A Year in my Ipod: 1983 (Part 1)

In the spirit of the "Allmusic Loves" and the AV Club's "My Favorite Music Year" comes the Shaft Went to Africa rip off "A year in my Ipod." Originally this was just going to be a summary of what was on my ipod sorted by any given year but it became much more. I did a lot of research for this and opened myself up to a lot of stuff had never listened to before. Thanks to Spotify, I have accessed an unbelievable amount of new, old music. 

1983 was not a great year for music but there were certainly some fine albums released as well. New Wave had run it's course and had basically become crappy pop (unless you're really into synth-pop then this might be a fantastic year for you). The overproduction that plagues much of the decade was in full force and many iconic artists released records that, while having good songs, sound completely dated and overblown now. On the plus side, punk had gone almost entirely underground and the hardcore movement was at it's zenith. There were also some great debuts by soon to be legendary artists and there were a number of great metal (not my forte) albums released before the hair bands took over in the next few years.

Part 1 will feature a bunch of notable stuff that didn't make the top 25, grouped by made up categories. Part 2 will be the top 25.

Synth-Pop

Depeche Mode: Construction Time Again

Duran Duran: Seven and the Ragged Tiger

Eurythmics: Sweet Dreams (are Made of This)

Eurythmics: Touch

Ministry: With Symphany

New Order: Power, Corruption and Lies

Tears For Fears: The Hurting

I think Synth-Pop is pretty terrible. There are some classics of the genre listed here but it just does nothing for me as a genre. The Ministry album is the weirdest one here just because they would become so important to industrial metal but their debut is pretty terrible.

Country

Alabama: The Closer You Get

George Strait: Right or Wrong

Johnny Cash: Johnny 99

Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson: Pancho and Lefty

Willie Nelson: Tougher than Leather

Finding 5 country albums worth including even on a pseudo honorable mentions list is tough for me any given year. I grew up on Alabama and it's got a couple notable singles, Right or Wrong and Tougher Than Leather were close to the top 30. Pancho and Lefty has the classic title track followed by a disappointing album and Johnny 99 is a good latter day Cash record boosted by a couple Springsteen covers.

Metal and Hard Rock

KISS: Lick It Up

Molly Hatchet: No Guts, No Glory

Def Leppard: Pyromania

Motorhead: Another Perfect Day

Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon

Quiet Riot: Metal Health

Suicidal Tendencies: Suicidal Tendencies

Twisted Sister: Can't Stop Rock 'N' Roll

Pyromania sold a ton of records but Def Leppard is just not my thing I and I find it only listenable (pretty sure I won a vinyl copy though). Suicidal Tendencies is just as influenced by punk as by metal and contains "Institutionalized" making it my favorite Suicidal Tendencies album by far. Lick It Up is more notable for KISS shedding their makeup than the music on the album. Bark at the Moon is just an average Ozzy album. Metal Health is pretty much the first hair band album. Twisted Sister was still playing a harder brand of rock here than they would become and the less said about the Motorhead and Molly Hatchet albums the better.

Punk

Bad Religion: Into the Unknown

Circle Jerks: Golden Shower of Hits

Fang: Landshark!

The Misfits: Earth A.D.

Negative Approach: Tied Down

 The Ramones: Subterranean Jungle

Golden Shower of Hits and Earth A.D. are both excellent 80's hardcore albums but neither represent the best work of the Circle Jerks or the Misfits. Tied Down is just a notch below them but not quite first rate. Fang was a big influence on Kurt Cobain and Nirvana covered "The Money Will Roll Right In" early in their career. Into the Unknown is a total oddball in Bad Religion's catalog with lots of synthesizers and pop leaning. Certainly not a great record but very interesting. Subterranean Jungle is a very enjoyable Ramones album though far from a classic.

Alternative and New Wave

The Waterboys: The Waterboys

The FIXX: Reach the Beach

XTC: Mummer

Echo & the Bunnymen: Porcupine

Jonathan Richman: Jonathan Sings!

The Stray Cats: Rant 'N' Rave

The Fall: Perverted by Language

Fun Boy Three: Waiting

Big Country: The Crossing

Some pretty good stuff here. The Waterboys and Echo & The Bunnymen really wanted to be U2 at this stage in their careers and the results are fairly uneven. Jonathan Richman ditched the Modern Lovers and does actually attempt to sing. Big Country's debut contains their most well known song ("In a Big Country") and is a interesting album. Fun Boy Three is nowhere near as good as the members previous band, The Specials, but is a decent slab of pop. XTC and The Fall are both bands with such expansive discographys they're tough to get into and I probably didn't give either album the time it deserves. The FIXX album is OK but it has "One Thing Leads to Another" on it. Same with Rant 'N' Rave featuring "(She's) Sexy and 17." 

Mainstream Pop and Rock

The Rolling Stones: Undercover

Billy Idol: Rebel Yell

Billy Joel: An Innocent Man 

Cheap Trick: Next Position Please

Eric Clapton: Money and Cigarettes

Madonna: Madonna

Pink Floyd: The Final Cut 

Romantics: In Heat

Todd Rundgren: The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect

"Weird Al" Yankovic: "Weird Al" Yankovic

Yes: 90125

Bryan Adams: Cuts Like a Knife

David Bowie: Let's Dance

Elton John: Too Low For Zero

Genesis: Genesis

John Cougar Mellencamp: Uh Huh

Rick Springfield: Living in Oz

The Tubes: Outside Inside

Bob Marley & the Wailers: Confrontation

UB40: Labour of Love

There are some real popular albums lumped together in this category. Most have at least 1 giant hit single ("Rebel Yell," "Cuts Like a Knife," "Let's Dance," "That's All," "Holiday," "Pink Houses," Talking in Your Sleep," Bang on the Drum all Day," I'm Still Standing" "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "She's a Beauty") but don't hold up as completed works. Idol, Adams, Madonna, Mellencamp and Genesis probably count for a bout a third of all albums sold in the 80's and others may think much higher of them than I do. I have a soft spot for doo-wop and also for Billy Joel so I rather like An Innocent Man.  Undercover finds the Rolling Stones in experimental mode and the results are generally successful. Bowie, John and Clapton don't fall total victim to the curse of 80's production but none are overly strong albums. Next Position Please, Living in Oz and In Heat are actually pretty good slabs of power-pop. Weird Al's debut is nowhere near as strong as some of his later work but lays out his career blueprint fairly well. Confrontation is a fine collection of unreleased Marley songs. Labour of Love is exactly what you would expect from UB40. The Final Cut is a completely unmemorable Pink Floyd album. Yes sucks, don't know why I'm even including them.

Rock Gone Wrong, 80's Style

Graham Parker: The Real Macaw

Jackson Browne: Lawyers in Love

Lou Reed: Legendary Hearts

Elvis Costello and the Attractions: Punch the Clock 

The Kinks: State of Confusion

Neil Young: Everybody's Rockin'

Nick Lowe: The Abominable Showman

Paul McCartney: Pipes of Peace

Robert Plant: The Principle of Moments

Randy Newman: Trouble in Paradise

These albums all range from the terribly overproduced (Punch the Clock, The Real Macaw, Trouble in Paradise, The Principle of Moments, Lawyers in Love, Legendary Hearts) to the terribly bland (Everybody's Rockin,' The Abominable Showman, State of Confusion) with a dash of just terrible (Pipes of Peace) thrown in for good measure. There are some seriously talented musicians on this list who, for whatever reason, came up very short in their efforts of 1983.