Slicing Up Eyeballs Poll – 1985

On January 7, 2014, in Music, song, by mugen

Strong stuff this year.

First – a runner up: Frankenchrist by The Dead Kennedys. The featured art for this post is “Landscape XX” by H.R. Giger, a poster included in the vinyl version of Frankenchrist. This is the album that helped launch the PMRC, and this is the album that put Jello Biafra on the spoken word circuit throughout the late 80s and early 90s. There’s some good music, yes. But there’s mostly notoriety. Much to my chagrin, I once held a used copy of Frankenchrist on vinyl in my hands. It was marked $4. It was 1990, I believe. To this day, I regret not buying it. The poster was neatly folded inside. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Now, the 10 best albums of 1985:

The Cure – The Head on the Door
Tears for Fears – Songs from the Big Chair
Pogues – Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash
Skinny Puppy – Bites
Dead Milkmen – Big Lizard in My Backyard
Einsturzende Neubauten – Halber Mensch
Descendents – I Don’t Wanna Grow Up
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Freaky Styley
Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy
INXS – Listen Like Thieves

While We’re at It – 1986

On August 10, 2013, in Music, song, by mugen

So this was a little easier, though I can see that it’s going to get harder for me as we close out the decade. Once again doing a poll from Slicing Up Eyeballs, and this time I’m actually getting there on time to participate.

Best Albums of 1986

  • Big Black – Atomizer
  • Coil – Horse Rotorvator
  • Dag Nasty – Can I Say
  • Dead Milkmen – Eat Your Paisley
  • Peter Gabriel – So
  • Skinny Puppy – Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse
  • R.E.M. – Life’s Rich Pageant
  • Erasure – Wonderland
  • New Model Army – Ghost of Cain
  • Queen – A Kind of Magic (write in. c’mon! Highlander!)

Honorable Mention:
Diamanda Galas – The Divine Punishment
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Tinderbox (just for “Cities in Dust”)
Dead Kennedys – Bedtime for Democracy
“Weird Al” Yankovic – Polka Party

CAVEAT – The website is focused on alternative music and indie music, so my Queen write-in is a little weird, and there’s no Eat ‘Em and Smile or the like.

Top 10 Albums throughout the 80s – 1980

On August 10, 2013, in Music, song, by mugen

Slicing-up Eyeballs has been running an on-going series of polls, asking readers to vote to rank the top 100 albums each year in the 80s. They’re up to 1986 now.

I’ve gone back to their lists and compiled my own Top 10 for 1980:

  • U2 – Boy
  • The Police – Zenyatta Mondatta
  • Peter Gabriel (“Melt”)
  • Psychedelic Furs
  • Killing Joke – Killing Joke
  • Blondie – Autoamerican
  • The Human League – Travelogue
  • Dead Kennedys – Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
  • Stiff Little Fingers – Nobody’s Heroes
  • Prince – Dirty Mind

Honorable Mentions:

  • Circle Jerks – Group Sex
  • Residents – Commercial Album
  • Motorhead – Ace of Spades
  • Ramones – End of the Century

screw Joy Division. New Order has a much better singer and the best thing to come out of Closer is the Therapy? cover of “Isolation”