Old Top Ten Lists

I was digging through some old papers over the weekend. And I found a bunch of musical memories. Old set lists from bands. A list of shows I saw in the summer of 1986. Old college radio station playlists. And two lists of Top 20 albums of the year. Make that four or five, but two from the ‘80s, when I still sent lists to my old radio station for the year end poll.
So how do these lists stack up? Do I have anything to be embarrassed about? Let's take a look. My 1986 Top 20 started pretty well:

1. The Pogues – Rum, Sodomy And The Lash
2. Beastie Boys – Licensed To Ill
3. The Minutemen – Three Way Tie (For Last)
4. Stan Ridgway – The Big Heat
5. Chris Hickey – Frames Of Mind, Boundaries Of Time

I have nothing to be ashamed of there. I might move The Minutemen above Beastie Boys, but these are all great records (and, FYI, Chris Hickey is a terrific folk-pop singer, who put out a great album a couple of years ago). Now, let's look at the next five:

6. The Jesus And Mary Chain – Psychocandy
7. Pop Art – Long Walk To Nowhere
8. Sigue Sigue Sputnik – Flaunt It
9. Phil Alvin – Un'sung Stories'
10. LL Cool J – Radio

Okay, now I have cause to be a little bit red faced. Sigue Sigue Sputnik? My 21-year old self wrote about this record, "[t]here's so much going on here, it's hard to get tired of it." Maybe I was wrong about that one. I'm not going to trash the record now, as I think if I slapped it on the turntable, I'd still enjoy Love Missile F-11 and the two or three or six songs on the album that sounded almost exactly like it. I do recall that the ultra-obvious irony of their deliberately commercial approach (remember – they sold ads between the tracks on the album) appealed to the ‘rebel' in me. The folly of youth! I'm not sure if I'd rank LL Cool J so high now either, though it is a great debut platter.

11. Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians – Element Of Light
12. Elvis Costello – King Of America
13. Peter Case – Peter Case
14. Husker Du – Candy Apple Grey
15. R.E.M. – Life's Rich Pageant

I suppose Peter Case has fallen off of many radar screens, but he has always been a great singer-songwriter. As this list goes on, my tastes seem...I don't want to say unadventurous, but this is pretty much major label product. In my defense: 1) it was harder to find indie releases back then, and, 2) there was more good stuff coming out on majors.

16. Big Country – The Seer
17. Run-DMC – Raising Hell
18. Paul Simon – Graceland
19. Screaming Blue Messiahs – Gun Shy
20. James – Stutter

Okay, I'd take back the selection of the Big Country album. I probably haven't listened to it since...1987? 1988? I still dig their Steeltownrecord. And I think I'd raise the Screaming Blue Messiahs disc a few notches. Great band.

Well, only two poor selections, otherwise, not too bad. How about 1988? I was 23 years old, and so much wiser:

1. They Might Be Giants – Lincoln
2. Didjits – Hey Judester
3. Fishbone – Truth & Soul
4. Living Colour – Vivid
5. Midnight Oil – Diesel And Dust

The top two are still my top two. Two of my all-time favorite records. The Fishbone record is wonderful, but I'm not so sure I'd rate it so highly. I'd have to listen to Living Colour again – my good memories of the record are clouded by the one time I saw them live – it was awful, with the three instrumentalists sounding like they were playing three different songs simultaneously.

6. Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians – Globe Of Frogs
7. A House – On Our Big Fat Merry-Go-Round
8. Big Audio Dynamite – Tighten Up, Vol. 88
9. Run-DMC – Tougher Than Leather
10. Brian Wilson – Brian Wilson

I would definitely move up the Brian Wilson and A House records – they'd be number 3 and number 4, respectively. Both have held up very well. The number 6 ranking for Hitchcock was pretty high, but I was really into him at the time. The B.A.D. and Run-DMC records are both underrated. But only the Run-DMC is really good – the B.A.D. has some good songs.

11. Lyle Lovett – Pontiac
12. Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
13. The Balancing Act – Curtains
14. The Godfathers – Birth School Work Death
15. The Christians – The Christians

I still dig all five of these albums. One big mistake though – Public Enemy – that should be in the top 3 – knock down the Brian Wilson and A House a notch each. One of the most important rap records ever, and one of the best. Sony needs to do a deluxe remixed remastered reissue, so we can hear all that was going on with the Bomb Squad's production. A couple notes – The Balancing Act were a nice folk-pop act and The Christians a smooth British modern soul band.

16. The Church – Starfish
17. The Last – Confession
18. Stump – A Fierce Pancake
19. Hothouse Flowers – People
20. Shinehead – Unity

Hmm...those last two selections are really dated. I'm sure I could find a couple of 1988 titles I enjoy much more now...wonder what Naked Raygun had put out that year? The other three are awesome. Stump is a particular favorite – an Irish band that mixed Captain Beefheart with way too much Guinness.

My 1988 list is a bit more lackluster. In my defense, the late ‘80s weren't quite as good. Then again, I was working at a record store, you think I would have run into more good records. Still, overall, most of these records are still among my favorites. I hope that my more recent lists will hold up just as well.

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