theboarddot's Top Albums of the 1980s- Results Thread

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36. Metallica- Master of Puppets (431, 6)



I already did a whole thing on Metallica last post. This is the highest ranking Metallica made on this list. Does that make it the best album? You tell me!



A Thing from the 80s: Caring about who shot JR on Dallas



350 million people tuned in on November 21, 1980 to figure out who shot JR on Dallas, one of the lovable/hateable characters on one of the biggest shows of all time (to that point). One of the biggest cliffhangers in television history and there had been 6 months of chatter in various public discourses- March 21 is when he got shot. The cliffhanger was popularized in TV as a result of this moment, and not just in scriptwriting. Every character on the show shot JR to keep it a secret during filming from the cast, so no spoilers could get out in the 6 months.

SPOILER: Click to show

It was Kirsten Shepard who ultimately did it

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: Thomas G. Clines

CIA spook in the Reagan years and only guy who went to jail for selling arms to the Contras. He didn’t go to jail until 1990 for reasons.
Described himself as a “powerful player”, which is definitely something someone uses to describe themselves when they are powerful players.

Boarder who’d like this album

Maybe we can arrange a whole “the board listens to every Metallica album except St. Anger and Lulu” party.

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35. REM- Murmur (442, 6)

Aug 22, 2022 13:15:04 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

One of the best debut albums of the 80s, I'd say The Best, but I'm scared of waking the GnR hive again. Emma and I listen to this a lot on road trips, and she loves how half of Stipe's lyrics are unintelligible but they fit the music so well that you don't even notice. On this listen today I was really taken in by Mike Mills' piano playing during "Shaking Through," which is probably my favorite track on the album. A lovely way to spend 40 minutes of your day.

A Thing from the 80s: Neon Clothing



I can't get any more photos to load properly. But we all know this was an 80s thing. This lineage still carries on today in the various sports team jerseys of the Pacific Northwest and people who like to stand out in crowds for whatever reason.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: Richard Secord



An Air force guy who first rose to prominence bombing the shit outta the Vietnamese, he was president of an arms company during the Reagan years who did some Contras dealing. Assuming I can read (which, as y'all know, I can't), he may or may not have been on military duty while he was in charge! Rules are whatever in Reagan-world! He did 2 million in payments secured! He actually pled guilty to Congress about his role in this thing but didn’t actually serve any time in the deal!

Also he got a DUI in 1992. Just a standup guy all around.

Boarder who’d like this albumEvery time REM comes up in this list, I’m gonna ask Scoots about it. Maybe he’ll rank REM albums for us. Airportman would do it too maybe.

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34. Slayer- Reign In Blood (496, 7)



Another album that I probably should’ve put in towards the end of my list. I bet all the metalheads are excited to see this one so far up the list. More than the Metallica albums! What endorsement else would you possibly need to check this out?

I got Slayer and Pantera confused for years and years and I will not elaborate on this any further.



A Thing from the 80s: WrestleMania 3



March 29, 1987. 90,000+ people at the Silverdome in Detroit. Aretha Franklin opened the goddang show! People tell me all the time “wrestling is dumb” and “it’s fake” and I tell those people to “shut up” and “go fuck yourself”. This was the moment I’d personally circle when professional wrestling jumped to the mainstream. Dave Meltzer is perfectly rated and once I get more coffee mugs I’m getting rid of my CM Punk one.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: Clair George

Never trust a man with 2 first names. The whole wiki intro on him is one big slobbering mess. Usually we save this kind of revere for football coaches and single dudes who remember to get checked for STDs once a year. A big time working man in the CIA over the Iran-Contra affair and the only reason he didn’t go to jail over his role in Iran-Contra is cause the 1st Bush pardoned him in 1992. He was also a Penn St. guy if that means anything to you.

Boarder who’d like this album

I expect when someone shows this post to Wretched he’ll put me in a chokehold for getting these bands confused and also failing tomention Alice Cooper showed up with Jake “The Snake” Roberts during Wrestlemania 3.

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33. Jane’s Addiction- Nothing’s Shocking (502, 7)



I think I first heard this album in prep for the Lolla lineup of 2009 that I never went to. It sounded “cooler” than anything I had heard from Guns N Roses at that time, and it came from the same LA deal! Pitchfork did a whole review of it literally this past Sunday in remembrance of 9/11. I turned down an original pressing of this to buy a Frank Ocean album and PJ Harvey original pressing instead. I have some regrets.



A Thing From the 80s- Moral Panics
Moral Panics
You may have noticed there are some titties on this album cover. This would constitute a sort of moral panic in this weird ass decade that I have 30+ of these to write jesus christ why. Anyway, While Ronald and the boys were actively making the world a worse place, in the 1980s, people did moral panics about lots of stuff, including but not limited to:

Dungeons & dragons
Satan
Being turned gay by other gay people
Dangerous dogs
Crime (still going!)

Modern stuff includes Critical Race Theory, QAnon, and basically anything else in society that wasn’t widely accepted during the decade that we still haven’t moved on from because of backwards thinking people.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: AIDS

Lots has been documented about this and I am not the person to be going on about it. Reagan didn’t even say the word AIDS until 1985. And then he didn’t start a commission to “investigate” it until 1987.

He withheld WHO funds which no doubt would’ve saved lives.

I wonder how many of my late uncle’s friends were lost as a result.

Boarder who’d like this album

I feel like I’ve heard concertgoer have an opinion on this one once or twice.

[clouddead]

My uncle was one of the first people in the US trained to do AIDS testing/counseling and that’s pretty cool

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32. Peter Gabriel- So (518, 7)

Aug 8, 2022 11:30:09 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

Yeah this one absolutely fucked. First time listen for me (tho I knew Sledgehammer and In Your Eyes, obviously), and honestly I have no notes. Maybe Mercy Street is a little too long? That's really my only gripe with this album. Otherwise every song either bangs in a delightfully maximalist way, or is a slightly off-kilter examination. Obsessed with the obvious Kate Bush influence everywhere here, and I also love how thoroughly the Laurie Anderson sounds like an equal collaboration between them. Loved it!

A Thing From the 80s: Madonna



Unsurprising spoiler here- Madonna didn’t make the top 50 of this list. We’re probably the only list making organization that wouldn’t do that, but we also don’t pretend to be anything like a usual list making organization. Everything that Lady Gaga did, Madonna did first, and I don’t think I’m exaggerating too much. 300 million + in sales. 1.5 Billion in ticket sales alone. She's in her 60s now and doing shit like this.

She’s hanging out like I did in 2013. Everything old is new again.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: The Social Security Amendments of 1983

He robbed social security to pay for his own budget shortfalls. This led to30 years of embezzling money to pay for wars, tax cuts for the rich, and other government programs. You might recall some guys got in trouble for that above. This was no doubt made worse by Alan Greenspan making a computer model go “whhhr” and leading Ronnie and the Boys needing to find some more money.

Boarder who’d like this album

Look man I like that song and “Solsburry Hill” and that’s it. I’m not in a position to be giving recommendations about anything here. We are moving on.

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31. Nine Inch Nails- Pretty Hate Machine (548, 8)



I kinda got surprised at how far this snuck up on here. It was on, like, maybe 2 lists before the extended voting deadline. I way more enjoy the 90s output, but tracks 1-4 are all certified bangers. I hope I can find the silly video of Trent dancing to “Down In It”. They play Riot Fest on Sunday, I hope I’m done with COVID by then so I can go see them.



Hell yeah, buddy.

A Thing From The 1980s: The NASDAQ-100

I now have to look at this damn thing every goddamn work day now. It took off in 1985 to make more money come out of the economy. I don’t know what 60% of these companies do and I work in IT for christsakes!!!

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: Basically destroyed the family farm

The rules that Ronnie did to allow his people to get money and do crimes caused a farm recession that I don't think we've ever fully come out of, though I'm open to be proven wrong on that as it's been many years since I have lived anywhere near farming world. I think it's a bare statement of fact to say when guys whose job it is to grow food are not growing food, that is bad. Nebraska is depressing enough without crops in bloom.

Here's some direct to the decade accounts of this nonsense. Don’t worry, private corporations can do farming just fine. Ronnie, in farm speak, took a perfectly good cattle and tried to turn it into a sheep cause the free market said so.

Boarder who’d like this album:

Pale Hose is vindicated because even though he didn’t make a list the album still wound up pretty far along.

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30. Roxy Music- Avalon (550, 7)

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/Avalon_album_cover.jpg

Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music have become more of a noticeable soundtrack of my life in the last ~18 months- as I’ve gotten to know an uncle better in the wake of my other uncle’s passing, we’ve talked a lot about these albums, the solo work, the stuff that soundtracked both their lives. I still need decent seats for next week’s show for him since he doesn’t know he’s going yet.

I find it interesting how Ferry used all his various girlfriends and partners as the cover models. My copy was found for $7 at the Cactus Gulch in Houston after a day of talkin’ about robots. For my money this is Roxy Music’s best album.



A Thing From the 80s:- Chernobyl

cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/quot7kNm69aWtc7RqkU5xE-1920-80.jpg

Lots of photos here. I have nothing funny to say about this.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: “Trees Create More Pollution than automobiles”

You'll be stunned I can't find video of him saying it. But it's an incredible thing to say in 1981, even without considering hyrdrocarbons. However, I just want to make fun of this man and not discuss hydrocarbons so we will move on.

Boarder who’d like this album

Anyone who doesn’t understand why people are excited about these shows- now’s your chance to check it out!

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Well that's what I've got for today. The rest tomorrow. I hope one of those companies on the NASDAQ-100 is an autopublisher company cause I now understand why those dudes make the big bucks

[nanatod]

the only roxy music album I really like a lot is country life, but it came out in 1974, so I couldn't put in on my 1980s list.

[clouddead]

pretty good reason for it to not be on the list tbh

[monasterymonochrome]

Sept 13, 2022 15:23:09 GMT -6 Tweet said:

33. Jane’s Addiction- Nothing’s Shocking (502, 7)



I think I first heard this album in prep for the Lolla lineup of 2009 that I never went to. It sounded “cooler” than anything I had heard from Guns N Roses at that time, and it came from the same LA deal! Pitchfork did a whole review of it literally this past Sunday in remembrance of 9/11. I turned down an original pressing of this to buy a Frank Ocean album and PJ Harvey original pressing instead. I have some regrets.




A Thing From the 80s- Moral Panics
Moral Panics
You may have noticed there are some titties on this album cover. This would constitute a sort of moral panic in this weird ass decade that I have 30+ of these to write jesus christ why. Anyway, While Ronald and the boys were actively making the world a worse place, in the 1980s, people did moral panics about lots of stuff, including but not limited to:

Dungeons & dragons
Satan
Being turned gay by other gay people
Dangerous dogs
Crime (still going!)

Modern stuff includes Critical Race Theory, QAnon, and basically anything else in society that wasn’t widely accepted during the decade that we still haven’t moved on from because of backwards thinking people.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: AIDS

Lots has been documented about this and I am not the person to be going on about it. Reagan didn’t even say the word AIDS until 1985. And then he didn’t start a commission to “investigate” it until 1987.

He withheld WHO funds which no doubt would’ve saved lives.

I wonder how many of my late uncle’s friends were lost as a result.

Boarder who’d like this album

I feel like I’ve heard concertgoer have an opinion on this one once or twice.

Reading about Reagan's handling of AIDS was one of the most infuriating things I've ever done in my life.  Like, innermost circle of hell shit.  

The anecdote that sticks with me the most for some reason related to that first AIDS Commission, which - again wasn't formed until 1987 after years of increasingly desperate and public activism by groups like ACT UP.  The committee had 12 members and notably included: Cardinal O'Connor, chief asshole of the NY Catholic Church; Dr. Theresa Crenshaw, a 'sex ed' teacher against the use of condoms; Penny Pullen, founder of the "Illinois Family Institute," so we can assume how she leaned; Richard DeVos, president of MLM company Amway and - yes - father-in-law of Betsy DeVos; and John J. Creedon, the CEO of fucking Metlife Insurance.  

Anyways, heading this band of stooges (with some other more reasonably qualified people) was Admiral James Watkins, a career navyman with no public health experience whatsoever.  This announcement was rightfully lambasted by activists - this man had no qualifications for this job and was seen as being Reagan's Yes Man on the committee.  

But then, seemingly against all odds, the Watkins Committee (w/ constant - albeit not always solicited - feedback from ACT UP and TAG) delivered their report to Reagan in 1988.  It called for an outlay of $20 billion, leagues more federal money than had been allocated to fighting AIDS.  It made more than 500 policy proposals, including legal and anti-discriminatory protections for People with AIDS, massive leaps forward in research, early detection, revamping AIDS education and awareness, and defraying medical costs to individuals.  It wasn’t perfect, but by any reasonable standard, it was a victory. 

Reagan flatly rejected it.  Burn in hell, fucker.

[goodson]

what fun i'm having looking at 80s albums

[Pale Hose]

Sept 13, 2022 15:40:24 GMT -6 Tweet said:

31. Nine Inch Nails- Pretty Hate Machine (548, 8)



I kinda got surprised at how far this snuck up on here. It was on, like, maybe 2 lists before the extended voting deadline. I way more enjoy the 90s output, but tracks 1-4 are all certified bangers. I hope I can find the silly video of Trent dancing to “Down In It”. They play Riot Fest on Sunday, I hope I’m done with COVID by then so I can go see them.



Hell yeah, buddy.

A Thing From The 1980s: The NASDAQ-100

I now have to look at this damn thing every goddamn work day now. It took off in 1985 to make more money come out of the economy. I don’t know what 60% of these companies do and I work in IT for christsakes!!!

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: Basically destroyed the family farm

The rules that Ronnie did to allow his people to get money and do crimes caused a farm recession that I don't think we've ever fully come out of, though I'm open to be proven wrong on that as it's been many years since I have lived anywhere near farming world. I think it's a bare statement of fact to say when guys whose job it is to grow food are not growing food, that is bad. Nebraska is depressing enough without crops in bloom.

Here's some direct to the decade accounts of this nonsense. Don’t worry, private corporations can do farming just fine. Ronnie, in farm speak, took a perfectly good cattle and tried to turn it into a sheep cause the free market said so.

Boarder who’d like this album:

Pale Hose is vindicated because even though he didn’t make a list the album still wound up pretty far along.

FWIW I started making one but only had like 12-15 before the shot clock went off. I should have started earlier, these lists take time and thought if you want to do it right. Glad my guy Trent still made the top 50 without my support.

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These are gonna come in randomly throughout the day as an FYI. First day back at actual work and I’ve got shit to catchup on. This will all be out by the start of AEW Dynamite (8pm/7pm CST on TBS)

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29. Violent Femmes- s/t (580, 7)



As far as I’m concerned, this is the album of the decade. The Coachella 2013 set was so friggin’ special to me, and I’m sure others. I hope I didn’t suck while I was there but I know who I am and I probably was.

There’s a certain level of midwest rust on this album. It is not something that could incubate to this particular flavor of rock album without the midwest aspect. It’s not Southern, and these guys at least dressed like the kind of guys the east coast scensters would’ve avoided, I’d imagine. I wasn’t there. But I can still feel the energy pulsing and swelling and going throughout the album.



A Thing From the 80s: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill



Killed around 250,000 seabirds, nearly 3,000 sea otters, 300 harbour seals, 250 bald eagles and up to 22 killer whales. A private company missed applying the solvent to clean this up faster because of course they fucking did. By the way, a Tsunami is due out there sometime in the next 20 years.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: Giving Saddaam Hussein weapons

Boarder who’d like this album:

Anyone who was ever an angsty teenage boy

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28. REM- Document (591, 8)



IRS Recordings, REM No. 5. My favorite of the decade. Good stuff. Not the best stuff though, only the 28th best stuffs.



A Thing From the 80s: The Challenger Explosion

You can find the actual news broadcasts when this happened live on the air on a quick google search. I'm not posting that shit here. One of those incomprehensible “why” moments that happens every so often.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: Ignoring Sadaam Hussein using chemical weapons

Boarder who’d like this album:

Probably someone who likes the other REM albums posted so far. We are moving on.

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27. Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (594, 8)

Aug 29, 2022 14:44:12 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

I read the 33 1/3 book about this album earlier this year, so I've listened to it a ton in 2022. In many ways the sampling here is even more impressive than on Paul's Boutique, with those two probably representing the peak of the craft. This thing is absolutely laden with samples. Stacking high on top of each other and creating a deliriously urgent soundscape. It's incredible to me how dense and attention grabbing the beats are - James Brown manipulated into a clamor. Most MCs would be swallowed alive by the Bomb Squad. Thankfully, they had Chuck D on their side. He has my favorite voice in hip-hop, sounding like a booming general commandeering his legions. Dude just has so much charisma that he dominates the scene in a way that I truly believe only he could. Now, the maximalism of Nation of Millions is so much that I don't listen to it as much as the other major records of this era. It's not something you can throw on and vibe to. It commands your attention. And, more importantly, it deserves your attention. That's not necessarily a knock against it as a piece of music, but it does mean that it falls to the bottom of my Top 5 hip hop records of the era, even though it's arguably (alongside Straight Outta Compton) the most important.

A Thing From the 80s: The Central Park 5

Lots of documentaries about this out there that go into a lot of details. It’s easy to say “wow such an extreme thing happened” but fact is this kinda buffoonery by police units and other supposedly accountable bodies happens all the time, everywhere. Something something class and race warfare.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: Arming Iraq and Iran at the same time

Can't figure out which side his bread is buttered on, ol Ronnie here.

Boarder who’d like this album:

Anyone who is willing to ignore Flavor Flav became a joke over the last ~20 years would probably dig this.

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26. Beastie Boys- Licensed to Ill (620, 9)



Listen I’ve had a lot of thinking about these albums because *gestures wildly* but I think I know what happened here. Teekoh and kb put Ill Communication in place of this album. They both are grey album covers involving airplanes and shit. Is that what happened here? I don’t fucking know. Never wanna hear music opines out of those two ever again, amirite?

One time I got the DJ to play “Fight for Your Right” at a wedding when I was 11 years old. It was sick.



Hell yeah, buddy.

A Thing From the 80s: CNN Debuts



Absolutely psychotic that the 2nd story CNN reported on the air was about a shooting of several people. 40 years of this shit! Also, whether or not Ted actually believed it at the time, the era of knowing everything about everything, all the time, would soon be upon us. They helped. Cause money.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: His response to 241 Marines getting blown up

You know for a government that starts a bunch of wars for no fuckin reason, or made up reasons, he did nothing when a bunch of our guys got blown up for no reason. Maybe they were democrats. Who can say!

Boarder who’d like this album

Probably KB and Teekoh?

[teekoh]

Oops

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25. The Replacements- Pleased to Meet Me (626, 9)



I think this album has my favorite song of theirs. Really a band that kinda just blazed their own trail hell or high water. Remember that time I texted everyone on this board about the news they were getting back together for Riot Fest? It was a kick ass show and I have no regrets.



A Thing From the 80s: The Cosby Show

Wonder whatever happened to that guy.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: The Iran Contra Affair

Between 1981 and 1986, senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to the Islamist Khomeini government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras, a right-wing rebel group, in Nicaragua. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by the government had been prohibited by Congress.

The official justification for the arms shipments was that they were part of an operation to free seven American hostages being held in Lebanon by Hezbollah, an Islamist paramilitary group with Iranian ties connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The idea to exchange arms for hostages was proposed by Manucher Ghorbanifar, an expatriate Iranian arms dealer. Some within the Reagan administration hoped the sales would influence Iran to get Hezbollah to release the hostages.

Boarder who’d like this album

Is Wanny reading any of this? Gonna grill that dude after here with a take home test. Make him the hippest man in all of Iowa.

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24. REM- Reckoning (635, 8)



I have been staring at these lists for so long I can’t remember if this one made my list or not. I don’t think I was picking this one to go as far as it did. Also I am moving forward here.



A Thing From the 80s: The Simpsons debuts



Go get it on Disney+ or whatever.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: Supplied weapons to Nicraagua in violation of a law he signed!

What the heck is with this man. He should go to jail and/or hell!

Boarder who’d like this album

This is the last REM album in this list and I've yet to hear any scooter or airplaneboy takes so I assume this ranking is total and complete and there are no complaints.

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23. Joy Division- Closer (638, 8)



I had my Joy Division phase somewhere around my senior year of high school. I remember being surprised at some of the kids in my AP Psych class asking me questions about this band with this singer that I identified with so much. The story is second hand and literally being painted over at this point.

It’s one of the greatest “What if” stories in “modern music” and I’m glad this album climbed as high as it did on this one.



A Thing From the 80s: Seinfeld

You can get it on Netflix or whatever. I used a cut from the first episode to soundtrack a scene I was doing sound design for on a theater show once. It was splurced in with Game 3 of the 1998 world series and something else I can’t remember.

Also there was a cardboard cutout of Kramer over a toilet in a house I visited occasionally. Was wild, man.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: Invading Grenada

Listen man, when Margaret fuckin Thatcher is saying something is a dumb and bad idea (in private), it's a dumb and bad idea. What is the point of this? 241 of your own guys literally got blown up 2 days ago when you launched this. Get your shit together, Ronnie!

Boarder who’d like this album

Who is the closest we have to a moody teenager on here? Give this album to them.

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22. Michael Jackson- Thriller (670, 10)



At some point we as a society are going to have to figure out the following statement: Michael Jackson is the greatest pop artist of all time, it’s not particularly close, and he definitely diddled those kids.

Now that I’ve said that, allow me to say something actually controversial: this and Off the Wall are the only albums of his worth a shit.



A Thing From the 80s: Wacko Jacko himself



Love it when the universe punts one for me. Did you know He almost bought the fucking Beatles catalog in 1984?! There’s a whole ass Theme Park Attraction at Walt Disney World that they brought back after his death. It ran for forever!

You don’t get to be all the things he was in the late 80s and onward without some serious pull, talent, luck, etc. The best thing that ever came out of Gary, IN by far, especially since 18th St. Brewing is in Hammond.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: Supported Arpitheid in South Africa

Apparently I forgot to link my primary sources here. But that's definitely a thing he did. Don't let the above photos fool you.

Boarder who’d like this album

Nope. Not opening myself up for slander on this project. We're moving on.

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21. Paul Simon- Graceland (716, 9)



I am an absolute psychopath and I don’t think I’ve ever listened to this album.



I think I’ve heard that one? I don’t know. There's still a lot of these left to write!

A Thing From the 80s: Walt Disney World Opens

This was actually in 1971 and I’m too lazy to swap something out for this. I hope I put this after the bit about Michael Jackson. Ah, well, nevertheless.

A Shitty Thing Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s: whatever this is supposed to mean



Boarder who’d like this album

Look I love other parts of Guy who Made a Song for the Wild Thornberrys movie discography as much as the next guy but we are moving on!

[dij22]

I think I've listened to like 6 of these

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20. INXS- Kick (734, 11)

Aug 2, 2022 14:45:22 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

Another album where I immensely dug the front half but slowly lost attention during the backhalf. Usually what I do when that happens is give it another listen, starting on the B-side, so maybe that'll be on my docket for tomorrow. But man that front half absolutely bangs. Never knew that another track "Mediate" segues in straight from "Need You Tonight." And New Sensation and Devil Inside both were great. One of the better synthpop full albums I've heard! Tho, tbh for me that's not the highest of bars. Got a lot of synthpop on the queue next so we'll see how it stacks up with its contemporaries.

Aug 4, 2022 17:42:44 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

This one also sounds good when you're grocery shopping at TJs

Hell yeah, buddy.



A Thing From the 80s: John Lennon is shot dead



"Indeed it is" absolutely fucking broke me last night. I need hobbies.

A Shitty Thing Donald Trump did in the 1980s: The Art of the Deal



I know he's a shitty person and all, but the Johnny Depp Netflix thingy about this was genuinely hilarious.

Boarder who’d like this album

Monastary simultaniously didn't like this album and also put it on his list. Make up your mind, man!!!

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19. AC/DC- Back in Black (735, 10)

Aug 29, 2022 7:49:25 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

I'm obsessed with the background of this album. Truly unlike anything else in rock history, and it deserves mentioning how wild it is - even if its been written into lore by this point. Bon Scott died on February 19, 1980. By July 25th... that's 157 days for anyone who's counting... AC/DC had already buried their lead singer, auditioned and found a replacement, decamped to the Bahamas and wrote an entire set of new songs, recorded and released what would be their biggest album. Not even half a year! And this record absolutely fucks. But you already knew that. Emma and I listen to this pretty much every time we do a road trip. The crisp rhythms (s/o Malcolm Young and Mutt Lange for producing the most perfect rhythm guitar sound ever) are perfect for highway drives. Not to mention how so many of the songs here are indisposible parts of the classic rock canon. My fave's probably Shoot To Thrill right now, but that changes every time I listen. I adore silly but badass hard rock albums, and this is the king of them all.

The first time I saw this video was the first time I told myself I couldn’t wait to get older to do cool man shit like in this video.

A Thing From the 80s: The Gameboy



Somebody might be thinking with some of this stuff “hey that’s more of a 90s thing” and you might have a point. To that I ask you- Did the 80s really end when Bill Clinton took office? Not according to linear time, but clearly I don't give a shit about that.

Also, the first 3 Gameboy games? Super Mario Land, Alleyway Baseball, and Yakuman.

A Shitty Thing Donald Trump did in the 1980s: Cheated on Ivanka, mother of all his then children

Listen if you don't bury your ex on one of your golf courses for possible tax write-off purposes, were you ever really in love?

Boarder who’d like this album

Dij22 is gonna be the default for all of these now. You've only listened to 6 of these albums? I thought you were an old! Hop to it!

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18. The Smiths- The Queen is Dead (754, 10)

Aug 29, 2022 11:45:54 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ed/The-Queen-is-Dead-cover.png

How much of an asshole does someone have to be before you stop listening to their music? For me, it seems the answer is - juuuust a bit more than Morrissey. Or maybe it's just that the Smiths get a pass because a.) they were the first classic 'indie' band I really loved, and b.) the rest of the band is so fuckin' good. The Queen Is Dead, after all, is basically the Johnny Marr show. It's insane how many times he steals the spotlight on an album that also features some of Morrissey's strongest performances. In fact, the entire run from Cemetery Gates to There Is A Light is a textural guitarist textbook. You've got the chiming melody of Cemetery Gates, the swirling strumming on Bigmouth, the steel guitar-esque soloing on Boy With The Thorn. Rourke and Joyce infamously got railroaded by Morrissey/Marr on royalties (40/40/10/10 splits!) but they both bring waaaaay more than their designated 1/10th portion to the table here. I mean, "Vicar in a Tutu" is basically a spotlight song for the rhythm section! So yeah, I still fuckin' love this album. I'm not gonna touch his solo records, but I indulge in Morrissey's melodramatics for these victorious 37-minutes.

A Thing From the 80s: The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles



I regret to inform the board at large that there is a postcard photo of Ronnie almost getting lit on fire but I'd have to pay $8 for that and I need to buy weed soon. Sorry.

A Shitty Thing Donald Trump did in the 1980s: Built this hunk o junk



You know every New Yorker is secretly hoping a hurricane knocks Atlantic City out before it.

Boarder who’d like this album

It's dij22.

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17. Sonic Youth- Daydream Nation (763, 9)

Aug 24, 2022 14:37:41 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

I have a long history of trying to "get" this record. I loved "Teenage Riot" (the best song of the 80s, btw), but was always frustrated that the rest of the album didn't really sound like that. If they made a song that good - why couldn't they just do it like 10 more times? Nevertheless, I kept trying it out. It was the OG Pitchfork #1 album of the 80s, after all. But it still just kinda went through me. I tried again when reading Our Band Could Be Your Life and still felt meh about it (tho I discovered other SY songs I loved, i.e. Expressway to yr Skull). I tried it when reading about No Wave and post-punk. I tried it when seeing Thurston Moore speak at MCA, or Lee Ranaldo play at the Empty Bottle. I don't think I've ever listened to an album more in an attempt to understand it.

But finally like two years ago I was reading Girl in a Band and listened to the Deluxe version... with all the live cuts appended to the end. And FINALLY the door busted down. For some reason, the songs just came alive to me in these live versions. The guitars were aflame and alive - tearing the songs themselves to shreds in an extremely visceral, arresting manner. I stopped searching for melody and started listening to texture. I also started listening to them with my Jam Band ears on. Instead of relegating the feedback as background squeals - I started listening to it as the solos themselves. The Sprawl, Candle, and Silver Rocket suddenly revealed themselves to me as epics, and Moore and Ranaldo's twin guitar approach seemed to be - in a sense - as heady as Garcia/Weir. Anyways, now Daydream Nation is def my favorite SY record - tho it took a arduous path to get there.

A Thing From the 80s: Martin Luther King Jr. Day is made a National Holiday

Ronnie signed this absolute layup of a thing in 1983, but through loopholes I don't fully understand it allowed states to implement it in their own time. The last state to do so? South Carolina, in 2000. Ahh, progress.

A Shitty Thing Donald Trump Did in the 1980s- Purchased Mar-A-Lago

It is of course, most famous for being where hopefully the final act of this godforsaken play is taking place. Also there's no fucking way he can read.

Boarder who’d like this album

Timbo is gonna come over to dij's house and smack him if he hasn't listened to this one yet amirite