1985...what a year it was.

So 1985 was a very daunting task for me. I mean, since I tend to stick to a single year in the later voting, how was I to choose five artists from a stellar list of seminal albums released between my 13th and 14th years of existence? 1985 was a huge year in music for me since it saw the birth of many albums that would shape my journey in music, open my eyes to other unheard tunes and still, after all these years, maintain a very heavy presence in my audio rotation.

Let me give you an example...off the top of my head (without any research, I promise) I can list these albums sent forth into the 1985 night:

The Waterboys-This Is The Sea, REM-Fables of the Reconstruction, The Replacements-Tim, The Pogues-Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, Love & Rockets-Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven, Echo & The Bunnymen-Songs To Learn and Sing, The Clash-Cut The Crap, Camper Van Beethoven-Telephone Free Landslide Victory, Smiths-Meat Is Murder, Run-DMC- King Of Rock, Sonic Youth-Bad Moon Rising, Talking Heads-Little Creatures, Jesus & Mary Chain-Psychocandy, Oingo Boingo -Dead Man's Party,Peter Gabriel-Birdy Soundtrack, Pete Townshend-White City, Everything But the Girl-Love Not Money, Style Council-Our Favorite Shop, New Order-Lowlife, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds-the Firstborn Is Dead, Dire Straits-Brothers In Arms , Neil Young-Old Ways, The Cure-Head On The Door, Tom Waits-Rain Dogs, Kate Bush-Hounds of Love, Inxs-Listen Like Thieves, the Cult-Love, Big Audio Dynamite-This Is Big Audio Dynamite, Grace Jones-Island Life, Mekons-Fear And Whiskey

So you see, I had an entirely difficult task in having to whittle my list to five. I had to leave off some in favor of better albums to come. I had to leave off some in favor of better previous efforts. But all in all, 1985 proved to be a defining year for my ears. I only hope there are others that had as much fun coming through their speakers and into their lives as I did.

So without further ado, I give you my five nominees and my efforts at justification based solely on my own personal experience.

The Pogues:

What can I say about the Pogues and their gem Rum Sodomy & the Lash? This is easily one of my all-time favorite albums. I would nominate them to any hall of fame based solely on this one. Since the first time I heard this classic it has been by my side, or at the very least never far from my reach. From the opening revving "The Sick Bed of Chuchulainn" all the way to the final strains of "The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda" I know this record as well as if I'd created it myself. There is not a single song on here that I would ever skip if it came up on a playlist. Not ever. This one is surely a record that shaped my tastes and guided me on amazing journeys.

The songs collected here are tales of sorrow, sadness, longing, desperation... and yet. There is also an underlying sense of overcoming these obstacles and considering them merely speed bumps in life. Maybe it's the Irish way or maybe it's simply a desire to prove there is something better, either way it's a delightful combination that both saddens and emboldens me. Even the heart-wrenching story that unfolds in "Old Main Drag" makes me feel better about whatever minor problems I may encounter in my day to day.

It also served as a learning experience for me. I remember fondly the time I spent in the library researching Kilkenny Cat and Chuchulainn. It opened up a new chapter in my love of cultures and history and showed that even a "punk" band had intelligence and a sense of self, family, and heritage.

All I can say is, thank you Pogues. Thank you for gifting me with a true work of genius that eased my early teen years and helped to steer me in the direction of becoming the man I now am, for better or worse.

Old Main Drag

Dirty Old Town

Billy's Bones

I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day

Sickbed of Chuchulainn

The Replacements:

The Replacements gave me the album Tim in 1985. This is also one of my lifelong favorites and a disc that I am able to identify with on many different levels. Also another album that I would induct the band based solely on this work. The songs collected here encompass a great deal of my feelings and experiences in the dawning of my teens.

At that point in time, "Bastards of Young" could have easily been my theme song. "The sons of no one" indeed. The line "Dreams unfulfilled/ Graduate unskilled" proved too prophetic in the coming school years. And the line "The ones who love us best are the ones we'll lay to rest/And visit their graves on holidays at best/The ones who love us least are the ones we'll die to please/If it's any consolation, I don't begin to understand them" is something that I can relate to even to this day.

"Left of the Dial" was a call to arms for each of us that had to work to hear the music we loved and did whatever we could to actually see the bands perform. Left of the dial was where I spent my entire radio listening.

"Swingin' Party" and "Here Comes A Regular" did a phenomenal job of describing my social life. Thankfully, it wasn't long until I found like minded folks that I forged life-long friendships with, but the Replacements played a large role in bringing us together.

Again, I offer thanks to the band for putting just enough of my life out there for me to find that I wasn't alone.

(As a post script, Paul Westerberg is one hell of a songwriter.)

Bastards of Young

Here Comes A Regular



Waitress In the Sky



Swingin' Party



Hold My Life






REM

REM saw fit to gift me "Fables of the Reconstruction" in '85. Yet another on the all-time list. I know every song by heart and spent a good deal of time learning to play them. REM was a bridge to bring my sister and I closer when all else about our lives was trying to pull us further apart. We both fed off of this band and enjoyed the time we could share common ground.

Fables was a true work of art. Not just musically for, you see, there was so much more to it than that. There was the lyrical content, forever wanting to be deciphered and defined and considered as poetry. There was the communal art scene of Athens, Georgia to be discovered and explored. There was a calming sense of being okay with yourself.

"Life and How To Live It", "Driver 8", "Wendell Gee", "Old Man Kensey"...yep, they all still float around my head on a normal basis. And each and every time I hear this album it brings me back to the good times at that point of my life.

"Can't Get There From Here" is one of the greatest songs ever written to travel by, in my humble opinion. I can't count the number of times I've been hurtling done the nation's highways belting out this tune, giving it my all and trying to do Mr. Stipe justice as he and his band-mates blared ecstatically out of my speakers.

A thank you goes out for this record and the smile it puts on my face as well as for the spring it puts into my step.

Can't Get There From Here

Life and How To Live It



Driver 8



Wendell Gee



Green Grow the Rushes





Talking Heads






Sure, Talking Heads had some success with previous efforts and I quite enjoy their earlier works. I mean, c'mon...Speaking In Tongues? Great album. "Once in a Lifetime", "Life During Wartime","Psycho Killer", all predate Little Creatures. And they all are good enough reasons to include Talking Heads in the Hall of Whatever.

But to me and my ears, it was all about the fun, enchanting, endearing tunes on Little Creatures . "Road to Nowhere' was a common find on my 'Road Ramblings' cassettes made especially for going to places far away and better than where I was. "And She Was" is perhaps one of the better whimsical sing-along songs to come out of the decade. I defy you to listen to the track without tapping your toes or dancing juuuusssttttt a little or outright singing along. I would be flat out lying if I said that I haven't taken the opportunity to sing "Stay Up Late" to my littlest guy. It's got a good swing and is fun for both of us. It's also one of the song sthat I used to lull myself to much needed sleep at the height of my insomnia riddled teens. It was something that I could recite in my sleep which was exactly what I was aiming for.

So I guess what I'm saying is, Talking Heads are a very good band with a penchant for creating tunes that we all know. And yet, I wait until their 1985 offering to nominate them because it holds a bigger place in my heart. The bounce of youth is brought back into focus for me and that's not something I wish to lose.


Road To Nowhere



And She Was



Stay Up Late



And to show how the earlier work rated...

Slippery people



Psycho Killer




My final nominee is Peter Gabriel




I know what you're all saying: "How can you nominate him before the release of the seminal So album?!?!?! Well, it's easy really. 1985 was the year Gabriel did the soundtrack for "Birdy", one of my favorite movies. I can't explain to you (nor do I care to) why the film is so dear to me. But it is. Infinitely.

I would agree that a single soundtrack album composed mostly of instrumentals isn't something to base a nomination on. But you see, this is my list. My brain is not the same as yours. It functions of it's own accord and is a sentient being of it's own. Besides which, who could realistically say that songs like "Solsbury Hill", "Shock the Monkey", "Games Without Frontiers", "Biko" aren't enough to nominate? Gabriel came into his own before So was even thought of.

This is the one I have on each list that I think speaks for itself. Maybe you agree, maybe you don't...but all in all Peter Gabriel was already a force to be reckoned with and did it contrary to what you would think people would like.


Games Without Frontiers



Shock the Monkey



Solsbury Hill



Biko



Intruder





There you have it. I hope some others are able to throw together some more posts. Maybe I'll just have to help out...;)

The redundant few and the correct fill-ins...

I share many of UC's nominations mainly because he has managed to choose wisely and properly. I would argue Kara's choices, but I have the disadvantage of not understanding how women think. Just ask her, she'll agree.

Anyhoo, on to my inaugural choices for inclusion in what I like to refer to as The Mega-Awesome Music Hall of Really Good Music and Music Related People...

First and foremost I nominate a man that I could probably dedicate an entire blog to. The first real, pure musicologist. Alan Lomax.



I firmly stand behind the belief that, without Alan lomax and his tireless efforts, music as we know it would not exist. He was the jumping off point for what was to come. He was the first to record Leadbelly, he worked with and introduced a large amount of people to artists such as Woody Guthrie, Django Reinhardt, Jelly Roll Morton, Jo Stafford, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, Muddy Waters, Son House...the list is ginormous. His efforts spanned generations and he was already well known by the 50's.

He influenced everyone from Bob Dylan to Brian Eno. He was involved in the Voyager Music Project. He was to write books, give speeches, hold parties...And it all stemmed from his early work as an oral and musical folklorist and historian.

He was against the commercialisation of music preferring it be the music of the people. And he had the foresight to include music from around the world rather than staying in the U.S.

Alan lomax is a personal hero of mine and any Music Hall would be remiss in not including him at some point.




My second nominee is Hank Williams.



Hank was already successful by 1950. As a matter of fact in 1949 he had no fewer than 5 "top ten" hits, a feat he repeated in 1950. He was a songwriting machine that also had a knack for popularising tried and true songs from the heartlands of America.

You would face a daunting task to find any major artist that didn't find some sort of inspiration in Hank. His legacy lives on and his influence can be heard and felt resonating through speakers no matter what genre you may prefer. His catalog has been covered by everyone from The The to the Screaming Blue Messiahs to Neko Case to the Replacements to the Mekons to Giant Sand to the Residents to Mike Ness...need I go on?

Lovesick Blues


Long Gone Lonesome Blues


You're Gonna Change Or I'm Gonna Leave


Moanin' the Blues


Why Don't You Love Me





Third nominee is Woody Guthrie



Woody Guthrie, the original punk. He travelled continually, he shared his music with all, and he was passionate about the topics he sang about. He had an appreciation for others, such as Leadbelly, that in no way infringed upon his humility. He recorded and wrote some of the most time tested tunes that even school children can sing by heart.



Troubador.
Hobo.
Historian.
Vagabond.

In short, Woody is the lasting legacy of the music by the people, for the people. I don't feel there is any need to try and justify his nomination...

Pretty Boy Floyd


Do Re Mi


Jesus Christ


Philadelphia Lawyer


So Long It's been good To Know You






Number four is a man I had the pleasure to see perform live and meet in an intimate bluegrass festival setting Bill Monroe




Bill Monroe was, for all intents and purposes, the inventor of Bluegrass. He was also, for all intents and purposes, a punk musician. He played fast and furious with a passion that could be felt through his songs.

He was already successful and famous by 1950, just hitting the first breakout of his long and storied career in the mid 40's. His band was a virtual super group before the notion of such a thing existed, comprised of some of the pioneers and paragons of the genre for which they laid the foundation. Flatt & Scruggs alone could provide the fodder for any debate which dared argue against the fabled Bluegrass Boys.

He was a nice man with a willing and easy demeanor, readily discussing the musical history of his beloved genre with a teenager. I'll never forget my 25 birthday for the fact that he died the next day. His death by far eclipsed any joy I may have harbored for my quarter century celebration.


Molly and Tenbrooks


My Little Georgia Rose


Prisoner's Song


Goodbye Old Pal


Bluegrass Ramble




My final nominee is Lead Belly



For me, Lead Belly was a no brainer. He was, in my opinion, a far better musician than Robert Johnson (absolutely no slight to UC here. I can easily agree with your points...) simply because I think that Johnson was eclipsed by his myth.

Lead Belly was the real deal. He didn't need to make a deal with the Devil because, at some point, he probably shared a cell with him. Lead Belly was a true story in and of himself. Any man that can literally sing his way out of a Texas prison must harbor some of his own mojo.
The pairing of Lead Belly with Woody Guthrie was a like a dream come true. These two deities together were to heavily influence my own musical journey and aim me in directions that often diverged and overlapped at the same time. For Lead Belly, I am eternally thankful...which just goes to show how frikkin' cool Alan Lomax was...


Rock Island Line


Yellow Gal


Grey Goose


Ham n Eggs

UC 1950 Five!

I listened, read, listened, and read some more in order to get my list down to these 5. I have no idea how to make this look good so suffer along with me as I reveal my nominees.

First we start with mandolin champion Bill Monroe. Dude took some fine mountain music and forged it into a musicians banquet that remains misunderstood to this day. Thank you for Bluegrass Bill! How can you not induct the author of a genre? Stanley, Flatt, Scruggs, Stringbean, Martin- you can get a Hall of Fame just out of the man's band.

A few tracks to help you along with your voting: (If Kara had these same efforts I apologize.)

It's the 1950 induction so let's start with a 1950 composition, Uncle Pen: 

Uncle Pen

And 3 more to prove the point:

Blue Grass Breakdown

Y'all Come

Mule Skinner Blues

Another essential, an undeniable Punk, Woody Guthrie. A quote I couldn't remember so I stole from Wiki's write up, but it tells the tale of what we are about in this group. "This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin' it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do." 

Sure everyone uses this picture, but that won't stop me, because it demonstrates the passion he had. He was a song writer in a way that influenced the whole idea of 'song writer'. Dylan, Strummer, whomever. If they were songwriters they probably owe Woody. Except I don't expect he'd be interested in anything beyond the fact that they became great song writers too. A few tracks to remind you of what you probably already know:

This Land is Your Land

Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy 

Tear The Fascist Down

We Shall Be Free (With Lead Belly?!)

With Lead Belly!

That last song brings us to Lead Belly of course, who wasn't as much a no brainer to me as the first two but I'm comfortable with his inclusion. Some find his songs as too often romanticizing American apartheid to which I must completely disagree. I won't get into that here, I'll just offer up the music. Who says you can't learn anything constructive in prison? 

Mr. Hitler

House of the Rising Sun

Where did you Sleep Last Night

Grey Goose

Robert Johnson is my next choice. 

Probably not a great one in terms of catalog but in terms of influence? So what if you can quibble with their overall grasp of the overall, damn near everyone who played guitar for a few decades claimed Johnson as an influence. The fact that we have so little quality left is not proof that he shouldn't be here, in fact the fact that he still reaches so far into the future might be proof that he just may have had something. I'll let you decide:

Sweet Home Chicago

Come on In My Kitchen

Crossroads

They're Red Hot

Oh my. This means I have one more choice and that's it. Was I right? i'll only know after I've read everyone else's choices. I can be swayed. But I am missing Jazz. Jazz. I can't overlook jazz, but Bird, Louis, Benny, Dizzy, so many. I have decided to settle with Duke. 

I'm pretty sure everyone played with him and I know he wrote 2 billion songs, so I stick with it until the rest of you prove another gets the nod. Here's a few to sift through:

It Don't Mean a Thing...

The Mooche

Caravan

All of Me

Right or wrong I think these all deserve to get in. 1950 or 2011- I think we have some winners here!

KK's 1950 Nominations

I submit Doris Day as my first nomination...because I like her, because I AM Doris Day, in that innocent childlike what I wish I could be like kind of way. What influence did she have on future musicians...I don't know and I don't care much either. Whether she's inducted or not...I'm submitting her. A few pre 1950's tunes for you to enjoy. The second one is one of my faves!

My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time
Love Somebody
Sentimental Journey
A Bushel and a Peck

I nominate Jo Stafford...an amazing voice with perfect pitch! As far as pop jazz standard vocalists go she's one of my favorite female crooners. Her contributions include her own recordings but also all the studio and 'behind the scenes' work on some of the great late 40's movie soundtracks etc. including teaching Astaire note syncopation. Who knows...maybe without Cinderella G. Stump (Jo's comedic alter ego) Weird Al wouldn't have made a career as a music parody artist. HA! I'm sure that's a stretch but none the less I admire her humility in that she could sing a beautiful ballad and then butcher it for laughs. A few songs to enjoy.

Sunny Side of the Street
Feudin' and a Fightin'
The Gentlemen is a Dope

I'm not sure who said that Bluegrass is the forefather of American Punk Rock but they were super smart! Thus I submit him as a must in our hall...as punk music is what spurred our friendships! That and as a child my family took lots of road trips. Bill Monroe was ALWAYS in the tape deck.

Six White Horses
Mule Skinner Blues
Dog House Blues
Bluegrass Breakdown

So many jazz greats to choose from...hard to narrow them down. But I nominate Armstrong because I love trumpet and scat and because it's well known that his talent transcended the lines of racial segregation allowing him into social acceptance in the upper echelons regardless of his skin color. I read somewhere that Armstrong invented 'scat'...I doubt that's true but he did make it popular. Be bop, ditty, doooo!

I wonder
Alexander's Ragtime Band
St Louis Blues
Heebie Jeebies

Again...only five to choose and so many I'd like to submit. Ellington was already submitted by Dave so I'm tossin' the King of Swing into the hat. Man...for a white boy, dude's got some rhythm! :-) Goodman also was one of the first band leaders to again cross segregation lines by having a racially mixed band a significant statement for the time. And of course when I was in the 4th grade...I had a solo. It was called the Kingdom of Swing. I heart you Benny and your be-bob ways.

Sing Sing Sing (don't worry Prima...your nomination is coming)
Roll 'Em
Stompin' at the Savoy
King Porter Stomp

I am sorry for not posting actual down-loadable versions but this was much quicker! If you want music from one of my AWESOME suggestions....ask Matt he's in charge of music at our pad.

And so it begins...