Just something I thought might be fun—using the AM list, what are the top ten albums and songs released when you were in high school (or the non-North American equivalent)?
My lists—this is fall of 1982 through spring of 1986:
ALBUMS
1. Michael Jackson, Thriller
2. Prince and the Revolution, Purple Rain
3. R.E.M., Murmur
4. The Jesus and Mary Chain, Psychocandy
5. Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombones
6. Tom Waits, Rain Dogs
7. Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska
8. Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A.
9. Metallica, Master of Puppets
10. Prince, 1999
SONGS
1. Michael Jackson, “Billie Jean”
2. Prince and the Revolution, “When Doves Cry”
3. The Police, “Every Breath You Take”
4. New Order, “Blue Monday”
5. Prince, “Little Red Corvette”
6. The Smiths, “This Charming Man”
7. Prince, “Kiss”
8. Marvin Gaye, “Sexual Healing”
9. Van Halen, “Jump”
10. Madonna, “Like a Virgin”
(I’m not sure whether I first heard the Jesus and Mary Chain and the Smiths until after I graduated, although I know I’d heard OF them. I know I had no inkling about Tom Waits…)
Post your lists…I promise not to let it make me feel old.
05-09 (though I'm sure MPP would bump out Ys, which makes me sad)
1. Illinois
2. In Rainbows
3. Sound of Silver
4. Return to Cookie Mountain
5. I Am A Bird Now
6. Third
7. Fleet Foxes
8. Whatever People Say I Am, I'm Not
9. Arular
10. Ys
songs:
1. Crazy
2. All My Friends
3. Rehab
4. D.A.N.C.E.
5. Gold Digger
6. Young Folks
7. 1 Thing
8. Umbrella
9. My Love
10. I Bet You'd Look Good On the Dance Floor
i dunno about when the 05's came out (fall or spring, i mean) and i don't feel like figuring it out. and i'm sure My Girls would be in the songs list too, (thankfully) getting rid of IBYLGOTDF
I'm still living my high school days: good times! This is the last year, thank god, like my friends say time to go do something for society.
84-87 (f***, 25 years ago !))
1. Prince - Sign O the Times (1987)discovered it 1 year later
2. Smiths - Queen Is Dead (1986)missed it
3. U2 - The Joshua Tree (1987) my sister bought it
4.Prince - Purple Rain (1984) Prince was king of these years
5. Guns n Roses - Apetite For Destruction (1987) discovered it 2 years later, saw them live in 1991
6. Paul Simon - Graceland (1986) sister bought it, I loved it
7. Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy (1985) missed it, not a great miss
8. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs (1985) bought it in '86, fell in love with that record
9. Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA (1984) bought the cassette immediately, and my mom didn't let me go to the concert in 85 cause I wasn't good enough at school. Does she realize what she did to me ?
10. Metallica - Master of Puppets (1986) there were 2 or 3 metal heads in my class. I didn't pay a lot of attention
songs
1. Prince - When Dove Cries - I remember the first time I heard it was in a tent in the summer of 84 with my cousin
2. Run DMC - Walk this way - the clip was great
3. Guns n Roses - Sweet Child o Mine - these 3 first songs are 5-star songs IMO
4. Prince - Sign O' the times : these first 4 songs...
5. Prince - Kissed - did a lot of dancing on that one, but not a lot of kisses (I was a total failure with girls in highschool)
6. Public Enemy - Bring the Noise : missed that one
7. Van Halen - Jump : this song carries me back to 1984 at once every time I hear it
8. Madonna - Like A Virgin - one of my friends had an entire DJ set in his room, and he played me a lot of Madonna
9. Smiths - How soon is now ?
10. Smiths - There is a light.. I must have heard of them in a rock magazine but they were not big in France except for music nerds.
01. OK Computer
02. Odelay
03. Dummy
04. Grace
05. Endtroducing....
06. (WTS) Morning Glory?
07. The Bends
08. Definitely Maybe
09. Different Class
10. Maxinquaye
01. Bitter Sweet Symphony
02. Common People
03. Live Forever
04. Wonderwall
05. Born Slippy
06. Song 2
07. Firestarter
08. Waterfalls
09. Fake Plastic Trees
10. Paranoid Android
mmm...ntresting
86-89 (I got into a lot of this stuff a couple of years later when I was in college.)
Albums
1. Prince - Sign O the Times (1987) Being a big Prince fan, I got this one for my birthday and wore out the cassette.
2. Smiths - Queen Is Dead (1986) I'd heard of them, but had never heard much of their music. Picked this one up about seven years ago and I really like it, even if it is overrated.
3. U2 - The Joshua Tree (1987) This was huge throughout my high school years. Definitely one of the soundtracks to my youth.
4. Stone Roses - Stone Roses (1989) Having moved out of England for five years before this was released I missed it. Only just caught up with it a couple of years ago and I'm not that impressed. Maybe it's one of those time and place albums.
5. The Pixies - Doolittle (1989) Trompe Le Monde was the first Pixies album I bought, in 1991, and then saw them open for U2. I think it squeaked into my top 200 albums of all time list.
6. Guns n Roses - Apetite For Destruction (1987) I hated these guys when they first hit it big, probably because of the whole hair metal thing in high school those days. I later caved in and now really appreciate this album.
7. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988) Goo was my indoctrination to them, which I really liked. It wasn't long before I bought this one and was even more impressed.
8. Paul Simon - Graceland (1986) One of those albums I could agree on with my parents
9. De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising (1989) In the early nineties, I pretty much only liked two rap groups: Public Enemy and De La Soul
10. The Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1989) I like the Pixies, as stated above, but it took a while before I got around to picking this one up. It has failed to move me that strongly.
Songs
1. Public Enemy - Fight the Power (1989) In the argument for favorite rap song. Even better thanks to the tie-in with "Do the Right Thing."
2. Run. D.M.C. - Walk This Way (1986) It's fun, and received a shit-load of MTV airplay, but not necessarily a personal favorite.
3. Guns n Roses - Sweet Child o Mine (1987) Eventually won me over.
4. Prince - Sign O' the Times (1987) I really like this song, but there are about four or five others on the album I like more. Never fully understood the high praise.
5. Prince - Kiss (1986) This is some awesome stripped-down funk.
6. Stone Roses - Fools Gold (1989) One of the better songs on the album, although I prefer "I Wanna Be Adored."
7. Public Enemy - Bring the Noise (1987) It's heavy.
8. Smiths - There is a light.. (1986) One of my favorite Smiths songs, but didn't hear it until about 15 years later.
9. Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot (1987) Best song on an awesome album.
10. The Pixies - Monkey Gone to Heaven (1989) A fine song, but not sure it would make my high school top 10.
Fall of 2000 through spring of 2006.
Albums
1. Arcade Fire - Funeral
2. Radiohead - Kid A
3. The Strokes - Is This It
4. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
5. The White Stripes - Elephant
6. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
7. OutKast - Stankonia
8. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
9. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
10. The Streets - Original Pirate Material
Songs
1. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
2. OutKast - Hey Ya
3. Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
4. Missy Elliott - Get Ur Freak On
5. Beyoncé - Crazy In Love
6. The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
7. Missy Elliott - Work It
8. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head
9. The Rapture - House Of Jealous Lovers
10. Kanye West - Gold Digger
It's pretty confusing since litteral translation of high school (=grande école) means college (sort of) in French. It seems that it lasts longer time in some countries than in others.
For me : September 1999 to June 2002
Albums :
1) The Strokes - Is This It 2001
2) Radiohead - Kid A 2000
3) Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 2002
4) OutKast - Stankonia 2000
5) The White Stripes - White Blood Cells 2001
6) Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2000
7) The Streets - Original Pirate Material 2002 (seems that I was no longer in high school when it was released in France but still when it was released in the UK)
8) The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs 1999 (realised the week I entered high school !)
9) Jay-Z - The Blueprint 2001 (yeah, no doubt where i was on that day... hard to forget)
10) Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf 2002
I hope I'm right on the 1999 albums I took out of the list !
When I graduated, I guess I had only heard about Eminem and Outkast (I was a big fan of Ms Jackson !). I guess the name Radiohead did ring my bell a bit.
The first I have really dug has been QOTSA, few months later, even though the first version I downloaded what completely crappy.
Songs :
1) Missy Misdemeanor Elliott - Get Ur Freak On 2001
2) Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out of My Head 2001
3) The Rapture - House of Jealous Lovers 2002 (I'm not totally sure of the date of release of the EP)
4) OutKast - Ms. Jackson 2000
5) Eminem feat. Dido - Stan 2000
6) The White Stripes - Fell in Love with a Girl 2001
7) Coldplay - Yellow 2000
8) OutKast - B. O. B. (Bombs Over Baghdad) 2000
9) The Hives - Hate to Say I Told You So 2000
10) Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood 2001
Probably had no idea of who were the Rapture, the white Stripes and the Hives back then (and I did know Missy but probably only for Lady Marmalade and One Minute Man.)
I was a great fan of Gorillaz (the whole album), Stan and Ms Jackson but did not what would become one of my all time favourite B.O.B.
And you could not avoid Kylie back then... it was just impossible, I'm pretty sure it was the biggest French success among those 10.
Albums
1. Radiohead - In Rainbows
2. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
3. Portishead - Third
4. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
5. Joanna Newsom - Ys
6. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
7. M.I.A. - Kala
8. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
9. Panda Pear - Person Pitch
10. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
With the exception of Amy Winehouse, I didn't even know any of these albums when they came out. I had heard about Radiohead's name-your-own-price scheme but had no idea who they were.
Songs
1. LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
2. Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
3. Rihanna - Umbrella
4. Justin Timberlake - My Love
5. Battles - Atlas
6. The Killers - When You Were Young
7. M.I.A. - Paper Planes
8. Feist - 1234
9. Kanye West - Stronger
10. Klaxons - Golden Skans
With the exception of "All My Friends", "Atlas", and "Golden Skans" I remember when all of these came out. I remember not liking "Umbrella" in particular because my little brother loved it, though I like it now. I think I enjoyed all of them except for "1234", which was a little light for my tastes at the time, and the video is sort of strange, at least compared to what I was used to.
From September 1979 to June 1983, so:
1. THE CLASH “London Calling” (Dec 1979): this album changed my life, I discovered it in 1980 (a friend of mine bought both Clash debut and London Calling) and I decided to abandon all my previous idols (including The Beatles) for the fascinating new sounds that the then current times were bringing.
2. MICHAEL JACKSON “Thriller” (Nov 1982): ubiquitous at the time, at the time it wasn’t cool to admit it but everyone loved it. Including me.
3. TALKING HEADS “Remain in Light” (Oct 1980): I liked Talking Heads a lot but probably not when it came out, maybe it was in 1981 or 1982, this one was my favourite but I liked a lot too their debut and “Fear of Music”.
4. JOY DIVISION “Closer” (Jul 1980): concerning to goth I was much more a Cure guy but I liked Joy Division (more than today in fact). And a sweater with the cover of “Unknown Pleasures” served to gain the attention of a certain girl (so I will be always grateful to JD).
5. R.E.M. “Murmur” (Apr 1983): I missed this one then, the first R.E.M. album I’ve heard was 1986’s “Life Richs Pageant” (that I still love!).
6. AC/DC “Back in Black” (Aug 1980): I hated it, we were punks and despised the metal headz.
7. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN “Nebraska” (Sep 1982): too young for this one, I didn’t get it at the time (although “The River” was one of my favourite albums then).
8. PINK FLOYD “The Wall” (Nov 1979): I loved it (before discovering The Clash), re-listening it now (as I commented on the 70s poll) “I detested the Side 4 of the original vinyl and I didn’t like that much Side 2 but instead I found side 3 really interesting, from “Hey You” to “Comfortably Numb”, in fact I enjoyed a lot “Nobody Home” a dark ballad that I didn’t care at the time”.
9. GANG OF FOUR “Entertainment!” (Oct 1979): I missed this one too at the time, not popular in Spain (well, not popular anywhere really).
10. PRETENDERS “Pretenders” (Jan 1980): I liked it then but not really a favourite of mine.
Songs:
1. GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS FIVE “The Message” (May 1982)
2. JOY DIVISION “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (Jun 1980)
3. MICHAEL JACKSON “Billie Jean” (Nov 1982)
4. THE CLASH “London Calling” (Dec 1979)
5. THE POLICE “Every Breath You Take” (June 1983)
6. NEW ORDER “Blue Monday” (Mar 1983)
7. PRINCE “Little Red Corvette” (Oct 1982)
8. THE SPECIALS “Ghost Town” (Jun 1981)
9. TALKING HEADS “Once in a Lifetime” (Oct 1980)
10. MARVIN GAYE “Sexual Healing” (Sep 1982)
I like these songs, many of them carry the sweet perfume of happy memories, with a special mention to “Blue Monday”.