I have long been (rightfully) accused of having diverse musical tastes. I wear that as a badge of honour, not as the backhanded compliment which many intend it as.
This week I have found myself focused on R.E.M.’s album Document. This is a band that constantly puts out quality work that holds together as an album, not just a collection of songs. To me, albums are somewhat of a lost art form as iTunes and pop singles rule the day rather than long playing LPs that were recorded with the full knowledge from the artist that listeners would consume an entire side, not a quick song on a playlist.
Waxing poetic about the lost art of the album aside, Document is an album that saw R.E.M. begin to make their breakthrough from college radio darlings to main stream stars. Their next album, Green, was a smash at propelled them to stardom. Document featured two big hits for the band with Talking About the Passion and their now famous It’s the End Of The World As We Know It. Both solid efforts that stand the test of time.
I happen to be reading for what passes as liner notes in a digital era and noticed that the album was from 1987. This struck a chord with me.
I don’t know if it was a young Will Stewart coming of age, the influence of a very diverse community in Scarborough where I was growing up and going to school, or if it was a seminal year for music, but 1987 saw the release of a series of albums, from a wide range of genres, that I still consider to be favourite albums of all time.
1987 gave us –
The aforementioned Document by R.E.M. Check out the fantastic King Of Birds. The last song on the album which is a haunting masterpiece from Michael Stipe and the boys. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49AMohGRtow
Perhaps at the other end of the spectrum we received Guns n Roses with their debut Appetite for Destruction. The opening shot of Axel Rose’s scream to open Welcome to the Jungle sent notice to the world that there was a new voice, new attitude, and new king of the neighborhood in music. Future troubles aside, that album from G n R blew away this kid from suburbia. Of course, Jungle was huge, as was Sweet Child O Mine with that unmistakable riff from Slash (I wager you are hearing it in your head as you read this), and the stadium rock anthem Paradise City. I have always been partial to the heroin fueled Mr. Brownstone however.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBwua-h6_VY
Somewhere in the middle of those, we had the monster hit Joshua Tree by U2. Unless you have been living under a rock for 30 years, you know it well. Skip the big hits and set your record player, tape deck, CD, MP3, etc to start on the “second side” with In God’s Country and then right into Trip Through Your Wires. Trip is a foreshadowing of the exploration of US Blues that the band dove into on Rattle And Hum. These songs are as good now as they were 30 years ago. To be honest, I could take or leave the rest of the album at this point, but those two will hit you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkbaRJuZ3A8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKesAnqdq8w
And then on a completely different scale all together is the debut from the Beastie Boys with License To Ill. OK, technically a November 1986 album, but close enough. Years growing up are defined by school grades so I think it counts. I can’t even listen to the big Fight For Your Right To Party anymore, but put on Paul Revere or No Sleep Till Brooklyn and I will sing along in the car at the top of my lungs to this day, with the added bonus of the embarrassment of my children. Here were three white kids, dismissed as clowns, who helped shape an entire new genre of music.
Honourable mentions, and also in my collection, from 1987 are –
The Cure – Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Public Enemy – Yo! The Bum Rush Show
Sinead O’Connor – The Lion and the Cobra
John Mellencamp – The Lonesome Jubilee
Happy 30th to all.