Pitchfork - The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Sprocket Henry, Sep 10, 2018.

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  1. Teufelzkerl

    Teufelzkerl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Must have been made by a bunch of hipsters who weren't there at that time: Bollocks.
     
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  2. pig bodine

    pig bodine God’s Consolation Prize

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY USA
    Looking at the list again, there are four artists I hadn’t heard of before. This is the first time I’ve come across this on a decade list. None of them are pop, so I’ll YouTube them when I have time (I wouldn’t bother if they were pop)I’m impressed with a lot of this list. These kids must have cool parents.
     
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  3. CBS CLASH 3

    CBS CLASH 3 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    I respectfully disagree completely.

    Part of the fascination I have with rock and roll, or any art for that matter, is understanding the artist in terms of the zeitgeist from which it came. This includes a band's hometown, country, era, economic situation, political situation, and, yes, race and gender.

    I don't love this list. I'm unimpressed that Sade and Janet Jackson are so highly ranked. If I made a list, mine would be heavily weighted toward white males like me. Not on purpose, but because that's just what happened over my lifetime of functionally ignoring race in music. When, however, a publication like Pitchfork makes a list like this they cannot ignore such aspects, and, sure, they may have erred on the side of being too self-consciously inclusive. But I admire their attempt to do a different kind of list. Hey, we're talking about it, right?
     
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  4. zen

    zen Senior Member

    Here's what I have from the Pitchyfork list.
    1. Kate Bush Hounds of Love
    2. Vangelis Blade Runner
    3. Julee Cruise Floating Into the Night
    4. Bob Marley and the Wailers Uprising
    5. ABBA The Visitors
    6. The B-52's Wild Planet
    7. Paul McCartney McCartney II
    A lot of great music I'm familiar with, did not make their list.
     
  5. BluesOvertookMe

    BluesOvertookMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA
    Well, not everything, because there's no Blues. Lots of genres that they might enjoy, but not everything.
     
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  6. bamaaudio

    bamaaudio Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    Pretty sad that differing music opinions these days automatically get the "must be a hipster" card.
     
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  7. Synthfreek

    Synthfreek I’m a ray of sunshine & bastion of positivity

    Haha, people complaining that a Pitchfork list is Pitchforky is akin to someone complaining that a Rolling Stone magazine top list contains Bruce Springsteeen.
     
  8. doublenaught

    doublenaught Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indiana
    I have at least 1500 albums from the 80's but only 36 of them are on that list.
     
  9. Osato

    Osato Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    You nailed it, man. This is the best of the 80s as seen from the perspective of 2018's musical landscape. I think when you view it in that context it makes a lot of sense.
     
  10. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    I have 72 of those albums in my collection.
     
  11. Exit Flagger

    Exit Flagger Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    These Pitchfork lists are made by the next generation of critics, not the ones I grew up with. Some were not even born when these albums came out. To me it's interesting to see their perspective on what I would consider "my decade."

    For instance, no one I knew in the 1980s would have predicted the respect Sade would garner on a list in 2018. How did that happen? What do twenty-somethings see in her albums? That's fascinating to me.
     
  12. Eleventh Earl of Mar

    Eleventh Earl of Mar Somehow got them all this far.

    Location:
    New York
    Hounds of Love being number 4 is complete ass.

    At least put The Dreaming, and I think a certain band that sings about misplaced childhood was left out...
     
  13. Exit Flagger

    Exit Flagger Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I agree. It should have been higher up.
     
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  14. AveryKG

    AveryKG Sultan of snacks

    Location:
    west London
    That would certainly be near the top of my list. A few more personal favourites that I don't think would be too outrageous to suggest have a case to be included on this list…

    Everything's Different Now - Til Tuesday
    Pirates - Rickie Lee Jones
    The Nightfly - Donald Fagen
    As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls - Pat Metheny
    Nearly Human - Todd Rundgren
    Synchronicity - Police
    Freedom - Neil Young
    Starfish - The Church
    Vivid - Living Color
     
  15. Cheepnik

    Cheepnik Overfed long-haired leaping gnome

    Those "who weren't there at the time" usually have a much clearer, more objective view of such things.
     
  16. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    They'd need to list far more obscure stuff. There are only a few things on the list I'm not familiar with.
     
  17. Sprocket Henry

    Sprocket Henry Forum Resident Thread Starter

    This is the point I was trying to make with my initial and subsequent posts. ;) It's pretty much where Pitchfork are coming from nowadays when it comes to retrospective stuff. Obligatory hipster-isms and a bit of wokey-ness, but a fairly 2018 summation of the 80's influence on today's musical landscape.
     
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  18. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Who even heard of Kate Bush back then? Other than the hugging duet with Peter Gabriel.

    (Ive grown to enjoy Kate Bush, so no knock against her. Just sayin')
     
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  19. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    So if you were to listen to a radio station playing stuff unfamiliar to you, where they didn't announce who any of the artists were, didn't tell you the song titles, would you have a harder time judging whether you like any of the music? Would you have a difficult time connecting with any of it?

    If you've listened to everything and that stuff happens to be what connects with you the most, why would you list something else as the best albums per whatever parameters (whatever dates, etc.)? Why in the world would you list stuff per demographic quotas as part of your criteria rather than just listing what you like the most?
     
  20. Sprocket Henry

    Sprocket Henry Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I can hear bits of Sade across Janelle Monae, Solange, Frank Ocean, etc. It's got that very crystalline, chilled and vapourous feel to it which has permeated a lot of soul, R&B and pop over the last five years or so. Man, I can even hear shades of Sade in jazzier stuff like Melanie De Biasio.
     
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  21. Osato

    Osato Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    And, I mean, let's face it, there has been a real trend to promote black women in art the past few years. I think she's worthy of a critical re-appraisal, even if the basis for it might be shaky.
     
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  22. Sprocket Henry

    Sprocket Henry Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I believe the reason why Hounds Of Love often edges out The Dreaming with these kinds of appraisals is because Hounds possesses a level of sophistication, clarity and ambition that is synonymous with the technological innovations and excesses of the 80s. Not to mention to emotional wallop of it. Its influence is enormous. The Dreaming is great, but Hounds is a masterpiece.
     
  23. vinylontubes

    vinylontubes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Katy, TX
    I think the list is very revisionist. It tends to reflect influences on current music. I graduated from college in '90. This list is actually decent 1-100, then it falls off the deep end on the lower 100 picks. I comment about ignoring the Police is silly. I would have include a Dio era Sabbath album. Way too much rap. Sure there should be some, but really? The Geto Boys?

    Where is Empty Glass?

    The obvious omission is Slippery When Wet. (Well maybe is shouldn't be there, but I thinks it's better than some of the albums listed.)
     
  24. RichC

    RichC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Old white men complaining that this list sounds too much like an "old white man list"....
    And then complaining in other posts about the lack of Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead, and Todd Rundgren albums on said list....
    Is the most SHF thing ever.
     
  25. Freek999

    Freek999 Forum Resident

    you're joking right?
     
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