1001 Song You Must Hear Before You Die - 1986

The last great music year of the 80s IMO. Went for Cyndi Lauper, but XTC and The Smiths also great. Would have gone for "Grass" had it been the XTC option here.

Nick Drake in 1986? Is that a reissue?

Worst list so far. I went for XTC.

Big Black. Looking forward to more house and hip hop choices in the rest of the 80s.

Oh shit, I missed Slayer. Would've voted Beastie Boys, but it's not a great song TBF.

Nick Drake in 1986? Is that a reissue?

First time appearance. There will also be some Syd Barrett later on in these polls.

Weird list.

I mean a lot of these are OK to good. I like BB, JAMC, Smiths, HD, CL and PIL

Went with PIL.

"Rise" over Husker.

When there's Kerosene around, I will vote for it in a poll.

1986 - perhaps seen as a bridging year between post-punk/new-pop era and the promulgation of rave and hip-hop? I wasn't really around but I get the impression this was one of those fallow years where the music press started trying to scan around for something to breathe life into their pages, typically trumping on a lot of jangly indie bands.

Lots of AOR/oldies records in this list. Quite uninspiring: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_in_music

Lots of decent hard rock this year. Could've done with some Talk Talk, Pet Shop Boys, Cocteaus, but overall not the best year IMO.

It was hard choosing between Slayer and Cyndi Lauper. Picked Slayer.

XTC just ahead of The Smiths for me.

They missed out some of my favourite singles of the decade in this one.

Cameo-Candy/Word Up
Billy Bragg-Levi Stubb's Tears
New Order-Bizarre Love Triangle
Oran "Juice" Jones-The Rain

Bleah (again). About the 10th best Jesus & Mary Chain song, and the 23rd best Husker Du. I haven't heard the two house songs in ages, maybe one of them is the best, but I'll go with "True Colours."

The last great music year of the 80s

For me, Top 40 gets much, much better for the next three years.

Yeah, I went "Rise"...

For me, Top 40 gets much, much better for the next three years.

For me, everything was ruined in the late 80s and things didn't get good again until Britpop in the mid 90s. 1987-1991 was the most horrific period in music since pre-Beatles.

Also missing:

Sonic Youth - Expressway to Yr Skull

Started to argue with Geir. Deleted it. Feel better for it.

Husker, just over Prince and XTC.

Prince, just over Husker and PiL. That XTC song has really not aged well, to put it mildly.

The Prince song is great, I just don't really need to hear it again really... Unless it's the right kind of dance party of course.

xp Can't see why - I think Andy Partridge has said he's a bit embarrassed by it too, but musically it's pretty innocuous, not particularly 80s sounding, and lyrically, well, I'm not aware of any great advances in theodicy since then.

I used to like it but it's like being bludgeoned over the head with, uh, not a bible obviously perhaps an XTC songbook

xp

It's got that humorless The Wall-like earnestness that puts me off. But it's true, its sound doesn't really tie it to the 80s. I actually think the arrangement -- first half's electric guitars seamlessly transitioning into the second half's strings -- is kind of neat.

what a lousy selection. voted for "Kiss."

Lots of killer R&B singles in '86 to compensate for a blah pop chart.

"Kiss" vs "Kerosene"

yes, I know

Prince, Smiths, Slayer, Lauper

this might be a little tough

Yeah, dull list. Went with Prince, only because voting for Nick Drake in a 1986 poll would just be too weird.

if the PiL song had been "Home" instead of "Rise" there's an off chance I would have voted for it

Hmm, just relistened to "Time of No Reply" for the first time in a long while and, yeah, it's really nice, but it ain't his best. I'm happier with my Prince vote already.

Voted "Raining Blood" though agree with consensus that this is a quite weak list.

Some remember 1986 as the year of Word Up!, Walk This Way, You Can Call Me Al, Bizarre Love Triangle, Live to Tell, Walk Like an Egyptian, PSK, Stripped, Suburbia, Life's What You Make It or Take My Breath Away, but for me it will always be the year that they posthumously released Time of No Reply.

Kiss, easily, though some of the less familiar (to me) R&Bish stuff sounds pretty good.

Some remember 1986 as the year of Word Up!, Walk This Way, You Can Call Me Al, Bizarre Love Triangle, Live to Tell, Walk Like an Egyptian, PSK, Stripped, Suburbia, Life's What You Make It or Take My Breath Away

Thank you. I had thought I'd lived through this year, but the list upthread made me wonder for a second.

That said, voted for something I didn't first hear until at least a dozen years after it was released: Farley "Jackmaster" Funk.

Certainly one of the worst lists so far.

XTC vs Slayer vs Smiths. Went with Smiths.

It was hard choosing between Slayer and Cyndi Lauper.

True Colors vs. Kerosene here.

Though if it has been Cohen's own First We Take Manhattan, that could've been a contender, too.

kerosene over kiss

between PiL, Husker, and Smiths for me.

I'm not totally familiar with that Nick Drake track. It sounds really lush - like the "time of no reply" is being sung from a cabin in the woods. Very pretty

Now listening to Husker Du. This has a very classic feel about it. I can picture it getting some votes

OK, I just finished sampling every song. This list has a very fallsy/wintery feel about it. I'm inclined to prefer summery music

You Can Call Me Al VS PSK VS Live to Tell

I still find "Rise" has tremendous power.

Just learned last week that Tony Williams is the drummer on "Rise." Completely blew my mind.

"Rise" is amazing; that last third!

A few that I like better than what's there: Billy Bragg's "Levi Stubbs' Tears," the Feelies' "Slipping (Into Something)," Janet Jackson's "When I Think of You," Nashville Ramblers' "The Trains," New Order's "All Day Long," Pop Flies' "Carolina" (Thus Sang Freud!), Prince's "Mountains," Schoolly-D's "P.S.K." (I'm counting it as '86), the Smiths' "Panic," the Woofing Cookies' "Girl Next Door," Yo La Tengo's "Five-Cornered Drone (Crispy Duck)." Mostly personal favourites, but I think Billy Bragg, Janet Jackson, Schoolly, and the Smiths belong on the list.

There's Kerosene around, it's something to do.

Want to see my addendum list for 1986? I promise it's better than this one.

Bring it on Moka #faith

"Rise" is good, I admit. I'll still take "Kiss" over it.

Appendix: Songs You Must Hear Before You Die 1986 (Non-featured)

A.R. Kane - Lollita
The Bangles - Walk like an Egyptian
Beastie Boys - (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)
Cameo - Word Up
Ciccone Youth - Into the Groovy
Depeche Mode - stripped
Elvis Costello - I Want You
the Feelies - Slipping (Into Something)
Janet Jackson - When I think of You
Jandek - Don't Paint Your Teeth
Kult - Piloci
Mantronix - Who Is It?
New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
Oran "Juice" Jones - The Rain
Paul Simon - Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes
REM - Superman
Run DMC - Walk this Way
Sigue Sigue Sputnik - Love Missile F1-11
Stan Ridgway - Walking home alone
Schoolly D - Put Your Fila's On

A.R. Kane - Lollita

^ nice, but p. sure that was '87

i didn't realize these addendums were yr doing

ooops already checked and you're right I have it on my itunes listed as 1986, sorry about that. Well there's one for the following list :P

i didn't realize these addendums were yr doing

― zvookster

You thought they were a part of the book? They're just a personal opinion... a few songs in my collection which I feel should be added or switched from the original list.

LL Cool J - Rock The Bells

yeah i thought it was like from a revised edition or something where dude said wait i was a tool back then

Taffy - I Love My Radio
The Jets - Crush on You
Swing Out Sister - Breakout
Miami Sound Machine - Conga

Big Black

I always like to imagine a Sesame Street "Rise" with the line "Anger is the letter G."

I voted for "First We Take Manhattan" by Jennifer Warnes because a) it's a great song; b) her vocal is great; and c) Stevie Ray Vaughn's lead guitar.

Just learned last week that Tony Williams is the drummer on "Rise." Completely blew my mind.

― shake it, shake it, sugary pee (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 19 September 2011 20:53 (Yesterday) Bookmark

I thought it was Ginger Baker on this one?

I thought it was Ginger Baker on this one?

Appartently not on that song or on 'Home' but he is on most of the rest of the album.

LL Cool J - Rock The Bells

1985 surely?

Haha, is it?

Yeah Radio was 1985. Doesn't look like he released anything in 1986.

The opening to Love Can't Turn Around, when the beats crash in followed by the piano, is about as exciting as early house music gets. Voting for that.

i voted for it of course so that's 2 of us but i'm not supposed to be reading these polls any more

The best track of 1986 was "The Swing Of Things" by a-ha, but not surprised that one is absent here.

Game Theory, "I've Tried Subtlety"

Til Tuesday, "Coming Up Close"

Weird list.

I mean a lot of these are OK to good...

― ᒓᴥᒔ (ENBB)

OTM

went for "Dear God" just over Prince, JAMC, PiL or the Smiths.

also voted xtc - edged out jackmaster and slayer. don't get why ppl are hatin, this is a solid poll

was thinking maybe prince, but i personally prefer the "humorless the wall-like earnestness" of purple rain, so imma hold out for "when doves cry" or some such to make a later poll. for the record, i don't get the criticism of "dear god" that it hasn't aged well, or that it has a sort of ham-fisted earnestness to it. i always found xtc to be quite knowing and cheeky. plus, i don't get how a song structured so simply can age poorly.

how is an earlier Prince single going to make a later poll when these are going in chronological order

lol, guess my prince vote goes to some esoteric sign o the times jam instead

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Damn some good ones on this list. Marshall Jefferson, Prince, Beasties. Went with the great Smiths track out of respect. Dum Dum Girls did a super cover of it on the latest.

Slayer v Jackmaster = Lacerated Sky beats Funk by a nose.

Should have been Angel Of Death v Slow and Low

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