Continuing my look at 1984, first by counting down my own top five albums of that year.
#1. Reckoning – R.E.M.
Thirteen years ago, I named R.E.M.’s Reckoning as their fourth-best album, an opinion I’ll stand by today as I declare it my favorite album of 1984. The alternative rock legends’ second full-length release captures so much about when makes them one of the all-time greats.
Continuing my look at 1984, first by counting down my own top five albums of that year.
#2. Stop Making Sense – Talking Heads
The greatest live album ever recorded, and the greatest concert film, Stop Making Sense finds Talking Heads in peak form. Touring in support of 1983’s Speaking in Tongues, my favorite of their albums, the band tears through songs from that record and its predecessors, bringing new energy and warmth to already exhilarating material.
Continuing my look at 1984, first by counting down my own top five albums of that year.
#3. Purple Rain – Prince
Only five albums reached #1 in 1984, and one of those was Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which was released the previous year but still spent the first 15 weeks of ’84 at the top of the Billboard 200. Thriller was the top-selling album of both 1983 and 1984.
Continuing my look at 1984, first by counting down my own top five albums of that year.
#4. Like a Virgin – Madonna
Here’s an album I paid no attention at the time of its release, and an artist I actively dismissed for most of the following four decades.
It took last summer’s Madonna deep dive for me to finally appreciate the game-changing greatness of one of the 80s defining artists. And though Like a Virgin landed at #5 on my Madonna album ranking, it’s a worthy enough collection to land at #4 on this list.
What better way to kick off 2022 than by going back in time nearly 40 years to 1984 for the latest installment of my Decades series?
First, let me recover from the stunning realization that 1984, the year I turned 12, was nearly 40 years ago. Wowza.
I wasn’t very invested in popular music back then, so none of the year’s notable albums meant much to me at the time. But I have come to know and love a few of them. Over the next four weeks, I will cover those as well as a sampling of celebrated records I haven’t heard much or at all.
Meet Me In Montauk 