There will never be another year for albums like 1980. So many incredible artists recorded the best albums of their careers. It has been a nice break from the reality of 2020 to musically inhabit that year. Next year I plan to post a bit less, while diving into 1971 for my Fifty Year Itch Instagram account.
1. Talking Heads Remain In Light
2. The Jam Sound Affects
3. Joy Division Closer
4. Prince Dirty Mind
5. Squeeze Argybargy
6. Echo and the Bunnymen Crocodiles
7. Elvis Costello & the Attractions Get Happy!!
8. Peter Gabriel Peter Gabriel (Melt)
9. Pretenders Pretenders
10. Bruce Springsteen The River
11. U2 Boy
12. Dexys Midnight Runners Searching For The Young Soul Rebels
13. Bob Marley & The Wailers Uprising
14, Ultravox Vienna
15. Magazine The Correct Use Of Soap
16. NRBQ Tiddlywinks
17. Xtc Black Sea
18. The Feelies: Crazy Rhythms
19. The Teardrop Explodes Kilimanjaro
20. The Sound Jeopardy
21. Siouxsie and The Banshees Kaleidoscope
22. Pete Townshend- Empty Glass
23. The Cure 17 Seconds
24. Young Marble Giants Colossal Youth
25. X Los Angeles
26. The Psychedelic Furs
27. The Soft Boys Underwater Moonlight
28. John Lennon/Yoko Ono Double Fantasy
29. John Foxx Metamatic
30. The Undertones Hypnotised
31. AC DC Back in Black
32. The Clash Sandinista
33. Roxy Music Flesh + Blood
34. The Comsat Angels Waiting for a Miracle
35. Defunkt
36. Professor Longhair Crawfish Fiesta
37. Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band Doc At The Radar Station
While you were living in 2020, I spent the year, musically at least, in 1980 where some artists also felt depressed, mostly about the state of the world in the midst of a cold war and leaders who were looking after the rich rather than the working people. An amazing year, I could have easily made a Top 100 songs of the year. I'm just starting to look at 1981 and there's no way it can compete.
1. Joy Division : Love Will Tear Us Apart
2. David Bowie: Ashes To Ashes
3. The Jam: Going Underground
4. The Pretenders : Talk Of The Town
5. The Cure : A Forest
6. Echo And The Bunnymen : Rescue
7. Kurtis Blow : The Breaks
8. NRBQ : Me And The Boys
9. Squeeze: Another Nail In My Heart
10. Robert Palmer: Looking For Clues
11. The Sound : Heyday
12. The Beat : Mirror In The Bathroom
13. Devo: Whip It
14. Peter Gabriel Games Without Frontiers
15. The Pretenders : Brass In Pocket
16. Magazine : Song From Under The Floorboards
17. The Clash : Train In Vain
18. Talking Heads : Once In a Lifetime
19. Bruce Springsteen : Hungry Heart
20. Joy Division : Atmosphere
21. Split Enz: I Got You
22. Bush Tetras: Too Many Creeps
23. U2 : I Will Follow
24. Bob Marley and the Wailers : Could You Be Loved
25. Mission of Burma : Academy Fight Song
26. Martha and the Muffins : Echo Beach
27. Lipps Inc : Funkytown
28. The Jam : Start!
29. Blondie: Call Me
30. XTC : Generals and Majors
31. Prince: Dirty Mind
32. Roxy Music : Same Old Scene
33. Diana Ross : I'm Coming Out
34. Donnie Iris : Ah! Leah
35. John Lennon/Yoko Ono : (Just Like) Starting Over/ Kiss Kiss Kiss
At the end of 1980 when Rolling Stone critics came up with their list of the 5 best albums of the year there were the usual suspects: The Clash's London Calling, Bruce Springsteen's The River, Talking Heads Remain in Light, Captain Beefheart's Doc at the Radar Station and one more album that time has since forgotten, Mink DeVille's Le Chat Bleu.
Recorded in Paris with Elvis Presley's former rhythm section, and with some songs co-written by the legendary Doc Pomus ("Save the Last Dance For Me","Can't Get Used to Losing You") Le Chat Bleu combines standard rockers like "This Must Be The Night", "Savoir Faire" and "Lipstick Traces with melodramatic cabaret songs like fan favorite "Heaven Stood Still". Deville says the music of Edith Piaf was one of the reasons he chose to record to Paris.
The album went well over budget. Capitol Records had no idea how to market the Le Chat Bleu so the record company delayed its American release. "It says something about the state of the American record business—something pathetic and depressing—that Willy DeVille's finest album fell on deaf ears at Capitol," wrote Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone in his review of the album that year.
Rolling Stone 1980 - Critics
Best Album
• London Calling - The Clash
Runners Up
• The River - Bruce Springsteen
• Remain In Light - Talking Heads
• Doc At The Radar Station - Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band
Bruce Springsteen's The River beat out AC/DC's Back in Black to be named the top album of 1980. The list is a good reflection fo what white American music buyers were hearing on FM radio. Ask a young white dude in Nebraska his favorite R&B album and he probably would name something by The Rolling Stones. That's just the way it was in an era of segregated radio. Another point of interest is The Doors Greatest Hits album winning top reissue. There was a full blown Doors resurgence going on. So much so that one of my high school friends had his senior portrait taken next to a Jim Morrison poster. I haven't asked him if he regrets it because almost all of us regret our senior portraits in one way or another.
CREEM MAGAZINE 1980 READER POLL RESULTS
Top Albums
1. Bruce Springteen- The River
2. AC/DC- Back In Black
3. Rolling Stones- Emotional Rescue
4. Clash- London Calling
5. Pretenders
6. Van Halen- Women & Children First
7. Queen- The Game
8. Pete Townshend- Empty Glass
9. B-52's- Wild Planet
10. Pat Benatar- Crimes Of Passion
11. Cheap Trick- All Shook Up
12. Cars- Panorama
13. Devo- Freedom Of Choice
14. David Bowie- Scary Monsters
15. Elvis Costello- Get Happy!!
16. Police- Zenyatta Mondatta
17. Black Sabbath- Heaven & Hell
18. Kinks- One For The Road
19. Bob Seger- Against The Wind
20. Talking Heads- Remain In Light
21. Rush- Permanent Waves
22. Judas Priest- British Steel
23. Ramones- End Of The Century
24. Heart- Bebe Le Strange
25. Public Image Ltd.- Second Edition
Top Singles
1. Devo- Whip It
2. Queen- Another One Bites The Dust
3. AC/DC- You Shook Me All Night Long
4. Bruce Springsteen- Hungry Heart
5. Rolling Stones- She's So Cold
6. Clash- Train In Vain
7. Vapors- Turning Japanese
8. Rolling Stones- Emotional Rescue
9. David Bowie- Ashes To Ashes
10. B-52's- Private Idaho
11. Blondie- Call Me
12. Pretenders- Brass In Pocket
13. Clash- London Calling
14. Pete Townshend- Rough Boys
15. Van Halen- And The Cradle Will Rock
Best R&B Single
1. Rolling Stones- Emotional Rescue
2. Rolling Stones- She's So Cold
3. Blues Brothers- Gimme Some Lovin'
4. Diana Ross- Upside Down
5. Donna Summer- The Wanderer
6. Stevie Wonder- Master Blaster
Best R&B Album
1. Rolling Stones- Emotional Rescue
2. Blues Brothers- Blues Brothers Soundtrack
3. J. Geils- Love Stinks
4. Talking Heads- Remain In Light
5. More George Thorogood & The Destroyers
6. Graham Parker- The Up Escalator
7. Diana Ross- Diana
8. Stevie Wonder- Hotter Than July
9. Michael Jackson- Off The Wall
10. George Benson- Give Me The Night
11. Elvis Costello- Get Happy!!
Best Reissue
1. The Doors' Greatest Hits
2. Elvis Costello- Taking Liberties
3. Cheap Trick- Found All The Parts
4. Kinks- One For The Road
5. Beatles- Rarities
6. Deep Purple- Deepest Purple
7. Heart- Greatest Hits
8. The Shaggs- Philosophy Of The World
9. Clash- Blackmarket Clash
10. Aerosmith's Greatest Hits
Best Jazz Album
1. Jeff Beck- There And Beck
2. George Benson- Give Me The Night
3. Chicago- XIV
4. Joni Mitchell- Shadows & Light
5. Jean Luc Ponty- Civilized Evil
6. Chuck Mangione- Fun & Games
7. Crusaders- Live Sides
8. Stanley Clarke- Rock, Pebbles & Sand
9. Herb Alpert- Beyond
10. Al DiMeola- Splendido Hotel
LP Cover Of The Year
1. London Calling (Clash)
2. Emotional Rescue (Rolling Stones)
3. Panorama (Cars)
4. All Shook Up (Cheap Trick)
5. Scary Monsters (David Bowie)
6. Remain In Light (Talking Heads)
7. Get Happy!! (Elvis Costello)
8. Women & Children First (Van Halen)
9. Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath)
10. Empty Glass (Pete Townshend)
The following categories all had at least a top 10 listed, but I'm only
typing in the top 3:
Top Group: 1) The Clash 2) Led Zeppelin 3) Rolling Stones
Top Live Group: 1) Bruce Springsteen 2) The Who 3) Van Halen
Best Male Singer: 1) Bruce Springsteen 2) Robert Plant 3) Robin Zander
Best Female Singer: 1) Pat Benatar 2) Chrissie Hynde 3) Deborah Harry
Best R&B Singer: 1) Mick Jagger 2) Graham Parker 3) Donna Summer
Best R&B Group: 1) Rolling Stones 2) Blues Brothers 3) Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes
Best Guitarist: 1) Edward Van Halen 2) Jimmy Page 3) Pete Townshend
Best Keyboard: 1) John Paul Jones 2) Greg Hawkes 3) Kate Pierson
Best Horn Player: 1) Clarence Clemons 2) Chuck Mangione 3) John Entwistle
Best Bassist: 1) John Entwistle 2) John Paul Jones 3) Tom Petersson
Best Drummer: 1) John Bonham 2) Bun E. Carlos 3) Charlie Watts
Most Valuable Player: 1) Jimmy Page 2) Pete Townshend 3) Rick Nielsen
Best Producer: 1) Nick Lowe 2) Roy Thomas Baker 3) Jimmy Page
Worst Group: 1) Kiss 2) Van Halen 3) B-52's
Best Songwriter: 1) Bruce Springsteen 2) Pete Townshend 3) Elvis Costello
Best New Group: 1) Pretenders 2) Def Leppard 3) Gang Of Four
Best Instrumentalist: 1) Ian anderson 2) Eno 3) Magic Dick
Biggest Disappointment: 1) Lennon's death 2) Bonham's death 3) The Election
Drug Of The Year: 1) Marijuana 2) Alcohol 3) Cocaine
Hero(ine) Of The Year: 1) Bruce Springsteen 2) Chrissie Hynde 3) Pete Townshend
Rip Off Of The Year: 1) LP prices 2) Concert prices 3) CREEM
Comeback Of The Year: 1) John Lennon 2) Bruce Springsteen 3) AC/DC
Most Pathetic Of The Year: 1) David Lee Roth 2)Kiss 3) Clash
Rock Critic Of The Year: 1) Rick Johnson 2) Rober Christgau 3) Richard Riegel
Rock Photographer Of The Year: 1) Lynn Goldsmith 2) Bob Matheau 3) Neal Preston
Fad Of The Year: 1) Punk/New Wave music 2) The Urban Cowboy look 3) Ska
Fashion Plate Of The Year: 1) Rick Nielsen 2) Deborah Harry 3) Chrissie Hynde
Sex Object Of The Year: 1) Pat Benatar 2) Deborah Harry 3) David Lee Roth
Best Rock & Roll Movie: 1) Times Square 2) Roadie 3) Rude Boy
Best Tour Of The Year: 1) Bruce Springsteen 2) Van Halen 3) AC/DC
Couple Of The Year: 1) John Lennon & Yoko Ono 2) Chris Stein & Deborah Harry 3) Stiv Bators & Bebe Buell
Punk Of The Year: 1) Iggy Pop 2) Chrissie Hynde 3) Joe Strummer
1980 was a great year for The Jam who scored two #1 smash hits in the UK and a #2 album. Despite the groundswell there, the band remained virtually unknown in America and poorer for it.
NME Pop Poll Results
1980 Results
Best Group
1 The Jam
2 Joy Division
3 The Clash
4 Talking Heads
5 The Police
6 UB40
7 The Stranglers
8 Adam and the Ants
9 Genesis
10 The Fall
Album
1 Sound Affects - The Jam
2 Closer - Joy Division
3 Scary Monsters - David Bowie
4 Crocodiles - Echo and the Bunnymen
5 Signing Off - UB40
6 Remain In Light - Talking Heads
7 Kings Of The Wild Frontier - Adam and the Ants
8 Zenyatta Mondatta - The Police
9 I Just Can't Stop It - The Beat
10 Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel
Single
1 Going Underground - The Jam
2 Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
3 Ashes To Ashes - David Bowie
4 Atmosphere - Joy Division
5 Start! - The Jam
6 Fashion - David Bowie
7 Bankrobber - The Clash
8 Enola Gay - OMD
9 Games Without Frontiers - Pater Gabriel
10 Dog Eat Dog - Adam and the Ants
Best New Act
1 UB40
2 Spandau Ballet
3 Echo and the Bunnymen
4 Stray Cats
5 Bow Wow Wow
NME TOP SINGLES OF 1980
1. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
2. Going Underground - The Jam
3. Mirror In The Bathroom - The Beat
4. Atmosphere - Joy Division
5. Ashes To Ashes - David Bowie
6. Your Cassette Pet - Bow Wow Wow
7. Private Life - Grace Jones
8. Fashion - David Bowie
9. C30 C60 C90 Go - Bow Wow Wow
10. Master Blaster - Steve Wonder
11. Treason - Teardrop Explodes
12. Geno - Dexys Midnight Runners
13. Start! - The Jam
14. Food For Thought/King - Ub40
15. New Amsterdam Ep - Elvis Costello
16. Shack Up - A Certain Ratio
17. Rescue - Echo And The Bunnymen
18. My Way Of Thinking - Ub40
19. The Breaks - Kurtis Blow
20. Stand Down Margaret/Best Friend - The Beat
21. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down - Elvis Costello
22. Drug Train - The Cramps
23. Fiery Jack - The Fall
24. Dance Stance - Dexies Midnight Runners
25. Johnny & Mary - Robert Palmer
26. Hands Off .. She's Mine - The Beat
27. My Flamingo - The Subterraneans
28. A Song From Under The Floorboards - Magazine
29. Independence Day - Comsat Angels
30. My Perfect Cousin - The Undertones
31. Runaway Boys - The Stray Cats
32. At Last I Am Free - Robert Wyatt
33. Looking For Clues - Robert Palmer
34. There, There My Dear - Dexys Midnight Runners
35. My Girl - Madness
36. Another Nail In My Heart - Squeeze
37. Flight - A Certain Ratio
38. Diet/It’s Obvious - The Au Pairs
39. Funkin’ For Jamaica - Tom Browne
40. Seconds To Late - Cabaret Voltaire
41. I’m Coming Out - Diana Ross
42. Hi-Fidelity - Elvis Costello
43. Warrior Charge - Aswad
44. Love Comes In Spurts - Richard Hell
45. Edward Fox - Smack
46. Don’t Stand So Close To Me - The Police
47. Hello I’m Your Heart - Bette Bright
48. Rise And Shine - Linx
49. Happy House - Siouxsie And The Banshees
50. Dog Eat Dog - Adam And The Ants
Also Mentioned '
• Cartrouble - Adam And The Ants
• Kings Of The Wild Frontier - Adam And The Ants
• Baltimore - Tamlins
• Lovely One - The Jacksons
• Rapp Payback - James Brown
• Three Mantras - Cabaret Voltaire
• Bankrobber/The Callup - The Clash
• Keep It Up Part 2 - Dexys Midnight Runners
• Elastic Man - The Fall
• Holiday ‘80 Ep - The Human League
• There Goes Concorde Again - The Native Hipsters
•
Melody Maker joined Sounds in proclaiming Talking Heads' Remain In Light the best album of 1980. Melody Maker listed the runners-up in no particular order. The Sounds list is longer and includes a list of singles. Anyway you look at it, 1980 was a remarkable year for music.
Melody Maker End Of Year Critic Lists - 1980
Albums
1. Remain In Light - Talking Heads
Get Happy - Elvis Costello
Pretenders - The Pretenders
Vienna - Ultravox
Searching For The Young Soul Rebels - Dexy's Midnight Runners
Crocodiles - Echo & The Bunnymen
Closer - Joy Division
Scary Monsters - David Bowie
Boy - U2
Empires & Dance - Simple Minds
Kings Of The Wild Frontier - Adam And The Ants
Sandinista - The Clash
Absolutely - Madness
Sounds End Of Year Lists 1980
ALBUMS
1. Remain In Light - Talking Heads
2. The Absolute Game - The Skids
3. Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel
4. The River - Bruce Springsteen
5. Closer - Joy Division
=.
The Pretenders - The Pretenders
7. Black Sea - XTC
8. The Correct Use Of Soap - Magazine
9. Crocodiles - Echo And The Bunnymen
10. Sound Affects - The Jam
11. Boy - U2
12. Wild Planet - B-52s
13. I Just Can't Stop It - The Beat
14. Freedom Of Choice - Devo
15. Laughter - Ian dury
16. Scary Monsters And Super Creeps - David Bowie
17. Wheels Of Steel - Saxon
==.
Heartattack And Vine - Tom Waits
19. Empires And Dance - Simple Minds
20. Get Happy - Elvis Costello
==.
Absolutely - Madness
SINGLES
1. C30 C60 C90 Go! - Bow Wow Wow
2. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
3. Going Underground - The Jam
4. Biko - Peter Gabriel
5. Talk Of The Town - The Pretenders
6. Can't Stand up For Falling Down - Elvis Costello
Merry Christmas from the 40 Year Itch! We have some wonderful gifts for you today, beginning with "R2-D2 We Wish You A Merry Christmas". (Okay, that's not so wonderful. )
Our second gift is a quiz from Smash Hits to test how much you've been reading this blog. The answers are at the bottom of the page.
Finally here's the Top of The Pops that aired on Christmas Day, with performances by Dexy's Midnight Runners, Blondie, The Police, Leo Sayer, Sheen Easton and St Winifred's School Choir.
New York City based Trouser Pressjoined the long list of music rags proclaiming The Clash's London Calling the best album of 1980. Their eyes and ears were focused on what was happening in England . The only American bands to make their Top Ten albums list were Talking Heads and one quarter of The Pretenders.
There were no American bands in the Top 10 singles list from Trouser Press, ( unless you again count Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders).
In 1980 the magazine began to focus on the underground American sound. Great news for The Bongos, Plimsouls and dB's.
Joy Division's Closer tops the 1980 NME album list, edging out Elvis Costello's R+B tribute Get Happy!!, The Beat's debut I Just Can't Stop It and Black Uhuru's Sinsemilla. Over the years, critics have changed their minds about quite a few of the albums on this list: PIL's Printemps Au Paris, Lou Reed's Growing Up In Public, Iggy Pop's Soldier and Aerosmith's Night In The Ruts don't hold up with the best of what these artists have achieved. The same goes for Ry Cooder's Borderline and Ian Dury's Laughter. And some of those also-rans deserve to be higher up in the chart. That said, this list will be closer to my Top 40 which I will reveal next week.
1980 NME Albums
1. Closer - Joy Division
2. Get Happy - Elvis Costello
3. I Just Can't Stop It - The Beat
4. Sinsemilla - Black Uhuru
5. Movies - Holger Czukay
6. Remain In Light - Talking Heads
7. Crocodiles - Echo And The Bunnymen
8. Borderline - Ry Cooder
9. Scary Monsters - David Bowie
10. Searching For The Young Soul Rebels - Dexys Midnight Runners
11. Sound Affects - The Jam
12. The River - Bruce Springsteen
13. Signing Off - Ub40
14. The Correct Use Of Soap - Magazine
15. Songs The Lord Taught Us - The Cramps
16. Laughter - Ian Dury & The Blockheads
17. Night Passage - Weather Report
18. Grace And Danger - John Martyn
19. Empires And Dance - Simple Minds
20. Suicide - Suicide
21. Uprising - Bob Marley & The Wailers
22. Warm Thoughts - Smokey Robinson
23. Colossal Youth - Young Marble Giants
24. Printemps Au Paris - Public Image Ltd.
25. Voice Of America - Cabaret Voltaire
26. Warm Leatherette - Grace Jones
27. Die Kleinen Und Die Bosen - D.A.F.
28. Soldier - Iggy Pop
29. Toots Live - Toots And The Maytals
30. Growing Up In Public - Lou Reed
31. Doc At The Radar Station - Captain Beefheart
32. More Specials - The Specials
33. Cultosaurus Erectus - Blue Oyster Cult
34. Kilimanjaro - The Teardrop Explodes
35. Blues For The Fisherman - Milcho Leviev & Art Pepper
36. Shiny Beast - Captain Beefheart
37. Nobody’s Perfect -Stiff Little Fingers
38. Hotter Than July - Stevie Wonder
39. Snap Crackle & Bop - John Cooper Clarke
40. Bass Culture - Linton Kwesi Johnson
41. Organisation - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
42. Countrymen - The Twinkle Brothers
43. Freedom Of Choice - Devo
44. Are You Glad To Be In America - James Blood Ulmer
45. Diana - Diana Ross
46. Shadows And Light - Joni Mitchell
47. Kaleidoscope - Siouxsie And The Banshees
48. Waiting For A Miracle - Comsat Angels
49. Heartattack And Vine - Tom Waits
50. Changes - Etta James
Also Mentioned
•
Real People - Chic
•
Gyrate - Pylon
•
Off The Coast Of Me - Kid Creole And The Coconuts
•
One of rock criticism's intellectuals, Greil Marcus gave four albums his highest possible score in the Village Voice critics poll. Gang of Four's Entertainment! shared the honor with a live album from Public Image Ltd, the sophomore album from a Pittsburgh bar band and London Calling. He was so blown away the first time he saw Gang Of Four he left the club before The Buzzcocks took the stage so the effect would last longer. On his website, you can read his take on Gang of Four:
In almost every song, you can hear a very specific struggle: the struggle of the person who has heard the bad news to love it. He always fails. He realizes everything he does is second-hand, a waking dream, a dream someone else has dreamed for him—when he walks into a pub and greets friends with a line he’s half-consciously lifted from last night’s sitcom, he’s an advertisement. He hears himself and he feels tricked, humiliated, so he smashes into his friends, into the other members of the band, as if he’s never seen them before but knows they mean him no good. Screaming, he insists that he’s happy.
ALBUMS
Gang of Four: Entertainment! (Warner Bros.) 15;
Image Publique S.A.: Paris Au Printemps (Virgin import) 15;
Iron City Houserockers: Have a Good Time (But Get Out Alive) (MCA) 15;
The Clash: London Calling (Epic) 15;
Carlene Carter: Musical Shapes (Warner Bros.) 15;
X: Los Angeles (Slash) 5;
Roxy Music: Flesh + Blood (Atco) 5;
Black Uhuru: Sensimilla (Mango) 5;
Robin Lane & the Chartbusters (Warner Bros.) 5;
Dire Straits: Making Movies 5.
SINGLES
The Beat: “Twist & Crawl” (Go-Feet import 12-inch);
J. Geils Band: “Love Stinks” (EMI America);
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: “Refugee” (Backstreet);
Blondie: “Call Me” (Polydor 12-inch);
The Clash: “Train in Vain” (Epic);
Red Crayola: “Born in Flames” (Rough Trade import);
The Beat: “Stand Down Margaret (Dub)” (Go-Feet import 12-inch);
Delta 5: “You” (Rough Trade import);
Tommy James: “Three Times In Love” (Millenium);
Anemic Boyfriends: “Guys Are Not Proud” (Red Sweater).
