The Best Records of 1982!

 

PEAK POST-PUNK!

by BK Munn

It's taken me over 40 years, but I've finally whittled down my list of the Best Albums of 1982!

As I wrote in my notes for 1986, the first one of these I attempted, this list comes with a number of caveats and blindspots, and I think I'm going to stick with the same quirky, personal format. So: this is a largely English-language, rock-oriented list reflecting my continued fetish for post-punk and garage rock sounds. There are a couple German records here, but that's about it. In part, this is a nostalgic list, but as usual most of the records here were totally unknown to me at the time. Some are new to me this week, but most have crossed my path at some point over the last four decades, and many I even own in vinyl format!

In 1982, I was only 12 but obsessed with not only Top 40 radio but also the synth pop and New Wave sounds coming out of Toronto's fm station CFNY.  I distinctly remember hearing the dj for Hamilton's CKOC introduce Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue" for the first time. I was a year or two away from real teenage rebellion and the discovery of our local college radio station CFRU, but nevertheless I thought I was cool because I had discovered David Bowie and listened to Scary Monsters and the ChangesOne compilation incessantly (Let's Dance didn't come out until 1983, I think). My tastes have changed since those days, but some of the records I liked back then I still like, meaning I can still stand to listen to them without too many unpleasant associations.

This is not true for most of the big hits of the day. 1982 was the year of Michael Jackson's Thriller and despite it's continuing centrality to our culture and Western Civilization, I feel close to blowing my brains out whenever I hear the opening notes of any of the megahits from that album these days. I was pretty much burned out on that record by 1983, even as a kid. Ditto for most of the 1982 Top 40. 

1982 was a year that funk and hip-hop started to register with white people, post-Disco, but my list has very little of either. I decided to eliminate jazz from the list as well, even though there are excellent records from giants like Ornette Coleman, Nina Simone, and Alice Coltrane that year, as well as jazz-inflected things like Rip Rig and Panic, and Indian and African stuff like Rupa and Manu Dibango that interest me. No soundtracks on this list either, even though Morricone (The Thing) and Vangelis (the amazing Blade Runner soundtrack) were out there (David Lynch released his soundtrack for 1977's Eraserhead in 1982 as well). 

I'm pretty proud of my curation of the first 30 or so records on this list, but to be honest, the rest of the list is more or less a random assemblage, with not much thought given to rankings. I have another 20 or so records that I could easily substitute for any 20 of the records in the bottom 52.  Maybe I'll post those separately. For now I'm sticking to the gimmick of matching the number of slots with the year, so I'm limited here to 82 in total. I'm sure I've missed something! Let me know!

1. The Fall, Hex Education Hour
2. Lilliput, Lillput
3. Kate Bush, The Dreaming
4. English Beat, Special Beat Service
5. Gang of Four, Songs of the Free and Another Day/Another Dollar
6. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, The Message 
7. Trio, Trio aka The Album/Da Da Da
8. REM, Chronic Town
9. Daniel Johnston, Don’t Be Scared
10. Prince, 1999
11. Cocteau Twins, Garland
12. Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth
13. The Clean, Great Sounds Great, Good Sounds Good, So-so Sounds So-so, Bad Sounds Bad, Rotten Sounds Rotten
14. Gun Club, Miami
15. The Clash, Combat Rock
16. The Cure, Pornography
17. Blue Orchids, The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain) 
18. Siouxsie And The Banshees, A Kiss In The Dreamhouse
19. Dead Kennedys, Plastic Surgery Disasters
20. Waitresses, Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful
21. Simple Minds, New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)
22. X, Under the Big Black Sun
23. Talking Heads, The Name of This Band is Talking Heads
24. Chic, Tongue in Chic
25. TV Personalities, Mummy Your Not Watching Me/They Could Have Been Bigger than the Beatles
26. The Birthday Party, Junkyard
27. Wall of Voodoo, Call of the West
28. Fleshtones, Roman Gods
29. Judy Nylon and Crucial, Pal Judy
30. Laurie Anderson, Big Science
31. XTC, English Settlement
32. Familie Hesselbach, Familie Hesselbach
33. Lee "Scratch" Perry and the Majestics, Mystic Miracle Star
34. Tom Verlaine, Words from the Front
35. Nightingales, Pigs on Purpose
36. Misfits, Walk Among Us
37. Nurse With Wound, Homotopy to Marie 
38. John Cooper Clarke, Zip Style Method
39. Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, D.T.K. (Live At The Speakeasy)
40. The Jam, The Gift
41. Marine Girls, Beach Party
42. The Sound, All Fall Down
43. Pere Ubu, Song of the Bailing Man
44. Romeo Void, Benefactor
45. D.O.A., War on 45
46. Iron Maiden, The Number of the Beast
47. Eddy Grant, Killer on the Rampage
48. Tall Dwarfs, Louis Likes His Daily Dip
49. Bauhaus, The Sky's Gone Out/Press The Eject and Give Me the Tape
50. Cleaners from Venus, Midnight Cleaners/On Any Normal Monday
51. George Clinton, Computer Games
52. The Psychedelic Furs, Forever Now
53. African Head Charge, Environmental Studies
54. Material, One Down
55. Duran Duran, Rio
56. Culture Club, Kissing to Be Clever
57. Bad Brains, Bad Brains
58. The Descendents, Milo Goes to College
59. Mission of Burma, Vs.
60. Brian Eno, Ambient 4: On Land
61. Neil Young, Trans
62. Thomas Dolby, The Golden Age Of Wireless/She Blinded Me With Science
63. Lou Reed, The Blue Mask
64. Flipper, Album Generic Flipper
65. King Sunny Adé and His African Beats, Juju Music
66. Yazoo, Upstairs at Eric’s
67. Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska
68. Grace Jones, Living My Life
69. Madness, The Rise and Fall
70. Rick James, Throwin Down
71. Go-Go’s, Vacation
72. Devo, Oh No! It’s Devo
73. Nina Hagen, NunSexMonkRock
74. Motorhead, Iron Fist
75. Fear, The Record
76. Men Without Hats, Rhythm of Youth
77. Peter Gabriel, Security
78. Bow Wow Wow, I Want Candy
79. Hunters and Collectors, s/t
80. Strange Advance, World’s Away
81. Dream Syndicate, The Days Of Wine And Roses
82. A Flock of Seagulls, s/t

Graphic Novel Review: Abysmalation by Josh Bayer

 

Abysmalation

by Josh Bayer

(Birdcage Bottom, 2022)

148pgs

review by BK Munn

Fantastic collection of fugitive pieces by this punk cartoonist includes the very funny "Bloggers" series of strips, some autobiographical shorts and playful explorations of comics history, and the epic centrepiece "I'm Drawing Garfield." It's a showcase for Bayer's expressive, gestural, beautifully "messy" cartooning; an intense style with a radical personal approach to everything from page design, to figure drawing, to lettering. Recommended!

Cruisin' 1977

"Cruisin' 1977" by Mike Royer (2022, pencil and ink on bristol board). 

My wife Kara and I collect alot of records and along the way somehow we started collecting the Cruisin' series, a nostalgia title that came out in the early Seventies featuring oldies from the 1950s and 60s interspersed with classic radio dj chatter and station ads. The whole collection is made up of 15 records, from 1955 to 1970, and the unique thing about the series is that the cover of each record features the same group of characters in different scenes through the years. The main protagonists are Eddie and Peg, two teenagers in love, who go through many ups and downs, including the Vietnam War and the student revolts of the Sixties, before finally getting married. Each cover was illustrated in classic comic book style, with word balloons and many background details specific to each year. It wasn't until we had collected these records for many years that I realized that the artist who drew these covers was Mike Royer, a cartoonist famous among comic book fans for his association with Jack Kirby, inking and lettering most of Kirby's comics throughout the 1970s, including The New Gods, Black Panther, and The Eternals.

When we sold our record store earlier this year, I got the idea to memorialize our run with some special art, so I contacted Mr. Royer to see about commissioning him to create a version of one of his classic covers as an homage to the Cruisin' series and to our time at Royal Cat Records. I chose his cover to Cruisin' 1967, which takes place in a hippie headshop, and asked him to update it to a record shop in 1977, the year punk broke, and place Kara and myself in the scene. The results were beyond my wildest dreams! I asked local cartoonist Jay Stephens to add colour to the black-and-white masterpiece Mr. Royer created, and I gave the whole package to Kara for Christmas this year.

Thank you Mike and Jay and Merry Christmas from Bryan and Kara!

The Best Records of 1986

by BK Munn

So by popular demand, here’s my list of the Best Albums of 1986! Of course, I think they are objectively the best as well as being favourites --my taste is that good! Nostalgia plays a part in this list, I’m sure, but I discovered large chunks of the records here long after the 80s ended. Some of the records I listened to hundreds of times in 1986 and since. Some I discovered for the first time last week. The ranking is based on not just how good the record is, but also how likely I am to listen to it again and/or how tired I am of the record. The list reflects my stunted taste for dumb, post-punk, and garage-flavoured sounds, and really gives a wide berth to most of the bestselling discs of the day. There are innovative pop and rock records from 1986 that were massive crossover hits and are considered classics by huge swaths of the population but I am heartily sick of them (and was likely sick of them in 1986, so don’t come at me with your Paul Simons and Peter Gabriels, etc). There are a few cheats, and a few anachronisms, mostly in the anthology/compilation category, but most of the stuff here was actually released in 1986 for the first time (it’s largely confined to Anglophonia as well, meaning UK/USA/Canada, so no South Africa, no Zimbabwe, no Japan). What else is not on this list? There are only a handful of country-adjacent records here and I really dropped the ball in the 1986 reggae department. Jazz? I’m a dilettante. Miles released “Tutu” in 1986, and it is a *very* 80s-sounding record. Is it even in the top 40 Miles records? I really don’t know. Not for me. John Zorn is on the list because he’s really more of a punk, isn’t he? And because I feel I could actually listen to those records again at some point. What else did I miss, jazz-wise? A bunch of fusion-y and synth-y noodly stuff it sounds like, for the most part. I mean, let me know how wrong I am. When I’m not blasting angry punk I do sometimes listen to *some* of the more refined and civilized things. Tony Bennett released one of his better comeback albums in 1986, and it’s hard to find a bad Tony Bennett album, period, but should it be on this list? (Ditto the great Mel Torme!) What else? Soundtracks? Blue Velvet and The Mission are standouts, but I would rather rewatch the films, honestly. Laurie Anderson’s is a soundtrack that functions as a stand-alone album to me, and is on the list. No orchestral music, generally. This is a rockist’s rock list!

1. The Fall, Bend Sinister

2. Run-DMC, Raising Hell

3. Various, Back From the Grave Vol 3 + 4

4. Deja Voodoo, Swamp of Love

5. Gruesomes, Tyrants of Teen Trash

6. Various, It Came from Canada 2

7. Sonic Youth, Evol

8. Husker Du, Candy Apple Grey

9. Public Image Ltd, Album

10. Schoolly D, Schoolly D

11. Shop Assistants, Shop Assistants

12. Butthole Surfers, Rembrandt Pussyhorse

13. Dead Kennedys, Bedtime for Democracy

14. Jazz Butcher, Distressed Gentlefolk (tie)

14. Hasil Adkins, Out to Hunch (tie)

15. Bad Brains, I Against I

16. Suicide, Ghost Riders

17. Cocteau Twins, Victorialand

18. The Smiths, The Queen is Dead

19. XTC, Skylarking

20. Throwing Muses, Throwing Muses

21. R.E.M., Life’s Rich Pageant

22. Thee Mighty Caesars, Thee Caesars of Trash

23. Cramps, A Date with Elvis

24. Prince, Parade

25. Big Black, Atomizer

26. Ministry, Twitch

27. Talking Heads, True Stories

28. Laurie Anderson, Home of  the Brave

29. Billy Bragg, Talking With The Taxman About Poetry 

30. Camper Van Beethoven, Camper Van Beethoven

31. Jr. Gone Wild, More Pop Less Art

32. Big Audio Dynamite, No. 10 Upping St.

33. Felt, Forever Breathes the Lonely Word

34. Spaceman 3, Sound of Confusion

35. The Housemartins, London 0 Hull 4

36. The Feelies, The Good Earth

37. Eugene Chadbourne, Corpses Of Foreign War

38. The Clean, Compilation

39. Dag Nasty, Can I Say

40. Descendents, Enjoy

41. The Leaving Trains, Kill Tunes

42. Nikki Sudden And The Jacobites, Texas/The Last Bandits in the World

43. The Pandoras, Stop Pretending

44. Salt n Pepa, Hot Cool and Vicious

45. Lyres, Lyres Lyres

46. Kool Moe Dee, s/t

47. Didjits, Fizzjob

48. John Zorn, The Big Gundown

49. This Mortal Coil, Filigree And Shadow

50. Ramones, Animal Boy

51. Razor, Malicious Intent

52. Robyn Hitchcock And The Egyptians, Element Of Light 

53. Motorhead, Orgasmatron

54. Skinny Puppy, Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse 

55. Lou Reed, Mistrial

56. Nick Cave, Kicking Against the Pricks

56. Nick Cave, Your Funeral My Trial

57. That Petrol Emotion, Manic Pop Thrill

58. Delmonas, The Delmonas 5

59. Violent Femmes, The Blind Leading The Naked 

60. Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force, Planet Rock: The Album

61. Youth of Today, Break Down the Walls

62. Killing Joke, Brighter Than A Thousand Suns 

63. Swans, Holy Money

64. Iggy Pop, Blah Blah Blah

65. Go-Betweens, Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express 

66. The Flaming Lips, Hear It Is

67. Siouxsie and the Banshees, Tinderbox

68. Ray Condo And His Hardrock Goners, Crazy Date

69. Art of Noise, In Visible Silence

70. Meat Puppets, Out My Way

71. Velvet Underground, Another VU

72. The No Comprendo, Les Rita Mitsouko

73. fIREHOSE, Ragin', Full-On  

74. Dayglo Abortions, Feed Us A Fetus

75. NoMeansNo, Sex Mad

75. Revolting Cocks, Big Sexy Land

77. New Order, Brotherhood

78. Stetsasonic, On Fire

79. Various, C86 

80. Beastie Boys, Licensed to Ill

81. Stan Ridgway, The Big Heat

82. John Zorn, Cobra

83. The Chameleons, Strange Times

84. The Smithereens, Especially For You

85. Cowboy Junkies, Whites Off Earth Now!!

86. Talk Talk, The Colour of Spring

R.I.P. Mark E. Smith

by BK Munn

Mark E. Smith 1957-2018.

Marvel Team-Up #41-44, by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema (Marvel Comics, 1976). 

In this 4-issue series of stories, the sorcerous super-villain Dark Rider uses Cotton Mather to transport Spider-Man and the Scarlet WItch to the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 in order to lure Dr. Doom and siphon his mystic powers. The story is referenced in The Fall song, "Various Times," the B-Side to the band's second single, "It's the New Thing" (1978). Fall singer and chief song-writer Mark E. Smith was a comic book reader and made many comics references in his art, including nods to Jack Kirby, Brian Talbot, Viz Comics, and, most famously, to the work of Jack Cole in his song "How I Wrote Elastic Man." Smith was something of a prole-art visionary, obsessed with time-travel, the Holocaust, rockabilly, Arthur Machen, H.P. Lovecraft, 60s Motown, Philip K. Dick, Rasputin, the Witch Trials, and other arcane aspects of U.S. and UK pop culture and history. 

Mark E. Smith died today at age 60. 

The relevant lyrics from "Various Times" are as follows (the lyric also references a novel by science fiction writer Ursula K. LeGuin, whose death is also being widely mourned today). The song examines racism and ideological extremism during three different points in human history (The Salem Wich Trials, World War II Germany, and modern-day Britain) and ponders how seemingly normal people could become complicit in mass hysteria and horrible historical atrocities.

"Future:
1980
Black windows
And smokey holes
My head is full of lead
And the beer is so weak
Since they got rid of time around here

Dr. Doom
Fresh from Salem
And the witch trials
The Lathe of Heaven
Time mistaken
Three places at once
Human [race]
Don't think, ask him
Ask him
Ask him”