***** CONTENT WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS REFERENCES TO BLACKFACE, ANTI-SEMITISM, BULLYING, SEXUAL ASSAULT, MISCARRIAGE, CANCER, AND ALZHEIMER’S *****
Gene Wilder would have celebrated his 90th birthday today. An Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated actor, writer, director, and comedian, Wilder had a unique gift for finding humor in the darkest of places.
Wilder with Richard Pryor in 1980’s Stir Crazy
Gene Wilder was born Jerome Silberman on June 11, 1933, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His father and maternal grandparents were all Russian-Jewish immigrants. Wilder became interested in performing at the age of eight; his mom was sick with rheumatic fever and the doctor whispered in his ear, “try to make her laugh”. At eleven, he begged his sister’s acting coach to accept him as a student. The teacher told him if he was still interested at age thirteen to let him know; Wilder called him the day after his thirteenth birthday and was immediately accepted.
Wilder in 1974’s Young Frankenstein
After a brief, traumatic stint at Black-Foxe Military Institute in Los Angeles, where he was bullied and sexually assaulted because he was the only Jewish student, Wilder returned to Milwaukee. He became active in the local theater community, making his professional debut at fifteen in a production of Romeo and Juliet. After graduating from Washington High School in 1951, he studied Communication and Theater Arts at the University of Iowa, then was accepted to the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England.
Wilder in his most iconic role, Willy Wonka
Wilder was drafted into the Army in 1956, serving in the medical corps at Valley Forge Army Hospital in Pennsylvania. Upon his release from the Army, he spent three years studying with Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen at the famed HB Studio in New York’s Greenwich Village. During this time, Wilder changed his name after deciding that “Jerry Silberman in Macbeth” just didn’t sound right. He joined the Actors Studio and found some success off-Broadway.
Wilder with Donald Sutherland in 1970’s Start the Revolution Without Me
In 1963, Wilder co-starred in the original Broadway adaptation of One Flew Over theCuckoo’s Nest, in which he played the tragic Billy Bibbit, and in Mother Courage and HerChildren. His leading lady in the latter was Anne Bancroft, who introduced Wilder to her then-boyfriend (and future husband) Mel Brooks. Brooks mentioned a screenplay he’d been working on – Springtime for Hitler – and Wilder verbally agreed to play Leo Bloom if the movie ever got, ahem, produced. In the meantime, Wilder made his film debut in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde.
Also in 1967, Brooks’ long-gestating script finally made it to the big screen as The Producers, which earned Wilder his first Academy Award nomination (for Best Supporting Actor). Brooks, in his directorial debut, won his only Oscar for The Producers, for Best Original Screenplay. Wilder and Brooks made two more movies together, each one more iconic than the last. More on those in a bit.
After appearances in 1970’s Start the Revolution Without Me and Quackser Fortune Has aCousin in the Bronx, Wilder landed what would become his signature role: Willy Wonka. Though Roald Dahl famously hated the 1971 movie adaptation of his beloved Charlie andthe Chocolate Factory, Wilder’s Wonka has delighted and terrified generations of children (me included). Several years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt) and Paris Themmen (Mike Teevee) at a special screening of the film, and they shared the most wonderful memories of Wilder and the making of Willy Wonka & the ChocolateFactory.
In 1974, Wilder reteamed with Brooks not once, but twice, for Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. The two iconic comedies, which earned a combined five Oscar nominations and a box office take of almost $200 million, sealed the duo’s status as one of the greatest actor/director combinations in cinema history. For Young Frankenstein, my favorite of the Brooks-Wilder collaborations, Wilder received his second Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Adapted Screenplay (he shared the nod with Brooks). Wilder made two more films in 1974, Rhinoceros and the sci-fi fantasy musical The LittlePrince. Based on the beloved novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, with music and lyrics by Lerner & Loewe, The Little Prince co-stars Wilder as The Fox, one of several characters the titular prince encounters on his journey to Earth.
In 1976, Wilder collaborated with Richard Pryor for the first time in the buddy comedy-action flick Silver Streak. They would go on to make three more films together, including 1980’s Stir Crazy (directed by Sidney Poitier) and 1989’s See No Evil, Hear No Evil. Some of the humor in these films has not aged well (blackface isn’t funny, and neither is any of See No Evil, Hear No Evil) but Wilder and Pryor had amazing chemistry and became lifelong friends.
In 1979, Wilder starred with Harrison Ford in The Frisco Kid, which Wilder referred to as “Young Frankenstein meets the Dirty Dozen” (fun fact: Ford’s role was written for John Wayne, who either asked for too much money or turned the role down due to “vulgarity” in the script, depending on who you ask). I distinctly remember seeing (and enjoying) The Frisco Kid in the theater, though I don’t think I’ve watched it since, so I have no idea how well it’s held up. I can tell you that the film’s director, Robert Aldrich, once said of Wilder, “With the exception of Bette Davis, Gene is the best actor I’ve worked with.”
On August 13, 1981, several years after divorcing his first wife Mary, Wilder met Gilda Radner on the set of Hanky Panky. At the time, Radner was married to musician and SNL bandleader G.E. Smith, but she and Wilder became good friends. Radner and Smith divorced in 1982, the same year Hanky Panky, the second collaboration between Wilder and Sidney Poitier, was released. Wilder and Radner married in 1984, and though they wanted children, Radner suffered a series of miscarriages before being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1986. The pair made one more movie together, 1986’s Haunted Honeymoon. On May 20, 1989, Radner passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Wilder by her side.
After Radner’s death, Wilder only made two more feature films, 1990’s Funny AboutLove and 1991’s Another You, his final collaboration with Richard Pryor. He made some television appearances, including an eponymous NBC sitcom (1994’s Something Wilder) and a performance as The Mock Turtle in a 1999 made-for-television movie adaptation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. His final role, a two-episode arc on Will & Grace, earned Wilder an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Acting offers continued to come his way, but Wilder instead spent his time painting, writing, and pursuing philanthropic endeavors like the non-profit Gilda’s Club.
Wilder with Megan Mullally and Eric McCormack in Will & Grace
Wilder died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease on August 29, 2016. He was 83 years old. He kept his diagnosis hidden for three years, because he didn’t want to make Willy Wonka fans sad. As his nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman put it, Wilder “…simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world.” About a month ago, the trailer to a documentary feature titled Remembering Gene Wilder was released. Featuring clips from his beloved filmography and interviews with friends and collaborators like Mel Brooks, Carol Kane, Alan Alda, Peter Ostrum (Willy Wonka‘s Charlie Bucket), Rain Pryor, and Wilder’s third wife, Karen, Remembering Gene Wilder promises to honor one of the all-time greats. Like Wilder himself, this trailer made me smile and brought tears to my eyes.
I love a good film or television score. I especially love a good electronic film or television score. An electronic score is particularly suited to genres like sci-fi and horror, so you’ll see several of each on this list, including some of the most iconic films of the modern era. Without further ado, here are twenty-five of my favorite electronic scores, in no particular order.
Fight Club – The Dust Brothers
FUN FACT #1: Director David Fincher asked Radiohead to compose the film’s music, but lead singer Thom Yorke declined, citing exhaustion from the band’s recent tour in support of OKComputer (Yorke would eventually work as a film composer, most notably for the soundtrack to the 2018 remake of Suspiria). Fincher then commissioned breakbeat producers the Dust Brothers, who were best known for their work with artists like The Beastie Boys and Beck (two PBandJulie favorites). Their Fight Club score – utilizing samples, scratches, and drum loops – was a perfect fit for Fincher’s polarizing, post-modern meditation on toxic masculinity.
“Homework”
FUN FACT #2: “Corporate World” is currently my phone’s notification sound.
Firestarter – Tangerine Dream
FUN FACT: Germany’s Tangerine Dream are electronic music titans who have influenced countless other artists, including Air (see next entry) and Stranger Things composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein (more on them in a bit). The Duffer Brothers also used three Tangerine Dream songs – “Green Desert”, “Exit”, and “Horizon” – in StrangerThings in addition to Dixon and Stein’s kick-ass score. Tangerine Dream have scored several iconic films, including Thief, Risky Business and Legend, but my favorite of their scores is Firestarter, the 1984 adaptation of the Stephen King novel. Some of the effects are pretty cheesy now, but the music combined with Drew Barrymore’s heartbreaking performance still gets me every time.
“Flash Final”
The Virgin Suicides – Air
FUN FACT #1: In 2014, New Musical Express listed The Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut, at #11 on its list of the greatest film soundtracks of all time. It’s also Pitchfork‘s pick for fourth-best movie score ever. The album has some of the most gorgeous cover art I’ve ever seen (featured image).
“Playground Love” (please don’t ask me to explain the singing wad of chewing gum, cuz I can’t)
FUN FACT #2: Sofia Coppola met her future husband – Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars – while working on The Virgin Suicides‘ soundtrack. Mars, under the pseudonym Gordon Tracks, co-wrote and provided the vocals for “Playground Love”.
The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
FUN FACT #1: Reznor and Ross have collaborated with David Fincher four times, but The Social Network is the best of the bunch. Oscar voters agreed, giving Reznor and Ross one of the film’s three Academy Awards (it should have won more, including Best Picture, but I can bitch about terrible Oscar decisions another time).
“Hand Covers Bruise”
FUN FACT #2: I’m adding a bonus score here. In 2021, Reznor and Ross shared their second Oscar with Jon Batiste, who wrote the jazz segments for the Soul soundtrack. Reznor and Ross’s ambient score for the metaphysical scenes brings me endless delight.
Blade Runner – Vangelis
FUN FACT: Vangelis earned an Oscar (and a #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100) a year earlier for his iconic Chariots of Fire score, but it’s Blade Runner‘s haunting music that has always stuck with me. Vangelis did not receive an Oscar nod for Blade Runner, but he did get BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations.
“Main Titles”
The Shining – Wendy Carlos
Wendy Carlos is an electronic music pioneer who won three Grammy Awards for 1968’s platinum-selling Switched-On Bach. Carlos also composed the music for A Clockwork Orange and 1982’s TRON (modern electronic titans Daft Punk scored the 2010 sequel), but she is best known for her work on Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece of claustrophobic dread, The Shining. Unfortunately, much of Carlos’ catalog is out of print and unavailable for streaming.
“Rocky Mountains”
PRIDE MONTH FUN FACT #1: Wendy Carlos (pictured below with her Moog synthesizer) was the first transgender recipient of a Grammy Award! 🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️
FUN FACT #2: The Shining‘s “Main Title” incorporates the “Dies Irae” section of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. This excellent video from Vox‘s “Earworm” series explains why this specific sequence of notes is so spooky (spoiler alert, it’s about death).
Christine – John Carpenter & Alan Howarth
Carpenter has scored many of his own films (more on a notable exception next); his score for Halloween is among the most iconic horror themes of all time. Of his scores, I’m singling out Christine mainly because it’s my favorite of Carpenter’s films (my blog, my rules).
FUN FACT: Alan Howarth, who began his career as a musician and later a sound designer, collaborated with John Carpenter on several movies, including Christine, Halloween II and III, Escape from New York, and Big Trouble in Little China. Howarth has also done sound effects for films like Poltergeist, Gremlins, Total Recall, and Army of Darkness.
“Show Me”
“Moochie’s Death”
The Thing – Ennio Morricone
FUN FACT: John Carpenter has written the music for most of his films (including Halloween, Escape from New York, and the previous entry, Christine), but for The Thing, Carpenter enlisted the help of one of the most acclaimed and prolific film composers in cinema history, Ennio Morricone. Morricone garnered six Oscar nominations during his lifetime, finally winning on his last try, for 2016’s The Hateful Eight. His most iconic work is certainly The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, one of several scores he composed for Italian director Sergio Leone. For The Thing, Morricone used a combination of a traditional orchestral score with the electronic approach favored by Carpenter.
Arrival – Jóhann Jóhannsson
FUN FACT: Jóhann Jóhannsson, who tragically died in 2018 at the age of 48, was known for blending electronica with traditional orchestral elements. He earned Oscar nominations for The Theory of Everything and Sicario, but my personal favorite is his gorgeous, haunting score for 2016’s absolutely brilliant Arrival.
“First Encounter”
A Nightmare on Elm Street – Charles Bernstein
FUN FACT: Charles Bernstein composed the music for several other ’80s horror films, including The Entity, Cujo and April Fool’s Day (a PBandJulie favorite), but A Nightmare onElm Street is by far his best-known work. Bernstein utilized electronic music for his Nightmare score because it’s far cheaper to produce than an orchestral score (the film’s $1.1 million budget was tiny even for 1984).
Profondo Rosso – Goblin
FUN FACT: Profondo Rosso (“Deep Red”) was the first of many collaborations between Italian prog-rock outfit Goblin and giallo filmmaker Dario Argento (they also worked together on 1977’s Suspiria). But Goblin wasn’t Argento’s first choice – or even his second. Argento initially hired Italian jazz pianist Giorgio Gaslini to create the score, but he was unhappy with the results. Argento next sought Pink Floyd, but they passed, so the director went back to Italy and found Goblin. The title track to Profondo Rosso was a #1 hit in Italy.
“Profondo Rosso”
Moon – Clint Mansell
FUN FACT: Mansell is perhaps best known for his work with Darren Aronofsky, having scored six of Aronofsky’s films, including Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan. But my favorite of his scores is 2009’s mind-bending Moon, the feature directorial debut of Duncan Jones.
“Welcome to Lunar Industries”
Stranger Things – Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein
FUN FACT: When the Duffer brothers were pitching Stranger Things to Netflix, they put together a mock trailer and used a song called “Dirge” by electronic band S U R V I V E. Once Netflix greenlit the project, the brothers reached out to S U R V I V E members Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein and begged them to work full time on the project, and an iconic television theme was born.
“Stranger Things”
Birdy – Peter Gabriel
FUN FACT: One of my favorite musical artists of all time, Peter Gabriel has scored three films, beginning with 1984’s criminally underrated Birdy. Though his second film score, The Last Temptation of Christ, garnered Gabriel more acclaim – as well as a Grammy Award and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score – it’s his work on Birdy that I love the most. By the way, if you’ve never seen this lovely little gem of a movie, directed by the late, great Alan Parker and starring Matthew Modine and Nicolas Cage, do yourself a favor and check it out; it’s available to stream on Amazon Prime.
Drive – Cliff Martinez
FUN FACT: For the soundtrack to his action neo-noir Drive, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn was looking for a retro ’80s europop vibe. Refn initially hired Johnny Jewel, with whom he’d worked on his previous movie, 2008’s Bronson, but he wasn’t happy with the results. Enter Cliff Martinez, former drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who’s best known for his collaborations with Steven Soderbergh. Refn was so pleased with Martinez’s score, the pair re-teamed for two more films, 2013’s Only God Forgives and 2016’s Neon Demon. For the former, Martinez won the Robert Award, the Danish version of an Oscar.
Interstellar – Hans Zimmer
FUN FACT: Two-time Oscar winner Hans Zimmer is known for his sweeping orchestral scores (The Lion King, for which he won his first Academy Award, and Gladiator, to name two). But he also understands that sonic tinkering can take a traditional score to new heights. Zimmer and director Christopher Nolan have worked together numerous times, starting with 2005’s Batman Begins. Zimmer’s score for Interstellar, with ambient music design by Mario Reinsch, earned him a tenth Oscar nomination and drew comparisons to the legendary Philip Glass.
Twin Peaks – Angelo Badalamenti
FUN FACT: Angelo Badalamenti scored films as disparate as A Nightmare on Elm Street III: Dream Warrior and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, but his greatest success was in collaboration with David Lynch, particularly Twin Peaks. Badalamenti won a Grammy for his dreamy Twin Peaks theme song; the theme provided the basis (with lyrics by Lynch himself) for Julee Cruise’s “Falling”, which was a top-twenty hit in twelve countries.
“Tubular Bells” (The Exorcist) – Mike Oldfield
FUN FACT #1: Director William Friedkin would later say that if he’d heard Tangerine Dream’s music prior to making the film, he would have hired them to score The Exorcist. Instead, Friedkin used existing music, including classical pieces by Krzysztof Penderecki and a song by a young prog rock artist Mike Oldfield called “Tubular Bells”, which subsequently became known as the theme for The Exorcist.
FUN FACT #2: The legendary Lalo Schifrin (Mission: Impossible) wrote six minutes of score for The Exorcist‘s initial trailer that was deemed “too scary”, which WHAT? Six years later, Schifrin was nominated for an Oscar for The Amityville Horror; it was rumored that he used the scrapped Exorcist score for Amityville, though Schifrin himself denied it.
The Terminator – Brad Fiedel
FUN FACT: The Terminator‘s main theme is in an unusual time signature – 13/16 time – because Fiedel accidentally created an incomplete loop when he programmed his Prophet-10 synthesizer. Fiedel and director James Cameron collaborated again on Terminator 2: Judgment Day and True Lies.
“Main Title – The Terminator”
Cat People – Giorgio Moroder
FUN FACT: Moroder has won three Oscars – Best Original Score for 1978’s Midnight Express and Best Original Song for 1983’s “Flashdance…What a Feeling” and 1986’s “Take My Breath Away” – but he wasn’t nominated for Cat People. He did receive two Golden Globe nominations for the film, though: one for the score and a second one for Best Original Song for “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)”, which he co-wrote with David Bowie.
“Axel F” (Beverly Hills Cop) – Harold Faltermeyer
FUN FACT: The Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack was stacked with pop gems like The Pointer Sisters’ “Neutron Dance”, Patti Labelle’s “Stir It Up”, and Glenn Frey’s “The Heat Is On”, but the film’s best-known track is the instrumental “Axel F”. “Axel F” peaked at #3 on the Billboard 100, a rare feat for an instrumental.
FUN FACT #2: Faltermeyer also composed the score for another ’80s cinematic icon, Top Gun.
Mad Max: Fury Road – Junkie XL
FUN FACT: Dutch composer Tom Holkenborg, AKA Junkie XL, has collaborated with Hans Zimmer on several occasions, including the Christopher Nolan films Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. Brought in to meet Mad Max director George Miller and view a rough cut of Fury Road, Holkenborg’s on-the-spot suggestions won him the job.
“Storm Is Coming”
A Quiet Place – Marco Beltrami
FUN FACT: Beltrami earned a Golden Globe nomination for A Quiet Place; he has also received two career Oscar nods, for 2007’s 3:10 to Yuma and 2009’s The Hurt Locker. Beltrami composed the music for the first four films in the Scream franchise, as well.
“Rising Pulse”
It Follows – Disasterpeace
FUN FACT: Disasterpeace is the stage name for New York musician Richard Vreeland, who specializes in a subgenre known as “chiptune” or “8-bit music”, which has its origins in vintage video games. It Follows was the first feature film Vreeland scored, and he nailed it.
“Heels” (CONTENT WARNING: GRUESOME DEATH AT 2:45)
Day of the Dead – John Harrison
FUN FACT: In the first episode of Stranger Things 3 – “Suzie, Do You Copy” – Mike, Will, Lucas, and Sam sneak into a screening of Day of the Dead though Scoops Ahoy. The scene features footage from the movie that uses Harrison’s “The Dead Suite”.
As always, I’ve made a playlist that includes snippets of all the scores I’ve mentioned in this post:
***** CONTENT WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS A REFERENCE TO SUICIDE *****
These albums are all turning forty-five this year. This list is in chronological order by release date and covers albums released between January and June 1978.
Excitable Boy – Warren Zevon
CHART POSITION: #8 in the US, #9 in Australia, #12 in New Zealand
SINGLES: “Johnny Strikes Up the Band”, “Excitable Boy”, “Werewolves of London”, “Nighttime in the Switching Yard”, “Lawyers, Guns and Money”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above
FUN FACT: “Werewolves of London”, Zevon’s only US top 40 hit, featured Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood and John McVie on drums and bass, respectively. The song began as a joke after Phil Everly (of the Everly Brothers) watched the 1935 horror film Werewolf of London and “suggested to Zevon that he adapt the title for a song and dance craze.” The single received a resurgence in popularity in 1986 when it was used in a scene from The Color of Money.
City to City – Gerry Rafferty
CHART POSITION: #1 in the US, top ten in seven more countries
SINGLES: “City to City”, “Baker Street”, “Right Down the Line”, “Home and Dry”, “The Ark”, “Whatever’s Written in Your Heart”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Baker Street”, “Right Down the Line”, “City to City”, “Mattie’s Rag”, “Home and Dry”
FUN FACT #1: City to City was Rafferty’s second solo album, and the first since the messy breakup of his band, Stealers Wheel; Rafferty was contractually prevented from releasing a record until the legal disputes were settled. It was worth the wait.
FUN FACT #2: “Baker Street”, the album’s first single, made it to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (it was kept out of the top spot by Andy Gibb’s “Shadow Dancing”). The track, known for its distinctive saxophone riff and named for the famed Baker Street in London (home of Sherlock Holmes, Madame Tussauds’ first wax museum, and The Beatles’ Apple Boutique), won the annual Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.
Infinity – Journey
CHART POSITION: #21 in the US, #22 in Canada, #37 in Sweden
SINGLES: “Wheel in the Sky”, “Anytime”, “Lights”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Lights”, “Feeling That Way”, “Anytime”, “Wheel in the Sky”, “Winds of March”
FUN FACT: Infinity was Journey’s fourth album but their first with lead vocalist Steve Perry. It was also their first with famed record producer Roy Thomas Baker and engineer Geoff Workman, known for their work with bands like Queen and The Cars. “Lights”, written for the band’s native San Francisco, was only a modest hit, reaching #68 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it became one of Journey’s signature songs. “Lights” is typically played when the San Francisco 49ers win a home game at Levi’s Stadium.
White Music – XTC
CHART POSITION: Top 40 in the UK
SINGLES: “Statue of Liberty”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Radios in Motion”, “This Is Pop?”, “Statue of Liberty”, “Into the Atom Age”, “Spinning Top”
FUN FACT: White Music, which refers to white noise, was not the album’s original title. The band wanted to call it Black Music, as in black comedy, but Virgin Records convinced them to change it. XTC performed “Statue of Liberty” on The Old Grey Whistle Test and was subsequently banned from the BBC for the lyric “In my fantasy I sail beneath your skirt”.
Street Player – Rufusand Chaka Khan
CHART POSITION: #14 in the US
SINGLES: “Stay”, “Blue Love”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Street Player”, “Stay”, “Blue Love”, “Stranger to Love”, “Change Your Ways”
FUN FACT: “Street Player” was co-written by Danny Seraphine, drummer for Chicago, who performed a version of the song on their 1979 album Chicago 13.
Stained Class – Judas Priest
CHART POSITION: #173 in the US, #27 in the UK, #49 in Japan
SINGLES: “Better by You, Better than Me”, “Exciter”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Exciter”, “Better by You, Better Than Me”, “Saints in Hell”
FUN FACT: The album’s leadoff single, “Better by You, Better than Me”, was written in 1969 by Gary Wright for his band, Spooky Tooth. The Judas Priest version was the subject of a lawsuit after two Sparks, Nevada teens entered into a suicide pact after listening to the song. The suit, which claimed that subliminal messages urged the boys to take their own lives, was ultimately dismissed. Singer Rob Halford pointed out in a 1991 documentary that if the band had decided to include subliminal messaging on their recordings, they would have encouraged their fans to buy more Judas Priest records, not end their lives.
Van Halen – Van Halen
CHART POSITION: #19 in the US, top fifty in six other countries
SINGLES: “You Really Got Me”, “Runnin’ with the Devil”, “Jamie’s Cryin'”, “On Fire”, “Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Runnin’ with the Devil”, “Eruption”, “You Really Got Me”, “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love”, “Jamie’s Cryin'”, “Atomic Punk”
FUN FACT: One of the greatest debut albums in rock history, Van Halen was the band’s first of many collaborations with famed producer Ted Templeman. One of the album’s highlights, the instrumental “Eruption”, unveiled a legend in the making; it’s generally considered the best guitar solo ever. The cover photographs were part of a series taken at the Whiskey a Go Go, a Sunset Strip club where Van Halen frequently played. Eddie Van Halen’s picture, in the upper left corner, features his Frankenstrat guitar (more on that here, if you’re interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstrat) before it was painted red.
All hail King Eddie
The Kick Inside – Kate Bush
CHART POSITION: #3 in the UK, top ten in eight more countries (did not chart in the US)
SINGLES: “Wuthering Heights”, “Moving”, “Them Heavy People”, “The Man with the Child in His Eyes”, “Strange Phenomena”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “The Saxophone Song”, “Strange Phenomena”, “The Man with the Child in His Eyes”, “Wuthering Heights”, “James and the Cold Gun”, “Oh to Be in Love”, “Them Heavy People”
FUN FACT #1: Bush, just eighteen at the time The Kick Inside was recorded, had been writing songs since the age of eleven. At thirteen, Bush recorded some demos with the help of a family friend who just happened to know Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour. Gilmour financed better demos and played them for execs from several labels; impressed, EMI Records signed Bush to a contract. Two of the demos from those sessions – “The Man with the Child in His Eyes” and “The Saxophone Song” – appeared on the final cut of The Kick Inside, with Gilmour credited as co-producer.
FUN FACT #2: At Bush’s insistence, “Wuthering Heights”, one of her most iconic tracks, was the album’s leadoff single. Inspired primarily by a 1967 BBC adaptation of the Emily Brontë classic that starred an absurdly handsome Ian McShane (see picture below), “Wuthering Heights” went to #1 on the UK singles chart, dethroning ABBA’s “Take a Chance on Me”.
The lesser known of the two “Wuthering Heights” videos, this clip placed third on Pitchfork‘s list of the best music videos of the 1970s
The iconic second video features Bush in a flowy red dress, dancing “out in the wily, windy moors” on the Salisbury Plain (home to Stonehenge)
We’ll cover Lionheart, Bush’s second album, in volume two of this post.
Plastic Letters – Blondie
CHART POSITION: #72 in the US, #10 in the UK
SINGLES: “Kidnapper”, “Denis”, “(I’m Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Fan Mail”, “Denis”, “Youth Nabbed as Sniper”, “(I’m Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear”, “No Imagination”
FUN FACT: “Denis”, a gender-swapped cover of the 1963 doo-wop song “Denise” by Randy & the Rainbows, was a top twenty hit in several European countries but failed to chart in the US. The single made it all the way to #2 in the UK; it was kept out of the top spot by Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights”.
We’ll discuss Blondie’s killer third album, Parallel Lines, in volume two of this post.
…And Then There Were Three… – Genesis
CHART POSITION: #14 in the US, #3 in the UK, top 25 in twelve more countries
SINGLES: “Follow You Follow Me”, “Many Too Many”, “Deep in the Motherlode”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Deep in the Motherlode”, “Many Too Many”, “Scenes from a Night’s Dream”, “The Lady Lies”, “Follow You Follow Me”
FUN FACT #1: As with their previous three albums, Genesis hired Hipgnosis to create the cover art for …And Then There Were Three… Designer Storm Thorgerson said the photo, shot using time-lapse, was “trying to tell a story by the traces left by the light trails”, which represented the “comings and goings” in the album’s lyrics.
FUN FACT #2: …And Then There Were Three… was the band’s first album since the departure of guitarist Steve Hackett (the titular three were remaining members Phil Collins, Tony Banks, and Mike Rutherford). It also marked the beginning of the band’s move away from prog rock to a poppier, more commercial sound. The leadoff single, “Follow You Follow Me”, was Genesis’ biggest hit to date, reaching #7 in the UK and #23 in the US.
Easter – Patti Smith Group
CHART POSITION: #20 in the US, #16 in the UK
SINGLES: “Because the Night”, “Privilege (Set Me Free)”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Till Victory”, “Space Monkey”, “Because the Night”, “Privilege (Set Me Free)”, “25th Floor”
FUN FACT: The original version of “Because the Night”, Smith’s biggest hit by a landslide, was written by Bruce Springsteen for his fourth album, Darkness on the Edge of Town (more on that one later). Springsteen’s engineer, the legendary Jimmy Iovine, was producing Easter at the time and suggested giving the song to Smith. Smith changed up the lyrics, and the song is credited to both Springsteen and Smith. In 1993, 10,000 Maniacs performed a blistering rendition of “Because the Night” on MTV’s Unplugged. The song re-entered the charts in the US, Canada, the UK, and Iceland, where it was the 15th best-selling single of the year.
FUN FACT: The cover of Another Music was designed by Malcolm Garrett, who is best known for his work with Duran Duran (Garrett did the cover art for that band’s first four albums as well as several of their singles, see below for examples). The Buzzcocks’ controversial first single, “Orgasm Addict”, didn’t make the album’s final cut but it was included on CD reissues.
We’ll talk about the Buzzcocks’ second album, Love Bites, in volume two of this post.
You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can’t Tuna Fish – REO Speedwagon
In 2005, Pitchfork listed You Can Tune a Piano‘s album cover as one of the worst of all time (they’re not wrong)
CHART POSITION: #29 in the US, #70 in Canada, #98 in Australia
SINGLES: “Roll with the Changes”, “Time for Me to Fly”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Roll with the Changes”, “Time for Me to Fly”, “Runnin’ Blind”, “Sing to Me”, “Lucky for You”
FUN FACT: Two years away from achieving superstardom with 1980’s Hi Infidelity, REO Speedwagon had their commercial breakthrough with this, their seventh album. You CanTune a Piano‘s biggest hit, “Time for Me to Fly”, only made it to #56 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it became one of the band’s most iconic singles. Its use in a 2020 episode of Netflix’s Ozark resulted in “Time for Me to Fly” reaching #34 on the US Digital Song Sales chart.
This Year’s Model – Elvis Costello and the Attractions
CHART POSITION: #30 in the US, #4 in the UK, top thirty in six more countries
SINGLES: “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea”, “Pump It Up”, “This Year’s Girl”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: Pick a track, any track (this album is stacked)
FUN FACT: This Year’s Model was Costello’s first album with the backing band The Attractions (keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas, and drummer Pete Thomas). The album, produced by the iconic Nick Lowe, was voted the best of 1978 by both Melody Maker and The Village Voice.
Easily my favorite Elvis Costello song, “Pump It Up” is an absolute fucking banger
London Town – Wings
CHART POSITION: Top ten in twelve countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia
SINGLES: “With a Little Luck”, “I’ve Had Enough”, “London Town”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “London Town”, “Backwards Traveller”, “I’ve Had Enough”, “With a Little Luck”
FUN FACT: The road to London Town‘s release was a rocky one; after the smash success of Wings’ previous record, Wings at the Speed of Sound, and a subsequent tour, Wings lost two of their members, leaving a trio of Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, and Denny Laine. Plans for another tour were scrapped when Linda learned she was pregnant with their third child, James. A commercial hit, but a critical disappointment, London Town marked the beginning of the end for Wings. During the sessions for London Town, Wings recorded a standalone single, “Mull of Kintyre”, which became the biggest-selling single in British history (it was displaced by Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in 1984).
“Mull of Kintyre” is an ode to the Scottish peninsula that’s been home to McCartney’s High Park Farm since 1966
For You – Prince
CHART POSITION: #163 in the US
SINGLES: “Soft and Wet”, “Just as Long as We’re Together”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “In Love”, “Soft and Wet”, “Just as Long as We’re Together”, “I’m Yours”
FUN FACT: Every song on For You was composed, produced, and performed1 entirely by Prince, who was just nineteen years old at the time. While only a minor hit, the album signaled the arrival of a major talent. After Prince’s death in 2016, several of his albums, For You included, re-entered the Billboard 200.
1Among the instruments Prince played on For You were electric, acoustic, and bass guitar, piano, clavinet, Minimoog, drums, wind chimes, finger cymbals, handclaps, finger snaps, bongos, and congas.
Magazine – Heart
CHART POSITION: #17 in the US, #13 in Canada, #66 in Australia
SINGLES: “Heartless”, “Without You”, “Magazine”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Heartless”, “Devil Delight”, “Without You”, “Here Song”
FUN FACT: Originally released in 1977 over the objections of the band, Magazine was recorded during a dispute with Heart’s label, Mushroom Records. After the resounding success of their 1975 debut, Dreamboat Annie, the band felt they were in a position to renegotiate their contract, but Mushroom had other ideas. A legal battle ensued, and the court ruled that Heart still owed Mushroom an album, so they polished up the Magazine recordings. In the interim, the band had signed with Epic Records and released their third album, 1977’s Little Queen. The unauthorized version of Magazine carried the following bullshit disclaimer:
“Mushroom Records regrets that a contractual dispute has made it necessary to complete this record without the cooperation or endorsement of the group Heart, who have expressly disclaimed artistic involvement in completing this record. We did not feel that a contractual dispute should prevent the public from hearing and enjoying these incredible tunes and recordings.”
We’ll talk about Heart’s other 1978 release, Dog & Butterfly, in volume two of this post.
Heaven Tonight – Cheap Trick
CHART POSITION: #48 in the US, #11 in Japan
SINGLES: “Surrender”, “California Man”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Surrender”, “California Man”, “Takin’ Me Back”, “Stiff Competition”
FUN FACT: “Surrender” was Cheap Trick’s first single to reach the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #62. Fans of That ’70’s Show might recognize the song’s ending refrain (“we’re all alright, we’re all alright”) from the series’ opening credits. Cheap Trick performed the show’s theme song, which is primarily a cover of Big Star’s “In the Street”, with the snippet from “Surrender” tacked on at the end.
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Glory”, “Days”, “Carried Away”, “Ain’t That Nothin'”, “Adventure”
FUN FACT: Adventure is a softer, more straightforward record than Television’s masterful debut, 1977’s Marquee Moon. But as Robert Christgau of The Village Voice put it, “I agree that it’s not as urgent, or as satisfying, but that’s only to say that Marquee Moon was a great album while Adventure is a very good one.”
CHART POSITION: #10 in the US, #4 in Canada, #27 in Australia
SINGLES: “You Belong to Me”, “Devoted to You”, “Tranquillo (Melt My Heart)”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “You Belong to Me”, “Boys in the Trees”, “Devoted to You”, “Tranquillo (Melt My Heart)”, “You’re the One”
FUN FACT: Boys in the Trees is also the title of Simon’s 2015 memoir. The album cover, featuring a strategically airbrushed photo of a topless Simon, earned designers Johnny Lee and Tony Lane a Grammy for Best Album Package.
You’re Gonna Get It! – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
CHART POSITION: #23 in the US, #24 in the UK, #60 in Australia
SINGLES: “I Need to Know”, “Listen to Her Heart”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “When the Time Comes”, “You’re Gonna Get It”, “Magnolia”, “Too Much Ain’t Enough”, “I Need to Know”, “Listen to Her Heart”
FUN FACT: Stevie Nicks, one of Petty’s closest friends, has been singing “I Need to Know” live since 1981. The two performed the song together at Petty’s 30th anniversary concert in 2006; a clip was included in the concert film Runnin’ Down a Dream.
Stranger in Town – Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
CHART POSITION: #4 in the US, #31 in the UK
SINGLES: “Still the Same”, “Hollywood Nights”, “We’ve Got Tonight”, “Old Time Rock and Roll”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Hollywood Nights”, “Still the Same”, “Old Time Rock and Roll”, “Till It Shines”, “Feel Like a Number”
FUN FACT: Stranger in Town was a monster album, going platinum (a million copies sold) in less than a month and yielding four top thirty hits, including the #4 “Still the Same”. The album’s best-known track is “Old Time Rock and Roll”, which made it to #28 in its initial release. It re-entered the charts in 1983, peaking at #48, after Tom Cruise and his tighty-whities lip synced to it in an iconic scene from Risky Business.
Black and White – The Stranglers
CHART POSITION: N/A
SINGLES: “Nice ‘N’ Sleazy”, “Walk on By”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Tank”, “Nice ‘N’ Sleazy”, “Walk on By”
FUN FACT: Yes, “Walk on By” is THAT “Walk on By”, composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and originally sung by Dionne Warwick.
But Seriously, Folks… – Joe Walsh
CHART POSITION: #8 in the US, #31 in Australia
SINGLES: “Life’s Been Good”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Indian Summer”, “At the Station”, “Tomorrow”, “Life’s Been Good”
FUN FACT #1: “Tomorrow” features backing vocals by Walsh’s Eagles bandmates Glenn Frey, Don Henley, and Timothy B. Schmit.
FUN FACT #2: The album version of “Life’s Been Good” is more than eight minutes long. The song was edited down to a radio-friendly 4:35, and went on to become Walsh’s biggest hit, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Eminem sampled the absurdly catchy “Life Been Good” for “So Far…”, a track from his 2013 album The Marshall Mathers LP 2.
The Man-Machine – Kraftwerk
CHART POSITION: #130 in the US, #12 in the band’s native Germany
SINGLES: “The Model”, “The Robots”, “Neon Lights”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “The Robots”, “Metropolis”, “The Model”
FUN FACT: The cover art for The Man-Machine was inspired by the work of Russian avant-garde artist El Lissitzky (see photos below for a few examples of his work).
Natural High – Commodores
CHART POSITION: #3 in the US, #5 in the Netherlands and New Zealand
SINGLES: “Three Times a Lady”, “Flying High”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Fire Girl”, “X-Rated Movie”, “Flying High”, “Three Times a Lady”, “I Like What You Do”
FUN FACT: For Natural High, The Commodores received a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group; they lost to Earth, Wind & Fire’s All ‘n All.
Darkness on the Edge of Town – Bruce Springsteen
CHART POSITION: #5 in the US, #7 in Canada, #9 in Australia, #14 in the UK
SINGLES: “Prove It All Night”, “Badlands”, “The Promised Land”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Badlands”, “Adam Raised a Cain”, “The Promised Land”, “Prove It All Night”, “Darkness on the Edge of Town”
FUN FACT #1: Following the success of his breakthrough third album, Born to Run, Springsteen entered into a prolonged legal battle with his manager and producer Mike Appel that contractually prevented him from recording another album. Springsteen and the E. Street Band spent their time on the road, where new material was written and performed live in anticipation of their return to the studio. On May 28, 1977, the dispute was settled (Springsteen bought out his contract and Appel received a lump sum and royalties); four days later, Springsteen was in the studio, recording what would become Darkness on the Edge of Town.
FUN FACT #2: Darkness on the Edge of Town placed on several year-end “Best of” lists: New Musical Express ranked it #1, and Record Mirror and Rolling Stone both ranked it #2 (behind The Jam’s All Mod Cons and Some Girls by the Rolling Stones2, respectively). The album sits at #91 on Rolling Stone‘s most recent “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list.
2I’ll cover both All Mod Cons and Some Girls in volume two of this post.
Peter Gabriel (AKA Scratch) – Peter Gabriel
CHART POSITION: #45 in the US, #10 in the UK, #2 in France
SINGLES: “D.I.Y”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “On the Air”, “D.I.Y.”, “White Shadow”, “Exposure”, “Flotsam and Jetsam”
FUN FACT: For his second self-titled album, known as Scratch for its Hipgnosis-designed cover art, Gabriel teamed with producer Robert Fripp, who had played guitar and banjo on Gabriel’s debut. Fripp’s presence is most strongly felt in “Exposure”, which he co-wrote with Gabriel; the track features Fripp’s Frippertronics technique, a tape looping method he created with Brian Eno.
The Cars – The Cars
CHART POSITION: #18 in the US (where it was the fourth best-selling album of 1979), #29 in the UK, #35 in Australia, #5 in New Zealand
SINGLES: “Just What I Needed”, “My Best Friend’s Girl”, “Good Times Roll”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Good Times Roll”, “Just What I Needed”, “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight”, “Bye Bye Love”, “Moving in Stereo”, “All Mixed Up”
FUN FACT #1: My favorite album of 1978 (it’s not even close), The Cars is one banger after another, just an embarrassment of power pop riches. Though the album yielded only three actual singles, almost every track received radio airplay, and non-singles such as “Bye Bye Love” and “Moving in Stereo” are fan favorites. The latter song reached iconic status in 1982, when it featured prominently in a memorable, extremely NSFW scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (though the song wasn’t included on the soundtrack album).
The moment before the scene becomes NSFW
FUN FACT #2: Later Cars album covers were designed by drummer David Robinson, but the band’s label, Elektra Records, insisted on the artwork for their debut. Designer Ron Coro was nominated for the Best Recording Package Grammy, but the band famously hated the cover, which featured a photograph of Russian model Nataliya Medvedeva taken by Elliot Gilbert.
My favorite Cars songs are the ones sung by Benjamin Orr; on The Cars, that includes “Just What I Needed”, “Moving in Stereo”, and “Bye Bye Love”
***** CONTENT WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS REFERENCES TO MENTAL ILLNESS, A DRUG AND ALCOHOL OVERDOSE, AND A PLANE CRASH *****
These albums are all turning fifty this year. This list is in chronological order by release date and covers albums released between January and July 1973.
Aerosmith – Aerosmith
CHART POSITION: #21 in the US, #58 in Canada
SINGLES: “Dream On”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Dream On”, “One Way Street”, “Movin’ Out”, “Walkin’ the Dog”
FUN FACT: Steven Tyler wrote “Dream On” when he was a teenager, several years before Aerosmith was founded. The single initially peaked at #59 but after the success of their breakthrough third album, Toys in the Attic, the band released a re-recorded version of “Dream On”. It became their second top-ten hit after “Walk This Way” – and one of their signature songs.
Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ – Bruce Springsteen
CHART POSITION: #60 in the US
SINGLES: “Blinded by the Light”, “Spirit in the Night”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Blinded by the Light”, “Growin’ Up”, “For You”, “Spirit in the Night”
FUN FACT: Neither of the album’s singles was recorded during the original sessions, but the album was rejected by Columbia Records head Clive Davis because he felt it lacked a potential hit. Springsteen quickly wrote and recorded “Blinded by the Light” and “Spirit in the Night”. He decided both songs needed a tenor saxophone part and called Clarence Clemons, who was subsequently a member of the E. Street Band until his 2011 death. In 1977, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s cover of “Blinded by the Light” went to the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player – Elton John
CHART POSITION: #1 in the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Italy, Norway, and Spain
SINGLES: “Crocodile Rock”, “Daniel”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Daniel”, “Elderberry Wine”, “Blues for My Baby and Me”, “Have Mercy on the Criminal”
FUN FACT #1: Don’t Shoot Me, the first of two Elton John albums on this list (we’ll get to the second one – my personal favorite John album – in volume two), was the best-selling album of 1973 in the UK. The album also yielded John’s first #1 single in both the US and Canada, “Crocodile Rock”.
FUN FACT #2: The album’s title comes from an interaction John once had with Groucho Marx at a party (Marx gave him a finger gun, prompting John to raise his hands and utter the title phrase). The Don’t Shoot Me cover art depicts a movie theater with the title on the marquee – and a poster for the 1940 Marx Brothers film Go West.
Tanx – T. Rex
CHART POSITION: #4 in the UK, #21 in Australia, #102 in the US
SINGLES: N/A
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Tenement Lady”, “Shock Rock”, “Country Honey”, “Born to Boogie”
FUN FACT: Tanx fared poorly in the US compared to T. Rex’s previous album, 1972’s Slider, which made it to #17. The dip in sales was attributed to the lack of a single, but the band curiously chose to release a standalone single – “20th Century Boy” – that wasn’t included on the album.
GP – Gram Parsons
CHART POSITION: N/A
SINGLES: “She”, “The New Soft Shoe”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “A Song for You”, “Big Mouth Blues”
NOT-SO-FUN FACT: GP was Parsons’ first solo album (after stints with the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers) and the only one released during his lifetime. Parsons died on September 19, 1973, of an accidental morphine and alcohol overdose.
Let Me Touch Your Mind – Ike and Tina Turner
CHART POSITION: #205 in the US
SINGLES: “Let Me Touch Your Mind”, “Early One Morning”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Don’t Believe Her”, “Early One Morning”, “Up on the Roof”
FUN FACT: The album contains several covers, including Little Richard’s “Early One Morning”, “Born Free” (which won Best Original Song at the 39th Academy Awards), The Drifters’ “Up on the Roof”, and “Heaven Help Us All”, which was originally recorded by Stevie Wonder in 1970.
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Search and Destroy”, “Gimme Danger”, “Raw Power”
FUN FACT: Almost Famous fans might recognize “Search and Destroy” as the song chosen by Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Lester Bangs at the radio station, though it’s only a snippet. I couldn’t find a video of just that scene, but I found this delightful compilation of Hoffman’s entire performance, which clocks in at under nine minutes.
In the Right Place – Dr. John
CHART POSITION: #24 in the US
SINGLES: “Right Place Wrong Time”, “Such a Night”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Right Place Wrong Time”, “Same Old Same Old”, “Qualified”
FUN FACT: In the Right Place is Dr. John’s best-selling album and contains two of his most popular songs, “Right Place Wrong Time” and “Such a Night”. Dr. John performed “Such a Night” with The Band at 1976’s The Last Waltz concert. And if you’re a Dazed and Confused fan like me, you might recognize “Right Place Wrong Time” from the “party at the moon tower” sequence.
The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
CHART POSITION: #1 in four countries, including the US and Canada, top three in seven more countries, including the UK and Australia
SINGLES: “Money”, “Us and Them”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Breathe”, “Time”, “The Great Gig in the Sky”, “Brain Damage”
FUN FACT #1: Dark Side, one of the best-selling albums of all-time, has spent almost one thousand non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200.
FUN FACT #2: Dark Side helped Alan Parsons secure his first Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical (he lost to Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, who engineered Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions). Parsons was responsible for much of the brilliant sonic tinkering on Dark Side and for recruiting session singer Clare Torry to perform the wordless vocals on “The Great Gig in the Sky”, one of the album’s highlights.
FUN FACT #3: English design collective Hipgnosis (which I’ll discuss at greater length another time) is responsible for Dark Side‘s iconic prism design (George Hardie did the artwork). Hipgnosis designed several more album covers on this list, including the next entry.
Electric Light Orchestra II – ELO
CHART POSITION: #62 in the US, #35 in the UK, #17 in Canada
SINGLES: “Roll Over Beethoven”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Mama”, “Roll Over Beethoven”
FUN FACT: ELO is the second artist to have two entries on this list; the band’s third album, On the Third Day, will appear in volume two. During the recording sessions for ELO II, founding member Roy Wood left the band, but played cello and bass on the final takes of “Old England Town” and “From the Sun to the World”.
The Captain and Me – The Doobie Brothers
CHART POSITION: #7 in the US, #10 in Canada, #12 in New Zealand
SINGLES: “Long Train Runnin'”, “China Grove”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Natural Thing”, “Long Train Runnin'”, “China Grove”, “Evil Woman”, “The Captain and Me”
FUN FACT: Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, who appeared on Steely Dan’s first three albums (we’ll get to one of them, Countdown to Ecstasy, in a little bit), played pedal steel guitar on “South City Midnight Lady”. Baxter officially became a Doobie Brother the following year; in 2020, he was inducted, along with the rest of the Doobies, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Byrds – The Byrds
CHART POSITION: #20 in the US, #31 in the UK, #19 in Canada
SINGLES: “Full Circle”, “Things Will Be Better”, “Cowgirl in the Sand”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Full Circle”, “Changing Heart”, “Born to Rock & Roll”, “Borrowing Time”
FUN FACT: Byrds was The Byrds’ twelfth and final studio album, and their first with the original lineup since 1966. After stints with other bands like Crosby, Stills & Nash and the Flying Burrito Brothers, former members David Crosby, Chris Hillman, Gene Clark, and Michael Clarke reunited with Roger McGuinn for one final album before they permanently disbanded (though McGuinn, Clark, and Hillman later recorded together as a CSN-style trio).
For Your Pleasure – Roxy Music
CHART POSITION: #193 in the US, #4 in the UK
SINGLES: “Do the Strand”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Do the Strand”, “Editions of You”, “In Every Dream Home a Heartache”, “For Your Pleasure”
FUN FACT #1: If you’re a fan of Netflix’s cancelled-too-soon Mindhunter, you might recognize “In Every Dream Home a Heartache” from the season two cold open. The song – a sinister ode to a blow-up doll (“Disposable darling / Can’t throw you away now / Immortal and life size / My breath is inside you) – helps give us a peek into the demented mind of BTK killer Dennis Rader. We’ll talk about Roxy Music’s third album, Stranded, in volume two of this post.
FUN FACT #2: I just learned that my cousin Roxanne is named for Roxy Music!
Houses of the Holy – Led Zeppelin
CHART POSITION: #1 in the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia
SINGLES: “Over the Hills and Far Away”, “Dancing Days”, “D’yer Mak’er”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “The Song Remains the Same”, “The Rain Song”, “Over the Hills and Far Away”, “No Quarter”, “The Ocean”
FUN FACT #1: I fucking love this album, which admittedly never achieved the iconic status of Led Zeppelin’s previous effort, 1971’s untitled album commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV, but it shows the band experimenting with musical styles such as reggae, doo-wop, psychedelia, and funk.
FUN FACT #2: According to legend, “The Rain Song”, a ballad more than seven and a half minutes long, was written in response to a complaint by George Harrison that Led Zeppelin never wrote ballads. Guitarist Jimmy Page, who wrote the song’s melody (lead singer Robert Plant filled in the lyrics later), “quotes” Harrison’s “Something” in the first two chords.
FUN FACT #3: Houses of the Holy‘s title track wasn’t included on the finished product, as the band felt it didn’t fit with the rest of the album’s material. The song appeared on Led Zeppelin’s 1975’s follow-up, Physical Graffiti.
FUN FACT #4: The cover art was designed by the aforementioned Hipgnosis, their first of several collaborations with the band, and was partly inspired by the Arthur C. Clarke novel, Childhood’s End. Hipgnosis received a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package for Houses of the Holy but lost to a London Symphony Orchestra recording of The Who’s Tommy, designed by Tom Wilkes and Craig Braun.
Ooh La La – Faces
CHART POSITION: #1 in the UK, #4 in the UK
SINGLES: “Cindy Incidentally”, “Ooh La La”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Silicone Grown”, “My Fault”, “Fly in the Ointment”, “Ooh La La”
FUN FACT #1: In an interview with New Musical Express shortly after its release, Rod Stewart called Ooh La La a “stinking, rotten album”. But UK music fans couldn’t get enough of Ooh La La; it was the band’s only UK #1 album. The rest of the band members, particularly Ronnie Lane, were stung by Stewart’s remarks. Lane left the Faces that June, Ronnie Wood became a de facto (and later, official) member of the Rolling Stones, and the Faces never recorded another album.
FUN FACT #2: Wes Anderson fans will recognize the title track, with its ridiculously catchy chorus “I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger”, from the 1998 gem Rushmore. The single, one of the rare Faces tracks sung by Ronnie Wood, plays over the film’s final scene and end credits.
Catch a Fire – Bob Marley and the Wailers
CHART POSITION: #171 in the US
SINGLES: “Baby We’ve Got a Date (Rock It Baby)”, “Stir It Up”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Stir It Up”, “400 Years”, “All Day All Night”
FUN FACT: Catch a Fire‘s original cover art, shown above, depicted a functioning Zippo lighter (the cover opened via a side hinge to reveal the vinyl record inside). Since each cover had to be hand-riveted, only 20,000 were made; subsequent pressings featured a photo of Bob Marley smoking a spliff, shown below.
Desperado – Eagles
CHART POSITION: #41 in the US, #39 in the UK
SINGLES: “Tequila Sunrise”, “Outlaw Man”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Out of Control”, “Tequila Sunrise”, “Desperado”, “Outlaw Man”, “Saturday Night”
FUN FACT: The cover, designed by artist Gary Burden with photos by the legendary Henry Diltz, depicted the band members as Wild West outlaws. Desperado was the only Eagles album cover to feature a photo of the band.
Aladdin Sane – David Bowie
CHART POSITION: #17 in the US, #1 in the UK, #7 in Australia
SINGLES: “The Jean Genie”, “Drive-in Saturday”, “Time”, “Let’s Spend the Night Together”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Aladdin Sane”, “Panic in Detroit”, “Cracked Actor”, “The Jean Genie”
FUN FACT #1: Aladdin Sane is a pun on “A Lad Insane”, the album’s working title. The title track was inspired by Bowie’s schizophrenic half-brother Terry and by Evelyn Waugh’s 1930 novel Vile Bodies. Aladdin Sane was the second best-selling album of 1973 in the UK, behind Elton John’s Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player.
FUN FACT #2: Bowie wrote “Panic in Detroit” in part about his friend Iggy Pop’s experiences during the 1967 race riots in Detroit.
FUN FACT #3: At the time, the cover art was the costliest in history. Makeup artist Pierre Laroche, who created the iconic lightning bolt look, also worked with Bowie on his follow-up to Aladdin Sane, which we’ll get to in volume two of this post.
Red Rose Speedway – Paul McCartney and Wings
CHART POSITION: #1 in the US, Australia, and Spain, #5 in the UK
SINGLES: “My Love”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “My Love”, “Get on the Right Thing”, “When the Night”
FUN FACT: “My Love”, a sweet ode to McCartney’s wife and collaborator Linda, was Wings’ first US #1 single. The song, credited to Paul McCartney and Wings at the request of the record company), topped the US chart for four weeks before being unseated by George Harrison’s “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)”.
Call Me – Al Green
CHART POSITION: #10 in the US
SINGLES: “You Ought to Be with Me”, “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”, “Call Me (Come Back Home)”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Call Me (Come Back Home)”, “Stand Up”, “Your Love is Like the Morning Sun”, “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”, “You Ought to Be with Me”
FUN FACT: Green shared songwriting credit on “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” with his guitarist, Mabon “Teenie” Hodges, who also co-wrote Green classics like “Take Me to the River” and “Love and Happiness”. Hodges was a member of the Hi Records house band, the Rhythm Section, along with pianist Archie Turner and drummer Al Jackson, Jr.
Spinners – Spinners
CHART POSITION: #14 in the US
SINGLES: “I’ll Be Around”, “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love”, “One of a Kind (Love Affair)”, “How Could I Let You Get Away”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Just Can’t Get You Out of My Mind”, “I’ll Be Around”, “One of a Kind (Love Affair)”, “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love”
FUN FACT: “I’ll Be Around” was the Spinners’ first US top-ten hit, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Recorded at Sigma Sound Studios, birthplace of the “Sound of Philadelphia”, Spinners featured Sigma’s house band MFSB, under the direction of producer Thom Bell.
There Goes Rhymin’ Simon – Paul Simon
CHART POSITION: #2 in the US, #4 in the UK, #1 in Sweden and Spain
SINGLES: “Kodachrome”, “Loves Me Like a Rock”, “American Tune”, “Take Me to the Mardi Gras”, “Something So Right”, “St. Judy’s Comet”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Kodachrome”, “Something So Right”, “One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor”, “American Tune”, “St. Judy’s Comet”, “Loves Me Like a Rock”
FUN FACT #1: There Goes Rhymin’ Simon was one of several Paul Simon records that played frequently in my childhood home. I never forgot the cover art, with its visual depictions of songs like “Take Me to the Mardi Gras” and “One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor”. The album was kept off the top of the charts by George Harrison’s Living inthe Material World (more on that in a minute). For There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, Simon was nominated for two awards, including Album of the Year, at the 16th Grammys. He lost to Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions, as did another album that we’ll discuss in volume two of this post.
FUN FACT #2: If the melody to the haunting “American Tune” sounds familiar, that’s because it’s based on a popular hymn “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” (common name “Passion Chorale”). The hymn itself is derived from an earlier secular song, “Mein G’müt ist mir verwirret”, by German composer Hans Leo Hassler.
Tubular Bells – Mike Oldfield
CHART POSITION: #3 in the US, #1 in the UK, Australia, and Canada
SINGLES: N/A
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Tubular Bells, Part One”, “Tubular Bells, Part Two” (that’s all of them)
FUN FACT: Mike Oldfield, who was just nineteen when Tubular Bells was recorded, played most of the instruments on the album. Sales were slow at first but received a boost several months later when the intro of “Tubular Bells, Part One” was used in The Exorcist (no, I will not link clips of it, I’d like to sleep tonight, thank you very much). The cover art was designed and photographed by Trevor Key, who later worked with artists such as Phil Collins (Face Value, Hello, I Must Be Going!, …But Seriously), New Order (Low-Life, Brotherhood, Technique), and Peter Gabriel (So).
Living in the Material World – George Harrison
CHART POSITION: #1 in five countries, including the US, Australia, and Canada
SINGLES: “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)”, “Sue Me, Sue You Blues”, “Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long”, “Living in the Material World”, “Try Some Buy Some”
FUN FACT #1: Living in the Material World was an all-star affair, with guest musicians like Gary Wright, Ringo Starr, and Leon Russell. The cover art by Tom Wilkes, with whom Harrison had worked on All Things Must Pass, features a Kirlian photograph (more on that here, if you’re interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirlian_photography) of Harrison’s hand holding a Hindu medallion.
FUN FACT #2: “Sue Me, Sue You Blues” was a commentary on the 1971 lawsuit Paul McCartney brought against his former bandmates requesting dissolution of their business partnership, Apple Corps (the suit was ultimately settled in 1975). The song’s pointed lyrics – “It’s affidavit swearing time / Sign it on the dotted line / Hold your Bible in your hand / Now all that’s left is to find yourself a new band” – are in stark contrast to the more spiritual content on the rest of Living in the Material World.
Head to the Sky – Earth, Wind & Fire
CHART POSITION: #27 in the US
SINGLES: “Evil”, “Keep Your Head to the Sky”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Evil”, “Build Your Nest”, “Clover”
FUN FACT: In her music video for “Honey”, Erykah Badu references more than a dozen iconic album covers, including Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain, Minnie Riperton’s Perfect Angel, Let It Be by The Beatles, De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising – and Head to the Sky.
The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get – Joe Walsh
FUN FACT: The title is a play on the phrase, “The higher you get, the better you play”. “Rocky Mountain Way”, Walsh’s first solo top 40 single, is played at Coors Field after every Colorado Rockies win. The Denver Broncos play the Godsmack cover version during home games at Empower Field at Mile High.
Touch Me in the Morning – Diana Ross
CHART POSITION: #5 in the US and Canada, #7 in the UK, #20 in Australia
SINGLES: “Touch Me in the Morning”, “All of My Life”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Touch Me in the Morning”, “I Won’t Last a Day Without You”, “Little Girl Blue”
FUN FACT: There are a number of covers on the album, including John Lennon’s “Imagine”, Marvin Gaye’s “Save the Children”, and the Rodgers & Hart show tune “Little Girl Blue”, from the musical Jumbo. But Touch Me in the Morning‘s best-known song is the title track, which became Ross’s second US #1, after 1970’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”. The single, composed and produced by legendary Motown songwriter Michael Masser, was also a top ten hit in the UK, Canada, and Australia.
Chicago VI – Chicago
CHART POSITION: #1 in the US, #12 in Australia
SINGLES: “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day”, “Just You ‘n’ Me”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Just You ‘n’ Me”, “Darlin’ Dear”, “What’s This World Comin’ To”, “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day”
FUN FACT: VI is actually Chicago’s fifth studio album; their fourth album, Chicago atCarnegie Hall (referred to colloquially as Chicago IV) is a live album. VI is the first Chicago album to feature the band members on the cover.
Life and Times – Jim Croce
CHART POSITION: #7 in the US, #1 in Canada
SINGLES: “One Less Set of Footsteps”, “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”, “It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Roller Derby Queen”, “Dreamin’ Again”, “Careful Man”, “Alabama Rain”, “Next Time, This Time”, “These Dreams” (this album is a god damn embarrassment of riches)
NOT-SO-FUN FACT: Life and Times, Croce’s fourth studio effort, was the final album released during his lifetime. Croce died in a plane crash on September 20, 1973, a little over two months before the release of his final album, I Got a Name (more on that in volume two of this post).
Styx II – Styx
CHART POSITION: #20 in the US
SINGLES: “Lady”, “You Need Love”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Lady”, “Father O.S.A.”, “Unfinished Song”
FUN FACT: “Lady”, Dennis DeYoung’s ode to his wife Suzanne, is sometimes credited as the first power ballad. The single, which utilizes an Alberti bass pattern (more on that here, if you’re interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberti_bass), is an enduring pop culture classic; it’s been featured in films and television series such as Old School, The Office, The Simpsons, and my personal favorite, Freaks and Geeks.
Queen – Queen
CHART POSITION: #83 in the US, #32 in the UK, #52 in Japan
SINGLES: “Keep Yourself Alive”, “Liar”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Keep Yourself Alive”, “Great King Rat”, “My Fairy King”, “Liar”, “Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll” (a rare track with vocals by drummer Roger Taylor), “Son and Daughter”
FUN FACT: Queen, one of the greatest debut albums of all time, features a short instrumental version of “Seven Seas of Rhye”, but the final track with lyrics wasn’t ready for inclusion on the album. Instead, it became the lead-off single from Queen’s imaginatively titled second album, Queen II, and the band’s first hit, peaking at #10 on the UK charts.
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Master of Sparks”, “Move Me on Down the Line”, “La Grange” (“a-haw haw haw haw”), “Sheik”
FUN FACT: Tres Hombres (English translation: “three men”) was ZZ Top’s commercial breakthrough, peaking at #8 in the US. “La Grange”, the band’s first bona fide hit, is about a brothel in La Grange, Texas. The Chicken Ranch was also the inspiration for the musical (and its 1982 film adaptation), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Present company was absolutely NOT excluded!!
Countdown to Ecstasy – Steely Dan
CHART POSITION: #35 in the US
SINGLES: “Show Biz Kids”, “My Old School”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Bodhisattva”, “Show Biz Kids”, “My Old School”, “King of the World”
FUN FACT: “Show Biz Kids”, which satirizes the lifestyle of the young, rich, and famous in 1970s Hollywood, features a slide guitar solo by Rick Derringer. Also in 1973, Derringer, previously a founding member of The McCoys, released his only solo top forty hit, “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo”.
Stay tuned for volume two in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here’s the playlist for volume one (best if played on shuffle).
***** CONTENT WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS REFERENCES TO DOMESTIC ABUSE, RAPE, DRUG USE, CANCER, KIDNEY FAILURE, AND STROKE *****
Tina Turner, the “Queen of Rock and Roll”, has died at the age of 83. A twelve-time Grammy-winning singer, dancer, actor, and author, Turner was a two-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (one of only two women to achieve that honor) and an all-around badass.
Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, in Brownsville, Tennessee. Raised in Nutbush, the daughter of sharecroppers, she sang in the choir at the local Baptist church. When Bullock was eleven, her mother fled her own abusive marriage. Two years later, her father moved to Detroit to remarry, leaving Bullock and her sisters in the permanent care of their strict, religious grandparents. She attended George Washington Carver High School in Brownsville, participating in cheerleading and basketball, before reuniting with her mother in St. Louis upon the death of her grandmother. After graduating from Sumner High School in 1958, Bullock found work as a nurse’s aide.
Tina and Ike Turner in 1975, the year before she filed for divorce
Bullock’s move to St. Louis would prove to be life changing in more ways than one. She and her sister began frequenting the nightclubs of East St. Louis, especially the Manhattan Club; it was there that she met her future husband, collaborator, and abuser, Ike Turner. At the time, Turner played at the Manhattan with his band, the Kings of Rhythm. One night during their intermission, Bullock grabbed the mic and performed a rendition of the B.B. King ballad “You Know I Love You”; an impressed Turner invited young Anna Mae to join him onstage (that moment was later recreated for the Oscar-nominated biopic, What’s LoveGot to Do with It, albeit with some artistic license).
Bullock became a featured vocalist with Turner’s band and in 1958, she made her first recording – credited as “Little Ann” – with a song called “Boxtop”. Two years later, she was set to be a backup vocalist for a song Turner wrote for Art Lassiter; when Lassiter was a no-show for the recording session, Bullock sang the lead vocal herself. The single – “A Fool in Love” – made its way to a local deejay, who convinced Turner to submit it to Sue Records. Impressed, Sue’s president Juggy Murray agreed to distribute “A Fool in Love”, which became a top 40 hit. Murray also encouraged Turner to make Bullock “the star of the show”. It was during this time that Turner gave Bullock her stage name: Ike christened her Tina because it rhymed with Sheena (as in, Queen of the Jungle) and gave her his last name, though they weren’t married yet. The two also began their romantic relationship in 1960 and Tina gave birth to their son, Ronnie, in October of that year. The abuse started almost immediately. The pair released their Grammy-nominated debut album, The Soul of Ike &Tina Turner, in 1961.
Despite their tumultuous private lives, Ike and Tina Turner were a successful act, recording and touring throughout the 1960s. In 1965, producer Phil Spector attended one of their live shows on the Sunset Strip; the following year, they signed with Spector’s Philles Records and immediately began work on what would become their commercial breakthrough (at least in Europe), River Deep – Mountain High. Though the album was not an immediate hit in the states, it earned them a spot opening for the Rolling Stones. The duo began to focus less on R&B and more on rock and roll, covering songs like “Honky Tonk Women” and “Come Together”. Their 1970 album Workin’ Together, which contained two Beatles covers (“Get Back” and “Let It Be”), yielded their biggest hit yet, “Proud Mary”.
As the 1970s progressed, Ike and Tina continued to record and tour. Tina made her feature film debut in Ken Russell’s Oscar-nominated Tommy, based on The Who’s rock opera of the same name. But her relationship with her husband continued to devolve, fueled by Ike’s cocaine addiction. On July 1, 1976, the pair flew to Dallas for a show; upon arrival, Ike assaulted Tina in the limo on the way to the hotel. With just 36 cents and a Mobil gas card, Tina left Ike, hiding out at a Ramada Inn and filing for divorce later that month.
Tina Turner’s separation from Ike was costly. Lawsuits were filed over cancelled tour dates, and Turner relied mainly on television appearances to pay the bills. She released two solo albums – 1978’s Rough and 1979’s Love Explosion – that failed commercially. Turner continued to perform but was considered a nostalgia act. In 1981, Rod Stewart caught Turner’s show at the Ritz in New York City and invited her to join him onstage for a rendition of “Hot Legs”. The following year, she had a dance hit in the UK with a cover of “Ball of Confusion”. A deal with Capitol Records followed and after the surprise success of a 1983 standalone single (another cover, this time of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”), they greenlit a full album. Tina Turner was about to have one hell of a second act.
Private Dancer, Turner’s fifth solo album, was released May 29, 1984. Fueled by the success of the smash hit “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, which went to #1 in the US, Canada, and Australia, Private Dancer was one of the most popular albums of the year. “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, Turner’s biggest-selling single of all time, earned three Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year, and the MTV Video Music Award for “Best Female Video”.
Fun fact: Cliff Richard, Phyllis Hyman, and Donna Summer all declined “What’s Love Got to Do with It” before Turner finally recorded it.
More singles followed (notably, “Better Be Good to Me” and “Private Dancer”), as did a world tour, another film role (Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome), and appearances on “We Are the World” and David Bowie’s “Tonight”. Turner electrified the audience at Live Aid when she took the stage with the Rolling Stones. She was one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, and she was having a fucking blast.
Whenever I think of “Better Be Good to Me”, I think of Paul Rudd’s fantastic lip-sync version.
Fun fact: Turner and Bryan Adams won the MTV VMA for Best Stage Performance for “It’s Only Love”.
In 1986, Turner released the follow up to Private Dancer, Break Every Rule. While it didn’t attain blockbuster status of its predecessor, Break Every Rule was a solid hit, making it to the top five in thirteen countries. Its leadoff single, “Typical Male”, almost became Turner’s second US #1, but it was kept out of the top spot by Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors”. Also in 1986, Turner published her autobiography, I, Tina, and met the love of her life, German music executive Erwin Bach. They began dating the following year and were together until Turner’s passing.
Though not as successful in the states, Turner’s seventh solo album, 1989’s Foreign Affair, was a smash overseas (it went to #1 in eleven countries). Foreign Affair included the single “The Best”, which went on to become one of Turner’s signature songs. She embarked on a European tour in 1990 and released a greatest hits compilation, Simply the Best, in 1991. That same year, Ike and Tina were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ike, incarcerated at the time, couldn’t attend; Tina opted not to, and Phil Spector accepted the honor on their behalf (Tina would be inducted as a solo artist in 2021).
In 1993, Touchstone Pictures released What’s Love Got to Do with It, based on Turner’s career and relationship with Ike. Though both Turners disputed the factual accuracy of the film (for one thing, Ike claims he never raped Tina), it was a box office success. Both lead actors – Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne – were nominated at the 66th Academy Awards, and Bassett won the Golden Globe for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. For the soundtrack, Turner re-recorded some of her biggest hits as well as one new song, “I Don’t Wanna Fight”. It was her last worldwide hit, though she had a European smash with the Bono and The Edge-penned “Goldeneye”, the theme song to Pierce Brosnan’s first outing as James Bond.
Turner retired from performing after 2000’s Twenty Four Seven Tour, but she still made public appearances at events like the 2005 Kennedy Center Honors and the 2008 Grammy Awards (where she performed with Beyoncé). One final tour – in honor of her fifty years in show business – accompanied the ultimate Tina Turner greatest hits compilation, Tina! A jukebox musical based on her discography opened in 2016 (and won its lead actress, Adrienne Warren, a Tony Award). That same year, she was diagnosed with intestinal cancer after years of health problems that included kidney failure and a stroke. A kidney donated by her husband in 2017 bought her six more years, long enough to write two more books and participate in an HBO documentary about her life. Turner died on May 24 at the age of 83. May she live forever in our hearts – and in our ears. Rest in peace, Queen; you’ve earned it.
Originally published in 2021, this post has been edited for content and clarity.
Happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate! In honor of the occasion, here are some pop culture moms I love – and a few that I love to hate.
Diane Freeling – Poltergeist (JoBeth Williams)
Diane Freeling is a typical suburban mom (homemaker, three children) whose biggest worry is that one of her kids will fall into the pool they’re installing. But her life is turned upside down by a malevolent force that wrests her youngest child away and holds her hostage in a supernatural realm. It starts out innocently enough, with chairs stacked on the kitchen table, but soon Carol Ann is gone (although seemingly still close by). Diane helps bring Carol Ann back to the land of the living, but of course that’s not the end of it (this is a horror movie, after all), and Diane must summon superhuman strength to save her babies from being sucked into a literal hellmouth. The lovely JoBeth Williams is spectacular in the role, and the film propelled her to stardom.
Carol Brady – The Brady Bunch (Florence Henderson)
Traditional in some ways (stay-at-home mom) but modern in others (second marriage, blended family), Carol Brady is a super-sexy yet wholesome All-American mom. Managing a house with six kids can be tricky (and Carol certainly gets heaps of help from live-in maid Alice), but Carol handles it with ease. Carol’s life generally takes a backseat to the Brady children’s storylines, but she’s always there when they need her, whether they have a skinned knee, a broken heart, or the measles.
Shelley Long perfectly captured Carol’s personality – and her shag haircut – in 1995’s The Brady Bunch Movie.
Margaret White – Carrie (Piper Laurie)
Margaret White is a religious fanatic whose daughter Carrie (Sissy Spacek) has just had her first period (and acquired telekinetic powers in the process). When Carrie is asked to the prom by Tommy Ross, Margaret is convinced it will end badly for Carrie (in the ultimate case of “Mother knows best”, she turns out to be 100% correct). After the prom ends in a raging inferno, Carrie returns home. Certain that Carrie’s newfound powers make her a witch, Margaret stabs Carrie; Carrie retaliates by using her telekinesis to crucify her mother. As the White house burns down, Carrie pulls Margaret into a closet, and the two perish together. Carrie White may burn in hell, but at least she dragged Margaret there with her. Piper Laurie is absolutely terrifying as Margaret and deservedly earned an Oscar nod for her performance (Spacek was also nominated).
Sarah Connor – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Linda Hamilton)
Perhaps the most badass mother in pop culture history, Sarah Connor must protect her son – and future leader of the human uprising against the machines – from the T-1000. With some help from the first film’s T-800, Sarah battles the T-1000 not just for her son (although that’s her primary objective), but for all humankind. Sarah, beautifully played by a buff, tough Linda Hamilton, has more at stake than your typical pop culture mom, but in the end, a mother’s love for her child is universal.
FUN FACT: Hamilton won a Saturn Award and two MTV Movie Awards for her performance in Terminator 2.
Those special effects still rock, BTW
Evelyn Abbott – A Quiet Place (Emily Blunt)
Humanity has been largely eradicated by monsters who hunt using sound; if you don’t make any noise, the monsters won’t find you. The Abbott family has survived thus far, but the shit, as they say, is about to hit the fan. Emily Blunt is extraordinary (as always) as matriarch Evelyn, whose husband and children are elsewhere as she goes into labor. Evelyn gives birth alone – SILENTLY – in a bathtub and must quiet her newborn so the monsters can’t locate them. It is an insanely tense sequence, grounded by Blunt’s gut-wrenching, SAG Award-nominated performance (Blunt is also terrific in the solid, if unnecessary, sequel).
FUN FACT: At the insistence of her director-husband John Krasinski, Blunt and her co-stars learned American Sign Language for the film. Deaf actor Millicent Simmonds, who plays daughter Regan, helped the others immerse themselves in the language so their interactions would feel natural and fluent.
CONTENT WARNING: A BLOODY CHILDBIRTH, A GRUESOME FOOT INJURY, AND SCARY MONSTERS.
Mary – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Dee Wallace)
Mary is coping pretty well as a single mom, all things considered, although news that her ex-husband is going to Mexico with his new girlfriend Sally rattles her a bit (“He hates Mexico”). But Mary’s life will soon be upended by her middle child’s pet alien. Played by the ridiculously underrated Dee Wallace, Mary is forced to quickly process a lot of unimaginable yet utterly true information when she is finally introduced to E.T. As she watches Elliott and E.T. get sicker and sicker, Mary experiences a range of emotions, and you never once doubt how very much she loves her children.
This scene always gives me goosebumps
Lynn Sear – The Sixth Sense (Toni Collette)
As played by the sublime Toni Collette, Lynn Sear is the struggling single mother of a child with a very special gift (spoiler alert: he sees dead people). Lynn doesn’t know Cole’s secret, but she does worry about his social skills and the bullying he endures. When Cole finally reveals his secret, Lynn is reluctant to believe him until he shares details of her relationship with her own mother that Cole couldn’t possibly have known. Cole gives her a message from her mom, the emotions flood Lynn’s face, and we feel all the feels. Collette rightfully earned an Oscar nomination for her performance (Haley Joel Osment, so good as Cole, was also nominated). Angelina Jolie swept the Best Supporting Actress awards that year for Girl, Interrupted, but it should have been Collette.
💔🥹😭
Erin Brockovich – Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts)
Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts in an absurdly entertaining, Oscar-winning performance, is a single mom with a potty mouth and a heart of gold. How much she loves her children is never in question, even when she struggles to provide for them. Erin’s work schedule means her kids are resentful they don’t get to spend more time with her, but we understand that everything she does is for them.
What I love about this scene is the easy, natural way Roberts interacts with the baby (this clip also contains my favorite quote from the film – “They’re called boobs, Ed”).
Joyce Byers and Karen Wheeler – Stranger Things (Winona Ryder and Cara Buono)
Joyce Byers doesn’t have it as easy as some of the other moms of Hawkins, Indiana. Her ex-husband Lonnie doesn’t have much of a relationship with his children, leaving Joyce as the sole caretaker on a general store clerk’s salary. When her latchkey kid Will disappears, Joyce feels a combination of heartbreak and guilt, as she confronts the knowledge that she wasn’t there for Will when he needed her most. But Will and Joyce have a connection, and when Will contacts Joyce from the Upside Down, she knows it’s really him. Chief of Police Jim Hopper and Lonnie both think Joyce is crazy, because how could Will be talking to her through the Christmas lights? Winona Ryder’s performance is a master class, and I appreciate it more with each rewatch.
Karen Wheeler, played by the lovely Cara Buono, is the anti-Joyce Byers; a traditional stay-at-home mom, Karen has three kids and a husband she’s come to resent being ignored by. She is way too involved in her children’s lives (Jonathan: “Your mom doesn’t knock?”), but then again, she has a strange girl living in her basement for days and doesn’t know it. By the third season, Karen is spending her days at the pool, where Billy is a lifeguard (and yes, this storyline is still icky, even with the gender roles reversed). In a surprising twist, though, Karen turns out to be a closet feminist. As Nancy is learning how to navigate sexism in the workplace, Karen gives her a pep talk for the ages. It’s one of my favorite mother-daughter moments in pop culture.
Joan Crawford – Mommie Dearest (Faye Dunaway)
We all know the quote, even if we’ve never seen the movie: “NO… WIRE… HANGERS… EVER!!!” I have no idea if Joan Crawford was this horrible in real life (several sources have disputed Christina Crawford’s version of events), but as played by an absolutely unhinged Faye Dunaway (who won a Razzie for her performance), movie Joan Crawford definitely wins the award for World’s Worst Mother. It’s one of the most unintentionally funny performances in cinema history, and the movie itself won the Razzie for Worst Movie of the Decade, beating such contenders as Cocktail, Leonard Part 6, Howard the Duck and Bolero.
Louise Banks – Arrival (Amy Adams)
The exquisite Amy Adams should have taken home the Best Actress Oscar for her brilliant performance as linguist Louise Banks, but she WASN’T EVEN NOMINATED, a fact I’ll never be over. Alien spacecraft have arrived on earth, but in a refreshing twist, they don’t appear bent on humanity’s destruction. Banks, whom the audience believes is grieving the death of her daughter, is brought in to help translate the alien language. In doing so, she becomes unstuck in time and learns (along with the audience) the devastating truth: her dead daughter hasn’t even been born yet.
Morticia Addams – The Addams Family (Carolyn Jones)
When I was a kid, my family had a collection of the original Charles Addams cartoons. I was OBSESSED. Around the same time, I discovered the 1964 sitcom when it arrived in syndication. Although Morticia Addams has been played by iconic actresses like Angelica Huston, Bebe Neuwirth, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Carolyn Jones will always be my favorite Morticia. She was astonishingly beautiful, and she loved and supported her kids no matter what.
A pregnant Beatrix Kiddo is shot and left for dead on her wedding day. After spending time in a coma, she awakens to discover she is no longer pregnant. Assuming her child has died, she vows revenge on those responsible, particularly her daughter’s father (the titular character). But when she finally tracks Bill down, Beatrix learns her daughter B.B. is still alive.
FUN FACT: Tarantino had a single film planned, but the four-hour run time meant it needed to be split into two parts. That worked out well for Thurman, who earned back-to-back Golden Globe nominations for the role.
Xenomorph Queen – Aliens
It’s hard to fault a mother for attacking the people who’ve kidnapped and murdered her offspring, even if she is an alien. But the queen has a formidable foe in Ellen Ripley, which sets up one of the greatest showdowns in the history of cinema.
Helen Parr/Elastigirl – The Incredibles and Incredibles 2 (Holly Hunter)
Voiced by the incomparable Holly Hunter, Helen Parr is not your typical suburban mom. Forced into retirement when the government outlaws superheroes, Elastigirl hides her true identity and settles into domestic life. But when her husband finds himself in trouble, she dusts off her cape and her superpowers to save him. Hunter, who had never voiced an animated character before, finds the perfect balance of humor and heart for this literal supermom.
FUN FACT: Elastigirl’s power – superhuman elasticity – is based on the stereotypical role of a mom, who (in director Brad Bird’s words) is “always juggling a million things and pulled in a million directions”.
Lady Tremaine – Cinderella (voiced by Eleanor Audley)
When her father dies, Cinderella is left in the care of her cruel and uncaring stepmother, Lady Tremaine, who dotes on her daughters and forces Cinderella to perform all the household chores. The epitome of the evil stepmother trope, Lady Tremaine allows her daughters (Anastasia and Drizella) to bully and abuse Cinderella, culminating in them ruining the dress Cinderella has sewn for the Royal Ball.
FUN FACT: Eleanor Audley, who provided the voice for Lady Tremaine, also voiced Maleficent in 1959’s Sleeping Beauty and Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland.
Harry Belafonte has died at the age of 96. Belafonte was a Tony, Emmy, and Grammy-winning singer and actor, civil rights activist, philanthropist, humanitarian, and UN Goodwill Ambassador.
Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. was born in Harlem on March 1, 1927. From ages five to thirteen, Belafonte lived with his grandmother in her native Jamaica. Upon returning to the states, he attended George Washington High School in Washington Heights, then joined the U.S. Navy and served during World War II. After the war, Belafonte found work as a janitor’s assistant. A tenant tipped him a pair of tickets to the American Negro Theatre, where he fell in love with acting AND met his lifelong friend and collaborator Sidney Poitier. He attended the New School’s Dramatic Workshop alongside Poitier, Marlon Brando, Bea Arthur, and Walter Matthau and later found work on Broadway. He earned a Tony Award for his performance in John Murray Anderson’s Almanac.
Belafonte’s music career began as a way for him to pay for acting classes, but he found some success as a club singer. He debuted with Charlie Parker before making his way to the legendary Greenwich Village jazz club, the Village Vanguard. Belafonte’s love wasn’t jazz, though; it was folk music. In 1953, he signed a contract with RCA Victor; that same year, he made his film debut in the Dorothy Dandridge-starring Bright Road. The following year, Belafonte released his debut album, Mark Twain and Other Folk Favorites, and reunited with Dandridge for Carmen Jones.
Fun fact: Dorothy Dandridge was the first black woman to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Actress (she lost to Grace Kelly).
In 1956, Belafonte recorded his breakthrough album, Calypso, which contained the song that would become his signature: “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”. Calypso spent thirty-one weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart and was the first album in history to sell more than one million copies. That same year, Belafonte filmed his follow-up to Carmen Jones, Islandinthe Sun, a film about race relations and interracial romance in a fictional Caribbean nation. He also co-wrote the film’s theme song.
“Jamaica Farewell” is another well-known track from Belafonte’s Calypso.
After his musical career peaked in the early 1960s, Belafonte took much of the decade off to raise a family with his second wife, Julie Robinson, and to participate in the civil rights movement. He didn’t make another motion picture until 1970’s The Angel Levine (though he did make the occasional television appearance). In 1972, he co-starred with Poitier in the latter’s directorial debut, Buck and the Preacher.
The remainder of the 1970s saw Belafonte working on beloved projects like The MuppetShow and Marlo Thomas’ Free to Be… You and Me, as well as recording the occasional album. His final studio album, Paradise in Gazankulu (a protest of the South African government’s policy of apartheid), was released in 1988.
Also in 1988, Belafonte was introduced to a new generation when four of his songs – including “Day-O” and “Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)” – were featured in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice.
With his recording career behind him and his movie roles few and far between, Belafonte focused primarily on humanitarian and political causes but still made the occasional television appearance. In 1997, PBS aired An Evening with Harry Belafonte and Friends; the event ended with a rousing sing-along of “Day-O”.
In 2018, Belafonte made his final film appearance in Spike Lee’s Oscar-winning BlacKkKlansman.
Harry Belafonte died of congestive heart failure on April 25, 2023, at the age of 96. He left behind a wife, four children, five grandchildren, and a cultural and artistic legacy for the ages. Here are a few more highlights from Belafonte’s life and career:
Belafonte had a minor hit in 1961 with his duet with Odetta of “Hole in the Bucket”.
Belafonte, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era for his involvement in the civil rights movement, helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, famous for Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
The recording session for Belafonte’s brainchild “We Are the World” inspired this joyful behind-the-scenes tribute.
Belafonte paid tribute to Sidney Poitier at the 1992 AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony.
Belafonte was an outspoken critic of the “morally bankrupt” Bush II administration.
Belafonte was the subject of the 2011 documentary Sing Your Song, which you can rent on Amazon or Apple TV.
Belafonte secured his EGOT status when he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 87th Academy Awards.
In 2020, Belafonte celebrated his 93rd birthday at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater. It was one of his final public appearances.
Initially published in 2021, this post has been edited for content and clarity.
HAPPY 4/20, Y’ALL!!! Why do we celebrate cannabis culture on April 20th? According to legend, the holiday’s roots date back to 1971, when a group of teens in San Rafael, California, used the term “420” for their search for an abandoned cannabis crop (they met after school at 4:20 PM). The boys never found the crop, but they inadvertently created a term still used more than fifty years later. A piece in High Times magazine in 1998 told the story of the boys and their treasure hunt; one of them, Dave Reddix, later became a roadie for Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, so the consensus is that Reddix passed the phrase along to Lesh and the Deadhead community helped popularize it.
Recreational marijuana use has been legalized in Canada, Mexico, and several US states, including my home state of Michigan. Outside of North America, only a few countries – Thailand and South Africa among them – have legalized recreational cannabis, though many more have either decriminalized it or legalized medical use. And even though 38 US states have legalized medical use and 21 have legalized recreational use, the federal government still classifies cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance alongside drugs like heroin and ecstasy. I acknowledge the privilege that allows me to legally consume recreational cannabis, so let me make my position clear: I am in favor of full decriminalization and legalization of cannabis.
In locations where cannabis use is still illegal, 4/20 observances are often used as a platform for legalization or decriminalization and sometimes involve acts of civil disobedience (the penalty for cannabis possession in the US is typically a civil infraction/fine or a misdemeanor charge but in some countries, one could potentially be imprisoned for years).
However you celebrate, I hope you all have a happy 4/20. And if you don’t observe the occasion, you could always spend the evening with one of these fictional stoners:
Ron Slater, Dave Wooderson, and Randall “Pink” Floyd – Dazed and Confused
Before I even saw Dazed and Confused, I knew that I would love it; the reviews were glowing, and I’d enjoyed director Richard Linklater’s first film, Slacker. What I didn’t realize was how much I would love a scrappy little stoner boy named Ron Slater. Played by the adorable Rory Cochrane, Slater is the quintessential slacker, single-minded in his pursuit of recreation. But he’s also a philosopher and historian; his theory about George and Martha Washington being weed farmers is one of the funniest bits in the movie. Slater’s sole disappointment in life? He never gets shotgun.
Yes, Wooderson is super creepy – if he were a real person, he’d have been a “Times Up” cautionary tale by now. But I admire Wooderson’s motto: “Just keep livin’…L-I-V-I-N”. Matthew McConaughey, in his first film role, oozed confidence and charisma, and the part expanded to match his outsized personality. Linklater apparently hesitated to cast McConaughey because he was “too handsome” (and you can hardly blame him), but I’m glad Linklater saw past McConaughey’s absurd good looks to the actor underneath. In a film full of fantastic characters, McConaughey steals scene after scene.
Randall “Pink” Floyd (Jason London) is experiencing an existential crisis. He wants to continue playing football but is uneasy about the pledge his coaches have asked him to sign, promising not to engage in “drinking, drugs or any other activity that would jeopardize the goal of a championship season in ’76”. Pink just wants to enjoy the last day of school -and the rituals that accompany it – but he’s caught between his teammates and his stoner friends. When Pink, Wooderson, and company are busted on the fifty-yard line of the school’s football field, the police call the coach. In the end, Pink crumples up the pledge and tosses it at the coach (“I may play football, but I will never sign that”), then goes off with the stoners – to the strains of Foghat’s “Slow Ride” – to buy Aerosmith tickets.
The Dude – The Big Lebowski
Please do not refer to Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) as Mr. Lebowski – it’s “The Dude”, thank you very much (“or His Dudeness, or El Duderino, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing”). The Dude just wants to bowl with his friends Walter and Donny, drink White Russians, and get high. His tranquil life is disrupted when he is mistaken for another Jeff Lebowski, whose trophy wife Bunny owes money to porn tycoon Jackie Treehorn. Treehorn’s goons break into The Dude’s apartment and, realizing they have the wrong Lebowski, leave – but not before urinating on his favorite rug (“That rug really tied the room together”). This sets off a farcical chain of events that can only occur in a Coen film. Featuring a fantastically talented supporting cast (among them, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, and Philip Seymour Hoffman), The Big Lebowski nevertheless rests on Bridges’ more-than-capable shoulders.
Larry “Doc” Sportello – Inherent Vice
Paul Thomas Anderson’s underrated gem Inherent Vice, based on the Thomas Pynchon novel of the same name, stars the incomparable Joaquin Phoenix as “Doc” Sportello, a hippie private investigator who finds himself embroiled in LA’s criminal underworld. Phoenix’s performance feels entirely lived-in, and he was deservedly nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy (he lost to Michael Keaton). The film itself could best be described as “Sam Spade meets Cheech & Chong”. Speaking of which…
Anthony “Man” Stoner and Pedro de Pacas – Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke
For all intents and purposes, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong created the stoner buddy genre. The two met in Vancouver in the late 1960s; Chong was a Canadian citizen, and Marin had moved there to avoid the Vietnam War draft. They started performing stand-up together and released their first album in 1971. Their success culminated in Up in Smoke, their first of several films. Mainly consisting of a series of skits, Up in Smoke‘s plot is primarily an excuse for the pair to smoke comically large joints. The movie was a critical failure but a box office hit, earning $104 million on a $2 million budget, and Cheech and Chong became one of the most successful comedy duos ever.
FUN FACT #1: Ivan Reitman conceived Stripes as a Cheech and Chong vehicle, but the two demanded creative control, so Reitman had the screenwriter rework it for ultimate stars Bill Murray and Harold Ramis.
FUN FACT #2: The Lion King‘s hyenas, Shenzi and Banzai, were modeled after the duo, and the film’s producers offered them the voice roles. The two weren’t getting along at the time, so Chong declined, and Whoopi Goldberg was cast as Shenzi to Marin’s Banzai.
Jeff Spicoli – Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Sean Penn’s turn as Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High is the kind of comedic performance that can only be achieved by a remarkable dramatic actor. Penn also has terrific chemistry with Ray Walston, who plays Spicoli’s nemesis Mr. Hand, and with Anthony Edwards and Eric Stoltz as his stoner buds. Fast Times was the cream of the ’80s teen sex comedy crop and has aged remarkably well. Penn’s performance, which provides some much-needed levity to balance the film’s darker elements, is still the best thing about it.
FUN FACT: Don Phillips was the casting director for both Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Dazed and Confused.
Floyd –True Romance
On the cusp of superstardom in 1993, Brad Pitt turned in one of his funniest performances ever in True Romance, playing Floyd, the stoner roommate of Clarence’s friend Dick. Pitt makes the most of his mere minutes of screen time, wringing laughter from the tiniest details, like Floyd’s honey bear bong. Pitt purportedly improvised much of his dialogue, and it is pure genius. The following year, Pitt would land on the A-list with the one-two punch of Interview with the Vampire and Legends of theFall, and his days of taking supporting roles like Floyd were over. It’s too bad, because I’ll take Floyd over Louis and Tristan any day.
Ted and Marshall – How I Met Your Mother, multiple episodes
Since Future Ted is telling his kids this story, he resorts to using an interesting euphemism for smoking weed – “eating a sandwich”. The joke first appears in the season 3 episode “How I Met Everyone Else”, as Future Ted tells his kids how he first met their Uncle Marshall. It became one of the series’ best running gags, featuring in several flashbacks throughout its run. Once in a while, older Ted and Marshall would eat a sandwich as well; in the standout season 7 episode “Tick Tick Tick”, the two (along with a pregnant Lily) attend a concert and eat a sandwich that may have been laced with “hard meats”. The results are harrowing for Ted and Marshall, and absolutely hilarious for us.
Dale Denton and Saul Silver – Pineapple Express
The Cheech and Chong of the 21st century, Seth Rogen and James Franco both got their start on the lovely, canceled-before-its-time Freaks and Geeks. Rogen and Franco vaulted to stardom, and their well-documented love of cannabis culminated in 2008’s Pineapple Express. The movie is shockingly violent for a stoner buddy comedy, as Saul and Ted are ensnared in a war between a corrupt cop and an Asian gang. Named for a particularly heady strain of marijuana, Pineapple Express was a box office success, making a worldwide total of $101 million on a $26 million budget. A sequel was planned, but the filmmakers and the studio couldn’t agree on a budget. We were treated to a pseudo-sequel by way of the movie-within-a-movie in 2013’s This Is the End.
FUN FACT: The inspiration for Pineapple Express was True Romance‘s Floyd. Producer Judd Apatow thought it would be interesting to follow Floyd out of his apartment and watch him get chased by bad guys.
Scooby and Shaggy
Scooby and Shaggy never smoked weed onscreen; in fact, the folks at Hanna-Barbera never intended for the pair to be perceived as stoners. But we know what they were doing in the back of that van. The only question is, were Scooby snacks edibles or just his cure for the munchies?
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Steve (Jon Lovitz) – Friends, “The One with the Stoned Guy”
Andrew, Brian, and Claire – The Breakfast ClubForman, Kelso, Hyde and Fez – That ’70s ShowJay and Silent BobSmokey – FridayHarold and Kumar
CHART POSITION: #8 in the US, #7 in the UK, #10 in Australia, #1 in New Zealand
SINGLES: “Big Log”, “In the Mood”, “Other Arms”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Wreckless Love” and “Horizontal Departure”
FUN FACT: Phil Collins played drums on five of the album’s eight tracks, including “In the Mood,” and former Jethro Tull drummer Barriemore Barlow performed on two. For the remaining song, “Big Log”, a drum machine called the Roland TR-808 provided the beat. The 808 was used extensively in the 1980s; you can hear it in singles like Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing”, Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me), and “Going Back to Cali” by LL Cool J.
The Crossing – Big Country
CHART POSITION: #18 in the US, #3 in the UK, #4 in Canada
SINGLES: “Harvest Home”, “Fields of Fire”, “In a Big Country”, “Chance”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Inwards” and “The Storm”
FUN FACT: Big Country shared a producer – Steve Lillywhite – and an ethos with other socially conscious UK bands like U2, Simple Minds, and The Pogues. They were known for their bagpipe-like guitar sound, created using the MXR Pitch Transposer 129 Guitar Effect and an EBow, a device that alters a guitar’s sound. You can also hear the EBow on songs like “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult, The Church’s “Under the Milky Way”, Talking Heads’ “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)”, and R.E.M.’s “E-Bow the Letter”, which also namechecks the device.
No Parlez – Paul Young
CHART POSITION: #79 in the US, #1 in six countries, including the UK, Sweden, Italy, and Germany
SINGLES: “Iron Out the Rough Spots”, “Love of the Common People”, “Wherever I Lay My Hat”, “Come Back and Stay”, “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Ku Ku Kurama” and the title track
FUN FACT: “Come Back and Stay” was written by Jack Lee, who also composed “Hanging on the Telephone”, a big hit for Blondie in 1978.
Kill ‘Em All – Metallica
CHART POSITION: #155 in the US – but it didn’t enter the Billboard 200 until 1986, when the tragic death of bassist Cliff Burton in a tour bus accident boosted the band’s back catalog.
SINGLES: “Whiplash” and “Jump in the Fire”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: I won’t pretend to be a Metallica fan (I’m just not a fan of the genre), but I appreciate their incredible talent and artistry.
FUN FACT: Kill ‘Em All‘s original title was Metal Up Your Ass; the proposed cover art was a hand clutching a dagger emerging from a toilet. The band took the label’s advice to change the title to something less potentially controversial but eventually sold t-shirts that used the Metal Up Your Ass artwork.
Good for Your Soul – Oingo Boingo
CHART POSITION: N/A
SINGLES: “Wake Up (It’s 1984)”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Who Do You Want to Be”, title track, “No Spill Blood”, “Sweat”, “Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me”,
FUN FACT #1: As a kid, bandleader (and future film composer) Danny Elfman demonstrated an aptitude for science – but not for music. He failed to make his elementary school’s orchestra because he showed “no propensity for music”.
FUN FACT #2: “No Spill Blood” was inspired by 1932’s Island of Lost Souls, an adaptation of H.G. Wells’s novel The Island of Doctor Moreau. In the film, Charles Laughton plays Dr. Moreau, whose “House of Pain” is a laboratory for horrific experiments on human-animal hybrids. Bela Legosi portrays the “Sayer of the Law”, who recites Moreau’s laws (and ultimately rebels against the doctor). Wells’s dialogue “Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not men?” inspired the “No Spill Blood” lyric “We walk on two legs not on four / To walk on four legs breaks the law / What happens when we break the law? / What happens when the rules aren’t fair? / We all know where we go from there! / To the house of pain!”
FUN FACT: The album – and its creator – was dismissed as disco fluff by many critics, one of whom compared Madonna to “Minnie Mouse on helium”. Madonna later parodied the critique in a 1987 photoshoot with Herb Ritts because she is an absolute fucking boss.
Close to the Bone – Tom Tom Club
CHART POSITION: #79 in the US, #31 in New Zealand, #42 in Sweden
SINGLES: “Pleasure of Love” and “The Man with the 4-Way Hips”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “On the Line Again” and “Measure Up”
FUN FACT: Tom Tom Club is the side project of married Talking Heads members Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, best known for the 1981 hit “Genius of Love”. That song has been sampled numerous times, most notably for Mariah Carey’s 1995 #1 smash hit “Fantasy”. Close to the Bone didn’t yield any hits in the US, but “The Man with the 4-Way Hips” reached #82 on the UK charts.
Burning from the Inside – Bauhaus
CHART POSITION: N/A
SINGLES: N/A
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “She’s in Parties”, “King Volcano”, “Slice of Life”, title track, “The Sanity Assasin”
FUN FACT: Bauhaus (named for the German art school of the same name) broke up after the making of Burning from the Inside. Peter Murphy went on to have a successful solo career and Daniel Ash co-founded Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets.
Lawyers in Love – Jackson Browne
CHART POSITION: #30 in the US
SINGLES: “Lawyers in Love”, “Tender is the Night”, “For a Rocker”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Downtown” and “Say It Isn’t True”
FUN FACT: The title track was Browne’s last US top-twenty hit, peaking at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Punch the Clock – Elvis Costello and the Attractions
CHART POSITION: #24 in the US, #3 in the UK
SINGLES: “Everyday I Write the Book”, “Let Them All Talk”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “The Greatest Thing”, “Shipbuilding”, and “Charm School”
FUN FACT: “Everyday I Write the Book” was Costello’s first US top-forty hit. The music video – featuring silent film clips and (inexplicably) Charles and Diana lookalikes – received significant airplay on MTV. Costello would later admit that he didn’t understand the reason for using Charles and Diana, which was apparently the director’s idea.
An Innocent Man – Billy Joel
CHART POSITION: #4 in the US, #2 in the UK, #1 in New Zealand
SINGLES: “Tell Her About It”, “Uptown Girl”, title track, “The Longest Time”, “Leave a Tender Moment Alone”, “Keeping the Faith”, “This Night”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: This isn’t my favorite Billy Joel album (that’d be The Stranger). I do appreciate the desire to revisit the music of one’s teen years (I’m literally doing that right now), but doo-wop was never my cup of tea to begin with.
FUN FACT #1: “This Night” is credited on the album’s sleeve to L. v. Beethoven; the basis for the song’s chorus is Beethoven’s Sonata Pathétique.
FUN FACT #2: An Innocent Man was nominated for Album of the Year at the 26th Grammy Awards. It lost – rightfully – to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, as did Let’s Dance and Synchronicity.
Construction Time Again – Depeche Mode
CHART POSITION: #6 in the UK (didn’t chart in the US)
SINGLES: “Everything Counts”, “Love, in Itself”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Pipeline”, “The Landscape is Changing”, “And Then…”
FUN FACT: “Get the Balance Right!”, one of my favorite DM tunes, was recorded during the Construction Time Again sessions and released as a single but didn’t make the album’s final cut. In the music video, the first two lines are sung by Alan Wilder, even though Dave Gahan provided the song’s vocals. Apparently, the video’s director assumed Wilder was the lead singer and the band didn’t want to embarrass him by pointing out his mistake.
LOOK AT THESE BABIES
Bent Out of Shape – Rainbow
CHART POSITION: #34 in the US, #11 in the UK, #3 in Japan
SINGLES: “Street of Dreams”, “Can’t Let You Go”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Fire Dance” and “Drinking with the Devil”
FUN FACT: The music video for “Can’t Let You Go” was inspired by the 1920 German Expressionist silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which Roger Ebert once called “the first true horror film”.
Mummer – XTC
CHART POSITION: #51 in the UK, #145 in the US
SINGLES: “Great Fire”, “Wonderland”, “Love on a Farmboy’s Wages”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Beating of Hearts”, “Human Alchemy”, and “Funk Pop a Roll”
CHART POSITION: #1 in the UK, New Zealand and the Netherlands, #39 (1983) and #14 (1988) in the US
SINGLES: “Red Red Wine”, “Please Don’t Make Me Cry”, “Many Rivers to Cross”, “Cherry Oh Baby”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Keep On Moving”, “Sweet Sensation”, “Version Girl”
FUN FACT #1: UB40’s name is a reference to the acronym for Unemployment Benefit, Form 40, given to UK unemployment claimants.
FUN FACT #2: Labour of Love made its way back onto the charts – and finally cracked the US top twenty – in 1988 after UB40 performed “Red Red Wine” at a 70th birthday celebration for Nelson Mandela, who at the time was still imprisoned in South Africa for the crime of being black.
Why yes, I am annoyed by Ali Campbell’s gum-chewing
During that same performance, UB40 shared the stage with Chrissie Hynde for “I Got You Babe”, which they had a hit with in 1985
Sports – Huey Lewis and the News
CHART POSITION: #1 in the US, #23 in the UK, #22 in Australia
SINGLES: “Heart and Soul”, “I Want a New Drug”, “The Heart of Rock & Roll”, “If This Is It”, “Walking on a Thin Line”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Honky Tonk Blues”
FUN FACT: “Heart and Soul” was written by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, a songwriting team known for ’70s hits like “Ballroom Blitz” (The Sweet), “My Sharona” (The Knack), “Heart of Glass” (Blondie), and “Kiss You All Over” (Exile). Exile originally recorded “Heart and Soul” for their 1981 album of the same name, but the single failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100. Lewis’s version made it to #8 and earned the band a Grammy nomination.
More Fun in the New World – X
CHART POSITION: #86 in the US
SINGLES: “The New World”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “The New World”, “We’re Having Much More Fun”, “Make the Music Go Bang”, “Devil Doll”
FUN FACT: More Fun in the New World was the last X album produced by Ray Manzarek of the Doors. For their follow-up album (Ain’t Love Grand!), X worked with Michael Wagener, who is best known for his work with ’80s metal bands like Accept, Dokken, Great White, and White Lion.
What’s New – Linda Ronstadt & the Nelson Riddle Orchestra
CHART POSITION: #3 in the US (it was kept off the top of the charts by Thriller and Lionel Richie’s Don’t Slow Down) #31 in the UK
SINGLES: “What’s New”, “I’ve Got a Crush on You”, “Someone to Watch Over Me”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance”
FUN FACT: Ronstadt first performed “I’ve Got a Crush on You” in a 1980 episode of TheMuppet Show.
Genesis – Genesis
CHART POSITION: #9 in the US, #1 in the UK, Germany, and Finland, top five in eight other countries
SINGLES: “Mama”, “That’s All”, “Home by the Sea”, “Illegal Alien”, “Taking It All Too Hard”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Silver Rainbow” and “It’s Gonna Get Better”
FUN FACT: Genesis perfectly bridges the gap between the band’s progressive roots and its ’80s pop sensibilities; it’s my favorite Genesis album. A British reviewer credited the band with making “a Genesis album for people who normally hate Genesis.”
I love this song so fucking much! It’s so dark and weird, which is how I felt in 1983.
Colour By Numbers – Culture Club
CHART POSITION: #1 in the UK, Australia, and Canada, #2 in the US (it was kept off the top of the chart by – you guessed it – Thriller)
SINGLES: “Church of the Poison Mind”, “Karma Chameleon”, “Victims”, “Miss Me Blind”, “It’s a Miracle”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above
FUN FACT #1: Colour By Numbers made the year-end charts in several countries, including the US (#5), Canada (#7), and Australia (#3), where it was also the 16th-best-selling album of the DECADE.
“Karma Chameleon” was Culture Club’s only #1 in the US (it also went to #1 in the UK, where it was the biggest-selling single of 1983)
FUN FACT #2: A lyric in “Miss Me Blind” – “I’m never really sure / If you’re just kissing to be clever” – is a reference to the title of Culture Club’s 1982 debut.
She’s So Unusual – Cyndi Lauper
CHART POSITION: #4 in the US, top five in seven other countries (including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand)
SINGLES: “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, “Time After Time”, “She Bop”, “All Through the Night”, “Money Changes Everything”, “When You Were Mine”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Yeah Yeah”
FUN FACT #1: Annie Leibovitz photographed Lauper for the She’s So Unusual cover, which earned art director Janet Perr a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.
FUN FACT #2: “She Bop”, an ode to female masturbation with a be-bop back beat, was one of the “Filthy Fifteen”, fifteen pop and rock songs deemed offensive by Tipper Gore and the PMRC (for more on the PMRC, click here: https://peanut-butter-and-julie.com/2021/09/20/warning-pmrc-advisory/).
Blueboy magazine was actually a gay men’s magazine. Apparently, someone left a copy at the recording studio, prompting Lauper’s attention and inspiring “She Bop”.
Soul Mining – The The
CHART POSITION: #27 in the UK (it didn’t chart in the US)
SINGLES: “Uncertain Smile”, “Perfect”, “This Is the Day”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “The Sinking Feeling”
FUN FACT: The artwork for Soul Mining was done by frontman Matt Johnson’s brother Andrew, under the pseudonym Andy Dog. The typeface for the band’s iconic logo was created by Johnson’s girlfriend, graphic designer Fiona Skinner.
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Playing Guitar” and “Lovin’ Mother Fo Ya”
FUN FACT: “Crumblin’ Down” was the last song written for Uh-Huh! After listening to the album’s masters, Mellencamp felt he didn’t have a strong enough lead-off single. He contacted longtime songwriting partner George Green, with whom he’d collaborated on “Hurts So Good”. “Crumblin’ Down” was the first single Mellencamp released that credited his real name and not “Cougar”.
Pipes of Peace – Paul McCartney
CHART POSITION: #15 in the US, #4 in the UK, #9 in Australia
SINGLES: “Say Say Say” (duet with Michael Jackson) and the title track
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Keep Under Cover”, “The Man” (another duet with Jackson), “Through Our Love”
FUN FACT: Much of Pipes of Peace was recorded during the sessions for McCartney’s previous album, Tug of War, so it feels a little like leftovers – more of the same, not quite as good, but more satisfying than cooking a whole new meal. The presence of Michael Jackson lent this project an extra helping of good will. Anyway, I’ll always show up for a former Beatle.
Hearts and Bones – Paul Simon
CHART POSITION: #35 in the US, #34 in the UK
SINGLES: “Allergies” and “Think Too Much”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Hearts and Bones”, “Train in the Distance”, “René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War”
FUN FACT #1: “Hearts and Bones” was inspired by Simon’s relationship with Carrie Fisher. I particularly love the opening lyric: “One and one-half wandering Jews / Free to wander wherever they choose”. Fisher and Simon divorced in 1984 and after a period of depression, Simon took a trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, where the seeds of his next album – Graceland – would be sown.
FUN FACT #2: “René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War”, probably my favorite track on Hearts and Bones, was inspired by a photograph (below) of the surrealist painter and his mate taken by Lothar Wolleh (though the photo was taken in the 1960s).
Rebel Yell – Billy Idol
CHART POSITION: #6 in the US, #36 in the UK
SINGLES: “Rebel Yell”, “Eyes Without a Face”, “Flesh for Fantasy”, “Catch My Fall”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “(Do Not) Stand in the Shadows”
FUN FACT: Several years before I struggled through two semesters of college French, “Les yeux sans visage” (“Eyes without a face”) was one of the first French phrases I ever learned, thanks to Billy Idol. The lyric is actually the name of a French-language horror film about a plastic surgeon attempting to give his daughter a face transplant after she is disfigured in an auto accident.
“Eyes Without a Face” provides the soundtrack to snippets of 1960’s Les Yeux sans Visage in this YouTube clip from Music Video Vault
90125 – Yes
CHART POSITION: #5 in the US, #16 in the UK
SINGLES: “Owner of a Lonely Heart”, “Leave It”, “It Can Happen”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Changes” and “City of Love”
FUN FACT: 90125, named for its Atco Records catalog number, is Yes’s best-selling album in the US. Sales were augmented by the success of “Owner of a Lonely Heart” and its Storm Thorgerson-directed music video, which went into regular rotation on MTV; the single was the band’s only US #1.
This video freaked me out in 1983, and I’ll be honest, it is fairly disturbing to me in 2023, as well (content warning for creepy crawly creatures and a visual reference to suicide)
Touch – Eurythmics
CHART POSITION: #1 in the UK and New Zealand, #7 in the US, #4 in Australia
SINGLES: “Who’s That Girl?”, “Right by Your Side”, “Here Comes the Rain Again”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: Just, all of them. Seriously, I can’t choose. The combination of Annie Lennox’s soulful voice and Dave Stewart’s crisp synths remain a match made in synth-pop heaven.
FUN FACT #1: As mentioned in volume one of this post, this is Eurythmics’ second album on the list – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) was released in January. In 2012, Rolling Stone placed Touch at #492 on its list of “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.
FUN FACT #2: Lennox and Stewart actually met in 1976; the two were in a band called the Tourists, who had a top-ten UK hit in 1979 with a cover of Dusty Springfield’s “I Only Want to Be with You”. The Tourists broke up in 1980 (as did Lennox and Stewart’s romantic relationship), but the pair wanted to continue their musical partnership. Eurythmics assumed the Tourists’ recording deal with RCA and their first album, In the Garden, was released in 1981.
Seven and the Ragged Tiger – Duran Duran
CHART POSITION: #8 in the US (where it was also the tenth best-selling album of 1984), #1 in the UK and the Netherlands, #2 in Australia, top twenty in nine other countries
SINGLES: “The Union of the Snake”, “New Moon on Monday”, “The Reflex”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “I Take the Dice”, “Of Crime and Passion”, “Shadows on Your Side”, “The Seventh Stranger”
FUN FACT #1: There probably isn’t a way to put into words what Duran Duran meant – and still mean – to me. My friends and I pored over every lyric and scoured the racks at the indie record store, searching for the imports and 12-inch singles you couldn’t find at the chains. My love affair with the band has never wavered, but it certainly reached its peak in 1983. I don’t know if I’ve ever anticipated an album as much as I did Seven and the Ragged Tiger. Obviously, I wanted it as soon as it was available, but my parents were reluctant to drive me into Ann Arbor on a weeknight (which, as an adult, I TOTALLY understand), so I had to call the store and verify they had it. I’ll never forget how the sales associate answered the phone: “Thank you for calling Record Town, where we have the new Duran Duran album, how can I help you?” Clearly, I was not the first 14-year-old whose parents made them call.
FUN FACT #2: “The Reflex”, buoyed by a Nile Rodgers-produced remix, was Duran Duran’s first US #1 single. It was one of two songs – the other being Prince’s “When Doves Cry” – that kept Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” from topping the charts. Rodgers later co-founded The Power Station with Robert Palmer and D2 members John Taylor and Andy Taylor.
I love that in a Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic wasteland, the lads still have perfectly coiffed hair
The scene at the end of the band dancing is CRINGE and they agree, with Nick Rhodes and Andy Taylor confirming in separate interviews that “New Moon on Monday” is Duran Duran’s least-favorite music video
Conflicting Emotions – Split Enz
CHART POSITION: #3 in New Zealand, #13 in Australia, #137 in the US
SINGLES: “Strait Old Line”, “Message to My Girl”, “I Wake Up Every Night”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: All of the above, plus “Our Day” and “The Devil You Know”
FUN FACT: Split Enz were best known for their 1981 single “I Got You”, which went to #1 in Australia and the band’s native New Zealand and #53 in the US. Escalating tensions between bandmates – and brothers – Tim and Neil Finn meant that ConflictingEmotions was aptly titled. In fact, Split Enz would break up the following year. Neil went on to form Crowded House, one of my favorite bands of the ’80s and ’90s.
Drummer Paul Hester, who later co-founded Crowded House with Neil Finn, joined Split Enz just in time to feature in the “Message to My Girl” video
The Politics of Dancing – Re-Flex
CHART POSITION: #53 in the US
SINGLE/MY FAVORITE TRACK: “The Politics of Dancing”
FUN FACT: There were, inexplicably, five more singles released from The Politics of Dancing, but none of them made an impact. Re-Flex’s follow-up album, Humanication, was planned for 1985 but the band parted ways with EMI and it sat on a shelf for 25 years. But if you’re going to be remembered as a one-hit wonder, you could do a lot worse than “The Politics of Dancing”. I was really into the new romantics at the time (Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet, specifically), and synth-pop in general, and Re-Flex fit right into that niche. Anyway, don’t take my word for it. In a sign the single was destined for immortality, “The Politics of Dancing” was featured in a key scene in 2017’s Atomic Blonde, almost thirty-five years after its release.
Bark at the Moon – Ozzy Osbourne
CHART POSITION: #19 in the US, #24 in the UK
SINGLES: “Bark at the Moon”, “So Tired”
MY FAVORITE TRACKS: “Bark at the Moon”, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Rebel”, “Centre of Eternity”, “Slow Down”
FUN FACT: The music video for “Bark at the Moon” features Osbourne as a mad scientist who transforms, Jekyll and Hyde-style, into the werewolf depicted on the album’s cover. The creature makeup was done by seven-time Oscar winner Rick Baker, who also did the makeup for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video.
After completing this volume, I compiled a list of my top-tier albums of 1983; the albums I listened to regularly then that have also stood the test of time for me. I landed on a top twelve; I couldn’t narrow it down further (my blog, my rules).
Seven and the Ragged Tiger – Duran Duran
Genesis – Genesis
Murmur – R.E.M.
Madonna – Madonna
Synchronicity – The Police
War – U2
Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
Touch – Eurythmics
Too Low for Zero – Elton John
Good For Your Soul – Oingo Boingo
She’s So Unusual – Cyndi Lauper
Naked Eyes – Naked Eyes
Here is the final 1983 playlist. It is absurdly long, but I’m a completist, so here you go:
Here’s an abbreviated, (roughly) singles-only version of the playlist, for those of you who aren’t completists:
Forty years ago today, R.E.M. released their first full-length album, Murmur, and my life would never be the same. Widely regarded as one of the best albums of the 1980s – and one of the greatest debuts of all time – Murmur was a game-changer.
R.E.M. got their start in 1980 in Athens, Georgia. In January of that year, Michael Stipe met Peter Buck at Wuxtry Records, where Buck was an employee. Both University of Georgia students, the two bonded over a shared love of proto-punk artists like Television and The Velvet Underground. Through a mutual friend, Stipe and Buck met Mike Mills and Bill Berry, who had known each other since high school, and the quartet started rehearsing together in an abandoned church. The newly minted R.E.M. (legend has it that Stipe chose the name out of the dictionary at random) played their first gig on April 5th – the mutual friend’s birthday party.
Success for R.E.M. came quickly in Athens, and the band began touring all over the south. An R.E.M. show in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, so impressed a record store clerk named Jefferson Holt, he moved to Athens to manage the band. In April, 1981 – just a year after they played their first gig together – R.E.M. recorded their first single, “Radio Free Europe”, followed by an EP called Chronic Town in October of that year.
I.R.S. Records, impressed with a Chronic Town demo, signed the band in May, 1982. R.E.M. entered the studio on January 6, 1983, to begin recording their debut LP. Included in the sessions was a re-recording of “Radio Free Europe”, which would become Murmur‘s first single. I honestly had never heard the original recording of the song until just now, and it’s remarkable: faster, punkier and far less polished, it demonstrates the raw potential of an extraordinary band in its infancy.
Original 1981 Recording
Murmur version
I heard “Radio Free Europe” on my local college radio station (Ann Arbor’s WCBN FM-88.3), and I was gobsmacked. I bought Murmur as soon as I could, and listened to it until the grooves wore out. The music, with its jangly guitar, melodic basslines, and Stipe’s mumbly vocal style and cryptic lyrics, was unlike anything I’d heard before (or since, if I’m being perfectly honest). It was a refreshing change of pace from the polished pop, bombastic rock and synth-heavy new wave of the time period. For reference, here are the top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 from the week Murmur was released:
Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
Come On Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners
Mr. Roboto – Styx
Jeopardy – Greg Kihn Band
Beat It – Michael Jackson
Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran
One on One – Hall and Oates
Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) – Journey
Der Kommissar – After the Fire
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me – Culture Club
Don’t get me wrong, there are some bangers here – the only song on this list that I actively dislike is “Jeopardy”, but even that yielded this stone-cold classic from Sir Alfred Yankovic, so I can’t hate on it too much.
The point is, nothing on this – or any other – list sounds quite like R.E.M. They sounded completely fresh, yet utterly timeless. Listening to Murmur again now, I can’t get over how innovative it still feels. And though Murmur didn’t end up being R.E.M.’s best album (I’d argue that title belongs to Automatic for the People, but this band’s discography is an embarrassment of riches), it is their most important album. R.E.M. remains one of my favorite artists, and they are a perfect example of a band that has achieved incredible success while consistently maintaining their authenticity.
PB & Julie + Julie C. Trivia 