Many of my favorite artists put out albums in 1987 that I dismissed, forgot about, or was disappointed by them. Some of these are back in heavy rotation for the first time in 36 years.

I’ve written a lot about music from 1986 as a big year for discovery that made a vivid impact on my spongey, enflamed teenage brain. The next year seemed to be running on fumes in many ways. Part of it was likely the growing pains of bands navigating commercial expectations, and part may have just been in my head, my own impossibly high and specific demands I had for favorite artists. I had particularly mixed feelings about a former favorite, U2, which I’ve covered plenty. In Ira Robbins’ (Trouser Press magazine and record guides) Music in a Word, Volume 1, he wrote, “It has been alternately sobering, embarrassing and rewarding to read the cocksure arrogance of my youth: the harshness, the ignorance, the disappointment in artists I once adored as they fell short of whatever it was I wished them to be…or not to be.” It makes sense that I would share Robbins’ “combination of enormous passion and impossibly high standards for popular music, a personal form of elitism that ruled out all but a few.” His magazine and record guide were a big influence on my discovery of punk, post-punk and indie music.

For some albums, it made sense that I didn’t fully connect with them or understand them in time and place I was at. Other albums I did appreciate at first, but quickly decided I’d grown out of them, and didn’t listen to them much for decades. Others I just didn’t even bother listening to and missed out. It was also a transitional year for metal. I didn’t buy any metal albums that year, though I would eventually circle back to Dio, Napalm Death, Candlemass, Voivod, Death, Testament, Pentagram and Trouble, I’ll address those some other time.

Echo & The Bunnymen – Echo & The Bunnymen (July 6, Sire)

I had a tape of Porcupine (1983) and Ocean Rain (1984) that I loved — a perfect soundtrack for teen melodrama. I was less convinced by “Bring on the Dancing Horses” from the Pretty in Pink soundtrack. John Hughes’ movies had characters my age so of course I liked them. But I related more to Nick Cage in Valley Girl and Emilio Estevez in Repo Man. I was in the midst of discovering more dissonant sounds from Big Black and Sonic Youth, so when I heard “Lips Like Sugar,” it might as well have been the same as Def Leppard’s strip club anthem “Pour Some Sugar On Me.” Bubblegum that I had no use for. On the other hand I did like their cover of The Doors’ “People Are Strange” on the Lost Boys soundtrack. While the Trouser Press record guide was infamous for some very tart dismissals of otherwise beloved albums, a later edition actually was quite kind to the Bunnymen’s fifth album — “a solid and mature album which gains momentum as it plays…show the Bunnymen’s ongoing refinement and consistent quality; the band acknowledges its debt to the Doors by prominently featuring Ray Manzarek. ” I don’t think I’d listened to the whole thing until I bought the 25th anniversary reissue in 2003. Even then, I filed it away and forgot about it. It took another two decades for me to put it on heavy rotation in a playlist where I really started to dig it. From the Doors-y “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo” to “Lost and Found,” “New Direction” and “All in Your Mind,” it’s finally become clear that, while I still greatly prefer the high energy psychedelic post-punk of Crocodiles (1980) and the gloomy but powerful Heaven Up Here (1981), this album is the last in their run of greats. Over a couple weeks of repeated listens, “Bombers Bay” surprises me as a sleeper cut. I even like bonus track “Jimmy Brown,” which is a much better early arrangement of “…Dancing Horses.” “Lips Like Sugar” is still my least favorite, but I no longer cringe when I hear it. | #7 in Slicing Up Eyeballs poll | #41 #5albums87 poll

The Dukes Of Stratosphear – Psonic Psunspot (August 3, Virgin)

After being blown away by Skylarking (1986), my process of appreciating all of XTC’s other albums has been a complex journey over the course of four decades. My next step was probably the compilation tape Waxworks: Some Singles 1977-1982, and then The Dukes of Stratosphear 25 O’Clock EP (1985). The press at the time sniffed that it was a self-indulgent side project copying their favorite 60s psych pop and Nuggets style songs. My immense enjoyment of this music was tainted by guilt that I was loving substandard stuff. What a load of bullshit. As Andy Partridge said in the XTC: This Is Pop (2017) documentary, they had the revelation that it’s okay to openly embrace their influences. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Who did so and turned out pretty alright. It’s also hogwash that Psonic Punspot is much weaker than 25 O’Clock. While it does reflect the more orchestral production of Skylarking than the noisy garage psych of “My Love Explodes” and “Your Gold Dress,” it’s a great freakin’ album. While it doesn’t take a knowledgeable trainspotter to notice the Beach Boys tribute of “Pale and Precious” all the songs are well-written originals, and hold up well against XTC’s catalog. Highlights for me include “Shiny Cage,” “The Affiliated,” and “Little Lighthouse,” with only the cheesy music hall of “You’re A Good Man Albert Brown” turning me off at times. The combo Chips From the Chocolate Fireball was the very first CD I bought along with Joy Division’s Substance. It gathered dust for some reason, but is once again in heavy rotation via my Roon playlists, after buying it twice more via the Ape House digipack remasters in 2009, and Psurroundabout Ride (Ape House, 2019) with the Steven Wilson 5.1 remix, instrumentals and demos, both including bonus tracks like “Black Jeweled Serpent of Sound” and the Beefheartian “Open a Can of Human Beans.” I still have a final stage in my XTC appreciation journey. While I gave Apple Venus Volume 1 (1999) a brief but relatively positive review at the time, I was really not onboard with Oranges & Lemons (1989) and Nonsuch (1992). I’m coming around, and while I’m skeptical of the folks in the documentary who state the last three are their best albums, I’m going to explore those more, because decades of experience has shown with Black Sea (1980), English Settlement (1982), Mummer (1983) and The Big Express (1984), that extended repeat listens always reveals revelatory moments in XTC albums. | #37 Slicing Up Eyeballs | #45 #5albums87

The Smiths – “Strangeways, Here We Come” (September 22, Sire)

Now here’s a band with some baggage. Somewhat overrated by a core group of rabid fans, and passionately hated by many more, The Smiths were great at drawing lines in the sand and inciting debates. Morrissey was even better at connecting with teens and young adults with often self-pitying lyrics laced with deliciously barbed wit. And of course Johnny Marr’s guitar playing. I refuse to even think about the despicable troll Morrissey would later turn into, but I did have big reservations about their last full-length album, the release coinciding with the announcement of their split. It seemed obvious that there were problems, given Marr’s subdued performance here, lacking his usual effervescent spark. Unlike many fanatics who say ridiculous things like all four albums are perfect, I had problems with all their albums, even The Queen is Dead (1986). The album that got the most plays was my tape of the compilation Louder Than Bombs, released in March of that year, which seemed like ages ago by the time this came out. Nevertheless, while none of the songs rank as their best, they’re all still quite good. And with the death of Andy Rourke, along with Morrissey’s soul, it’s more clear than ever that the four albums and singles are all we’re ever going to get. | #3 Slicing Up Eyeballs | #1 #5albums87 | #11 Acclaimedmusic

The Gun Club – Mother Juno (October 19, Red Rhino/Extra Term)

Songs from The Gun Club’s first two albums, Fire of Love (1981) and Miami (1982) got a lot of spins on my radio show. While I dutifully bought reissues of their later albums, I never connected with them the same way. As the band’s influence of their pioneering hybrid of post-punk, punk blues, psych, goth and Americana grew over the decades, more attention has been given to Mother Juno, a kind of lost classic that has gotten it’s most expansive deluxe reissue treatment this year. It was Mark Lanegan’s and Kid Congo Powers’ memoirs Sing Backwards and Weep (2020) and Some New Kind of Kick (2022) that inspired me to dig back into the Gun Club’s later albums, particularly this one. Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s mental health and addiction issues made his life chaotic, but his work was still intensely focused at this point. While “Thunderhead” and “Hearts” recall their early punk energy, it’s largely a slow burner. Songs like “Nobody’s City,” “Port of Souls,” “The Breaking Hands” and “Lupita Screams” have gotten under my skin and haunted me like vengeful spirits. Produced by Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie, the album has a uniquely delicate and even beautiful song that’s unique in their catalog. Blixa Bargeld’s guest spot on “Yellow Eyes” foreshadows Pierce’s time spent in Brussels and hanging out with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. | #86 Slicing Up Eyeballs | #84 #5albums87

The Jesus And Mary Chain – Darklands (August 31, Blanco y Negro)

I wouldn’t consider myself among the fickle fans who abandoned The Jesus and Mary Chain when they’d dropped the fuzz/buzz guitar sounds on their second album. Their knack for fusing simple pop melodies via Dylan, Velvets and Ramones remained, and “Happy When It Rains” was a killer single, backed with consistently great, hooky songs in “April Skies,” “Down on Me,” “Darklands,” “Nine Million Rainy Days” and “Fall.” I bought the tape and enjoyed it, and didn’t intentionally put it out of rotation. I just got bored with the alt rock sound that they had influenced. But seeing them at Levitation Psych Fest last year in Austin reminded me that they’re still a unique, legendary band against which lessers are measured and found lacking. | #8 Slicing Up Eyeballs | #8 #5albums87 | #26 Acclaimedmusic

Sinéad O’Connor – The Lion and the Cobra (November 4, Chrysalis)

In the summer of ’88, the sole woman among my housemates played the hell out of this CD, and I liked it. O’Connor had a kind of untamed feral passion that at the time I could only compare to Björk’s vocal contributions in the Sugarcubes debut. And yet I did not feel it was my music, being still a teenaged dude simmering in noise and testosterone. She really blew up with her second album thanks to her masterful cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” but after owning all her albums, at some point by early 00s I’d realized that her debut was still her best work. Given the hindsight of her mental health struggles, the sensual “I Want Your (Hands on Me)” can be squirm-worthy, but the rest of the album is brilliant, from the hooky “Mandinka” to “Jerausalem,” “Just Like U Said it Would B,” and the devastating centerpiece, “Troy.” RIP Sinéad. | #12 Slicing Up Eyeballs | #25 #5albums87 | #23 Acclaimedmusic

Close Lobsters – Foxheads Stalk This Land (October, Enigma)

When I first started by college radio show I focused on current indie music, and spent a lot of time sifting through the stacks sorting through new music. I often found at least one killer song on obscure albums by Vomit Launch, the Pedaljets, and “I Kiss the Flowers in Bloom” by Close Lobsters, sounding like a Scottish version of The Church. I taped most of those albums, but eventually they’d get lost or taped over. They lurked in my subconsiousness, and someone at Fire records also hadn’t forgotten them and their dreamy jangle pop, featuring their two full length albums, EP and singles in the 2015 box set, Firestation Towers: 1986-89. The remastering and repackaging made songs like “Sewer Pipe Dream,” “In Spite of These Times” and the epic raver “Mother of God” sound incredibly fresh, with many contemporary bands sounding quite similar. The set got them enough attention to make it worth getting back together and recording a third album, Post Neo Anti: Arte Povera in the Forest of Symbols (2020). | #77 Slicing Up Eyeballs | #80 #5albums87

The Cult – Electric (April 6, Sire)

Love (1985) was about as successful as a post-punk/psych/goth album could be, and the change in direction to the Rick Rubin-produced riff fest was pretty unexpected. On one hand, I liked the idea of doing AC/DC style chugs better than the Aussies could muster at the time, but it was somewhat of a guilty, cheesy pleasure. However, in hindsight, in light of the rise of Gun ‘n’ Roses, Electric is about ten times better. | #11 Slicing Up Eyeballs | #32 #5albums87 | #30 Acclaimedmusic

The Sisters Of Mercy – Floodland (November 16, Merciful Release)

One of the reasons I first got interested in this album was that Patricia Morrison was supposed to be part of the lineup. She’s cool as hell, having played in The Bags, Legal Weapon and The Gun Club. Yet oddly, Andrew Eldritch denied that she played on the album, despite the fact that she’s credited in the liner notes, and also definitely was a part of the previous year’s project The Gift, a kind of side project named Sisterhood, a response to members leaving the band and trying to perform under the same name. Whoever played what, it originally had mixed reviews, and I while I liked the idea of goth culture, I thought a lot of the music was kind of silly. But once you’re accustomed to Eldritch’s monotone baritone, the lush, bleak production is pretty groundbreaking. He even had Meat Loaf producer Jim Steinman produce “Dominion/Mother Russia” and “This Corrosion,” which, while slightly more theatrical, blended well with “Lucretia, My Reflection” and the rest of the album. | #10 Slicing Up Eyeballs | #23 #5albums87 | #45 Acclaimedmusic

The Housemartins – The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death (September 21, Elektra)

When the Housemartins released London 0 Hull 4 (1986), their jangle pop was compared to The Smiths, though their self conception as socialist gospel was accurate enough. While this is a common enough case where the second album isn’t as immediate and catchy as the first, I don’t think it merited the band breaking up. I guess it all worked out, Paul Heaton continued a similar sound with The Beautiful South (ten albums so far, and none are better than this one) and bassist Norman Cook got filthy rich as Fatboy Slim. Despite criticisms at the time, in retrospect many fans agree this is actually nearly as strong as the debut. “Five Get Over Excited” sound particularly fresh, and there’s plenty of exuberance and bite on tracks like “The World’s On Fire” and “We’re Not Going Back.” | #25 Slicing Up Eyeballs | #29 #5albums87

Hoodoo Gurus – Blow Your Cool (April, Elektra)

This Australian garage band formed in 1981, had a sprawling 40+ year career (they just released their tenth album, Chariot of the Gods last year) but could never match the magic of their debut, Stoneage Romeos (1984). Yet they’re such as fun band, that even dated overly boomy/reverby production on their third album can’t totally blunt the charm of Hoodoo Gurus, who venture into power pop and jangle pop. The strongest tracks are at top with the brooding “Out That Door” and hooky “What’s My Scene.” On “Come On” they touch on cowpunk/Americana that’s popular in the U.S., which Australians have plenty of affinity for. “Heart of Darkness” a rich slice of chocolate garage psych. I see no reason they couldn’t have become much more popular. Maybe they should have hitched a ride on an INXS tour. | #44 Slicing Up Eyeballs

Depeche Mode – Music For the Masses (September 28, Mute/Sire/Virgin)

It took me a long time to stop considering Depeche Mode a second tier synthpop/New Romantic band based on their first three albums. Some Great Reward (1984) and Black Celebration (1986) were better, but I was convinced enough to be a fan, and simply didn’t get around to hearing their sixth album until many years later. I thought their industro-pop bad boy tattooed leather & latex poses in the early 90s was corny as hell, but apparently the rest of the world worshipped them to levels of The Cure and beyond. Out of respect for certain friends I tried to appreciate them more, and was able to do that with Music For the Masses, which seems to be their best album, despite Trouser Press Guide calling it “Unambitious, bland and forgettable.” It starts out strong with “Never Let Me Down Again,” and beyond the intense “Behind the Wheel,” the songwriting is actually consistently interesting, possibly their most sophisticated and underrated collection. | #2 Slicing Up Eyeballs | #9 #5albums87 | #16 Acclaimedmusic

The Call – Into the Woods (July 7, Elektra)

The Call were never cool. While they have post-punk roots in their first few releases in 1982-84, the Christian content in some of Michael Been’s lyrics might have given me hives or even caused me to burst in flames were I even aware of what he was up to. They appear on the cover of one of their later albums with beards and mullets and look indistinguishable from, say, Toto. A cover of their biggest hit, “I Still Believe,” appeared in the Lost Boys movie with an oiled up Tim Cappello playing sax and undulated crotch moves. But their earnestness won plenty of people over, as did the memorable songs on their best album, Reconciled (1986). To my ears they’re what an artistically solid mainstream rock band should sound like. On their fifth album they balance themes of nature and human frailty with a sensitivity that makes U2’s The Joshua Tree sound overblown. They share plenty of elements with the Irish band between post-punk influences, anthemic qualities of Big Music associated with them and the likes of Big Country, The Alarm and Simple Minds (Jim Kerr guested on Reconciled along with Peter Gabriel and Robbie Robertson), and even the sounds of Heartland Rock. So why weren’t The Call remotely as well known? I think, sadly, it’s partly because their lyrics aren’t as cloying as Bono’s, but also they didn’t have an Eno/Lanois/Flood dream team doing intricate sound design to make them stand out. The Call’s performance and production is more straightforward. But listening again to songs like the passionate “I Don’t Wanna,” hard hitting “In the River,” brooding “It Could Have Been Me,” and the nearly darkwave synth backing of “The Woods” show the band was the real deal. I’d love it if The Killers and The National would publicly profess their love and debt to the band. Sadly, Been died in 2010, though his son Robert Levon Been of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club contributed vocals for some tribute shows in 2013, which were recorded and released the next year. The only album in this batch that didn’t make the Slicing Up Eyeballs poll.

INXS – Kick (October 19, Atlantic)

Talk about a mainstream success story, but a long, slow and steady one that took ten years and six albums. They had a few good singles in ’82-’85, and Listen Like Thieves (1985) is their best album, but there’s no denying the earworms they came up on no less than five hit singles, aided by a somewhat spare funk production, though still dated by that damn gated reverb drum sound. Trouser Press put down this album with the most withering of contempt, but I never agreed. I didn’t exactly seek them out for a while when those song were inescapable on the radio, but I eventually got the album. They were always a good band, and if more mainstream pop rock was this tight, well, I’d probably have less hate in my soul. | #6 Slicing Up Eyeballs | #10 #5albums87 | #24 Acclaimedmusic

Love And Rockets – Earth • Sun • Moon (September 9, Beggars Banquet)

Like The Jesus And Mary Chain, Love And Rockets abandoned their deliciously noisy guitar tones for a cleaner production, and what I thought was a desperate grab for the mainstream via “No New Tale to Tell.” In hindsight, they still sound like the potent psychedelic goth/post-punk band that first drew me to them on their first two albums. It’s not as great as Express (1986), and Trouser Press Guide called it a “dull and often murky digression that buries its few promising ideas in echo and overdubbed guitar tracks,” but this has grown on me, at least to a point. They were 3/4 of Bauhaus after all, and incapable of sucking too badly, at least until Hot Trip to Heaven (1994). The heavier distorted guitars would come back on their next album, which also be their best selling album. | #13 Slicing Up Eyeballs | #94 #5albums87

Sting – …Nothing Like the Sun (October 5, A&M)

Dabbling in “mature” albums from the likes of Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon in my teens was like taste-testing adulthood. How badly was adulting going to suck? How was that working out for Sting after he left The Police, and rock in general, to return to his roots of jazz-rock, with an extra dose of sophisti-pop? It went okay with The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985), and his second solo album was more consistent, but perhaps didn’t hit the heights of “Shadows in the Rain” and “Fortress Around Your Heart.” Sting learned a lesson from Paul Weller, who left the superior The Jam to form The Style Council — once you start dabbling in easy listening, there’s no going back to former glories. A friend was Sting’s number one fan and replayed this album so much it drove me bananas. I’d listen to Ghost in the Machine or any other Police album besides Synchronicity before this, and yet, I’m somehow comforted by the schmoove sounds of this album. It took 36 years but I guess I’m finally mature enough to appreciate it. | #68 #5albums87 | #35 Acclaimedmusic

Best of 1987

1. Dinosaur Jr. – You’re Living All Over Me (SST) | Bandcamp
2. Sonic Youth – Sister (SST) | Bandcamp
3. Hüsker Dü – Warehouse: Songs And Stories (WB)
4. The Smiths – Louder Than Bombs (Sire)
5. R.E.M. – Document (I.R.S.)
6. Big Black – Songs About Fucking (Touch And Go) | Bandcamp
7. U2 – The Joshua Tree (Island)
8. Game Theory – Lolita Nation (Enigma) | Buy
9. The Cure – Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (Elektra)
10. The Smiths – Strangeways, Here We Come (Sire)
11. Lowlife – Diminuendo (Nightshift) | Bandcamp
12. Echo & The Bunnymen – Echo & The Bunnymen (Sire)
13. The Jesus and Mary Chain – Darklands (WB/Blanco Y Negro)
14. Prince – Sign O’ The Times (Paisley Park)
15. The Dukes Of Stratosphear – Psonic Psunspot (Virgin)
16. The Replacements – Pleased to Meet Me (Sire)
17. The Gun Club – Mother Juno (Buddha)
18. Breathless – Three Times And Waving (Tenor Vossa)
19. Dead Can Dance – Within the Realm of a Dying Sun (4AD)
20. Candlemass – Nightfall (Metal Blade) | Bandcamp
21. Sort Sol – Everything That Rises Must Converge (EMI)
22. The Sound – Thunder Up (Nettwerk/Edsel)
23. Sad Lovers and Giants – The Mirror Test (Cherry Red)
24. Marianne Faithfull – Strange Weather (Island)
25. New Order – Substance (Factory)
26. Martin Dupont – Hot Paradox (Facteurs d’Ambiance) | Bandcamp
27. The Go-Betweens – Tallulah (Beggars Banquet)
28. Melvins – Gluey Porch Treatments (Boner/Ipecac) | Bandcamp
29. Pixies – Come On Pilgrim EP (4AD)
30. Sumo – After Chabón (CBS)
31. Government Issue – You (Giant)
32. Jane Siberry – The Walking (Reprise) | Bandcamp
33. For Against – Echelons (Independent Project ) | Bandcamp
34. Eric B. & Rakim – Paid In Full (4th & Broadway)
35. The Sisters Of Mercy – Floodland (Elektra)
36. Throwing Muses – Chains Changed EP (4AD)
37. Tom Waits – Franks Wild Years (Island)
38. Deaf Dealer – Journey Into Fear (Sonic Age) | Buy
39. Throwing Muses – The Fat Skier EP (4AD)
40. The Pastels – Up For A Bit With the Pastels (Big Time ) | Bandcamp
41. That Petrol Emotion – Babble (Polydor)
42. Hugo Largo – Drum (Opal)
43. Close Lobsters – Foxheads Stalk This Land (Fire)
44. Manilla Road – Mystification (Black Dragon)
45. The Call – Into The Woods (Elektra)
46. The Cult – Electric (Sire)
47. Pink Turns Blue – If Two Worlds Kiss (Fun Factory!) | Bandcamp
48. The Deep Freeze Mice – War, Famine, Death, Pestilence and Miss Timberlake (Cordelia) | Bandcamp
49. Spacemen 3 – The Perfect Prescription (Fire) | Bandcamp
50. The Triffids – Calenture (Island)

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