Tuesday, March 2, 2010

1980 - A Unforgetable Year!

OK, I'm conceding a battle to my brother - but not the war! He claims the music we've always enjoyed is pretty much dead. I, on the other hand, believe the music's out there and that we are going though a revival of sorts, music-wise. He can cite the bands and the albums from back then, and I can counter with more recent stuff.

I will give him this, though, there has never been a year, musically, like 1980. Before or since.

Let's start with January 1, 1980. The #1 record that day? Pink Floyd's The Wall.
OK, it wasn't released in 1980, but the year started with arguably the greatest album ever made at #1. So what was released in 1980? Perhaps you remember these.

AC/DC's Back in Black


Iron Maiden's self-titled debut album.


Def Leppard's debut album, On Through The Night.

Van Halen's Women And Children First (probably my favorite of 1980).

Black Sabbath's Heaven And Hell.


Judas Priest's British Steel.

Motorhead's Ace Of Spades.

Rush's Permanent Waves.


The Ramones' End Of The Century.


The Pretenders' self-titled debut album.


UFO's No Place To RunThe Scorp's Animal Magnetism



Ted Nugent's Scream Dream (c'mon Terminus still rocks even today).


Ozzy's Blizzard of Oz.


Cheap Trick's All Shook Up (I know the rest of you probably hate this one, but I still dig it).


And some of these I may not have listened to, but I know maybe some of the rest of you have, like...Thin Lizzy's Chinatown, The Clash's London Calling, Molly Hatchet's Beating the Odds (aka Molly Fatshit's Beating Off), Springsteen's The River, Saxon's Wheels Of Steel, Genesis' Duke, and Elvis Costello's Get Happy.

No doubt about it - there was never a year like 1980!

25 comments:

Tony Alva said...

Watershed year for sure... Don't if this was inspired by that Classic Rock mag article, but you should list them all.

For all of you guys out there, we would both HIGHLY recommend Classic Rock Magazine. A British publication that is simply that last man standing in rock journalism. Quality stuff from page one through the back cover. Every issue comes with a CD of great tunes often by up and comers, but sometimes established acts, but always topical to the months issue. I read it cover to cover.

Feisty Democrat said...

What's this Classic Rock magazine you say? Did this, what is it called, Classic Rock (?) have an article on the music of 1980, a 30th anneversary issue, perhaps? I'll have to check it out sometime. See I get all my inspiration by osmosis. Yeah, that's it. That's the ticket.

Del-V said...

It was a good year but 1984 will always be the best year in music for me. All the bands on SST Records put out their best stuff in one year.

Feisty Democrat said...

Post Del-V! Nothing from 1984 immediately comes to mind. Let's see what you got.

Del-V said...

These are just the SST bands:

Meat Puppets - II
Black Flag - My War, Slip It In, and Live '84
Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
Husker Du - Zen Arcade

Then there were the "pop" Albums:

Prince - Purple Rain
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA

and - of course -

Van Halen - 1984

Feisty Democrat said...

Not bad, but I still say 1980 is like the '27 Yankees, Bill Russell's Celts and the '85 Bears all rolled up into one.

Jackson said...

No doubt. I have always considered 1980 to be a watermark year. Metal kicked in the fuckin' door that year - Saxon's 'Strong Arm of the Law' came out in late '80 as well - and so much great stuff outside of Metal as well, though 'London Calling' sits with 'The Wall' as officially a '79 release.

Regardless, the music ain't dead as long as I can reach into my vast vinyl bins and pull out Rose Tatoo's 'Rock n' Roll Outlaw' (1980).

Afew hours from now I'll have 10 other great 1980 releases pouring out of my addled brainpan, but for now I got you on the Rose tatoo.....I'm sure Accept or Krokus had one out in 1980....

Jackson said...

The B52's debut....

Jackson said...

Blackfoot 'Tomcattin''....Pat Benetar's 'Crimes of Passion'....

Jackson said...

....I just put the Blackfoot on the turntable...

Jackson said...

Blondie 'Autoamerican'.....

Jackson said...

I don't think Blue Oyster Cult's 'Cultasaurus Erectus' fits the bill, except for maybe the sheer genius of it's title.

Jackson said...

Bowie! Scary Monsters!

Jackson said...

Alice.....Flush the Fasion!

Jackson said...

Dire Straits 'Making Movies'

Jackson said...

.....I'm puttin' that one on after the Blackfoot.

Jackson said...

There was an Accept LP that year, but....well....it's no 'Restless and Wild'....

Jackson said...

....then again what is?

Jackson said...

Talking Heads 'Remain in Light'.....Steely Dan 'Gaucho' (I heard that...)

Jackson said...

Is that 10?...no, it's 9...

Jackson said...

Killing Joke's debut.

I could go on......not sure I should....

TUSHAR RAJPUT said...

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