It's 80's Time!
Punk Rock Album Nominations for 80-84
by Michele Christopher

Now that we got the 70's out of the way, let’s move on to the era that your hosts at FTTW have been looking forward to: The 80's. For me (and this is Michele speaking), even though I was around for the punk explosion of the late 70's, it wasn’t until the early to mid 80's that I really got into it.

Those who cut their teeth on the Ramones and The Clash tend to be insular about their ideas of punk; they have no idea (or they are willfully ignorant of the fact) that whole movements and sub genres of punk existed outside of the more well known bands. They also think that punk died right about 1982 or so. In my mind, punk rock didn’t even reach its pinnacle til the mid 80's. dive.jpg'Maybe their scene died and they believe that punk died with that scene, but it didn’t. It was picked up, dusted off and brought back to life by bands like Black Flag, Minor Threat, GBH, Adolescents, Angry Samoans, TSOL, Descendents, Agent Orange, Fang, Youth Brigade (I could go on here, but I won't)...they all contributed to keeping the punk scene alive and moving. And, in my opinion, gave it a lot more life than it had before they came along.

Yea, punk was about attitude as well as about the music; but there were as many different "attitudes" to go around as there were styles of punk. I just don't think punk music can be clearly defined as "that music the Clash played." Nor do I think (and yea, just my opinion) that the late 70's were the heyday of punk.

Anyway, after talking about this decade together and coming up with a list of our own favorite albums, we realized that trying to cram all of the 80's into one poll would be too big a task. Too many good bands, too many awesome albums. So what we are going to do here is split the decade in half. Today, we will take nominations for the first half of the 80's: 1980-1984.

Here’s a few of our favorite albums of the first half of the 80's to get you started. Remember, the nomination process is yours, not ours. This is just our personal list. Feel free to nominate any of these, because the final poll will be taken from the comments, not us.

Black Flag - Damaged 1981
Adolescents - s/t 1981
Fear - The Record 1982
Descendents - Milo Goes to College 1982
Misfits - Walk Among Us 1982
GBH - City Baby Attacked by Rats 1982
Circle Jerks - Group Sex 1980
7 Seconds - The Crew 1984
Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables 1980
MDC - MDC 1982
Minor Threat - Out of Step 1983
X - LA 1980
Bad Brains - Rock for Light 1983
Subhumans - The Day the Country Died 1983
Suicidal Tendencies - s/t 1983
GBH - City Baby’s Revenge 1984
DRI - Dirty Rotten 1983
Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime 1984
Avengers - s/t 1983
Angry Samoans - Back From Samoa 1982
Youth Brigade - Sound and Fury 1983
SNFU - And No One Else Wanted to Play 1984
Fang - Landshark/Where the Wild Things Are 1982
Agent Orange - Living in Darkness 1981
Vandals - When In Rome Do As the Vandals 1984
Vandals - Peace Through Vandalism 1982
TSOL - Dance With Me 1981
JFA - s/t 1984
D.I. - Team Goon 1984
The Faction - No Hidden Messages 1983
Meatmen - We’re The Meatmen and You Suck 1983
Husker Du - Zen Arcade 1984

Remember to check the dates on the LP or EP. We are not perfect and we don't hold the answers like some kind of god. So check those issue years before you nominate (allmusic.com frequently gets years wrong; try using wikipedia if you aren’t sure of a release date). Also, length of album doesn’t matter. EP s are as good as full length albums.

Here's our take on a couple of these albums and why we like them. Don't forget, we also reviewed some 80's punk albums here, if you want to check that out.

MDC - s/t (1982)

This album is brutal. That’s the best way to describe it. High speed, blistering music with lyrics full of rage and anger. This shit makes Rage Against the Machine sound like pussies. Dave Dictor and company pull no punches. They say what they mean. They take on everything that angers them - police brutality, corporations, homophobia, rednecks, John Wayne, capitalism - and pound their ideas into your head and gut in such a straightforward way. Where other bands with this kind of stance rely on irony and subtle innuendos and clever wordplay to get their point across, MDC just puts their middle finger up right in your face and spits in your eye. Brutal. But awesome. -M

Misfits - Walk Among Us (1982)

This was a band made for someone like me. I love horror movies. I love punk rock. What could be better than a band that meshes both things together? That’s like the peanut butter and chocolate of music!

What you have here is 13 songs in 25 minutes. This album is like viewing every B-movie ever made while tweaking on speed. You hit play on this thing and before you can even catch your breath, you feel like you’ve seen your life flash before your eyes, if your life consists of death, mayhem, zombies, devils, vampires and Martians, and the soundtrack to that is howled by Glenn Danzig. Seriously, Danzig was born to sing this stuff. His voice here is part campiness, part howling at the moon and all deep-throated, gothic posturing. All that, plus the 50's-inspired riffs played in punk rock fashion make this one of the best punk albums EVER, let alone the 80's. -M

Vandals - When In Rome Do As The Vandals

Ok. It didn't have Pat Brown on it. It was longer. It was a little different. But hell man. Stevo had a scratch box on his chest when he played Ladykiller. And it had a beer holder! A record player on his chest miced up to a case and a beer holder! With a straw! Jeez. That's kinda cool. Most of the songs were about fun and breaking things. A few were a little evil. I'm still not sure why they chose to write a song about little boys in vikings suits or somewhere called Mohawk Town. Times like this, I always feel it is better to not say anything and just listen. It happens that way with me. But, they were fun songs! Except for the beating a girl song, but we will forget that one. But the others. Fighting a giant robot. Being a fly on a piece of shit called this world. Driving in a shitty Airstream from town to town. And the pinnacle. Rico. Coming back home after a tour. The feelings of seeing your home town. A great ending to a great album. -T

DI - Team Goon

Oh hell. Here we go. You all know you can sing all the words to this album. The executioner's curtain call. When I woke one day kids going out to play if they only knew. Oh you know know you are remembering Nuclear Funeral right now. The only stupid song on here was the cover of that "hey" song they do at baseball games. Even the slow songs kinda kick ass. Pre goth? Maybe. You might have thought that till they put out the next album about how the hate HB, but for now, it was all kinda like life sucks, so lets party!. And in the second part of the 80's, you know damn well that "Horse Bites Dog Cries" will be on there. -T

So, this is just the nomination process. Don't bother voting here. Just nominate either albums we suggested or add to the list albums that we forgot. Cause we do that. We forget. A lot. Welcome to FTTW. Also, remember this is about fun and these are only our opinions and opinions vary. Fun, damn it. FUN! Don't get all pedantic and condescending on us. Cause the last person that did that kind of got an earful from us.

Have fun and let's get this thing complete. Nominate, then chili dogs. Always the chili dogs.

FIRST HALF. 1980-1984.

TrackBack

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference It's 80's Time!
Punk Rock Album Nominations for 80-84
:

» Special When Lit from Faster Than the World
I have no idea where today's idea came from. We were thinking of something like games or pinball or something. Sometimes we get off track at FTTW. Sometimes we get really off at FTTW. Sometimes we are so fucking off... [Read More]

Comments

Well, I'm seconding some of yours, but I prepared my list early this morning:

Bad Religion: Suffer (1988)
Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980)
Dead Kennedys: Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death (1987)
The Misfits: Walk Among Us (1982)
The Misfits: Earth A.D. (1984)
The Misfits: Legacy of Brutality (1985)
Suicidal Tendencies s/t (1983)

--------------


I know you are eager, Cullen, but: FIRST HALF!!

Guys, this part is from 1980-1984 only. All other nominations will be disregarded (or saved for the next half).

--------------


Argh! Well, the others are for the second half.

--------------


we had to split the decade up. there were way too many.

--------------


The Replacements - Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981)

The Replacements - Let It Be (1984)

OK, there's two legitimate punk albums from that era for you. Now here are two questionables:

Pretenders - Pretenders (1980) Their first and only punk album, in my mind.

Talking Heads - Remain in Light (1980). Probably not punk, but I'll throw it into the mix anyway.

AC


--------------


P.S. - I second Los Angeles. Great album.

AC

--------------


Faith/Void – Split LP
4 Skins - The Good, the Bad and the 4 Skins
Agnostic Front – Victim in Pain
Scream – Still Screaming
Infa-Riot- Still out of Order

--------------


Well here are my faves, for what it's worth:

Social Distortion - Mommy's Little Monster (1982)

Black Flag - Slip It In (1984)

Misfits - Walk Among Us (1982)
(Now it's nomination is official!)

--------------


I thought of one we forgot; The Business, Suburban Rebels.

--------------


That was me. I forgot to fill in my name before hitting the post button. I suck at comments.

--------------


Oh god, how I loved punk rock in the 80"s.....

Dead Kennedy's - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables 1980
Bad Brains - Rock for Light 1983
Minor Threat - Out of Step 1984 (because we're not counting compliations, right ?)
The Cramps - Songs the Lord Taugh Us - 1980
Joy Division - Closer 1980
The Pogues - Red Roses for Me 1984
Mission of Burma - Vs. 1982
X - Los Angeles 1980


I'm sure I'l come up with more later.....

--------------


Minor Threat - Out of Step 1984 (because we're not counting compliations, right ?)

Well I'll tell ya. When we do the second half, my first nomination is Minor Threat, Discography. I don't care if it's considered a comp or not.

And Fugazi's 13 songs is kind of a comp and that will be included.

It's nice to be the one who makes the rules!

--------------


Seconds for

X - "Los Angeles"
The Replacements: "Let It Be"

--------------


It is nice to be able to make the rules.... In that case, I'll second the Discography nomination now.....

And, to sweeten the deal, I'll send along a "Fugazi's playing at Fort Reno" story, built on the lies and drunken half truths......

--------------


good stuff already but how can you fucking go wrong it's the early eighties?!?!?!

from your list of "suggestions" i'm definately nominating:

damaged
city baby
double nickels
group sex
back from samoa

also:
agent orange - living in darkness
bad brains - s/t
suicidal tendencies - s/t

the others i want are sure to get nominated, but i'll chime in again if they don't

--------------


oh whoops agent orange was on your list...

--------------


this is still just nominations guys

toss them all at us

--------------


ok i lied here's more

bf- first four years (duh)
teen idles - minor disturbance
state of alert - no policy
exploited - punk's not dead (uk)
germs - what we do is secret

--------------


Dead Milkmen - Big Lizard In My Backyard

--------------


I believe that was 85, Tim.

--------------


yeah i think i second just about everything on there. Can't quite remember when "milo goes to college" came out, could've been later than '84. Going back to sleep for now, though. We took what should have been a 4-hour trip yesterday and somehow stretched it out to 10 hours.

--------------


see. i'm retarded. Milo's already on the list. Beer, THEn sleep... aaah

--------------


I've only got 2 more to add to an already great list:

UK Subs - Live Kicks (1980) * Geat live album! I wore the grooves off the vinyl on this one.
Stiff Little Fingers - Nobody's Heros (1980)
The Jam - Sound Effects (1980)

--------------


My nomination would be the misfits "earth A.D." (1983)

--------------


can i go ahead and just nominate your whole list?

because i'll be pissed if we forget to and they don't end up on the list...
or is that cheating?

(i know how you feel group projects always suck because i end up doing most of the work)

--------------


Come on Michelle, haven't you ever had a dream? A dream that a scrappy but lovable band from philly that sings about Camaros and retards and the beach and violence would transcend limitations of time to defeat the monumental competition that lay before them?

--------------


Yes! I've had that dream! I think it involved a time machine and Jack the Ripper.

I'll tell you what - I promise to use that album as one of my reviews when we do the second half.

--------------


Haha. YAAAAY! GO MILKMEN.

And they even kind of grew out of their jokes and made some really good songs.

--------------


Great minds think alike. Most of my picks were already mentioned, but just to be safe, I'm going to say Zen Arcade, since I've not seen it mentioned in the comments section yet.

I'm gonna add Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace with God.

And a 2nd for Double Nickels, since it's my 2nd fave album ever (second only to London Calling).

--------------


zen arcade is in there

--------------


Sonic Youth - Confusion Is Sex (1983)

--------------


Bad Religion: How Could Hell Be Any Worse?
Rudimentary Peni: Death Church

If you do get around to compilations, RP's EPs of RP and Bad Religion: 1980-1985 should be on the list.

--------------






eXTReMe Tracker