Anything On Your Mind?
Well, I said I was going to take a look at 1985, so let’s talk about it. At this point, I was in Farwell Elementary, taking classes just from Mr. Jim. The rest of his classroom was 6th graders, but I was just off doing my own thing: reading, studying, hanging out, looking at Mr. Jim’s iguana Ulysses. Mr. Jim had the same basic attitude towards books that my mom did, which was basically that if I was reading, it probably didn’t matter too much exactly what I was reading. As a consequence, I got to read plenty of fantasy and sci-fi in addition to some of the books he would have me read. Since I devoured books at that point, I was to and from the library pretty often, although Mr. Jim also had a pretty nice little library in his classroom (and would add some of my requests if he thought they would have merit for his other students). Again, I recognize that this kind of fortune in my early education is downright miraculous, especially for a public school, and to have even one teacher that invested in me was amazing. To have years of his attention was even more so.
As I mentioned last time as well, this is past my event horizon for caring much about music. There was often music going in the house, ranging from the radio being on, to someone playing a record, to even stuff on the TV. So I certainly had plenty of exposure to music, I just hadn’t really started developing my own taste much. I’m going to suspect that I’ll have not much from the RYM chart, and sure enough, I only have six of those. And I’m not sure how many records I should be writing about here, as most of the 1985 records in my collection are pretty famous.
What Are You Listening To From 1985, Josh?
A sampling of albums that I’m playing regularly, whether older ones or newer ones. Just the things that I think are worth highlighting, and maybe you’d enjoy.
New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig, Hüsker Dü
Hüsker Dü had one of the greatest concentrated stretches of music ever in 1984 and 1985. Over a mere 14 months, they released Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, and Flip Your Wig. By way of comparison, the Beatles released Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 17 months. The closest achievement I’ve found is MF DOOM releasing Vaudeville Villain, VV:2, Madvillainy, and Mm..Food in 14 months. Oh, I guess CCR released three records in 1969, but honestly, there’s some filler on those albums.
Anyway, all three albums are legitimately great, and they show a real progression in sound across them, which is even more impressive than if they had cranked out three very similar albums. And Zen Arcade is a double album, so this really is four LPs worth of material in that time frame. The records are basically moving from hardcore towards a more poppy sound (although not pop!), and so your preferred album could easily be any of the three depending on your priors. It helps that both Bob Mould and Grant Hart were excellent songwriters and were both apparently able to write at high volume.
After the 1985 records, Hüsker Dü signed with Warner Bros and I think the resulting albums weren’t as good, although that certainly doesn’t mean they’re bad. For my money, I think New Day Rising is my pick, although it’s hard to argue with the generosity of Zen Arcade. This is one of the bands that truly set the sound of the American underground, and if you haven’t really spent much time with these records, you should. Hüsker Dü is like a skeleton key that unlocks so much of American rock, and you’ll find particles of them everywhere.
(NB: While these records aren’t on Bandcamp, probably because SST Records sucks, there is a 1985 live show on there that you can listen to instead.)
Nail, Foetus
Technically, this is by “Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel”, but just for ease of tagging, I’m just going to refer to all his various names as just Foetus. We looked at Gash back in the 1994 article, J.G. Thirlwell’s major label debut (which still seems bizarre to me), but I think it might be fun to highlight his best pre-major album. 1985’s Nail, his fourth album, is where he really gained mastery of all aspects of his musical personality. The theatricality, the strings, the odd noises, the bizarre lyrics, the clattering percussion, all the dynamic stuff he uses, it all came together extremely well here. There are some great moments on earlier albums, but he hadn’t put together anything so complete. This is the album to listen to in order to hear one of the truly unique voices in music come together. Also, if you listened to that PIG album from the other day, you can see where that album came from.
(NB: I can really pick ’em. Gash wasn’t on his Bandcamp, neither is this one. Well, sorry about that!)
Fear and Whiskey, Mekons
The first great record from one of rock’s true originals, Fear and Whiskey was a sort of British underground take on country. Kinda. There are certainly elements borrowed from country, but I thinks this album’s reputation as the first alt-country record is probably overselling things. Nevertheless, it’s a strong album with very good songs, so you can just judge it on that basis and kind of ignore what genre it is. I think some of the roots elements they’re using here are not so uncommon these days, so that can probably help with this not seeming all that country. I don’t really know what this would have been like to hear in 1985.
I’m not really a Mekons scholar or anything, I only have a couple records, so I am going to just wave vaguely at this and The Mekons Rock ’n’ Roll and say that if you like those, they have a zillion albums to explore.
Let’s Talk New Releases
Records come out every week, and there’s no way to stay on top of them. This isn’t a comprehensive look at everything, just a few things that have caught my ears out of recent releases. Any impressions here are very early!
Definitely going to do new releases now! I don’t think I’m the guy to learn about obscure 1985 records from.
DOOMED!, Open Mike Eagle & Kenny Segal
Open Mike Eagle has always been a really interesting listen, but whether his records stick with me as repeat players has varied a fair bit. I think, even at this early stage, that this one is going to be a keeper. A lot of that is due to Kenny Segal’s work on the beats. He’s a fantastic producer, and he’s absolutely on top of his game here. And OME sounds great on top of them. Top shelf work from the both of them.
Manivelles, Anadol & Marie Klock
This one comes from Wolf Rambatz’s Tracks of Note and look: I am not cool enough to really be listening to this. I expect someone to burst into my house and denounce me as a fraud. This is elaborate, dreamy pop, and I can’t understand what’s going on, but it sounds great nevertheless. You do have to listen to something pretty every now and again, though. It provides some contrast to all the other racket you listen to. Well, that I listen to.
Manilla Folders, Aidmoozic
I just wrote up a previous EP from them a few months ago, and they’re back for another one. This one is about nine minutes long, so again, we’re dealing with a band getting it done fast. I think I’ve figured out what it’s reminding me of, though: Meat Puppets, or maybe early Minutemen. Fantastic stuff!
Five Random Songs
Yes, it’s the “classic” five random songs format. It’s been told before on this blog many times, but basically, on an old forum, people would post the last five songs their shuffle pulled up. I liked it, so I made it into a blog. And now, here we are.
“Only Friend”, Gouge Away
The opener to the great Burnt Sugar, it really sets the stage for what this album sounds like.
“Errordome”, Wrong
Wrong is kind of a supergroup, with people from Kylesa and Torche involved. And, sure, I can kind of squint and see the midpoint of those bands. Big fat guitars but with a little bit more metal to it? Why not.
“I Am Every Enemy”, Vitriol
This is death metal out of Portland, and we’re just getting heavier and heavier today. Where can we go from here?
“Another World”, Gojira
I don’t think that’s really heavier, Plex! Still, good effort.
“Money”, will.i.am
BBE created a series of albums, Beat Generation, that were focused on DJs and producers, giving them center stage to do whatever they wanted. People like Jay Dee, Pete Rock, Marley Marl, and others turned in great records in the series. Also, will.i.am was present.
Look, that’s not really fair. This was before the Black Eyed Peas’ idiotic turn (before Fergie, in other words), and this is actually a pretty solid record. Not the place to start with the series, of course, but it’s a good set.
Also, the heavy streak was broken.
Josh, What Are You Doing Here?
I’m just writing about music. A structure like this blog helps me get my thoughts out, and it’s a way for me to explore my own music collection through various lenses. My sincere hope is that some folks out there find some new music they love. That’s all I’m up to. Sincere thanks to everybody who sends me feedback, with news that they’ve found a new favorite especially fun for me. There’s no monetization, no metrics, no ads, no promos, no nothing. Just some static web pages, some links, and my scribbling. If you want to support it, just shoot me a note! Thanks for reading.
Some Better Places To Learn About Music
Check these folks out, you’ll learn more for sure. In no particular order: To The Teeth, Wolf’s Week/Plague Rages, The Devil’s Mouth, Burning Ambulance, Lamniformes Cuneiform, Hex Records, See/Saw, Starkweather, Treble Magazine, The Quietus, Stereogum.