Pitchfork - The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s

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

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  1. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    NOTB made the list.
     
  2. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    For me, it's not as if they're listing much that I'm not familiar with--there are a few albums they list I haven't heard, but just a few. And it's not as if I don't like anything they're listing--there is stuff there from artists I consider among my favorites, and even lots of the artists I don't consider favorites I like well enough. But it just ends up seeming somewhere between a list of "arbitrary 80s titles" and something that's calculated, in a more or less political way, to both appease and appeal to a particular (set of) demographic(s) that they're marketing to, in a way that's part lowest-common denominator and part designed to seem just slightly edgy (but not too controversial to their target demographic). Rolling Stone does just the same thing with their lists.
     
  3. Sammy Waslow

    Sammy Waslow Just watching the show

    Location:
    Ireland
    That classic album, Donald Fagen: The Nightly! :);)
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2018
  4. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    That one, and these others for me...

    X: Wild Gift
    Marshall Crenshaw

    Neil Young: Freedom
    ABC: Lexicon of Love
     
  5. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    I particularly like how they didn't overlook 80s fusion.

    Oh, wait.
     
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  6. Spaceboy

    Spaceboy Senior Member

    Location:
    Near Edinburgh, UK
    I like Straight Outta Compton but 3rd best of the 80s? First two tracks are great.
     
  7. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    Synchronicity isn’t a top 200?

    Not a well thought out list then, IMO.
     
  8. nikosvault

    nikosvault Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denmark
    Whitney Houston debut at 117, sure.

    But where is Huey Lewis and Robert Palmer?

    [​IMG]
     
  9. pig bodine

    pig bodine God’s Consolation Prize

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY USA
    It’s an ok list — pop heavy and too much Springsteen, but at least there aren’t too many classic rock dinosaurs that tried but couldn’t adapt to the newer at the time technology. Of course a lot of my favorites aren’t in it, and plenty I don’t like (I was done with pop by then) and it could stand more jazz in place of 3! Springsteens but that doesn’t make it “wrong.”
    Of course it was coming with a particular demographic in mind, every opinion list is, and I’m sure it would be infinitely more to my tastes than a similar one from Rolling Stone.
     
  10. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    Okay, where is 'The Seeds of Love'? 'Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me'? 'The Dreaming'?
    Many favorites missing on here for me.
     
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  11. pathosdrama

    pathosdrama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Firenze, Italy
    Very happy for the inclusion of Vini Reilly, I was just discussing about it with a friend some week ago: never understood the lack of love for an album I consider a masterpiece.
     
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  12. theMess

    theMess Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    One big surprise for me (and I say this as a big Nirvana fan) was the inclusion of 'Bleach' on the list.
     
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  13. theMess

    theMess Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    I agree; I am surprised so see 'Strangeways' and 'Meat Is Murder' left out instead.
     
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  14. Mo0g

    Mo0g Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Looks like the kind of list an old white man would make, trying a bit too hard to be 'inclusive'.
     
  15. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I think this very much oversimplifies So and Peter's artistic vision on it. He tried some new sounds with 'Sledgehammer' and 'Big Time,' sure, but that album also includes experimental pieces like 'We Do What We're Told,' 'Excellent Birds' and absolutely astonishing beauties like 'Mercy Street' and 'Red Rain.' A wonderful record. I also disagree that he never recovered, as I think Us is one of the strongest albums in his collection.

    I would argue that Melt, Security and So would have all been worthy inclusions.
     
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  16. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Right. I’m not saying it’s bad (far from it), but best of the decade? Not sure I’d go that far.
     
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  17. Turntable

    Turntable Senior Member

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    LOL
     
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  18. GLENN

    GLENN Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kingsport,TN, USA
    As several have already mentioned, ABC's The Lexicon of Love should have definitely been on there. Another MIA is Soul Mining by The The, an album that I think has only improved with age.
     
  19. citizensmurf

    citizensmurf Ambient postpunk will never die

    Location:
    Calgary
    That would describe every list Pitchfork has ever compiled. Like the high school yearbook committee who chooses the "most likely to" list.
     
  20. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    I do have to say that when you only have 200 slots for 80s albums, five Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and five Alabama choices might be pushing it a bit.

    Oh, wait. Wrong list.
     
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  21. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    There is absolutely nothing more hilarious to me than people getting upset about what is or isn't on a Top Whatever list. Never change, SHMF.
     
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  22. Spaceboy

    Spaceboy Senior Member

    Location:
    Near Edinburgh, UK
    I guess we shouldn't bother discussing it then.
     
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  23. The_Windmill

    The_Windmill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Italy
    Agreed with So. If it's pop, it's still "art pop" and Big Time are possibly more tongue in cheek than most people take it (myself included).
    And I like IV much more than III.
    But if you have to pick one iconic album from Gabriel's catalogue, that's III. Once I've seen it described as "the album that invented the Eighties" and that's certainly true as much as the gated reverb is concerned. I think, as a "pop" album, it was really ahead of its times, more than anything else he did later.
     
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  24. Orthogonian Blues

    Orthogonian Blues A man with a fork in a world full of soup.

    Location:
    London, UK
    Everyone's top 200 list will be wildly different. Thats why lists like these get so many clicks and so much discussion.

    As for me, I won't quibble too much with a list that has Prince at no 1, and Kate Bush and Jacko in the top 5.

    However, I do hope that Pitchfork's main criteria for inclusion on this list was not how 'woke' an album is.
     
  25. ronm

    ronm audiofreak

    Location:
    southern colo.
    Even though the 80s were in my prime I think it was a terrible decade for music.Just not my cup of tea...any of it, save for one or two.I'll take the 70s hands down.
     
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