1001 Song You Must Hear Before You Die - 1987

Notice now there is a typo in the header.

Otherwise, I don't understand they there are suddenly more songs from this particular year, because 1987 was a rather horrible vintage IMO.

Still there's "Just Like Heaven" to vote for, so that pick is easy for me. (Nice songs from The Church, Gipsy Kings and U2 as well, while the ones from Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys I have never considered to be among their best)

Just Like Heaven

Yeke Yeke vs Bring The Noise

In 1987 I would have said Birthday easily, but I just don't feel that song anymore /dead-inside

speaking of birthdays, this is the year I was born!

A pretty good year imo.

push it real good

It's the Cure, here, isn't it?

Always had a soft spot for Yeke Yeke

This list is very euro/afro innit?

push it, over the pogues

"Push It" was the first rap track I really hated with a passion. I was disappointed by the "harder" musical direction taken by the likes of Run DMC, Beastie Boys and LL Cool J, but "Push It" was when I really realized I absolutely hated rap.

To quote the song: "This dance ain't for everybody / Only the sexy people"

Sexist even.

Hand in your sexy badge Geir, you just got busted by Salt-N-Pepa.

Interesting to see all those songs listed at together. REM and U2 are both enjoying big success, but demonstrably into their decline. A good comeback for the Cure. And the Church! I saw em on that tour and they were great. Also the Pogues. But as ever in this period, you have to vote for the hip hop. It's just so far ahead of everything else.

PE, pretty easy.

No love for "True Faith" so far? The bounciest and most uplifting song they ever did.

I'd have said "With or without you" was U2 at their peak, after that it was Fonzie on the waterski.

Another one where I won't vote. The songs on there that I once really liked--"The One I Love," "Paradise City"--I'm tired of. I'd rather have "Father Figure" than "Faith," and would much, much rather have "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" than "It's a Sin." From the names on
Billboard's Top 100, I like these songs better than what's there: Heart's "Alone," Madonna's "Open Your Heart" (released '86, a hit in '87), Prince's "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man," Fleetwood Mac's "Mystified," Bruce Springsteen's "Tunnel of Love," and Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel"; more subjectively I'd add Company B's "Fascinated," Rhythim Is Rhythim's "Strings of Life," the Replacements' "Alex Chilton," Dumptruck's "Going Nowhere," Eric B & Rakim's "Paid in Full," Sonic Youth's "Kotton Krown," Squirrel Bait's "Kid Dynamite," Dinosaur's "Raisans," the James Dean's Driving Experience's "Oh, Grateful," and the Stupid Cupids' "Big Blue Bus."

No Tiffany, No Belinda Carlisle, no Eric B&Rakim, and this is just huge hits missing.

lol, Tiffany? really?

I Think We're Alone Now <3

I would've voted 'Heaven is a place on Earth' tbf

I Think We're Alone Now isn't even the best Tommy James cover to hit #1 that month!

lol

The only "I Think We're Alone Now" cover that matters is by The Rubinoos. :)

I Think We're Alone Now isn't even the best Tommy James cover to hit #1 that month!

Dunno what month this was...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAmgTNATJkk

that's what I was referring to - it actually replaced Tiffany's cover at the #1 spot!!!

no way! must have been mad wealthy that month

yeah, dude had a bizarrely good year!!

Mafia stole his money though I think? Something like that.

Whoa I really had no idea! o_O

xxp

The only "I Think We're Alone Now" cover that matters is by The Rubinoos. :)

― Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Tuesday, 4 October 2011 12:33 (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Or the Lene Lovitch one.

If Public Enemy: Bring The Noise doesn't win, I have wasted 10 years of my life in this place.

Another vote for PE.

^^^^^^

I would've voted 'Heaven is a place on Earth' tbf

― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, October 4, 2011 8:28 AM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark

Me too . . . maybe.

This year has some awesome songs in it tbh.

Considering

The Church: Under The Milky Way
Salt-N-Pepa: Push It
The Cure: Just Like Heaven
George Michael: Faith

Man, I can't decide.

It's almost insane that I'm not immediately voting Just Like Heaven considering how much I loved that song at one point. Fuck it, I'm going with Under The Milky Way. It's probably the only song I actually know by The Church but it gives me chills when I hear it.

This list has a ridiculous number of songs I absolutely love on it.

No love for "True Faith" so far? The bounciest and most uplifting song they ever did.

"True Faith" is many wonderful things and I could maybe see "bouncy" in a stretch but that song is not at all uplifting! As close as I can tell it's either about a massive betrayal or a crippling addiction.

lol okay, thx Google; here's something that might possibly be something someone made up but has a cite:

this is from the songwriter, Bernard Sumner himself, during an interview for Q magazine in 1999.

"(True Faith) is about drug dependency. I don't touch smack but when I wrote that song I tried to imagine what it's like to be a smackhead and nothing else matters to you except that day's hit. There's a line in the song, 'When I was a very young boy, very young boys played with me/Now we've grown up together, they're afraid of what they see." The original was, 'Now they're taking drugs with me,' but Stephen Hague our producer made us change it because he said it wouldn't be a hit if we kept that line in. He was right. It was a very big hit, but we chickened out. I change it back sometimes live."

helluva lineup:

Ali Farka Touré: Amandari
Salt-N-Pepa: Push It
Public Enemy: Bring The Noise
New Order: True Faith
Pet Shop Boys: It's a Sin
M/A/R/R/S: Pump Up The Volume

Franco, no second thoughts

"True Faith" is many wonderful things and I could maybe see "bouncy" in a stretch

video was pretty bouncy iirc

ha yes, a side-effect of all of the trampolines

The video was originally going to show a giant rubber bounceable syringe.

anyway my feelings go from "really like" to "love unconditionally" on:

The Church: Under The Milky Way
Gipsy Kings: Bamboleo
The Sisters Of Mercy: This Corrision
Salt-N-Pepa: Push It
Public Enemy: Bring The Noise
New Order: True Faith
Pet Shop Boys: It's a Sin
M/A/R/R/S: Pump Up The Volume
The Sugarcubes: Birthday
Midnight Oil: Beds Are Burning
The Cure: Just Like Heaven
R.E.M.: The One I Love
Guns N'Roses: Paradise City
Depeche Mode: Never Let Me Down Again
George Michael: Faith
INXS: Need You Tonight
U2: With Or Without You

The only songs I cut from the list are songs I don't know by name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=impkAS_8MbE
in case anyone is wondering, Franco's Aids warning to Africa - Att. Na Sida

It's no surprise that I was 19 and on my own, given my love for many of these songs; there's hardly a song here I didn't hear in a nightclub.

uh, nothing from Sign 'O' the Times?

Bring the Noise, the only serious answer here (or anywhere)

Taking Sides: Public Enemy Vs Sleeper

Bought at the time: Bamboleo, Push It, Bring The Noise, True Faith, It's a Sin, Pump Up The Volume, Birthday, Beds Are Burning, Yé Ké Yé Ké, The One I Love, Fairytale Of New York, Faith.

I'm voting Yé Ké Yé Ké, as its mention gave me the biggest tingle.

public enemy.

the rest i am bored with due to over exposure (which could never happen with this era of PE), or don't know

Was debating between a few of these until I saw Fairytale of New York on the list.

Yet again, my vote here (JLH) is for purely sentimental reasons though I still listen to the Church and PE and the Pogues even now.

inxs tbh

In the case of George Michael, wrong song. Should have been "One More Try" or "Kissing a Fool".

I haven't thought about the Gipsy Kings in ages; they were the soundtrack to lots of summer trips.

In the case of George Michael, wrong song. Should have been "One More Try" or "Kissing a Fool" "Father Figure".

None of those Michael singles out in '87 though.

:[

I goofed on "Father Figure" too--it was indeed released on Jan. 2, '88. So even though the album came out in '87, to me it becomes an '88 song.

It's OK. I still feel good about my vote for The Church.

one song i never need to hear again while i live: bamboleo

iirc, remembering these faustian deals, you just agreed to an afterlife of gypsy kings.

I goofed on "Father Figure" too--it was indeed released on Jan. 2, '88. So even though the album came out in '87, to me it becomes an '88 song.

The songs are sorted by year from when they were released, so it would have been in this bunch, as the "Faith" album was released in 1987, which obviously also included all the tracks on it. Remains my least favourite George Michael solo album (yes, I even prefer "Patience") in spite of a couple great ballads.

Pogues and Kirsty MacColl over PE.

On second thought, what was I thinking, PE all the way. Two of my favorites of all time...

bring the noise duh

Was going to be contrary and vote for Gipsy Kings, but I couldn't not vote for Bring The Noise.

As much as I dislike the era that 1987 was more or less the beginning of (1987-91 represents IMO the worst era for music since pre-Beatles), I have to add that this feels like a very correct representation of music from that year, seeming to include most of the most important tracks and trends. Maybe not a lot of hair metal, but then there's GnR and I guess they represent that genre better than all the Bon Jovi's, Poison's and Europe's of the world anyway.

(But, well.... "Animal" or "Pour Some Sugar On Me" might have been in here)

There is no better song on any list than Fairytale of New York. I am certain.

I have to add that this feels like a very correct representation of music from that year

I was about a billion times more engaged with the overall picture then than I am now, and I'd say it's about half correct, half out to lunch.

bring the noise is relevant, influential, etc but birthday is eminently listenable. not sure where i read this (probably was here tbh) but someone was all like "why is bjork continually upping the avant ante when ppl are still trying to catch up to the sugarcubes?"

also, always thought PE's influence was overstated tbh... they may have been the biggest shit back in the day but when their spiritual successors are dead prez and limp bizkit i can't say i'm sold on them revolutionizing music or anything

inxs

'paradise city' is such a bad song

also, always thought PE's influence was overstated tbh...

PE were actually political. It could be argued that NWA, singing about bitches, drugs and crime, were more generally influential in retrospect. ;)

Please to explain how Limp Bizkit are the spiritual successors of PE? They were vital influences on early 90s bands incl. Rage Against the Machine, the Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers, the Manic Street Preachers… Long-term influence harder to gauge but Limp Bizkit? Nah.

what kind of disgusting savage would not vote for "push it" here?

Public Enemy. Not only is the song great, it was a gateway into the extremely political and insanely great music they put out for the next few years. Enough to obsess this 14 year-old white girl.

PE is not about the politics, it's about that motherfucking' noise

scratch the '

Thought maybe you meant to write "motherfucking's" and we were about to move this to the "turning non-nouns into nouns" thread.

It's about the politics and the noise. Medium = message and all that.

Medium = massage as any fule kno

Chuck D
never meant shit to me

A bartender once unplugged a jukebox on me when I played "Fairytale of New York"

was it Christmas?

Aw, Fairytale is a great song.

it was, I believe, October

As this list contains about eight of my favourite songs I'm actually incapable of choosing.

Never Let Me Down is my favorite Depeche Mode song, perfect intersection of the hyperdramartic and the mundane.

Since actually paring this down was going to prove too hard, I just semi-randomly went with "Need You Tonight". Which is a great song, but no reason to believe it's any greater than several others on the list.

Great use of the word "trousers" in Never Let Me Down Again.

lol true

I do love NLMDA. I could easily have voted for 4 or 5 of these.

I'm not voting, I love too many of these for too many reasons

the only things I managed to cull off of my list were Gypsy Kings, Midnight Oil and Guns N Roses

I voted for the Pogues.

I would be inflicting too much pain on teenage me to choose between New Order, Depeche, PSBs, MARRS, PE, Pogues, Sisters, Sugarcubes, REM and Salt-n-Pepa (in some cases their best songs as well).

http://troubleddiva.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/bestof1987580.jpg

(Expected to see Jaymc at the bottom of that photo.)

Yeah now I think about it, it could have been even harder with Eric B & Rakim, J&MC, Nitro Deluxe, Suzanne Vega, Smiths, Prince, Spacemen 3, Frankie Knuckles, Belinda Carlisle and Fleetwood Mac.

stylistically, PE had more of an influence on limp bizkit and 311 than anything else. thematically, they influenced RATM and MIA, so that's ok, i guess, but at the same time, you could argue that those acts took more from the clash than PE. well, MIA definitely did, at least.

geir's actually pretty otm with the NWA comp... PE may have sold more records but NWA definitely shaped music for the next like 15 years at least. also shaping my opinion of PE is that i always thought they were self-righteous blowhards, which doesn't seem to bug folks like christgau but definitely annoys me. everyone seems convinced PE was the biggest thing to happen to music like ever and i don't know whyyyyyyy

Speaking of political, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy were rather political, weren't they? Although it could be argued that their lyrics seemed had more in common with some presidential candidate from the Democrats (probably too leftist to become nominated) than with Public Enemy...

Pictured: self-righteous blowhard

http://www.netpaths.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/flavor-flav.jpg

I know the first song I think of when I hear "All Mixed Up" is "Fight The Power"

don't really get why it's controversial (aside from the dramatic and negative comps in 311 and limp bizkit) that i talk about PE paving the way for the rap-rock of the late 90s. i mean, only rage did it political style, but rap-rock was the genre that they worked in.

my point is that there aren't very many acts derived from PE's schtick that aren't wack. off the top of my head i got:

dead prez (wack)
immortal technique (mega wack)
rage against the machine (wack imo but other ppl seem to like them)
mia (hit and miss)
probably a bunch of punk rock acts that i don't listen to: nofx? against me??? (i assume they are all wack)

i refer to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Enemy_(group)#Legacy

also lol, phil d, flav was on some other shit entirely and i have NO IDEA how he ever got mixed up with chuck d and griff.

also did u hear PE is gonna play a secret occupy wall st show

It Takes A Nation... sound more contemporary than Straight Outta Compton

NWA definitely shaped music for the next like 15 years at least

To me, though, Schoolly-D helped shape NWA--I don't think his influence is fully appreciated.

Schoolly-D and Ice-T > NWA

Wow fennel, you're so wrong about PE that I don't even know where to start. I don't even know what records you think you're listening to that leads you to conclude they spawned Limp Bizkit.

Actually yes I do - Channel Zero and the Anthrax version of Bring the Noise. The sum total of their rock-rap output during their peak.

Limp Bizkit is way more closely connected to Run-DMC than PE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcfSAXksePc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8st0m2fLuk

how much time do I have? I might have to listen to all of these...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Schoolly-D and Ice-T > NWA

― gospodin simmel, Friday, October 7, 2011 9:24 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

OTM, although to be fair, Schooly D > Ice T > ICECUBE written 1987 era NWA > DOC written 1988 era NWA > Ice Cube + DOC written era 1989 NWA

Hank Schocklee era 87-89 PE is still infinitely better, and Dre openly confesses to the 88/89 era NWA being PE derived.

Educational thread.

Regarding influence on rock rap acts such as Limp Bizkit and RATM, wouldn't Run DMC or Beastie Boys be more important than Public Enemy? Surely, PE were rather harsh around the ages at times, but unlike the two others, their albums weren't exactly crowded with rock guitar samples.

Don't blame the parents for the sins of the children. Anthrax birthed the genre with "I'm The Man" in this very year of '87. It's still a hoot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiHdr4rWG98

some challenging opinions itt

Hank Schocklee era 87-89 PE is still infinitely better, and Dre openly confesses to the 88/89 era NWA being PE derived.

― ███★★★███ (PappaWheelie V), Saturday, October 8, 2011

yep. they were inspired by schooly's booming 909s, and the first copies of It Takes a Nation... chuck had he gave to dre and eazy-e.

lotta false dichotomies and confusion upthread

i'm not sure he was talking abt Limp Bizkit when he called rap black cnn

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

suck it, bamboleo

Not surprised the two worst tracks made it here.

This is such a horrible messageboard with bad taste in music. You should find one where people agree with you.