Musicwhore.org Music and memory

A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.

In 2008, my collection tapered off with releases before 1987. I went so far as to call 1986 an uninteresting year. I’ve since had time to explore the year in greater depth.

1. The Art of Noise, In Visible Silence
2. Janet Jackson, Control
3. Soundtrack, Megazone 23 Song Collection
4. Paul Simon, Graceland
5. XTC, Skylarking
6. The Smiths, The Queen is Dead
7. Prince & the Revolution, Parade
8. Nakamori Akina, Fushigi
9. Duran Duran, Notorious
10. Club Nouveau, Life, Love and Pain

Other favorites from the year:

• Anita Baker, Rapture
• Bananarama, True Confessions
• Fishbone, In Your Face
• Run DMC, Raising Hell
• Peter Gabriel, So
• John Adams, Harmonielehre
• Enya, Enya
• Dwight Yoakam, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.
• R.E.M., Lifes Rich Pageant
• Pet Shop Boys, Please
• Kronos Quartet, Music of Sculthorpe, Sallinen, Glass, Nancarrow, Hendrix
• The Human League, Crash

If you told Younger Me that Older Me would like So and Raising Hell, Younger Me would wretch. At the time, Run DMC and Peter Gabriel were so ubiquitous, I felt I would never need to hear “Walk This Way” or “Sledgehamer” for the rest of my life.

One advantage of growing older is no longer caring about looking at all fashionable.

Younger Me would have been puzzled by the inclusion of Dwight Yoakam on the extended list, to which Older Me would have to tell Younger Me to wait 9 years.

Younger Me: Oh, I was wondering whether I should get that Human League album. Is it really that good?
Older Me: Yeah, but I don’t think you’d quite appreciate it at your station in life. Wait a few years.
Younger Me: Really? How many?
Older Me: 30.

Tags: anita baker, bananarama, club nouveau, duran duran, dwight yoakam, enya, favorite edition, fishbone, janet jackson, john adams, kronos quartet, nakamori akina, paul simon, pet shop boys, peter gabriel, prince, r.e.m., rewind, run dmc, soundtrack, the art of noise, the human league, the smiths, xtc