Like yesterday’s SOTD, today’s track comes from the 1980 debut album of a popular rock band with a brash, charismatic lead singer. Only these lads come to us all the way from Australia.
INXS’ self-titled debut doesn’t sound at all like the music that would make them famous. Five years before Listen Like Thieves and seven years before Kick, they were searching for an identity, mixing up New Wave and post-punk into an unremarkable stew.
Now that I’ve counted down my woefully incomplete list of favorite 1980 albums, I’ll turn my attention to the records from that year I haven’t heard. I’ll highlight songs from the most critically-acclaimed 1980 albums over the next several weeks.
U2’s debut album, Boy, came out that year, kicking off one of the most storied careers in rock history. It would be three years and two more albums before they earned their first gold record (with War) but this album was praised as a promising start for a brash Irish band led by a charismatic 20-year-old.
‘What About Georgia’ is the second track on Miranda Lambert’s debut album, 2005’s Kerosene. She was 22 at the time and fresh off her third-place finish on the TV competition Nashville Star.
This song was written about another contestant on the show, Travis Howard, with whom Lambert has collaborated on many songs. Here’s how she explains the song’s origin:
‘All I Wanna Do’ is the song that launched Sheryl Crow into the public eye, and remains the biggest hit of her career. The track won Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, both well-earned.
I was going to use today’s blog entry to praise Crow’s excellent lyrics, because this song is an explosion of wonderful imagery and flawless characterization. But a little research revealed that the credit for those lyrics belongs to poet Wyn Cooper instead.
My #1 album of 1980 was an easy call, considering it’s one of my very favorite albums by one of my very favorite artists.
Elvis Costello’s fourth studio album, Get Happy!!, doesn’t exactly capture the sound of the 70s giving way to the 80s (it’s a throwback to the R&B and soul records of the 60s) but it’s a blast start to finish, showcasing Costello at his peak both lyrically and musically.
Meet Me In Montauk 