My Top 40 Albums of 1980

Talking Heads : Once in a Lifetime

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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 

38. David Bowie Scary Monsters And Super Creeps 

39. Pylon Gyrate 

40. Japan Gentlemen Take Polaroids

Melody Maker and Sounds Agree Remain In Light is the Best Album of 1980

Talking Heads : Crosseyed And Painless

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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 

7. Holiday In Cambodia - Dead Kennedys 

8. King/Food For Thought - UB40 

9. You Better Scream - Wah! Heat 

10. Staring At The Rude Boys - The Ruts 

11. To Cut A Long Story Short - Spandau Ballet 

12. Two Pints Of Lager - Splodgenessabounds 

13. 747 (strangers In The Night) - Saxon 

14. Circus Games - The Skids 

15. West One (Shine On Me) - The Ruts 

16. My Number - Girl 

17. Seven Minutes To Midnight - Wah! Heat 

18. A Forest - The Cure 

19. Commercial Single - The Residents 

20. Lights - Styx 

21. Heyday - The Sound 

22. Games Without Frontiers - Peter Gabriel 

23. Give Me Back My Man - B52s 

24. Mirror In The bathroom - The Beat 

25. Dark Companion - Tuxedo Moon 

26. Girls Talk - Dave Edmunds 

27. Simply Thrilled Honey - Orange Juice 

28. Totally Wired - The Fall 

29. Dog Eat Dog - Adam And The Ants 

30. I'm Coming Out - Diana Ross

Talking Heads release Remain In Light, the album of the year

Talking Heads : Born Under Punches

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On October 8 1980,  Talking Heads released Remain In Light, arguably the best album of the year.  

The songs began with single chord jams inspired by African polyrhythms and recorded at Compass Point Studios in The Bahamas where drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth rented a house. David Byrne, who had alfeady recorded most of My Life In The Bush With Ghosts with Brian Eno,  would tell the the Daily News that this record “wasn’t intended to be a Talking Heads LP at all, but after we put some tracks down, some of the sounds started taking shape and became songs. I was very unsure of it, but toward the end of the rehearsals I was really pleased with the progress, and I thought to myself, anybody who doesn’t like this is nuts.” 

This is how the German experimental band Can recorded songs, which is why all of the musicians are credited on every song.

 

For the longest time, the songs had no lyrics or even titles. Byrne struggled with words, eventually finding some of his best remembered lyrics in books ( the world moves on a woman's hips) in newspaper headlines ( the heat goes on) or inspired by the up and coming sounds of rap music ( Facts are simple, facts are straight). Adrian Belew came in to record on a song that would become "The Great Curve" not knowing where Byrne would be singing. It would be up to Byrne to sing around the solo.

Talking Heads and producer Brian Eno originally agreed to credit all songs in alphabetical order to "David Byrne, Brian Eno, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth" after failing to devise an accurate formula for the split, but the album was released with the label credit: "all songs written by David Byrne & Brian Eno (except "Houses In Motion" and 'The Overload", written by David Byrne, Brian Eno & Jerry Harrison)".

"We had been told another untruth by David Byrne and so had our listeners,” Frantz wrote in his 2020 memoir Remain In Love. “This was especially hurtful because without our persistence, love and musicianship, Remain in Light would never have been made.”