1001 Song You Must Hear Before You Die - 1982

sometimes i feel like one of the only people whose favorite song from Thriller is "Thriller," so i will take the opportunity to vote for that

"Thriller" may seem like a strange pick as the only one from the "Thriller" album (OK, it is] a strange pick), but it is my favourite Jackson track of all time, and I am voting for it here, just ahead of "Save a Prayer" and "Situation".
Might have gone for "Only You", "Hungry Like The Wolf" or "I Don't Wanna Dance" had they been in there. Would definitely have voted for "The Chauffeur", had the authors gone for an album track that is superior to all the singles (great as they are).

Another funny detail is that I was seriously in doubt whether to use the 64 or E.T, but I went for the Breadbox as it arguably had a more lasting cultural impact throughout the decade than E.T. did.

Thriller over Billie Jean? Wrongness.

A far weaker list than the last few, it's probably The Message.

Jesus, Geir, I know we pick on you for omitting most R&B but even for you this is shameful.

Well, I consider "Thriller" to be way better than "Billie Jean", but, yes, it is a somewhat strange pick. :)

All-time:

Go-Betweens: Cattle and Cane
Peter Gabriel: Shock the Monkey
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five: The Message
King Sunny Ade & his African Beats: 365 Is My Number
Culture Club: Do You Really Want To Hurt Me
Eddy Grant: Electric Avenue
Donna Summer: State of Independence
Yazoo: Situation
The Beat: Save It For Later

Jesus, Geir, I know we pick on you for omitting most R&B but even for you this is shameful.

Actually, I like the typical R&B style from 1982. I even like the three tracks that I expect the hip-hop/funk league here to choose from. "The Message", "Buffalo Gals" and "Atomic Dog" are all really good. But not as great as the best stuff here - it was a marvellous year, after all. This and 1983 were probably my favourite years for pop music of all time.

Electric Avenue

"Save It for Later," no runner-up. Also: dB's' "Neverland," Fleetwood Mac's "Hold Me," Hüsker Dü's "Everything Falls Apart," Marshall Crenshaw's "Cynical Girl," Replacements' "Go" or "Kids Don't Follow," and Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'."

I usually don't criticize the picks (rather what's absent), but I seriously wonder what "Candy Girl" is doing in there. I mean... There was so much amazing music being made in 1982 (including a lot of great R&B too, yes), and they have picked that all-but-forgotten track, one of the most dated songs of the entire 80s?

And... I mean... I used to love "Candy Girl" back then, but it sounds ridiciously cheap today.

wasn't "Sweet Dreams" released in 1983? it certainly had its impact (on me) during that year

absent Eurythmics I'm torn between "The Message" and "Situation"

this is not one of the better lists IMHO. nobody really needs to hear "buffalo gals" or "valley girl" before they die, especially in lieu of oh "1999"

I suspect that this year was better than this list makes it seem.

It sure was, especially when stuff like this charted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mgxp2vsHCg&feature=related

bowwowwowyippeeyoyippeeyay

party fears two soooooo close behind though, save it for later after that

guess i'll be the only one voting for Uncertain Smile

"Thriller" instead of "Billie Jean" or "Beat It" or "Human Nature" is insanity. "Rock The Casbah" is underrated, as is "Candy Girl" (but "Cool It Now" was really their best). "The Message" is the equivalent of Armstrong's "West End Blues," utterly epochal. Voting "Atomic Dog."

This is the easiest one yet for me, Party Fears 2 is my favourite song of all time.

I'm very surprised there's nothing from The Lexicon Of Love, 1982's best album.

Just a few glaring omissions:

Musical Youth - "Pass the Dutchie"
John Cougar - "Jack & Diane" and/or "Hurts So Good"
Joe Jackson - "Steppin' Out"
Donald Fagen - "IGY"

"Eminence Front" should be on there, too. You heard me.

And Flipper. I forgot all about Flipper.

where's Fleetwood Mac's "Hold Me" or "Gypsy"?

going to vote for "Mad World" just over "Situation," "Sweet Dreams" or "Save It For Later."

Think I'ma have to vote "State Of Independence." Will never stop being fascinating to me.

My procrastination tool of late has been a chronological Spotify list of favorite punk songs (up to 200+ so far), so Flipper is in there along with "God Damn Job," Zero Boys, the Descendents, DKs, etc.

"Atomic Dog" just over "Rock the Casbah" and "The Message," and I just shuffled those. I love "Save a Prayer," but that's an even stranger choice than "Thriller." And yeah, I love "Cool It Now"! "Sweet Dreams" is a great verse in search of a great chorus, but I'm not picky, it's a great song, just not as big for me.

Not sure that there's a solid reason for singling out "Candy Girl" as being "cheap" sounding. I'm guessing that calling it dated is a related criticism, but I'm not sure that it's actually valid either. How conceivable is it for a lot of these songs to be even a little more timeless, to have come out, say, five years later than they did?

No "Come On Eileen"?

No Atlantic City, Beyond Belief, Run To The Hills, The Blue Mask, Wall Of Death, More Than This, Poison Arrow, Kiss Off, Gardening At Night, no credibility.

Cattle and Cane.

rock the casbah

This is the first list in the series that's angered me enough to post a "What about...?" list.

So, what about...

Afrika Bambaataa, "Planet Rock"
Bow Wow Wow, "I Want Candy"
Bobby O, "I'm So Hot For You"
A Certain Ratio, "Knife Cuts Water"
Dazz Band, "Let It Whip"
Dinosaur L, "Go Bang"
The Flirts, "Passion"
Frida, "I Know There's Something Going On"
Gap Band, "Early in the Morning"
The Go-Gos, "Vacation"
Haircut 100, "Love Plus One"
Heaven 17, "Let Me Go"
Indeep, "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life"
Iron Maiden, "The Number of the Beast"
Kid Creole & the Coconuts, "Annie, I'm Not Your Daddy"
Lionel Richie, "You Are"
Marvin Gaye, "Sexual Healing"
Missing Persons, "Destination Unknown"
Patrick Cowley, "Do Yo Wanna Funk"
Prince, "Little Red Corvette"
Vanity 6, "Nasty Girl"
Wall of Voodoo, "Mexican Radio"
Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"

these threads are fun just as a kind of random arbitrary selection of songs from a given year to rank, i really don't see the point in fuming about omissions. it's not like the author of the book is here for you to yell at.

that's why we yell at geir

well, among other things

eurythmics by a million miles

ok actually eurythmics 100 miles in front of electric avenue, and everything else a million miles behind that

This is a pretty awful representation of possibly the best year of the 80's.

that's hip hip hip hip hip hip hip

j/k Atomic Dog vs. Situation vs. The Message

vs. Black Metal (which I need to listen to again)

A Million Miles Away
Love My Way
Under Pressure
I Can't Go For That
Don't Change (INXS)
Tainted Love
Ghosts (Japan)
Burnin' For You
I Ran
I Melt With You
The Metro
Der Kommissar
Steppin' Out
Temptation (New Order)

remove 3 of those songs, i just noticed they were listed in '81 .. but still...

Voted New Edition over Eddy Grant and the Beat.

Just listened to all of these and had to give it to Eddy Grant with George Clinton, Peter Gabriel, Donna Summer and Culture Club all falling close behind.

Vanity 6, "Nasty Girl"

yes

so glad i own this book or i would have never known to listen to "Thriller"

lmfao "mad world"

The Message, people.

I feel like these keep getting worse. There have to be better songs than this in 1982.

Voting Yazoo - Situation.

Other contenders would be The Beat or The Clash. I guess the Message is pretty undeniable too.

Where's "More than This"?

Oh, I guess Thriller's pretty epic too but I didn't see it. Love Yaz too much to vote anything else tbh.

I've had the impression "Save a Prayer" has been a critics/hipsters favourite of sorts even from back when Duran Duran were largely rather unhip in those politically correct know-how circles.

I've never gotten this impression. These politically correct know-how circles loved "Hungry Like the Wolf," maybe "Rio" and "The Reflex" and "Notorious," and dat's dat.

I heard "Save a Prayer" on the radio earlier tonight. It's OK but c'mon "Hungry Like the Wolf" is one of the best pop songs ever. It is also my signature karaoke song just fyi.

not a single song from too-rye-ay = get the fuck outta here

my signature karaoke song is a little ditty called "O Superman" fyi xpost

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kwncx7UmMP1qad3oqo1_500.gif

Cattle and Cane, but wish that Donna Summer was getting more love itt.

x-post holy balls, my brain

Oh crap that's big. JJJusten - Can you delete that so it doesn't make people seize. ಠ_ಠ will suffice for now.

ok in all srsness as much as i love that song i imagine youd get about 1 minute into it before getting glassed by some dude waiting to do the grease medley so

i like it, it gives this thread sorta that old skool poppers noise thread feel

eurythmics over thriller and save a prayer

I like that the eyebrows look like they're made out of Js, so it's got the extra 'JJJUSTEN, WHY I OUGHTA' factor.

lol OK then leave him!

Nothing from The Visitors either. I'd have liked to have seen Under Attack on here. Instead I had to vote for the boring old Message, which is great, but not a very exciting choice.

"The Visitors" was a 1981 album. "Under Attack" was a non-album single from 1982 (and ABBAs next album, which sadly was never released - it would have been great).

I think they would have been more likely to include "The Day Before You Came" (also a one-off single from 1982), but ABBA were over the hill popularity-wise at this stage, in spite of making better music than ever before.

those are their best songs as far as I'm concerned.

Well I might've voted Planet Rock or O Superman if they were here, and State of Independence was tempting too, but The Message is pretty undeniable

(oh shit, just spotted Shipbuilding after voting, but happy to have voted The Message anyway)

X-Post: Judging from the four tracks (a- and b-sides) that were released in 1982, plus "I Am The City", the unfinished work that was included in the "ABBA Undeleted" medley and the songs that eventually ended up as part of "Chess", the ABBA album set for release in 1982 or 1983 would have been their best ever.

So many great songs here (esp Yazoo, Eurythmics, Grandmaster Flash and the The) but I love Shipbuilding more every time I hear it.

More familiar with Suede's cover of Shipbuilding - I should correct this.

Personally I prefer Costello's own version of "Shipbuilding". Advising you to check out both.

Geir, did you Spotify the full 1001 songs? There's a lot here I associate with reading about in Musician magazine.

Mmmmmm... I'd skip the Costello version, it's more 'fully realised' sure, but hey: it's not Robert Wyatt.

thank goodness

I like Robert Wyatt. A good friend who I met up with yesterday was telling me how he can't stop listening to Costello. I've always found the latter, save a track or two, kind of boring but I guess I should check out more by Wyatt and Costello.

Costello's is solid but Wyatt's voice is much better suited to the narrator. An exceptional piece of songwriting.

I feel like any other year the King Sunny Ade or Go-Betweens tracks (both of which I heard for the first time this morning) would run away with this thing: and yet, I still can't choose between Situation vs. The Message vs. Atomic Dog

Pete, try this http://open.spotify.com/user/pluginbaby1/playlist/1dYpKOvMf0srEwbHRmrvxQ though it strangely omits The Associates which is on Spotify http://open.spotify.com/track/0fo7UQ87fYaM0563apEDGP

maybe not quite 'any other year' but most other years def

Geir, did you Spotify the full 1001 songs?

Another guy in Spotify has done (although I have linked it from my profile there). It seems his list is based on a slightly different edition though, and I also deleted it from my profile now because it seems to be undergoing some changes (currently just two songs listed)

The Francois K remix of Situation (aka US 12" dub mix) is all-time.

Can anyone identify a dance remix of a Yazoo song that made the charts in the early '90s and had a sample during the breakdown that went "Or it could go this way..."?

The 1990 mix of "Situation".

is that the name? i remember going bonkers to that breakdown when i was a kid.

Save It For Later is my jam

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

"Candy Girl" and "Atomic Dog" were both #1 hits on the U.S. R&B chart in '82. "The Message" got to #4. In this poll, "Candy Girl" got one vote and "Atomic Dog" and "The Message" got twenty-five between them.

i don't remember what i voted for

oh well

I mean, I know there are plenty of chart hits that wouldn't do well in these polls, but I thought I'd point this one out. I think "Candy Girl" is a great record.

Cattle and Cane is p awesome, I might have to actually listen me some Go-Betweens

poor icehouse

wtf two australian bands on this list

thank you list for making me listen to a YouTube of Icehouse's "Great Southern Land"... 1000 more songs and i can die happy

great southern land was totally stooged here

5 confused donnie darko fans, i hate u

btw i have actually performed o superman at karaoke

cut it down to about 4 minutes tho

"and the voice said: This is the hand.. the hand that OK THAT'S ENOUGH DUDE RIGHT NOW WE HAVE EMMA AND CARLY DOING GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN.. CARLY??? EMMA????"