10 Worst Songs of the 1980s
When I was a teenager in the 1990s, the 1980s were often reviled as the decade that taste forgot. But I think this list is far less heinous than the 10 Worst Songs of the 1970s – the corporate vibes…
Category 1980s
Read More10 Worst Songs of the 1980s
The Waterboys
Mike Scott was born in Edinburgh, the son of an English teacher. Scott’s interest in literature is clearly visible in his catalogue, but his life was changed when he bought the single ‘Last Night in Soho’ by Dave Dee, Dozy,…
10 Best Hüsker Dü Songs
Hüsker Dü are among the embarrassment of riches to emerge from Minnesota in the 1980s – their contemporaries included Prince, The Replacements, and Soul Asylum. The three-piece band played energetic and emotive music – they started playing hardcore punk but…
Amy Grant Album Reviews
The Queen of Christian pop music, Amy Grant also enjoyed success as a crossover pop artist in the 1980s and 1990s. Born in Georgia, her family moved to Nashville when she was 7. At 15 she wrote her first song,…
Talk Talk Albums: Ranked from Worst to Best
Formed in 1981, London’s Talk Talk enjoyed an unusual career trajectory. They started their record career as a passable synth-pop band, often compared to Duran Duran. Early hits like 1984’s ‘Such A Shame’ and ‘It’s My Life’ allowed them access…
The Smiths: Albums Ranked from Worst to Best
The two figures at the centre of 1980s English indie-rock band The Smiths were an unlikely pairing. Vocalist Morrissey was socially awkward, literate, and camp, while guitarist Johnny Marr was an aspiring football player who trialled with Manchester City. Bonding…
10 Best Dave Dobbyn Songs
If you’re not from Australasia, chances are that you’re not familiar with Dave Dobbyn – he’s ubiquitous in New Zealand, but obscure everywhere else. When a panel selected the New Zealand’s best ever popular songs in 2001, five Dave Dobbyn…
Total Eclipse by Iron Maiden: Great B-Sides
Iron Maiden’s third album, The Number of the Beast, was made under time pressure. The group had five weeks to record their first album with new lead singer Bruce Dickinson. The single ‘Run to the Hills’ was released in advance…
Music Quiz: Spotify Results and Follow That Lyric – 1980s
We’ve had 20 weeks of Spotify quizzes – congratulations to Sheik Yerbouti for the overall victory. Sheik scored 390 of a possible 400, which is equivalent to only missing one clue every second week over the competition. Tony finished a…
Dire Straits Albums: Ranked from Worst to Best
One glance at Mark Knopfler’s bandana will tell you that Dire Straits have never been fashionable. Emerging in 1978, at the height of punk, their literate bar-band rock appealed to conservative listeners not enamoured by the upstart sounds of The…
10 Best Sting Songs
Sting’s reputation is a little shaky as a solo artist. After leading The Police to the status of the biggest band in the world in 1983, he pursued a high-brow, jazzy direction in his solo career. When I first became…
The Police: Albums Ranked from Worst to Best
Stewart Copeland, Sting, and Andy Summers were all veteran musicians when they formed The Police in London in 1977. Copeland had drummed for progressive rock band Curved Air, Sting had played in the jazz fusion band Last Exit, while Summers’…
Aphoristic Awards – Best British Albums from 1980 to 2010
Writing about Dire Straits’ discography this week, I learned that 1985’s Brothers in Arms was one of ten albums nominated in 2010 for the title of best British album of the previous 30 years. I was especially intrigued by a…
Dire Straits Album Reviews
Dire Straits were a talented band at the wrong time. They emerged in the punk era in Britain, but front-man Mark Knopfler’s virtuoso finger-picking and Dylan-adjacent lyrics were distinctly un-punk. Knopfler and the other members were pushing 30, and had…
Suzanne Vega Albums: Ranked from Worst to Best
Singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega emerged in the mid-1980s after serving an apprenticeship in folk music in New York’s Greenwich Village. Her introspective and gentle songs were immediately successful at a time when singer-songwriters weren’t popular. Her first two albums spawned hits…
Don't Break This Rhythm by Peter Gabriel: Great B-Sides
Sometimes a record is so jammed with great songs that something worthy has to be shipped out to a b-side. Despite its huge success, Peter Gabriel’s So isn’t one of those records. Singles like ‘Red Rain’ and ‘Sledgehammer’ are terrific,…
Suzanne Vega Album Reviews
Suzanne Vega was born in Santa Monica, California. At the age of two, she moved to New York City when her mother married Puerto Rican writer Edgardo Vega Yunqué. She wrote poetry and songs in her youth and cites Lou…
10 Best Prefab Sprout Songs
English sophisti-pop band Prefab Sprout date back to 1970s art-rock; leader Paddy McAloon was sent a rejection letter by Brian Eno’s record label in 1976. They didn’t release their debut album Swoon until 1984, by which time the lineup had…
Don't Dream It's Over by Crowded House
Neil Finn joined the band Split Enz as a guitarist when he was still a teenager. His brother Tim was the band’s leader, writing most of their material, but Neil Finn wrote many of the band’s successful singles in the…
Grendel by Marillion: Great B-Sides
Marillion were named after JRR Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, and were formed in 1979. Early Marillion were often compared to the progressive-rock era of Genesis – lead vocalist Fish’s theatricality was similar to Peter Gabriel. The core lineup of guitarist Steve…
Roxy Music Albums: Ranked from Worst to Best
English art-rock band Roxy Music was formed by vocalist Bryan Ferry and bassist Graham Simpson in 1970. They recruited saxophone and oboe player Andy Mackay and synth player Brian Eno (who “treated” the other players’ instruments through his synth). Drummer…
Dancing Barefoot by U2 and Karen by The Go-Betweens: Great B-Sides
Patti Smith was one of the first punk artists to make a record. 1975’s Horses, produced by John Cale, was a confronting album. Musically it drew from 1960s garage-rock, while lyrically it was provocative. Smith was clearly influential on an…
The Exploding Boy by The Cure: Great B-Sides
The Cure have been around for more than forty years, with leader Robert Smith the only constant member. The band formed in Crawley, West Sussex, in 1976, and have covered a lot of ground over their career, from the Gothic…
Another Lonely Christmas by Prince: Great B-Sides
The b-side is often a British commodity, but one American artist was the equal of any British artist with the quantity and quality of his outtakes. Prince was so prolific that he released 70 official non-album b-sides, as well as…
Let My People Go by The Pursuit of Happiness: Great B-Sides
Canadian power-pop band The Pursuit of Happiness scored a surprise top 40 hit in 1986 with their independent single ‘I’m An Adult Now’, helped by a low-budget, self-produced music video. The Toronto-based group signed with Chrysalis Records to make their…
Run-DMC
Run-DMC emerged early in the development of recorded hip hop. They helped to transform the genre from an underground movement with a handful of important singles, like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s ‘The Message’, into big business. They smashed…
The Blue Nile's Best Album: Hats
The Blue Nile are famous for their lack of productivity. The Glasgow-based group were formed in 1981 and effectively broke up by 2006, and released a mere four albums during their quarter century tenure. Like many bands that emerged after…
Murder By Numbers by The Police: Great B-Sides
The Police were arguably the greatest singles band of their era. In the late 1970s and early 1980s they released a string of great songs – ‘Roxanne’, ‘Message in a Bottle’, ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’, and ‘Every…
Shut Out The Light – Bruce Springsteen: Great B-Sides
American rock icon Bruce Springsteen celebrated his 70th birthday this week. This means it’s half a lifetime since he released his most commercially successful album, 1984’s Born in the USA. A decade earlier, 1975’s Born to Run had launched Springsteen…
Great B-Sides: Breakaway by The Cars
It’s the year of Our Lord 2019, and we’re rapidly approaching peak-rock-star-death era. The Cars’ mastermind Ric Ocasek passed away earlier this week. I was surprised to learn that he was 75, older than many of the stars that he…
Great B-Sides: That Girl, Black Girl and Rock 'n' Roll Friend by The Go-Betweens
Aside from their debut, each of The Go-Betweens’ studio albums follows a set formula – exactly ten songs with five written by Robert Forster and five by Grant McLennan. The pair anchored the Australian indie guitar band over two stints…
10 Best Kate Bush Songs
English art-pop artist Kate Bush is a creative genius, who siphoned her influences into her own unique blend. The folk music from her Irish mother, the progressive rock that her older brothers listened to as teenagers, and radio-friendly pop like…
XTC’s Best Album: Skylarking
Background Andy Partridge, bassist Colin Moulding, and drummer Terry Chambers started playing in a band together in 1972, opening for Thin Lizzy in 1973 and plying glam-rock as the Helium Kidz. The group eventually added manic keyboardist Barry Andrews and…
1980s Album Reviews
The 1980s often get bad press, but they were full of great music. Admittedly many acts from earlier eras struggled to adapt to new technology and made weak albums. But many new acts thrived, and there was diversity; hip hop…
The End of the Affair by Prefab Sprout – Great B-sides
There are b-sides that are of high quality, that should never have been left off their parent albums. And then there is ‘The End of the Affair’, from Prefab Sprout. If forced to choose between the b-side ‘The End of…
Music Quiz: 1980s Artists on Their Album Covers
Congratulations to Tony, who scored 48/50 in a 2000s music quiz that produced wildly divergent scores. Since we competed in a 1960s the week before, where the older generation dominated, it seems only fair to split the difference and meet…
Neil Finn's Five Best Albums
Until the emergence of Lorde, song-smith Neil Finn was New Zealand’s most recognisable pop export. Born in Te Awamutu, Finn was enamoured by the tuneful pop of The Beatles and Elton John. Still a teenager, he joined his brother Tim…
Great B-Sides: How Soon is Now? by The Smiths
It’s counter-intuitive to include The Smiths‘ most iconic song in a b-side series, but it was first released as the flip side of a single. Recorded in a four day burst of creativity that also yielded ‘William, It Was Really…
Great B-sides: If Only You Were Lonely by The Replacements
The Replacements started as a bratty punk band, but as the 1980s wore on they lost their rough edges. They signed to a major label and shot for mainstream success. Their best years are generally reckoned to be the mid…
Great B-sides: Pictures of Bernadette by Talk Talk
The untimely passing of Talk Talk mastermind Mark Hollis this week has sent many fans back to re-examine his masterpieces. Many Talk Talk fans opt for the group’s final two records, the spacious and experimental Spirit of Eden and Laughing…
Great B-sides: Under the Ivy by Kate Bush
Kate Bush‘s 1982 album The Dreaming was excellent, but it wasn’t especially commercially successful. She’d previously enjoyed ground-breaking UK success; her debut single ‘Wuthering Heights’ made her the first female artist to hit UK number one with a self-penned song.…
Great B-Sides: Hello in There by 10,000 Maniacs
Folk-rock band 10,000 Maniacs often recorded covers for their b-sides; a smart move, as they showcased how cool their record collections were, and Natalie Merchant’s affected accent always gave their versions a point of difference. ‘Hello In There’ was featured…
Great B-Sides: 1963 by New Order
After Ian Curtis’ passing, Joy Division transitioned into New Order, with Bernard Sumner taking over the front-man role, and Gillian Gilbert joining on keyboards. It’s hard to be too critical of Sumner as a wordsmith, given that he only accidentally…
Great B-Sides: Tell Me About Your Drugs by Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians
English singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock has created cult records all the way back to his days in The Soft Boys in the late 1970s. The Soft Boys began their recording career in Cambridge, and Hitchcock’s closest frame of reference has always…
Great B-Sides: You're My Favourite Waste of Time by Marshall Crenshaw
Detroit power-pop maestro Marshall Crenshaw isn’t a household name. But his tuneful, often exuberant, 1982 debut album sometimes sneaks onto greatest album lists. Deservedly so – it’s a great little record of guitar pop, with a timelessly simple three-piece sound,…
Shark Attack by Split Enz
I think that, regardless of our musical differences, we can all agree that the current decade has been tough for sharks in popular music. We all ironically enjoyed the performance of the “Left Shark” in Katy Perry’s 2015 Superbowl show,…
Monkey Gone To Heaven by Pixies
A few months ago we discussed a curious incident at Wellington Zoo, New Zealand, when an intruder broke into the squirrel monkey cage, and was fought off by the tiny primates. The man responsible has appeared in court this week,…
The Horses by Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones is a one hit wonder in the eyes of the public; she charted with the jazzy, breezy ‘Chuck E.’s In Love’ from her 1979 debut album, which established her bohemian credentials, dating Tom Waits and wearing a beret.…
This Is England by The Clash
By the mid 1980s, The Clash were in disarray – musical lynch-pin Mick Jones had been fired from the group, and impresario Bernard Rhodes was back pulling the strings. The resulting album, 1985’s Cut The Crap, was widely derided, and…
U2: Five Best Albums
U2 started the 1980s as a post-punk band influenced by Joy Division and Television. As the decade progressed they beefed up their sound, working with notable producers like Steve Lillywhite and Brian Eno, and became one of the highest selling…
Husband House by Sneaky Feelings
I’ve undergone a career change this week – I’ve dropped from full-time to a few hours a week, while my wife has returned to work almost full-time. It’s been quite a sudden change – we realised that I was finding…
Under Attack by ABBA
It’s been an interesting month for 1970s band reunions – first we had Fleetwood Mac drop Lindsey Buckingham, effectively becoming Fleetwood House and a Heartbreaker. And now ABBA have announced their first new music for 35 years, along with a…
Slice of Heaven by Dave Dobbyn and Herbs
Every New Zealand #1 single… Slice of Heaven by Dave Dobbyn and Herbs Topped the NZ chart from 5 October 1986 for 8 weeks. 10 Every country has a musical act that’s part of the national identity, yet obscure internationally.…
I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song) by Los Lobos
The most interesting news story to emerge from New Zealand this weekend was an attempted monkey burglary at Wellington Zoo. Thieves broke into the squirrel monkey enclosure with bolt cutters, but were fought off by the small primates. Despite only…
Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega
We’ve recently been away on a family road trip. My six year old is tolerant of different music, only once politely remarking that Steve Reich was “a bit boring”. But my three year old is fixated on children’s music and…
The Classical by The Fall
Over the last fortnight, while on holiday, I’ve been reading an oral history of Rough Trade Records, who boasted acts like The Smiths, The Fall, The Strokes, and The Libertines. While on holiday, I also heard of the passing of…
King Crimson: Five Best Albums
King Crimson aren’t so much a band as a series of bands, all featuring idiosyncratic guitarist Robert Fripp. With a demeanour that resembles a University professor more than a rock star, Fripp’s plotted an erratic course for his band. The…
The Stone Roses Album Reviews
The Stone Roses were formed in Manchester in 1983, around singer Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire. Drummer and backing vocalist Reni (Alan Wren) signed up in 1984, while Mani (Gary Mounfield) joined in 1987 on bass. Despite a scant…
Elvis Costello Albums: Ranked from Worst To Best (The First Ten Years)
He scored a recording contract in 1977, as the punk and new wave movements opened the doors for fresh artists. Elvis Costello, however, was actually a highly literate and sophisticated songwriter who had little in common with punk’s untrained approach.…
The Go-Betweens: Albums Ranked from Worst To Best
Brisbane’s The Go-Betweens are one of my favourite bands, but it’s sometimes difficult to explain their appeal. Robert Forster and Grant McLennan are limited as guitarists and vocalists, but they balance each other beautifully; the edgier Forster was a fan…
Straight Into Darkness by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
There are a substantial number of songs by the late Tom Petty that I love and that I could have chosen to feature this week. I could have chosen a ubiquitous hit like ‘Refugee’, ‘Free Fallin”, ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’,…
Never Talking To You Again by Hüsker Dü
I don’t want my weekly song post to turn into an obituary thread, but the world of popular music lost another significant member this week with the passing of Hüsker Dü drummer and song-writer Grant Hart. Like a lot of…
Sweet Freedom by Michael McDonald
When my wife and I bought our own first house, we lived next door to a young man with mental health issues. I quickly earned his dislike by calling the police on the first day after we moved in –…
Tom Waits Albums: Ranked from Worst to Best
California’s Tom Waits has enjoyed a remarkable career. Emerging in the early 1970s as a whisky-soaked, piano-playing balladeer, his career was seemingly petering out in the early 1980s. But he reinvented himself with the junkyard clang of 1983’s excellent Swordfishtrombones,…
Inherently Sexy Barley Fields – Quotes By Sting
I’ve been covering Sting on this website this week: I generally find that his solo career is under-rated – while The Police have great singles, their albums all have filler, and the terrific 1992 Greatest Hits is most of…
Kate Bush Album Reviews
Kate Bush was discovered by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour as a teenager. She was placed into a training scheme by her record label EMI, where she was taken out of school and studied dance, mime, and music. Bush quickly…
1980s Miscellany
This page collects odds and ends from 1980s artists: Beastie Boys | Tracy Chapman | Rush | Toto Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique 1989, 9/10Paul’s Boutique was initially a commercial disappointment for hip hop trio the Beastie Boys after the enormous success…
