Continuing my look at some of the most celebrated albums from 1981, here’s the classic opening track of Rush’s eighth studio album, Moving Pictures.
I have to confess that I completely missed the boat on Rush. Though they released new material steadily from my infancy through my 20s, I never managed to own a Rush album or even become familiar with a Rush song. Today’s SOTD, ‘Tom Sawyer,’ is probably their best-known track, and I think I heard it for the first time this week.
In 1974, it was possible for a song as earnestly romantic as ‘I Honestly Love You’ to reach the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100. The most recent similar hit I can find is John Legend’s ‘All of Me,’ which spent some time at #1 in May of 2014.
In ’74, other love songs to reach #1 included ‘The Way We Were,’ ‘Annie’s Song’ and ‘Time in a Bottle.’ This year, Drake has occupied the top spot for 29 of 48 weeks. A different musical world, for better and worse.
‘Finest Worksong’ is the lead-off track on R.E.M.’s fifth studio album, 1987’s Document. It was the third single released, following the hits ‘The One I Love’ and ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).’
The band released an album per year from 1983 through 1988, including the holy trinity of Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction and Life’s Rich Pageant. This record followed those career-defining releases and was a bit of a departure both sonically and thematically.
I like listening to the album that came right before an artist’s landmark work. Like The Police’s Ghost in the Machine, covered earlier this week, which preceded Synchronicity. Or Fleetwood Mac, a smash in its own right, but one that lives in the shadow of its follow-up, Rumours.
Everybody knows Def Leppard’s 1983 megahit Pyromania, and 1987’s Hysteria, which pretty much matched it in sales, but you don’t hear much about 1981’s High ‘N’ Dry. At least I haven’t.
[First things first… Happy Birthday to my niece Madison! Loyal readers will remember Madison for her week of guest blogging about the use of songs on TV series.]
The top four best-selling albums of 1981 were released in late 1980 or earlier, so I can’t include them here. The best-selling album of 1981 actually released in 1981 was Styx’s Paradise Theater.
My exposure to Styx pretty much begins and ends with ‘Mr. Roboto,’ the 1983 hit from their rock opera Kilroy Was Here. Also ‘Come Sail Away,’ which I probably first heard on South Park. I’m familiar with other songs as I hear them, but I wouldn’t be able to name any off the top of my head.
Meet Me In Montauk 