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Showing posts from May, 2019

1984 In Comedy Music

“Weird Al” Yankovic – In 3D You might have noticed that any time a Weird Al album was released in a year I cover, I try to listen to it. This is both for the fun of it and because his albums tend to be time capsules of whatever was going on musically and culturally at the time. Non-musical trends of the mid-80s that are skewered here include late-night infomercials (“Mr. Popeil”), Rocky sequels (“Theme From Rocky XIII (The Rye or the Kaiser”), supermarket tabloids (“The Midnight Star”) and violent slasher horror films (“Nature Trail To Hell”). Neither the best nor the worst Weird Al I’ve heard, this is mainly notable for having his first mainstream hit (“Eat It”), and establishing a formula for future Weird Al albums: Parodies that closely follow the arrangements of the original songs, one polka medley (“Polkas On 45”), and one epic-length song to end the album (At about 6 minutes, closing track “Nature Trail To Hell” was the longest song he’d ever released at the time). Th

1979

Elvis Costello And The Attractions – Armed Forces (British new wave) Joe Jackson – Look Sharp! (British new wave, debut album) Joe Jackson – I’m The Man (British new wave) The Clash – London Calling (English punk rock) The Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady (English punk rock, compilation of singles and b-sides released between 1977 and 1979) The Roches – The Roches (American contemporary folk, debut album) Sparks – No 1 In Heaven (American new wave/disco) The Cure – Three Imaginary Boys (English post-punk, debut album) Devo – Duty Now For The Future (American new wave) The B-52s – The B-52s (American new wave, debut album) Van Halen – Van Halen II (American hard rock/heavy metal) Fleetwood Mac – Tusk (English-American avant-pop rock) David Bowie – Lodger (English art-rock) Pink Floyd – The Wall (English progressive rock, concept album) Black Flag – Nervous Breakdown (American hardcore punk, debut EP) The Raincoats – The Raincoats (English post-punk/exp