TODAY’S TOP TEN ALBUMS OF THE ’80s (by Garry Bushell) 1. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses 2. Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables – Dead Kennedys 3. Born In The USA – Bruce Springsteen 4. More Specials – The Specials 5. Greatest Hits Volume 1 – The Cockney Rejects 6. Appetite For Destruction – Guns ’N’ Roses 7. The Number Of The Beast – Iron Maiden 8. Purple Rain – Prince & The Revolution 9. Get Happy – Elvis Costello 10.Back In Black – AC/DC Today’s TOP TEN ALBUMS OF THE ’80s is compiled by writer and TV and radio celebrity Garry Bushell. Garry was an influential journalist on Sounds in the late ’70s/early ’80s and coined the term ‘Oi’ rock. ‘I rationed bands to one LP each and left out half a dozen absolute killer albums including offerings by Squeeze, The Pretenders, Metallica, The Pogues, The Travelling Wilburys and The Clash’s London Calling – a brilliant single album diluted over four sides.’ Good job Garry left out the last album as it was released in late December 1979 in the UK. However, it was released in 1980 in the US so our American cousins can add it to their Top Tens. It’s just possible that with enough transatlantic votes, London Calling, could feature strongly in the final Flexipop! ’80s albums’ chart, fingers crossed… ‘The Stone Roses’ debut album The Stone Roses tops the list,’ says Garry, ‘not just because it was chock-full of amazing inspirational songs but because it was ahead of its time, hugely influential and still sounds the dog’s bollocks today.’ Check out Garry’s website - garry-bushell.co.uk Garry has just published a terrific new book – Riff-Raff Rebels & Rock Gods - Confessions from the Glory Days of Sounds. It’s released as an eBook, paperback and six hour audio book. For more info, click litopia/downloads/riffraff Done your Top Ten yet? Message, don’t post, your selection and if you could mention why you chose your No. 1 that would be great. If you want to promote anything – record, book, film, gig etc. – send the details at the same time. We guarantee to post every one we receive. Also, if you’d like to nominate a friend or friends to do the Top Ten challenge, please be our guests. The aim is to produce the Ultimate Flexipop! Top 40 Albums Of The 80s Chart so please put your choices in order. The Stone Roses originally came out in April 1989. The Roses recorded the album with John Leckie, a producer who had worked with Pink Floyd on Meddle. The Stone Roses peaked at No. 19 in the UK and No.86 in the US after its initial release. It has been re-released four times in the UK – in 1995 it peaked at No. 23, in 2004 it reached No. 9, in 2005 No. 19 and, remarkably, in 2009 it achieved its highest UK chart position - No. 5. The band’s guitarist, John Squire, created the album cover. It’s a Jackson Pollock-influenced piece called Bye Bye Badman, which makes reference to the May 1968 riots in Paris. It was named by Q magazine as one of The 100 Best Covers of All Time. In 1997, the album was named the second greatest of all time in a Music of the Millennium poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 2004, it was voted the best British album of all time in The Observer s poll of 100 musicians and critics. In 2000, it received the greatest album ever award at the NME Premier Awards show, and in 2006, the album topped the magazines 100 Greatest British Albums Ever list. In 2009, NME released a special issue about the albums 20th anniversary, labelling it as the greatest debut album ever. In 2006, Time magazine named it one of The All-Time 100 Albums. The same year, British Hit Singles & Albums and NME organised a poll of 40,000 people worldwide who voted for the 100 best albums ever and The Stone Roses was placed at No. 7. Upon its release, Melody Maker called the album ‘Godlike’. However, Village Voice found the band ‘overhyped and no different than the numerous indie bands in the United States: Theyre surprisingly eclectic. Not all that good at it, but eclectic ... Though they have their moments as songwriters their music is about sound, fingers lingering over the strings and so forth.’ The Quietus said that its first three songs were enjoyable but were followed by ‘a right barrel-load of shite.’ The Boston Phoenix newspaper said, ‘The album has been deified by such dubious tastemakers as the NME and Oasiss Noel Gallagher - and the rest of us really like it too.’ Rolling Stone called it a ‘blast of magnificent arrogance, a fusion of Sixties-pop sparkle and the blown-mind drive of UK rave culture.’ The Guardian said that The Stone Roses was ‘an average rock album – lyrically pedestrian and with a sonic policy swerving from the play-safe to the over-indulgent.’ After the record was voted the second-best ever in a UK public poll, Channel 4 broadcast a presentation of the results in which three of the presenters - Bob Geldof, Paul Gambaccini, and artist Justine Frischmann - were critical of the albums inclusion in the top 100 and attributed it to the generation of listeners who voted rather than the records quality. Track List (1989 UK release): 1. I Wanna Be Adored 2. She Bangs the Drums 3. Waterfall 4. Dont Stop 5. Bye Bye Badman 6. Elizabeth My Dear 7. (Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister 8. Made of Stone 9. Shoot You Down 10.This Is the One 11.I Am the Resurrection I Wanna Be Adored was released as a single in the US in1989 and reached No. 18 in the Billboard Modern Rock chart). It peaked at No 20 in the UK when it was re-released in 1991. In 2006, Q voted it 32nd in its list of 100 greatest songs of all time and in 2007, NME placed it at No. 17 in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever. Oasis refer to The Stone Roses by quoting the song in Magic Pie: ‘They are sleeping while they dream/and they who wanna be adored.’ The song appears on the soundtrack of the Michael Winterbottom film Welcome to Sarajevo and on the soundtrack of the 2005 film Green Street. If you can’t get the Vevo link here’s a live version youtu.be/E7dq6w9klDg ‘I dont have to sell my soul, hes already in me…’
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 13:00:58 +0000
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