ryan Schreiber - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 001: Sonic Youth Daydream Nation [Blast First/Enigma; 1987] I could sit here and force-feed you dietary information about Daydream Nation's purported Importance, and because it's ended up as our 80s MVP, perhaps that's expected. But really, the reason I like Daydream Nation better than anything else spawned between 1980-89 is that, hell, it's just the greatest fucking album. Few musical moments are more guaranteed to bring me joy than the joyous riff and snare rim clicks that kick off "Teen Age Riot". Never was the elusive Sonic Youth balance of noisecraft/songcraft kept so gloriously intact-- despite containing few songs under five minutes, this is still the most accessible album they ever made (including even that brief period when they were trying to be accessible). Thank their confidence in allowing themselves to stretch out their improv legs in the studio, to present the record with bright, clear production, to keep all the SKREEERAWWWKKK within the context of actual melodic songs. Thank the highest Lee ratio ever to be found on SY product, and unparalleled composition consistency from Thurston and, gasp!, Kim. Daydream Nation was a noisy punctuation mark to the evolution of sub-radar rock in the Reagan years, and as long as people are still listening to guitars, it will remain a milestone. --Rob Mitchum Good list, glad the Beasties, Pixies and Sonic Youth get their dues

11-21-2002, 12:35 AM	#4 (permalink)
quechal Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 20 -1 Internets	nice list. although, i and probably everyone esle would argue with placement (expecialy guns and roses at 59 instead of the top 10) very few could aruge with it as a whole

11-21-2002, 01:41 AM	#5 (permalink)
somecleric Registered User Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 121 -1 Internets	I completely forgot about rap and hip hop. Ooops. Still, I got 4 of the top 10, and 2 more of my picks were in the top 20, with one in the top 30. Still shocked they left Wire off, and chose Joshua Tree over War for their U2 pick, and 808 State I figured would get a mention for it's key posistion in music history. Glad Tom Waits got #11 and #8 though, dismayed Nick Cave got left off completely.

11-22-2002, 09:12 AM	#8 (permalink)
Prodigious Registered User Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 24 -1 Internets	'scuse me but where the hell is queen - greatest hits? oh well. a list with like 10 sonic youth and pixie (who?) albums seems kinda peculiar anyway

11-22-2002, 02:47 PM	#10 (permalink)
somecleric Registered User Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 121 -1 Internets	Pitchfork are about independent music, first and foremost, so unless a mainstream album was so big (and quality) they couldn't justifiably ignore it, or was so influential it had to be included, they're going to leave it off. And I can't believe you haven't heard of The Pixies Prodigious. You've probably heard of The Breeders though, sadly. And The Pixies were more influential than The Smiths and REM combined. The Smiths, while amazing, failed to inspire any other great bands until Suede, over 6 years later. REM have been an important source for many great artists, but I can't think of any bands that owe their existence to REM, not any notable ones, anyways. The Pixies, on the other hand, gave us Pavement, Modest Mouse, Nirvana, Weezer, Guided By Voices, Built To Spill, Mudhoney, Jane's Addiction, Yo La Tengo and hundreds more bands. In short, The Pixies changed American independent music. Talking Heads got #2 on the list, and their other great albums were all late 70s, so I'm pretty sure they got what they deserved.

11-22-2002, 04:04 PM	#13 (permalink)
somecleric Registered User Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 121 -1 Internets	REM were really, really important, but I think you're giving them a little too much credit. Husker Du, The Replacements, The Meat Puppets, Wire, The Fall, The Mekons, Sonic Youth and XTC can all be pointed to as the birth of American independent music too. REM are a key band, but The Pixies were a major source point for nearly every major indy rock group of the past 12 years. Everyone respects REM, but hardly anyone is trying to be them. Everyone wants to be Frank Black and Kim Deal.

11-22-2002, 04:14 PM	#14 (permalink)
Merauk Fires of Heaven Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 290 -1 Internets	REM brought indie music to the main stream. Ask your mom who Bob Mould and Husker Du is and she will look at you funny. Even my mom knows who REM is. Are they as musically creative as some of the bands listed no. But their influence on music industry was far greater then any of the bands you list. Without REM the bands we all know and love probably would have all existed but nobody would be playing their records on the radio nor putting out their CD's. REM made record companies and radio stations play independent music. That aside up until Green the made really good music to.

11-22-2002, 05:09 PM	#15 (permalink)
somecleric Registered User Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 121 -1 Internets	The Replacements and Husker Du were both signed to majors (1985) before REM (1987). The Replacement's Tim charted two years before REM's Document, their breakthrough into the mainstream. REM may have been instrumental in gaining alternative music acceptance in the mainstream in the same way Nirvana did, but in terms of breaking new industry ground for independent music, they were following in the footsteps of Husker Du and The Replacements, and musically they aren't anywhere near as important as The Pixies amongst modern American indy rock. REM may have kicked things off with 'Radio Free Europe', but The Damned did the same thing with 'New Rose' and punk, 5 years earlier, and The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and The Clash still get all the credit there. No one tries to convince people the Damned were more important.