Not my favorite year by any stretch, but there are some interesting choices. I decided to include Mellencamp because I feel once upon a time he was a relevant songwriter and not some farmland caricature, but I wonder how many others on the board don't feel he's always been the latter. I combed Tony's list, Acclaimed's top records and the Pazz and Jop poll and the closest thing to a relatively popular black artist who released a landmark effort was Lionel Richie - Can't Slow Down. Pass. I tried not to leave too many of the big records of this year out...to be honest, there wasn't a whole lot to choose from...
NOTE: Allmusic lists the Minor Threat as 1984, but Tony and Acclaimed both say 1983, so I'm going with that
Omissions:
Bad Brains * Rock For Light (Line)
The Minutemen * What Makes A Man Start Fires? (SST)
Aztec Camera * High Land, Hard Rain (Sire)
The Minutemen * Buzz Or Howl Under The Influence Of Heat (SST)
Orchestral Manoevres In The Dark * Dazzle Ships (Virgin)
The Go-Betweens * Before Hollywood (Beggars Banquet)
Social Distortion * Mommy's Little Monster (XXX)
X * More Fun In The New World (Elektra)
Kip Hanrahan * Desire Develops An Edge (American Clave)
James Blood Ulmer * Odyssey (Columbia)
King Sunny Ade * Synchro System (Mango)
The Chameleons UK * Script of the Bridge (Statik)
Rod Taylor * If Jah Should Come Now (Daddy Kool)
The Triffids * Treeless Plain (Hot/Rough Trade)
The Fall * Perverted By Language (Castle/Sanctuary)
Einsturzende Neubauten * Drawings Of Patient O.T. (Some Bizarre)
Iron Maiden * Piece Of Mind (EMI)
Wipers * Over The Edge (Restless/Zeno)
James White * Flaming Denomics (Ze/Infinite Zero)
Rip Rig + Panic * Attitude (Virgin)
Liliput * Some Songs (Rough Trade/Off Course)
Loudness * Law Of Devil's Land (Columbia Japan)
Killing Joke * Fire Dances (EG)
Fun Boy Three * Waiting (Chrysalis)
Konk * Yo (Crepescule/Ze)
Trio * Trio And Error (Mercury)
Bad Religion * Into The Unknown (Epitaph)
Pretenders * Learning To Crawl (Sire)
Suicidal Tendencies * Suicidal Tendencies (Frontier)
Madness * The Rise And Fall (Virgin)
Necros * Conquest For Death (Touch & Go)
Bush Tetras * Boom In The Night 80-83 (ROIR)
New Order * Power, Corruption & Lies (Sire)
The Passage * Enflame (Cherry Red/ltd)
Hoodoo Gurus * Stoneage Romeos (A&M)
Elvis Costello & the Attractions * Punch the Clock (Columbia)
The Plimsouls * Everywhere At Once (Geffen)
Yello * You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess (Mercury)
Misfits * Misfits (Plan 9)
The Effigies * We're Da Machine EP (Ruthless)
Nina Hagen * Fearless (Columbia)
Accept * Restless And Wild (Portrait)
The Raincoats * The Kitchen Tapes (ROIR)
Raven * All For One (Neat)
Echo & the Bunnymen * Porcupine (Sire)
Bauhaus * Burning From the Inside (A&M)
Dio * Holy Diver (Reprise)
Yellow Magic Orchestra * Naughty Boys (EMI/Alfa)
Bob Marley & The Wailers * Confrontation (Tuff Gong/Island)
The Rain Parade * Emergency Third Rail Power Trip (Enigma)
Negative Approach * Tied Down (Touch & Go)
The Jazz Butcher * In Bath Of Bacon (Glass UK)
The Stranglers * Feline (EMI)
Ministry * With Sympathy (Arista)
Suburbs * Love Is The Law (Twin/Tone)
The Church * Seance (Arista)
John Foxx * The Golden Section (Virgin)
Slayer * Show No Mercy (Metal Blade)
Mercyful Fate * Melissa (Megaforce)
Alcatrazz * No Parole From Rock 'n' Roll (Grand Slamm)
Anvil * Forged In Fire (Attic)
The Big Boys * Lullabies Help The Brain Grow (Moment/Touch & Go)
Toy Dolls * Dig That Groove Baby (Castle/Sanctuary)
The The * Soul Mining (Epic)
The Replacements * Hootenanny (Twin/Tone)
Rudimentary Peni * Death Church (Corpus Christi)
Heaven 17 * The Luxury Gap (Virgin)
Conflict * It's Time To See Who's Who (Corpus Christi)
Manowar * Into Glory Ride (Music for Nations)
Lou Reed * Legendary Hearts (RCA)
Motley Crue * Shout At The Devil (Motley/Beyond)
Tank * This Means War (Music For Nations)
Motorhead * Another Perfect Day (Roadrunner)
Black Flag * Everything Went Black (SST)
Big Country * The Crossing
The Pagans * The Pink Album 82-83 (Crypt)
Twisted Sister * You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll (Atlantic)
Hanoi Rocks * Self-Destruction Blues (Lick)
Chateaux * Chained And Desperate (Ebony)
Highway Chile * Storybook Heroes (21)
Venom * At War With Satan (Neat/Combat)
The Ramones * Subterranean Jungle (Sire)
Cheap Trick * Next Position Please (Epic)
G.B.H. * City Baby's Revenge (Combat)
Jonathon Richman * Jonathon Sings! (Sire)
The B-52's * Whammy! (WB)
Freur * Doot-Doot (Oglio)
Krokus * Headhunters (Arista)
Kid Creole & the Coconuts * Doppelganger (Sire)
The Call * Modern Romans (Mercury)
Circle Jerks * Golden Shower Of Hits (Avenue)
Gang Of Four * Hard (WB)
The Fixx * Reach The Beach (MCA)
Diamond Head * Death and Progress (Metal Blade)
Man Sized Action * Claustrophobia (Reflex)
Savatage * Sirens (Metal Blade)
XTC * Mummer (Geffen)
Def Leppard * Pyromania (Polydor)
Waysted * Vices (Chrysalis)
Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
Quote:
Between the release of Heartattack and Vine in 1980 and Swordfishtrombones in 1983, Tom Waits got rid of his manager, his producer, and his record company. And he drastically altered a musical approach that had become as dependable as it was unexciting. Swordfishtrombones has none of the strings and much less of the piano work that Waits' previous albums had employed; instead, the dominant sounds on the record were low-pitched horns, bass instruments, and percussion, set in spare, close-miked arrangements (most of them by Waits) that sometimes were better described as "soundscapes." Lyrically, Waits' tales of the drunken and the lovelorn have been replaced by surreal accounts of people who burned down their homes and of Australian towns bypassed by the railroad — a world (not just a neighborhood) of misfits now have his attention. The music can be primitive, moving to odd time signatures, while Waits alternately howls and wheezes in his gravelly bass voice. He seems to have moved on from Hoagy Carmichael and Louis Armstrong to Kurt Weill and Howlin' Wolf (as impersonated by Captain Beefheart). Waits seems to have had trouble interesting a record label in the album, which was cut 13 months before it was released, but when it appeared, rock critics predictably raved: after all, it sounded weird and it didn't have a chance of selling. Actually, it did make the bottom of the best-seller charts, like most of Waits' albums, and now that he was with a label based in Europe, even charted there. Artistically, Swordfishtrombones marked an evolution of which Waits had not seemed capable (though there were hints of this sound on his last two Asylum albums), and in career terms it reinvented him.
R.E.M. - MurmurQuote:
Leaving behind the garagey jangle pop of their first recordings, R.E.M. developed a strangely subdued variation of their trademark sound for their full-length debut album, Murmur. Heightening the enigmatic tendencies of Chronic Town by de-emphasizing the backbeat and accentuating the ambience of the ringing guitar, R.E.M. created a distinctive sound for the album — one that sounds eerily timeless. Even though it is firmly in the tradition of American folk-rock, post-punk, and garage rock, Murmur sounds as if it appeared out of nowhere, without any ties to the past, present, or future. Part of the distinctiveness lies in the atmospheric production, which exudes a detached sense of mystery, but it also comes from the remarkably accomplished songwriting. The songs on Murmur sound as if they've existed forever, yet they subvert folk and pop conventions by taking unpredictable twists and turns into melodic, evocative territory, whether it's the measured riffs of "Pilgrimage," the melancholic "Talk About the Passion," or the winding guitars and pianos of "Perfect Circle." R.E.M. may have made albums as good as Murmur in the years following its release, but they never again made anything that sounded quite like it.
The Violent Femmes - The Violent FemmesQuote:
One of the most distinctive records of the early alternative movement and an enduring cult classic, Violent Femmes weds the geeky, child-man persona of Jonathan Richman and the tense, jittery, hyperactive feel of new wave in an unlikely context: raw, amateurish acoustic folk-rock. The music also owes something to the Modern Lovers' minimalism, but powered by Brian Ritchie's busy acoustic bass riffing and the urgency and wild abandon of punk rock, the Femmes forged a sound all their own. Still, the main reason Violent Femmes became the preferred soundtrack for the lives of many an angst-ridden teenager is lead singer and songwriter Gordon Gano. Naive and childish one minute, bitterly frustrated and rebellious the next, Gano's vocals perfectly captured the contradictions of adolescence and the difficulties of making the transition to adulthood. Clever lyrical flourishes didn't hurt either; while "Blister In the Sun" has deservedly become a standard, "Kiss Off"'s chant-along "count-up" section, "Add It Up"'s escalating "Why can't I get just one..." couplets, and "Gimme the Car"'s profanity-obscuring guitar bends ensured that Gano's intensely vulnerable confessions of despair and maladjustment came off as catchy and humorous as well. Even if the songwriting slips a bit on occasion, Gano's personality keeps the music engaging and compelling without overindulging in his seemingly willful naiveté. For the remainder of their career, the group would only approach this level in isolated moments.
U2 - WarQuote:
Opening with the ominous, fiery protest of "Sunday Bloody Sunday," War immediately announces itself as U2's most focused and hardest-rocking album to date. Blowing away the fuzzy, sonic indulgences of October with propulsive, martial rhythms and shards of guitar, War bristles with anger, despair, and above all, passion. Previously, Bono's attempts at messages came across as grandstanding, but his vision becomes remarkably clear on this record, as his anthems ("New Year's Day," "40," "Seconds") are balanced by effective, surprisingly emotional love songs ("Two Hearts Beat as One"), which are just as desperate and pleading as his protests. He performs the difficult task of making the universal sound personal, and the band helps him out by bringing the songs crashing home with muscular, forceful performances that reveal their varied, expressive textures upon repeated listens. U2 always aimed at greatness, but War was the first time they achieved it.
Metallica - Kill Em AllQuote:
The true birth of thrash. On Kill 'Em All, Metallica fuses the intricate riffing of New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Diamond Head with the velocity of Motörhead and hardcore punk. James Hetfield's highly technical rhythm guitar style drives most of the album, setting new standards of power, precision, and stamina. But really, the rest of the band is just as dexterous, playing with tightly controlled fury even at the most ridiculously fast tempos. There are already several extended, multi-sectioned compositions foreshadowing the band's later progressive epics, though these are driven by adrenaline, not texture. A few tributes to heavy metal itself are a bit dated lyrically; like Diamond Head, the band's biggest influence, Kill 'Em All's most effective tone is one of supernatural malevolence — as pure sound, the record is already straight from the pits of hell. Ex-member Dave Mustaine co-wrote four of the original ten tracks, but the material all sounds of a piece. And actually, anyone who worked backward through the band's catalog might not fully appreciate the impact of Kill 'Em All when it first appeared — unlike later releases, there simply isn't much musical variation (apart from a lyrical bass solo from Cliff Burton). The band's musical ambition also grew rapidly, so today, Kill 'Em All sounds more like the foundation for greater things to come. But that doesn't take anything away from how fresh it sounded upon first release, and time hasn't dulled the giddy rush of excitement in these performances. Frightening, awe-inspiring, and absolutely relentless, Kill 'Em All is pure destructive power, executed with jaw-dropping levels of scientific precision.
Minor Threat - Out of StepQuote:
The only official album Minor Threat ever released was a mere eight songs — but that was enough. Building on the promise and fire of the band's earlier singles, Out of Step instantly became iconic for American hardcore, not to mention for the D.C. scene, for years to come, as well as any number of bands who conflated personal and social politics. That any number of restrained turn-of-the-century emo acts could refer to songs on Out of Step as much as fiery punk's-not-dead revivalists is demonstration enough of the record's impact. By this point the band had moved beyond the straightforward explosions of sound that characterized the earliest numbers. Songs like "Betray" and "Little Friend" contain sudden, heart-stopping pauses, with full-bodied production that's as much thrash metal as it is trebly punk squeal. Lyle Preslar and Brian Baker both have at the guitar this time through and do the instrument proud, creating memorable, snarling riffs that rip out of the speakers without apology. Jeff Nelson's drumming is equally powerful, but Ian MacKaye's outraged performance provides the real killer touch. Even if it requires the lyric sheet to catch what's being said in particular, there's less in the way of declarative statements of purpose and more expressions of looming worries, his conversational asides adding a touch of melancholy even at the most high-volume moments. Besides a re-recording of "Out of Step" from the In My Eyes EP, other high points include "Look Back and Laugh," an uneasy but ever-more-tightly wound confrontation with the reality of growing apart being entangled with growing up, and the powerful "Think Again." There's a secret highlight, though — "Cashing In," appearing unlisted at the end and showing that MacKaye and company had a definite sense of humor, pokes fun at their own glowering image even while rocking out with aplomb (and including, of all things, a concluding burst of strings).
Talking Heads - Speaking in TonguesQuote:
Talking Heads found a way to open up the dense textures of the music they had developed with Brian Eno on their two previous studio albums for Speaking in Tongues, and were rewarded with their most popular album yet. Ten backup singers and musicians accompanied the original quartet, but somehow the sound was more spacious, and the music admitted aspects of gospel, notably in the call-and-response of "Slippery People," and John Lee Hooker-style blues, on "Swamp." As usual, David Byrne determinedly sang and chanted impressionistic, nonlinear lyrics, sometimes by mix-and-matching clichés ("No visible means of support and you have not seen nothin' yet," he declared on "Burning Down the House," the Heads' first Top Ten hit), and the songs' very lack of clear meaning was itself a lyrical subject. "Still don't make no sense," Byrne admitted in "Making Flippy Floppy," but by the next song, "Girlfriend Is Better," that had become an order — "Stop making sense," he chanted over and over. Some of his charming goofiness had returned since the overly serious Remain in Light and Fear of Music, however, and the accompanying music, filled with odd percussive and synthesizer sounds, could be unusually light and bouncy. The album closer, "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)," even sounded hopeful. Well, sort of. Despite their formal power, Talking Heads' preceding two albums seemed to have painted them into a corner, which may be why it took them three years to craft a follow-up, but on Speaking in Tongues, they found an open window and flew out of it.
The Police - SynchronicityQuote:
Although the Police's fifth release, 1983's Synchronicity, would be their most commercially successful and lead to a sold-out tour of enormodomes (including New York's Shea Stadium), it would turn out to be the trio's final album and tour. Like all Police recordings, Synchronicity contains some obvious "filler" (such as the silly dinosaur tale of "Walking in Your Footsteps" and the almost unlistenable "Mother"), but for the most part, it's exceptional. One of 1983's biggest singles, the haunting "Every Breath You Take" is an obvious highlight, as well as other hits — the cacophonous rocker "Synchronicity II," plus the far more temperate "Wrapped Around Your Finger" and "King of Pain." Also included are the oft-overlooked tracks "O My God," "Synchronicity I" (used as a concert opener on the ensuing tour), "Tea in the Sahara," "Murder by Numbers," and the Stewart Copeland original "Miss Gradenko." Few other albums from 1983 merged tasteful pop, sophistication, and expert songwriting as well as Synchronicity did, resulting in yet another all-time classic.
John Cougar Mellencamp - Uh HuhQuote:
Since American Fool illustrated that John Cougar was becoming an actual songwriter, it's only proper that he reclaimed his actual last name, Mellencamp, for the follow-up, Uh-Huh. After all, now that he had success, he wanted to be taken seriously, and Uh-Huh reflects that in its portraits of brokenhearted life in the Midwest and its rumbling undercurrent of despair. Although his lyrics still have the tendency to be a little too vague, they are more effective here than ever before, as is his music; he might not have changed his style at all — it's still a fusion of the Stones and Springsteen — except that he now knows how to make it his own. Uh-Huh runs out of steam toward the end, but the first half — with the dynamic rocker "Crumblin' Down," his best protest song, "Pink Houses," the punky "Authority Song," the melancholy "Warmer Place to Sleep," and the garage rocker "Play Guitar" — makes the record his first terrific album.
