1989 Albums ----------- When I think about this year, I remember the sense of reflection that seemed to dominate everything in the pop music world. Everyone was doing countdown lists of the most important songs/albums of the decade, and it seemed like an important cultural effort to curate a list of the most significant music from the closing decade. It wouldn't take long for the first "80s music" compilations to appear on the discount store racks, and for some reason this was a decade that triggered nearly instantaneous nostalgia. By this time, there was already quite a bit of taxonomy and retrospective curation of the 60s and 70s pop/rock cannon, and it felt like the world was getting a head start on the process for the 80s. When I look at my favorites for the year, I am a bit surprised that I clearly remember hearing several of them at the time, with three of them (**B-52s**, **Billy Joel**, **Tom Petty**) being among my favorites since their year of release. I think this is probably because my brother and sister were both still teenagers, and I was finding out about these records from their collections. It is quite a mixed bag of genres that is very much a product of late 80s pop music, with a few indications of what was to come in the alternative rock dominated early 90s. .. image:: images/image_forthcoming.jpg :width: 900 :alt: My favorite albums from 1989 .. raw:: html - *Cosmic Thing* by **The B-52s** - Their first album without Ricky Wilson was a big change in sound, but a massive success. Without Wilson's distinctive guitar work, we get a somewhat more conventional new wave record, that is still miles away from what their contemporaries were doing. This will always be most remembered for party rock classic "Love Shack", which is deservedly among the most famous rock songs of all time. My favorite tracks are ballad "Deadbeat Club" and jangle pop classic "Roam". In retrospect this feels like a vague preview of music that would come in the early 90s. [*Memory*: I was very into the singles from this record that I heard on MTV, and encouraged by brother to buy a CD copy of the record. I had no awareness of the history of this band, since it had been half a decade since their original era of relevance. I remember one of my brother's friends telling me that they had been around for ages, but to a 9 year old, it felt like ancient history. It would be a long time before I would connect with those early works.] - *Disintegration* by **The Cure** - The peak of their second phase, on this release they perfected the combination of wistfully sweet pop songs, and moody atmospherics. This is a collection of love ballads for goths. "Plainsong" is a hard hitting and gorgeous way to to kick off the record. "Lovesong" is perhaps their very finest pop song in an album that is loaded with great ones. I'll always like their darker, rockier early sound a bit more, but it is remarkable how they mastered a wildly different, whole different kind of music. [*Memory*: In the mid-90s my sister would pass down to me a bunch of items including this CD, her CD boom-box, and a pair of walkman headphones. I would put all three to immediate use listening to "Plainsong" at ill advised volume to the point where those tiny headphone drivers started to break apart.] - *Rhythm Nation 1814* by **Janet Jackson** - Sometimes music ends up sounding dated in a way that makes it feel timeless. This album (and perhaps New Jack Swing in general) is so aggressively of its time, it almost exists outside the progressive development of contemporary R&B. The robotic, synthetic rhythms and swinging melodies are so late 80s it hurts. I almost can close my eyes and picture an army of robots dancing in formation behind Janet, copying her distinctive jazz moves. The story of this album is a jumbled, unintentionally humorous mishmash of feel-good, but half formed, proto-social justice pleas. What exactly is the nature and agenda of Rhythm Nation we are being invited to join? I think the message was crafted with good intentions, if with poor execution. The execution on the music however is perfect. "Miss You Much" is the high point of the entire New Jack Swing movement. [*Memory*: I really despised this at the time for some reason. It was on MTV constantly, and I just wasn't ready for it.] - *Storm Front* by **Billy Joel** - Until the SiriusXM Billy Joel channel existed, and we could hear the artist describe where his work was coming from, I never released how much he was attempting to emulate the sounds of the other artists of the day. With that information, it becomes easy to see the clear lines connecting "That's Not Her Style" and **Robert Palmer** or "Storm Front" and *So* era **Peter Gabriel**. That said, it all ends up becoming uniquely Billy. Some great little rock numbers, but the highlights are the quieter story songs: "Leningrad", "The Downeaster 'Alexa", and especially "And So It Goes". [*Memory*: I was watching MTV one September afternoon when they announced a new video being added to the rotation. It was the lead single from this album: "We Didn't Start the Fire". I was blown away by the possibility of new music from an artist that had always been a big part of the lives of my siblings and I. It felt like an eternity had passed since the last record, but it had only been 3 years. Time works different when you are nine.] - *Like A Prayer* by **Madonna** - The absolute peak of her cultural influence and in my opinion, her last five star classic. The master of 80s pop music closes out the decade with another winner. The title song is a masterpiece that I loved the first time I heard it, and I will never tire of. The other singles like "Express Yourself" and "Cherish" also sit among her finest work, but the quality of the album tracks aren't nearly as high as what we got in the early days of her career. [*Memory*: The video for "Like A Prayer" was on MTV constantly at the end of the 80s. I never had this album when I was young, and that song was one of the first things I downloaded from Napster back in the day.] - *Pretty Hate Machine* by **Nine Inch Nails** - The most un-ambiguously electro-industrial of his albums, and an extremely strong debut. I love the cold, hard production style this one has and it really suits the nature of the material. The one-two punch of "Head Like a Hole" and "Terrible Lie" are an amazing start to what would be one of the most important artists of the next decade. [*Memory*: I vividly remember hearing "Terrible Lie" at a house party in the summer of 1999. I was blown away by the openly "blasphemous" lyrical content, and cold, aggressive musical style. Not long after I would track down a copy at the local Circuit City.] - *Full Moon Fever** by **Tom Petty** - This was my favorite album in the year of release, and held that title for many years to come. Listening to this with adult ears, it is very easy to hear the strong influence of **Jeff Lynne** who would get a kind of pop magic out of Petty that we would never quite see again. I know it is trendy to be sick of "Free Fallin'", but I will never tire of this pop masterpiece. The singles have passed into legendary status, but it is album tracks like "Feel a Whole Lot Better" and "Zombie Zoo" where this album really distances itself from the rest of his catalog. [*Memory*: I was pulled in by the brilliant "Alice in Wonderland" themed video for "Runnin' Down A Dream" that was a fixture of MTV in the summer of '89. I remember my brother accusing me of only liking it for the cartoon, but pretty quickly I appreciated the quality of the song and the album.] - *Doolittle* by **The Pixies** - This is often spoken about as the definitive album of early alternative/indie rock, and it is hard to argue against that. The fundamental basis of this is punk, but it pulls from a far more eclectic and adventurous collection of sounds. It also has a sense of whimsey and experimentation that would typify the spirit of foundational indie rock. Everything on this album is brilliant, but no song demonstrates their brilliant artistic peak like the structurally adventurous track "Hey". [*Memory*: When I started at my first full-time job, one of the older engineers noticed that listened to the indie rock of the day. He mentioned the Pixies, and this album as his favorite. Soon after, I would get access to eMusic, and this would be one of the first great albums I would hear for the first time via that service.] - *Batman (Motion Picture Soundtrack)* by **Prince** - For me, this is the end of his classic period, and the last essential album from beginning to end. It isn't as solid as the rest of his 80s output, but there is enough of those Minneapolis sound grooves to keep the party going for one more full length. The concept of the movie soundtrack also helps give this a kind of conceptual unity and focus that much of his 90s work lacks. "Batdance" is a stunning time capsule of 1989, and a testament to the artist's ability to effortlessly produce blistering, highly compelling guitar solos. "Trust" is one of the most underrated Prince songs. [*Memory*: I loved the movie from the first time I saw it, but I remember being put off by the seemingly incongruous Prince soundtrack. I now see this music as an essential piece of a wholely unique aesthetic created for the film.] - *The Stone Roses* by **The Stone Roses** - The genesis of Britpop, especially the psychedelic sub-set of the genre. They made exactly one good album, but it is one of the greatest of all time. Often imitated by artists on both sides of the Atlantic, but never quite equaled. It really doesn't get enough credit for also influencing the highly textured and sensitive indie rock bands that would emerge in the 90s and 2000s. "Waterfall" is beautiful, and one of my favorite songs. [*Memory*: One day we were waiting outside my middle school for the doors to open for the first day of school, and a friend of mine was showing me some CDs he had borrowed from his older brother. We were both very into **The Beatles** and were excited by the latest "British Invasion", including bands like **Oasis** and **Blur**. I remember him telling me that this record was where it all began. It would be years until I actually heard it, but he wasn't wrong.] - *The Seeds of Love* by **Tears for Fears** - [**1989 FAVORITE**] - This album was wasted on young me. I didn't understand the understated, jazz influences. The emotional vocals seemed cheesy and overdone. As an adult I totally get it, and see it as one of the landmark achievements in progressive pop music, and the finest work by this band. [*Memory*: I can't think of an album that my opinion has changed on more than this one. I remember my brother buying it at release, and listening to it constantly. It took me decades to appreciate it.] - *Oranges and Lemons* by **XTC** - The influences of 60s psychedelic rock were there since the early 80s, but they come to the forefront here. This was the end of any sort of commercial relevance for a band that always flew just under the radar. We have the usual assortment of brilliant pop singles in songs like "Mayor of Simpleton" and "King for a Day". The most interesting moments are the more adventurous, but no less poppy gems like "Poor Skeleton Steps Out". [*Memory*: The Rochester music store Record Archive is notorious for having a huge used vinyl section that is mostly undesirable releases in poor condition. This was the first good album I found there in good condition, and is one of few used purchases I have ever made at that shop.]