Rock Evolution – The History of Rock & Roll - 1984 - (page 198)

Protein Junkie said:
Not my favourite year, musically or personally.
I was made redundant from my first job and my childhood sweetheart finally departed from my life. At nineteen it was hard to adjust from what had been the norm for three years.

Musically there was no Yes, Rush were veering more to the sound of synths and I was struggling to find a new or existing musical direction.

On my 19th birthday, a couple of us travelled to London in the hope of snagging some tout tickets for Iron Maiden at Hammersmith Odeon— no chance. NWOBHM was the place to be so Run to the Hills is my first choice.
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Number Of The Beast was on my shortlist so I'm glad you picked a song from it.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
1982 holds some good albums and one great one.

Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen.

I remember getting the tape of his new album for Christmas and listening with anticipation expecting a continued progression from Born to Run and The River. Instead we got Nebraska. At the time i was a little non plussed as it was not what i ad expected at all. Stark and intense. Lacking in bombast. Certainly not written for a live performance.

In early 1982, Bruce Springsteen was living in a rented house in Colts Neck, New Jersey, recuperating from a year-long tour following his 1980 double album The River. His band played 140 marathon shows and were on their way to becoming one of the biggest rock acts in the world. During this period, Springsteen tasked his guitar tech, Mike Batlan, with buying a simple tape recorder so that he could tinker with some new songs and arrangements without having to bother with renting studio time. Batlan picked up a Teac Tascam 144 Portastudio, a then-new device that was the first piece of equipment to use a standard cassette tape for multi-track recording. The new machine arrived in Springsteen’s life at the perfect moment, during what was arguably the most fruitful songwriting period in his long career, one that would produce enough material for two albums (1982’s Nebraska and 1984’s Born in the U.S.A.) with dozens of additional songs to spare. On it, he would craft what is still the most singular album in his catalogue.

In the arc of Springsteen’s career, Nebraska is still a blip. He has returned twice to the general format of the record, releasing the mostly solo and mostly acoustic albums The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995) and Devils & Dust (2005), but neither comes close to the alchemy of Nebraska. This one just happened. Springsteen covers the entire episode of the record in just a few pages in 'Born to Run', and there isn’t a lot to say. He wrote the songs, he put them down on a demo, and that demo became the record. It didn’t sell particularly well and got no airplay. “Life went on,” is how he ends the section of his book on the record. And so it does.

And yet...
It remains my favourite Bruce album. On paper, this is Springsteen at his most novelistic, trying to get into the heads of murderers and corrupt cops, or diaristic, revisiting detailed scenes from his childhood. One writer even turned the songs’ narratives into a book of short stories. But the record’s most lasting power comes not from its words or melodies but from its sound. As Bruce Springsteen songs go, these are all very good ones. For this playlist I will choose:

State Trooper - Bruce Springsteen.

But it could have been any one of the tracks.
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No surprise, but not my favourite Bruce album. I didn’t even buy it on vinyl but it is a very good album, if I am in the right mood. Good enough that I have already ordered the new expanded edition; unlike the multi album thing he recently released which is soooo overpriced.
 
Protein Junkie said:
Not my favourite year, musically or personally.
I was made redundant from my first job and my childhood sweetheart finally departed from my life. At nineteen it was hard to adjust from what had been the norm for three years.

Musically there was no Yes, Rush were veering more to the sound of synths and I was struggling to find a new or existing musical direction.

On my 19th birthday, a couple of us travelled to London in the hope of snagging some tout tickets for Iron Maiden at Hammersmith Odeon— no chance. NWOBHM was the place to be so Run to the Hills is my first choice.
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Not my favourite year either.

Only went to about 20 gigs but did get to see The Rolling Sones for the first and second time (London & Leeds). Also, drank tea backstage with members of Twisted Sister at Wrexham football ground, where Motörhead were top of the bill.

I don’t think it was a great year for albums although I have a fair few from the year, including I think the top 10 per besteveralbums.com.

It did produce plenty of good / notable songs though. And I am torn about what to use my remaining two picks for. I actually love Rush’s “Signals” album, it is one of my favourites from them; although that fondness has grown over the years, but two or three tracks have always been closer to my heart.
 
Mancitydoogle said:
1982 was the year I was introduced to a mate of my brothers who was very into his West Coast music and we used to swap albums as my brothers taste was different.

It was also the year a number of artists from very successful bands released their debut solo albums, we’ve already had Don Henley .
My picks are related, Michael McDonald who transformed the Doobie Brothers sound
was also in Steely Dan for a while and in the Super Group The Dukes Of September.His debut solo album is the best of his output in my opinion and I love a break up record.
‘I KEEP FORGETTIN’

My next pick is of course Donald Fagan from his debut solo album ‘The Nightfly’
which I consider as good as anything SD released.
I could have picked any track but this was the first one I heard.
‘International Geophysical Year’ or I.G.Y to the rest of us.
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That Fagen track is a 1982 playlist essential.
 
As this thread is about history/evolution, it's worth pointing out that Abba called it a day this year, though they never explicitly said so. I'm not sure too many of us would have predicted, at that time, their subsequent revival. They petered out with a compilation but it had a new track that connects back to Bimbo's original list. @BimboBob do you have any interesting insight on how Blancmange came to cover The Day Before You Came?

A mini soap opera with, as Rob would say, a casio keyboard style accompaniment, it was quite a strange but beguiling single for them to bow out on. I say beguiling possibly more because of the video, up to this point I think I'd only been interested in girls my own age; but it's entirely possible that the more mature iteration of the blonde one in this video was instrumental in a fascination with older women that took about a decade to shrug off and nearly cost me my job at one point.

I'm not nominating it but if there's a coda for this year it would be nice for it to be included!

Meanwhile the other one from Abba was busy enabling the habit of Britain's favourite drum effect addict. The Collins family should probably have staged an intervention and taken out an injunction against her. Not one for the coda!

Another near miss for my short list was the Go Gos with the original version of Our Lips Are Sealed which l only became familiar with after the subsequent Fun Boy Three version. The original just makes more sense given the underlying story of it's creation.
 
Out on blue 6 said:
Don't make them like this anymore
Apparently Moz wrote William It Was Really Nothing about Billy McKenzie
Perfect pop from the album Sulk

The Associates - Party Fears Two
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A few people wrote songs about or for him I think. The Creatures definitely did.

This probably sounds an odd thing to say but I've always thought his love of whippets was entirely appropriate; mercurial, gentle, elegant and fragile creatures.

Anyway, another one I can scrub off my shortlist.
 
threespires said:
do you have any interesting insight on how Blancmange came to cover The Day Before You Came?
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There are two stories about how they came to record it.

Official...Blancmange were offered the chance to do it via their record company, they knocked up a demo and all four Members of ABBA approved it, the first time any ABBA song had been approved for a cover apparently, and even let them use footage of Agnetha in the video.

Unofficial...Blancmange had never done a cover version before, heard the song, it was on a compilation album that they had put on in the studio for inspiration during the making of Mange Tout, so they messed around for a bit with it, did a demo, the record company loved it so asked if they could cover it. ABBA approved it.

Either way it charted higher than the ABBA version.
 
threespires said:
Another near miss for my short list was the Go Gos with the original version of Our Lips Are Sealed which l only became familiar with after the subsequent Fun Boy Three version. The original just makes more sense given the underlying story of it's creation.
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It was written by Jane Wiedlin and Terry Hall. Seeing as it's about them having an affair both versions make sense.
 
BimboBob said:
It was written by Jane Wiedlin and Terry Hall. Seeing as it's about them having an affair both versions make sense.
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Yes I know that, but the first version is closer to the time period they were at it.

In saying that I've just realised it was probably 81 so I've biffed it anyway.
 
For my second selection, I'll be putting forward the opening track from this group's initial EP released the year before their debut album.

The record company released the EP in August 1982, and reaction to it was varied. One radio promoter said that many of his contacts at campus radio did not know what to make of the record, but added, "The Georgia stations and some of the more together college stations across the country jumped on it." The songs were ones that didn't click right away and in many cases took a while to appreciate and set in. They drew many comparisons to the late 60s sound of The Byrds.

This song had it all: the early jangle pop/rock guitar opening sound, the lead singer on some vocals that can actually be deciphered, the backup singer vocals and harmonies that were distinct to the band, and the drummer's carefully laid beats that complimented the vocals.

I can't say I heard this when it originally was released, but it wouldn't be long until this band would become a favourite of mine and many that heard their later songs throughout this decade and beyond. The tone of this track is one of paranoia and one that many consider an early precursor of "Losing My Religion". This was released during the beginning years of the AIDS epidemic with some pretty ominous lyrics.

Suspicion yourself, suspicion yourself
Don't get caught
Suspicion yourself, suspicion yourself
Let others out

Wolves, Lower - R.E.M.
 
Out on blue 6 said:
Originally by Chic
What a voice this man has

Robert Wyatt - At Last I Am Free
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I know Nothing Can Stop us is a compilation album but it's one of favourites from that year. I was going to be obvious and pick Shipbuilding which does Costello's Incredible writing proud.

Even on tracks like Strange Fruit where he obviously can't be definitive, he brings something special to proceedings.

His voice is divisive but it's extraordinary. The weight of the world but a gentle defiance and sweetness along with half a dozen other traits.
 
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