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.

I had discovered so much music in 1987 that at the time, I thought 1988 was a dud by comparison. Over the years, I’ve discovered that is not the case. The Favorite 10 doesn’t change from the original list, but look at that expanded list.

1. In Tua Nua, The Long Acre
2. Midnight Oil, Diesel and Dust
3. Kronos Quartet, Winter Was Hard
4. The Sugarcubes, Life’s Too Good
5. Enya, Watermark
6. Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman
7. Living Colour, Vivid
8. Duran Duran, Big Thing
9. Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
10. The Dead Milkmen, Beelzebubba

Other favorites from the year:

• Stephen Sondheim, Into the Woods
• John Adams, Nixon in China
• Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, Savvy Show Stoppers
• Camper Van Beethoven, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
• Sarah McLachlan, Touch
• Erasure, The Innocents
• Sade, Stronger Than Pride
• The Pogues, If I Should Fall from Grace with God
• The Waterboys, Fisherman’s Blues
• The Godfathers, Birth, School, Work, Death
• Camouflage, Voices & Images
• Ambitious Lovers, Greed
• Iron Path, Iron Path
• Toni Childs, Union
• R.E.M., Green
• Throwing Muses, House Tornado
• Pixies, Surfer Rosa
• N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton
• Information Society, Information Society
• Ofra Haza, Shaday
• The Smiths, Rank
• Lucinda Williams, Lucinda Williams

I guess I really limited the expanded list 10 years ago so I wouldn’t have to do so much writing. The Pogues, the Waterboys, the Godfathers, Ambitious Lovers, Ofra Haza, the Smiths and Lucinda Williams would not have appeared on that list — I’ve discovered those albums only in the last 6 years.

Tags: ambitious lovers, camouflage, camper van beethoven, duran duran, enya, erasure, favorite edition, in tua nua, information society, iron path, john adams, kronos quartet, living colour, lucinda williams, midnight oil, n.w.a., ofra haza, pixies, r.e.m., rewind, sade, sarah mclachlan, shadowy men on a shadowy planet, sonic youth, stephen sondheim, the dead milkmen, the godfathers, the pogues, the smiths, the sugarcubes, the waterboys, throwing muses, toni childs, tracy chapman