February 10, 2010 by A.S. Van Dorston

I spent some time recently listening to some AOR albums from 25-30 years ago (Poll: MOR/AOR/Arena Rock Albums 1983-85). Some I had never heard in their entirety, others I liked as a kid, which gave me flashbacks to the excitement I felt at buying my first records, and getting those first RCA/Columbia shipments with six or seven albums. There were a lot of favorites that I became embarrassed of when I was a teenager, but now I think they’re not so bad. Even the likes of Loverboy and The Fixx still have some decent jams. My top favorites from those years have mostly changed, especially when I became fascinated by the hidden world of post-punk that I had brushed up against but didn’t really discover until I read the Trouser Press Record Guide years later.

1969-78

Captain Beefheart – Trout Mask Replica (1969)
Chicago – Chicago Transit Authority (1969)
Led Zeppelin – II, IV & Physical Graffiti (1969-75)
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath/Paranoid/Master Of Reality (1970-71)
Yes – The Yes Album/Fragile/Close to the Edge (1971-72)
Curtis Mayfield – Superfly (1972)
Electric Light Orchestra – Eldorado/Face The Music/A New World Record/Out of the Blue (1974-77)
KISS – KISS/Destroyer/Rock and Roll Over/Love Gun (1974-77)
Styx – Crystal Ball/The Grand Illusion/Pieces of Eight (1976-78)
Rush – 2112/A Farwell to Kings/Hemispheres (1976-78)
AC/DC – Dirty Deeds/Let There Be Rock/Powerage (1976-78)
Queen – News Of The World/Jazz (1977-78)
Cheap Trick – Cheap Trick/In Color/Heaven Tonight (1977-78)
The Police – Outlandos d’Amour (1978)
Van Halen – Van Halen (1978)
The Cars – The Cars (1978)
Blondie – Parallel Lines (1978)

I only included albums that were released in my lifetime. Since we had Sgt. Pepper’s and The White Album in the house but no Revolver or Abbey Road, no Beatles on this list. I remember in first or second grade a teacher asked us what our favorite artist was, and I said Elvis, based on the 45s that my mother had. Albums from the first 8-9 years of my life mostly belonged to other people –- my mother, uncle, cousins and friends. I was simply absorbing the tastes of those around me since I didn’t yet have my own money. I first heard Black Sabbath and Yes when I moved into an apartment in ’77 via a neighbor girl across the hall named Jolene. They were albums left behind by her absent father, and the first three Sabbath albums I found particularly frightening and alluring. She wouldn’t let me borrow them, so I had to come over and play dolls and house whenever I wanted to hear them.

I’d read about Van Halen in Creem, who released their debut album in February 1978. I didn’t have the album yet, but I really wanted to see them on my birthday at the event below. Alas, my mom wouldn’t drive me, and I was just turning nine!

1979

Gary Numan – The Pleasure Principle
Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery
Cheap Trick – Dream Police
Elvis Costello & the Attractions – Armed Forces
Talking Heads – Fear Of Music
The Police – Reggatta de Blanc
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Damn The Torpedoes
Van Halen – II
AC/DC – Highway to Hell

Disappointment – Styx – Cornerstone. I thought The Grand Illusion was so great, and Pieces of Eight rocked, I didn’t understand how Cornerstone could be so weak and feeble. It was my first experience with a favorite band in decline (though I thought they were redeemed on the next album based on the singles).

I started buying 45s when I was eight (“Hot Child In The City,” “Call Me,” “Ride Like The Wind”) and soon caught the album fever within a year. The first full album I bought was Gary Numan’s The Pleasure Principle from Musicland at the mall. I already had the “Cars” single, which was so awesome, I figured the album was worth having. My mom expressed doubts that my attention span could handle full albums. The Numan album was a little disappointing as there was nothing as catchy as the single, and the songs were very cold and creepy. I was determined to stick it out though, and soon enough I was shoveling snow and recycling bottles to scrounge more money for my new addiction to albums. Similarly the same went for Talking Heads and Elvis Costello. The music was a bit more sophisticated and intense than my 10 year-old brain was quite ready for, so I appreciated them more in years to come.

One of the earliest albumsI bought that didn’t make the lists was Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks. I had stumbled across a record store called The Astroid while downtown with my mom. As a typical indie store, it had much different stock than Musicland, with cool t-shirts and magazines like Rolling Stone and Trouser Press which I hadn’t seen before. I had been reading Creem at the A&P grocery store, and had read about the Sex Pistols. My mother, however, noticed they were also a head shop. I had no idea what the pipes and bongs were for, but she said the place wasn’t for me. I thought she was crazy, so I soon scratched together some money, took a bus there and bought the Sex Pistols record. Afraid she’d know where I got it, I kept it at my neighbor Ron’s apartment. The opening slashing chords of “Anarchy In The U.K.” with Johnny Rotten’s evil laugh thrilled and frightened me. However the record soon ended up broken during some punk-inspired rough-housing, so the band was forgotten. Punk rock (aside from the Chipmunk variety) wasn’t meant to be a part of my life for another several years.

1980

Rush – Permanent Waves
Queen – The Game
Electric Light Orchestra – Xanadu
AC/DC – Back In Black
Devo – Freedom Of Choice
David Bowie – Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Billy Joel – Glass Houses
Alvin & The Chipmunks – Chipmunk Punk

Disappointment – Eagles – The Long Run. I grew up listening to the Eagles on the radio and the jukebox at my grandfather’s favorite Corner Tavern. The Long Run looked like it should be epic with it’s black cover. Instead it really, really sucked.

I remember first learning about the upcoming release of Queen’s new album when they performed “Play The Game” on TV. The other band that began to challenge ELO’s status as my favorite band was Rush. I wasn’t crazy about the movie Xanadu, but ELO’s half of the soundtrack was pretty great, and by then I had gotten most of their previous albums. My former childhood neighbor Doug turned me onto Rush when I was visiting him. “Spirit Of The Radio” sounded so cool, sort of a bridge between 70s prog and sleek new wave-influenced guitar tones similar to The Police. My friend Brian Beers (MIA, give me a shout mate, Koo Koo says F-U!) owned Glass Houses, which provided the soundtrack to our wreaking havoc in his basement. Billy Joel’s “You May Be Right” was covered on Chipmunk Punk, along with “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” my Blondie 45 “Call Me” and several great new wave songs by The Knack and The Cars. While I already had a Talking Heads record, Remain In Light eluded me. It probably would have melted my young brain at that point, so it makes sense that I heard it when I was older, along with Joy Division, Gang Of Four, Public Image Ltd., Killing Joke and such.

1981

Electric Light Orchestra – Time
Rush – Moving Pictures
Billy Squier – Don’t Say No
The Police – Ghost In The Machine
Saga – Worlds Apart
Van Halen – Fair Warning
Oingo Boingo – Only A Lad
Joan Jett – I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll
Journey – Escape
Loverboy – Get Lucky
Foreigner – 4
Go-Go’s – Beauty And The Beat

Disappointment – J. Geils Band – Freeze Frame. I loved the “Love Stinks” single, and while I was basically forgiving of the extreme patchiness of the Journey, Loverboy and Foreigner albums, I couldn’t take the J. Geils album. “Piss on the Wall,” yikes. Styx’s Paradise Theatre was better than Cornerstone, but it was clear their prog pop glory days were behind them. And yet I still got their next album, doh!

Time was the first album I had anticipated months ahead of time and bought the day it came out, July 2. With the robot voice intro and sci fi theme, I pretty much thought it was the best thing ever. Moving Pictures had actually come out back in February, but I wasn’t fully on board yet until later in the year, when I listened to a copy of Moving Pictures on my cousin’s headphones and was sold. I was especially struck by “The Camera Eye” and “Witch Hunt,” lying on the floor in the dark while everyone was asleep. I later picked up a copy via one of the record clubs. A local FM rock radio station had a weekly album countdown that I started following religiously. This was when I started making use of the record clubs, stocking up on Loverboy, Foreigner and Joan Jett, along with J. Geils Band, Journey, etc.

1982

Rush – Signals
Men At Work – Business As Usual
Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast
Scorpions – Blackout
Judas Priest – Screaming For Vengeance
The Fixx – Shuttered Room
Thomas Dolby – The Golden Age Of Wireless
Duran Duran – Rio
Queen – Hot Space
Asia – Asia
Laurie Anderson – Big Science

Disappointment – Van Halen – Diver Down. Van Halen were a much loved band with a lot of friends, but I made the mistake buying their absolute worst album.

MTV went on the air on August 1, 1981. I didn’t have cable, but remarkably, my 7th grade home room teacher would let us watch MTV on occasion as a treat. By 1982, some of the mainstream new wave videos started to influence my taste, like Duran Duran, Thomas Dolby and Men At Work. I was hearing more eclectic stuff on KUNI and reading about The Clash, Black Flag and Fear in Creem, but I hadn’t found any of them to buy yet. Instead, I got into metal! My friend Mike bought The Number of the Beast first. At that point, Rush was by favorite band, and I probably got Signals soon as it came out.

1983

U2 – War
Iron Maiden – Piece Of Mind
Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
Big Country – The Crossing
ELO – Secret Messages
DIO – Holy Diver
Def Leppard – Pyromania
Talking Heads – Speaking In Tongues
The Fixx – Reach the Beach
Yes – 90125
Saga – Heads or Tails
Mötley Crüe – Shout at the Devil

Disappointment – Asia – Alpha. Ugh, embarrassing. Actually it’s a toss-up between Asia and Styx’s Kilroy Was Here. Oof. The title track was fun and campy, but the rest of the album was garbage. I also got impatient with The Police’s Synchronicity, because it had too much filler. Men At Work’s Cargo was disappointing at the time, but it’s grown on me, even it’s still basically huffing at the fumes of their debut.

ELO was no longer anywhere near my favorite band at this point, but I was still keenly interested in Secret Messages. Not a bad album, but definitely indicated a decline. Between their videos for “New Years Day” and the anthemic stadium live show documented on Under A Blood Red Sky, U2 became my new favorite band. My friend Mike had the luxury of having a TV in his bedroom with MTV. I didn’t have cable, and was a bit jealous, but always enjoyed going over to watch videos with him. He first got into Iron Maiden from the previous year’s video of “Run To The Hills.” On the other hand, I had been listening to KUNI for the past couple of years, a college station transmitted throughout Iowa, which my friend was unable to receive in his basement bedroom. To me it was just a jumble of weird, unknown music. It took me a while to process what I’d heard, like the early hip-hop, and post-punk, so it did not yet influence the records I bought. Most of them I would have had trouble finding anyway. Even R.E.M.’s Murmur (I’d already heard the “Radio Free Europe” single over a year previously) would have been hard to find then.

1984

U2 – The Unforgettable Fire
Iron Maiden – Powerslave
Rush – Grace Under Pressure
The Replacements – Let It Be
Echo & The Bunnymen – Ocean Rain
DIO – The Last In Line
Judas Priest – Defenders of the Faith
Van Halen – 1984
The Fixx – Phantoms
INXS – The Swing
The Alarm – Declaration
Scorpions – Love at First Sting
Ratt – Out of the Cellar

Disappointment – Queen – The Works. Queen would actually soon revive their popularity with their triumphant performance at Live Aid, but I thought this album was crap.

I was starting to identify bands I liked on the mysterious KUNI station, like R.E.M., Hüsker Dü, Naked Raygun, etc. But I just couldn’t find much of it aside from Violent Femmes, The Replacements and Echo & My Bunnymen. So my record listening was still dictated by what the record clubs had available. This was the era of blockbusters from Bowie, Prince and Springsteen, most of which I liked, but was more my mother’s music. The Fixx, Van Halen, Rush, Iron Maiden, even U2 all screamed “music for 14-15 year-old boys,” didn’t it? I had a hard time remembering what other albums I bought that year. It’s like the hormonal overload caused memory blackouts.

1985

R.E.M. – Fables Of The Reconstruction
Hüsker Dü – Flip Your Wig
The Replacements – Tim
Naked Raygun – All Rise
The Cure – The Head On The Door
Rush – Power Windows
New Order – Low-Life
The Alarm – Strength
INXS – Listen Like Thieves
The Cult – Love
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy
Hoodoo Gurus – Mars Needs Guitars
The Dead Milkmen – Big Lizard In My Back Yard
AC/DC – Fly on the Wall

Disappointment – I don’t remember being let down by any favorites, really. My main problem was that I was wanting to hear albums like Zen Arcade, Let It Be, Ocean Rain and Double Nickels On The Dime, all classics from the previous year, but had no means to hear more than the bits I heard on the radio, and not enough funds to mailorder them unheard. I had John Mellencamp’s Scarecrow, ZZ Top’s Afterburner and a taped copy of The Cure’s Head On The Door which were okay. I started subscribing to a magazine called Record at the end of the previous year, and I’d read enticing descriptions of Flip Your Wig, New Day Rising, Tim and Psychocandy. Even so, it seemed like a slow year. The magazine soon folded, and the subscriptions were taken over by a new magazine called SPIN.

I did buy my first R.E.M. album, which was beautifully gnarly and dark. This was officially the John Hughes era, with Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, and Some Kind Of Wonderful. Movies about kids my age, for us, and even taking place mainly in the Midwest! As if us teenagers needed any help thinking the world revolved around us! I was realizing that girls were really much more interested in The Smiths and The Cure than Rush. I wasn’t convinced that listening to them would actually make a difference, but hey, just in case!

1986

The Woodentops – Giant
XTC – Skylarking
Screaming Blue Messiahs – Gun-Shy
The Church – Heyday
The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead
Love And Rockets – Express
Hunters & Collectors – Human Frailty (
The Housemartins – London 0 Hull 4
Metallica – Master Of Puppets
Shriekback – Big Night Music
Agent Orange – This Is The Voice
The The – Infected
R.E.M. – Lifes Rich Pageant
The Saints – All Fools Day
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Tinderbox
Hüsker Dü – Candy Apple Grey
The Call – Reconciled
Game Theory – Big Shot Chronicles
The Jazz Butcher – Distressed Gentlefolk
New Order – Brotherhood
Peter Gabriel – So
David & David – Boomtown
World Party – Private Revolution

Disappointment – Iron Maiden – Somewhere In Time. In retrospect it’s not such a bad album, but it’s not what I expected from them at the time. I still liked metal, and had copies of tapes by Motley Crue, Ratt and Cinderella. It was definitely a culture clash between them and the UK indie I was into. I soon began drirting more towards Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer.

Around the end of 1985 I bought a large duo-cassette boombox which altered my listening habits and the role music played in my life. I could now listen to most of my music in the privacy of my bedroom, essential for any 16 year-old. I could also start taping songs from the radio, and dub tapes from friends, and make mix tapes. Vinyl was no longer of use to me! This was an exploratory period, when my favorites were new bands mostly from the UK.

1987

Sonic Youth – Sister
Dinosaur Jr. – You’re Living All Over Me
Hüsker Dü – Warehouse: Songs And Stories
The Replacements – Pleased To Meet Me
Big Black – Songs About Fucking
Game Theory – Lolita Nation
Prince – Sign O’ The Times
R.E.M. – Document
The Cure – Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
That Petrol Emotion – Babble
The Dukes Of Stratosphear – Psonic Psunspot
Pixies – Come On Pilgrim EP
U2 – The Joshua Tree
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Darklands
Sinéad O’Connor – The Lion And The Cobra
The Cult – Electric
Vomit Launch – Not Even Pretty
Wire – The Ideal Copy
Hugo Largo – Drum
Yo La Tengo – New Wave Hot Dogs
Hoodoo Gurus – Blow Your Cool!

Disappointments – The Housemartins – The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death, Screaming Blue Messiahs– Bikini Red, and the last album by The Smiths, Rush – Hold Your Fire. I also pretty quickly grew tired of the U2 album.

1987 was an interesting transitional year that is more fully documented in a piece inspired by my 20 year reunion. My transition from graduating from high school to starting college had a pretty appropriate soundtrack, as my tastes rapidly migrated from the big releases by U2 and The Cure to the noisier indie bands that I featured on my college radio show, before I switched to 70s-80s punk and post-punk.

Posted in: Listicles, Rants