1983: Your Favourite Album

Yes - 90125

 

Thunder and Lightning - Thin Lizzy

 

Synchronicity.

 

So many great albums from 1983... and none of them are on this list! I threw a bone to U2 in the poll, but my list would look like this:

The Alarm - S/T EP
Billy Idol - Rebel Yell
Big Country - The Crossing
Guy Clark - Better Days
Jason and the Scorchers - Fervor
Jim Carroll - I Write Your Name
Joan Jett - Album
John Mellencamp - Uh Huh
Johnny Thunders - Hurt Me
Lords of the New Church - Is Nothing Sacred
Motley Crue - Shout At the Devil
Rolling Stones - Undercover
Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
ZZ Top - Eliminator

 

I'm going with Pink Floyd - The Final Cut

 

Jimmy Buffett - One Particular Harbor
Billy Joel - An Innocent Man
Bryan Adams - Cuts Like Knife
Bonnie Tyler - Faster than the Speed of Night
Alabama - The Closer You Get
Linda Ronstadt - What's New

 

Pyromania. Groundbreaking and every band in the 80's tried to emulate it. Vaulted Def Leppard to superstar and arena headliners. No brainer here.

 

After reading the whole thread just now, what's striking is the yin & yang of it. There were the new wave entries, which appealed to me more than anything the rockers/classic rockers were voting for. There were head scratcher entries, too, afterthought records by bands like Yes & the Stones & people like Billy Joel that fail both in 1983 and when compared to the highlights of their own oeuvre's.

Live, in seeing U2 that summer, I proclaimed to my fellow attendee that they would be bigger than Van Halen. War's NYD was a powerful foreshadowing of just how earnest & far reaching that band would become. In watching Bone climb the poles to the loge, I could never have imagined where they would climb to as a band.

But all the chestnut type entries aside, and quite a handful sparkled, REM's Murmur was, and remains, one of the best American band first tries ever recorded. I love Crenshaw, too, but with 30+ years behind us, how quaint that sentiment feels. He wrote some incredible pop gems, but live at best all he ever was, was quaint. As for Costello, PtC remains a favorite in his catalog, which considering its size is fair dinkum, as Oz would say. He's barely lost a step, having just seen him.

Yes, I realize I've taken that moment and am putting an updated, what are they doing now spin on it. 1983 was maybe the watershed year when music took the decided turn toward the indie scene we have today. The best live band ever had their best tour ever in their rear view mirror by 2 years. They would never, ever be better live. Almost every classic rock band listed was in decline; some may still make money due to higher (much higher) ticket prices (hello again, Billy Joel) but your show isn't better. I don't know about Brenda & Eddie, but I'd say that everyone else involved said good riddance. As for U2, the new record is just ok (although it must be said compared to what 95% of bands this old put out, it's pretty good), but they still got it live. Pray for arenas & not stadiums.

 

Oops...I voted for Murmur thinking I was voting for Mummer by XTC. Not enough coffee yet. My vote should go to Other.

 

Love XTC. This record fits right into the chestnut category.
Next.

 

I'm with schelti. Tom gets my vote.

 

Wow - good question! I voted Infidels, but could've easily gone with Murmer, Synchronicity, Swordfishtrombones, 90125, War, or Let's Dance. It's also interesting to see how my tastes have evolved from age 13 to 43. Back then I liked The Police, Yes, and Bowie's albums, but I might have just as easily voted for Culture Club, Madonna, or Lionel Richie in 1983. (Did I just say that with my out loud voice?)

 

Synchronicity or War. Depends on my mood.

 

I vote for Oil on Canvas by Japan.