Best Single/Album of the Eighties

[Dover]

This months Q has dedicated itself to the eighties and therefore compiled lists of what they beilve are the best singles and albums of the decade.

Your thoughts please

Singles

1. Billie Jean. Michael Jackson
2. Blue Monday. New Order.
3. Kiss. Prince.
4. Walk This Way. Run DMC. feat Aerosmith
5. Sweet Child of Mine. Guns n Roses
6. Should I Stay Or Sould I Go. The Clash
7. Born In The USA. Bruce Sprigsteen.
8. West end Girls. Pet Shop Boys.
9. Into The Groove. Madonna.
10. Ghost Town. The Specials.
11. Relax. Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
12. Love Will tear Us Apart. Joy Division.
13. f*** the Police. NWA.
14. How Soon Is Now. the Smiths.
15. Going Underground. The Jam.
16. Tainted Love. Soft Cell.
17. Sunday Bloody Sunday. U2.
18. There She goes. The La's.
19. Rapture. Blondie.
20. Personal Jesus. Depeche Mode.
21. Let's Dance. David Bowie.
22. The Message. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
23. Geno. Dexy's Midnight Runners.
24. The One I Love. REM.
25. Jump. Van Halen.
26. Everyday Is Like Sunday. Morrissey.
27. Masterblaster (Jammin). Stevie Wonder.
28. Golden Brown. The Stranglers.
29. Pump Up The Volume. M/A/R/R/S
30. Slave to the Rhythym. Grace Jones.
31. Ace of Spades. Motorhead.
32. Start Me Up. The Rolling Stones.
33. Rockin' in the Free World. Neil Young.
34. A New England. Billy Bragg.
35. Freak Scene. Dinosaur Jr.
36. Baggy Trousers. Madness.
37. the Boys Of Summer. Don Henley.
38. Blind Willie McTell. Bob Dylan.
39. The Whole of the Moon. The Waterboys.
40. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me. Culture Club.


And now the albums..........

1. The Joshua Tree.U2.
2. Thriller. Michael Jackson.
3. The Queen Is Dead. The Smiths.
4. Hounds Of Love. Kate Bush.
5. The Stone Roses. The Stone Roses.
6. Murmur. REM.
7. It Takes A Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back. Public Enemy.
8. Closer. Joy Division.
9. Back In Black. AC/DC.
10. Appetite For Destruction. Guns N' Roses.
11. Doolittle. Pixies.
12. Sign O' The Times. Prince.
13. Nebraska. Bruce Sprigsteen.
14. Like A Prayer. Madonna.
15. Sound Affects. The Jam.
16. Licensed To Ill. Beastie Boys.
17. Disgeneration. The Cure.
18. Bummed. Happy Mondays.
19. Dare. The Human Leauge.
20. 3 Feet High and Rising. De La Soul.
21. Technique. New Order.
22. Actually Pet Shop Boys.
23. Psycocandy. The Jesus and Mary Chain.
24. Faith. George Michael.
25. Sychronicity. The Police.
26. New York. Lou Reed.
27. Remain In Light. Talking Heads.
28. Ocean Rain. Echo & The Bunnymen.
29. 3. Peter Gabriel.
30. Daydream Nation. Sonic Youth.
31. Spirit Of Eden. Talk Talk.
32. Nothing's Shjocking. Jane's Addiction.
33. Oh Mercy. Bob Dylan.
34. Club Classics Vol. One. Soul II Soul.
35. Pyromania. Def Leppard.
36. Swordfishtrombones. Tom Waits.
37. If I sould Fall from Grace With God. The Pogues.
38. Hats. the Bule Nile.
39. Graceland. Paul Simon.
40. The Number Of the Beast. Iron Maiden.


Now to explore the libary, just to see if I can borrow a couple of the albums I don't know.

 

[Icy Gull]

Any decade that has a U2 album as no1 has to be a shit decade for music

 

[Tubby Mondays]

I am surprised at how high Should I Stay Or Should I Go is in that chart - surely one of the weaker if not the weakest Clash single?

 

[Jesus Gul]

single 10 or 23

album 5

 

[Trufflehound]

Single: Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt, or Song to the Siren - This Mortal Coil. The best of that list: Going Underground

Album: The 1st House of Love album, or George Best - the Wedding Present, or Power, Corruption and Lies. Or Heaven Up Here - the Bunnymen, or Rain Dogs - Tom Waits. The best off that list: 5, 8, 27, 28, 36 or 37.

How the f**k did Def Leppard get nominated??

 

[The Large One]

A totally random list, utterly devoid of merit and utterly safe.

For what it's worth, I like singles 10, 14, 15, 23, 34, 36. Others I can tolerate.

 

[bhaexpress]

Highly subjective list (again). I have but eight of the Singles (as tracks) and a mere four of the Albums. Somebody needs to realise that the eighties were a very overrated decade.

 

[Stinkers Bridge]

I'm struggling to see how Hall and Oates didn't make either list.

 

[Dandyman]

I've got 9 of the singles and 5 of the albums. As said above any "Best of" list that has U2 on it should be binned.

 

[bigc]

Highly subjective list (again). I have but eight of the Singles (as tracks) and a mere four of the Albums. Somebody needs to realise that the eighties were a very overrated decade.

I think what happens is everyone says it was the worst decade...which isn't true, but then people over compensate by saying how great it is.

I'm a big fan of 80s music but not the manufactured nostaglia you get on most compliations.

electric 80s and 80s/12" were really good examples of the right type of 80s music, in my opinion.

 

[Man of Harveys]

A list of top 80s singles that doesn't feature anything by the Human League or ABC is not wiping your arse with, frankly.

 

[Grendel]

Both incredibly predictable lists. The only thing that mildy surprised me was the inclusion of one of Dylan's worst recordings at No.33.

 

[bigc]

White Lines is a far better Grandmaster Flash effort, and surely Purple Rain/When Doves Cry easily surpasses Kiss

 

[Stinkers Bridge]

I can't believe there isn't room for the 1986 evocative power balled from Status Quo - In The Army Now.

 

[Cian]

Why is Technique only at 21?

 

[Arthur]

No Joe Dolce or Rene & Renata!!

Shocking!!

 

[Mr Banana]

I love Q and their lists. They have the cutting edge of a sponge. I picture them as perennial Richard Madley-esque types in their 40s who convince themselves they still possess youth by going to Woolworths and buying the top 5 selling albums every month.

http://www.thewire.co.uk/

 

[Tubby Mondays]

Was A Joshua Tree made when U2 were oirish or when they had become American?

 

[Charlie_g]

Sorely dissapointed 'Soul Mining' by The The isnt on there.
Now thats a class album.

Part pop, part post-punk, part poet for the disillusioned under the Thatcher regime, Matt Johnson's The The were an uncompromising collective who defied simple pigeonholing. 'Soul Mining' is perhaps Johnson's most accessible work, helped in no small part by the commercial appeal of verse-chorus songs like 'Perfect', 'This Is The Day' (aided by both accordion and flute) and 'Uncertain Smile' which - featuring a glorious piano coda - contains Jools Holland's most valuable contribution to a piece of music. Otherwise the remainder of the album ripples with menace and tension; as Johnson broods and snarls his way through diatribes of self-doubt ("How can anyone know me, when I don't even know myself") and thinly-veiled attacks on the powers that be ("I'm just a symptom of the moral decay that's gnawing at the heart of the country"). As outstanding musically as it is angry, 'Soul Mining' is a landmark 80's album.

 

[Cian]

1987 - so borderline