Musical Years In A Metaphorical Hat

“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...

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...

Someone asked me if I was reviewing things instead of just listening and publishing lists, and this is an experiment in how I might start doing that: I listen to too many albums to do in-depth (or even brief) reviews of them all, but I could do brief themed write-ups. This post is specifically about Boston-based groups - future themes within the 1979 category could include disco (and/or non-disco groups like ELO and Kiss attempting to cross over), punk (The Damned, The Clash, Ramones, The Germs), rock opera (Pink Floyd's The Wall vs. Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage could be fun), and live albums (Ramones' It's Alive and  Neil Young and Crazy Horse's Rust Never Sleeps ). The Cars – Candy O Classic rock stations and Greatest Hits albums largely seem to favor the self-titled debut over anything else; This has a few standards (“Let’s Go”, “It’s All I Can Do”, sometimes the title track), but seems to be more of a “fan favorite” album. I attribute this to th...

The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (English psychedelic pop) The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour (English psychedelic pop, six songs from the television movie of the same name and five singles also released in 1967) Vanilla Fudge – Vanilla Fudge (psychedelic rock, debut album consisting entirely of cover songs) Jefferson Airplane – Surrealistic Pillow (American psychedelic rock/folk rock) The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced (English-American psychedelic rock/ hard rock) Love – Forever Changes (American baroque pop/psychedelic rock) Pink Floyd – The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (English psychedelic rock, debut album) The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico (American art-rock, debut) The Doors – The Doors (American psychedelic rock, debut album) The Doors – Strange Days (American psychedelic rock) The Who – The Who Sell Out (English rock) The Beach Boys – Smiley Smile (American art-pop) Frank Zappa- Lumpy Gravy (A...

The Fall – Bend Sinister (English post-punk) They Might Be Giants – They Might Be Giants (American new wave / alternative rock, debut album) Beastie Boys – Licensed To Ill (American hip hop / rap rock, debut album) Depeche Mode – Black Celebration (English synth pop) Bad Brains – I Against I (American hardcore punk/ alternative metal) Metallica – Master Of Puppets (American thrash metal) Run-DMC – Raising Hell (American hip-hop) “Weird Al” Yankovic – Polka Party! (American comedy music/ musical parody) Dead Milkmen – Eat Your Paisley! (American punk rock) Minuteflag – Minuteflag (American experimental rock, collaboration between the members of Minutemen and Black Flag) Slayer – Reign In Blood (American thrash metal) Camper Van Beethoven – Camper Van Beethoven (American alternative rock / psychedelic rock) The Smiths – The Queen is Dead (English post-punk/indie rock) Paul Simon – Graceland (American folk/worldbeat) Megadeth – Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying...

Iggy and The Stooges – Raw Power (American punk rock) Aerosmith – Aerosmith (American hard rock, debut) Queen – Queen (English hard rock/ progressive rock, debut) Pink Floyd – The Dark Side Of The Moon (English progressive rock) Little Feat – Dixie Chicken (American southern rock) Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (English heavy metal) Frank Zappa – Over-Nite Sensation (American jazz fusion / comedy rock) Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On (American soul) Deep Purple – Who Do We Think We Are (English heavy metal) Led Zeppelin – Houses Of The Holy (English hard rock/ heavy metal) David Bowie – Aladdin Sane (English glam rock) Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies (American hard rock/heavy metal) Blue Oyster Cult – Tyranny And Mutation (heavy metal/psychedelic rock) David Bowie – Pin Ups (English glam rock, cover album) New York Dolls – New York Dolls (American punk rock/glam rock) The Who – Quadrophenia (English hard rock, rock opera) Paul McCartney ...

They Might Be Giants – No! (American alternative rock, their first album of “children’s music”) Weezer – Maladroit (American alternative rock/power pop) David Bowie – Heathen (English art rock) Hot Hot Heat – Make up the Breakdown (Canadian indie rock / new wave, debut album) Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights (American indie rock/ post-punk, debut album) The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Vs the Pink Robots (American indie rock/dream pop) Hella – Hold Your Horse Is (American instrumental math rock, debut) Dillinger Escape Plan with Mike Patton – Irony Is A Dead Scene (American math metal, collaboration with Faith No More/Mr. Bungle/etc. vocalist) System Of A Down – Steal This Album! (American alternative metal, songs written during the sessions for the previous album Toxicity) The Mountain Goats – All Hail West Texas (American indie folk) Eminem – The Eminem Show (American hip hop) Red Hot Chili Peppers – By The Way (American alternative rock/funk rock) Rilo Kile...