One of my life’s greatest regrets was having been born in a loser decade for music. I’ve written fewer reviews of 80’s music than any other period, an era of appalling overproduction, empty soundscapes filled with badly-played synthesizers and wide sound fields designed to imbue significance to music that had very little. With a few notable exceptions, rock during this period was particularly weak, dominated by the superficial sounds of arena rock and bands projecting “cool” without the depth to back it up.
I’ve noticed that 80’s music is experiencing something of a revival, so if my readers want to delve into that era, there are plenty of options elsewhere.
In addition to The Clash reviews from that bleak period, I’ve covered the following albums:
- Pretenders
- Crimes of Passion by Pat Benatar
- Clues by Robert Palmer
- I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
- Billy Idol – Greatest Hits
- Freedom of Choice by Devo
- Long After Dark by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
- Thriller by Michael Jackson
- Learning to Crawl by The Pretenders
- Purple Rain by Prince
- Legend by Bob Marley and The Wailers
- Let It Be by The Replacements
- Ancient Heart by Tanita Tikaram
- Tim by the Replacements
- Every Breath You Take-The Singles by The Police
- Cosmic Thing by The B-52’s
- Doolittle by Pixies
- Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty
