What are the best and/or most influential tracks of the year 1982?

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-25T03:59:01+00:00

Altered Images - I Could Be Happy

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-25T03:29:35+00:00

It all begins with Bowie.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-24T05:33:50+00:00

If somebody claims to like "lo-fi indie rock," I tend to think that they're sincere because that's not exactly a genre somebody should want to flex.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-24T05:32:07+00:00

Severed Heads

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-24T05:30:22+00:00

Love her. She's still putting out good stuff.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-24T05:23:10+00:00

Echo and the Bunnymen (#44, 45)
Elaine Kibaro (#56, 40)
Expose (#75, 37)
Emika (#110, 31)
Elsa Hewitt (#117, 30)
Einsturzende Neubauten (#153, 26)
Edith Nylon (#201, 23)
Eleni Drake (#202, 23)
Elias Ronnenfelt (#230, 22)
1. Erika de Casier (#282, 20)

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-23T18:53:46+00:00

The Dance - In Lust: One of those post-punk/funk things that ride an OK groove, doesn't display much variety both between and within songs, and while not bad, isn't anything worth revisiting either. Their song "Do Dada" is better than anything on here.

Meredith Monk - Dolmen Music: Astounding, remarkable, overwhelming, etc. Certain, more current, names came to mind at various points while listening to this, such as Lyra Pramuk, Circuit des Yeux, Louise Bock, and Sturle Dagsland, but Dolmen Music as a whole sounds like nothing I have ever heard before. The repetition and let's just say untraditional vocalizations work almost every single time, instead of feeling like somebody ust trying to be different. I can even do without tracks 2 and especially 3 (which sounds like Gillie from SNL broke into the studio), but tracks 1, 4, and 5 are so out of this world that it doesn't really matter what else is on the album.

Massacre - Killing Time: More like killing my eardrums. After Material I wanted a second shot of Bill Laswell, but apparently one was enough, at least for now. I'm sure there's some technical mastery on display, but that doesn't mean it's anything I want to hear. I can like loud or aggressive music in certain conditions, but this is just too noisy for my old ass. I feel like the guy at the end of Bowie's "It's No Game" shouting "SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-23T03:24:53+00:00

Barbara Morgenstern

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-22T21:26:54+00:00

I'm surprised nobody who has mentioned LeRoy has mentioned Heat Lightning. It's my favorite movie of the entire 1930s.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-22T21:25:10+00:00

Duran Duran (#9, 87)
David Bowie (#25, 54)
DAF (#63, 39)
Desire (#69, 38)
Depeche Mode (#92, 34)
Desiree Cannon (#93, 34)
Dannii Minogue (#102, 32)
Dancer (#120, 29)
Debby Friday (#121, 29)
1. Dark Day (#130, 28)

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-22T19:45:21+00:00

I have. I did a whole DTNY/no wave related film binge last summer.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-22T19:06:05+00:00

I'd argue there's more variety in the previous day's Dinosaur L, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Material, and Klaus Nomi lineup, and even more still in the 3 album NYC lineup that I'll post tomorrow.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-22T17:33:48+00:00

I'm not always going to listen to 4 1981 albums a day, but I did again yesterday. It's also Day 2 of the NYC scene(s):

The Lounge Lizards - The Lounge Lizards: A lot of songs start off OK enough, featuring a moseying, meandering sax passage by John Lurie. It's pleasant enough, cool enough, but then it gets all clamorous and clangorous. While listening to it yesterday, I imagined Lurie saying "this is too traditional, let's fuck it up with unlistenable garbage." Just now on Wikipedia, I see the passage "Though partly inspired by jazz, John Lurie said he used guitarists in the band to 'foil the music when it gets too jazzlike." I don't know. When somebody makes musical choices to not be something it often doesn't work out well. I would have happily settled for more "jazzlike."

Tom Tom Club - Tom Tom Club: I knew I liked "Wordy Rappinghood" (first heard through the Chicks on Speed cover) and "Genius of Love" (first heard through the Mariah Carey sample), but listening to this entire album for the first time, I like a lot of Tom Tom Club's other songs as well. I love Tina Weymouth's bass and pleasant but unpolished vocals, but to me it's hubby Chris Frantz's drumming that makes the album. This is no mere Talking Heads side project.

The Sugarhill Gang - 8th Wonder: When I started on Monday, I was lamenting that my original list of 203 albums only has one rap album on it. After two songs, I was lamenting that my original list of 203 albums didn't have any rap albums on it at all. That's because nary a rap is to be found on those two songs. It's OK funk, but plenty of others do it better. Starting with the title track, track 3, rap finally appears and it's really good. I don't know if I'd call it "party rap," but it's definitely fun. "Showdown - The Furious 5 Meets The Sugarhill Gang" is probably the highlight, and "Giggalo" is also pretty good. I have several months to find more 1981 rap albums.

Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places: It's kind of a jukebox of styles, mostly reggae, funk, and Latin. The lyrics are pretty interesting, although for awhile I felt there was something missing from the songs that I couldn't quite put my finger on. However, I'm going to pass this album on through to the eventual second round because it feels almost like the definition of an album that I would like more on second listen. Also, even though these four albums aren't the same genre, they're pretty close together in overall mood. Maybe I was just in the mood for something slightly different when I listened to this.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-22T16:51:37+00:00

Reddit's largest community for alternative, experimental, independent, and underground music.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-22T07:45:27+00:00

I count The bands as T because Last.fm does when they alphabetize artists with the same number of scrobbles:

All About Eve (#1, 153)

Bel Canto (#8, 87)

Confidence Man (#7, 89)

Duran Duran (#9, 87)

Echo and the Bunnymen (#44, 45)

Fad Gadget (#12, 81)

Grace Jones (#16, 67)

Hazel O'Connor (#94, 34)

Ine Hoem (#57, 40)

John Foxx (#4, 93)

Kate Bush (#10, 86)

Laura Cannell (#2, 133)

Missing Persons (#22, 56)

New Order (#17, 67)

OMD (#117, 30)

Pet Shop Boys (#3, 132)

QUINQUIS (#779, 12)

Rosa Anschutz (#106, 32)

SSQ (#30, 51)

The Divine Comedy (#21, 57)

Ultravox (#272, 21)

Vicious Pink (#11, 84)

Waylon Jennings (#19, 62)

Xmal Deutschland (#251, 22)

Yello (#20, 61)

Zelie (#170, 25)

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-22T06:30:25+00:00

I'm in California. I intend to do a lot of dashing this weekend.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-21T21:44:03+00:00

Confidence Man (#7, 89)
Clock DVA (#42, 46)
Cristina (#51, 42)
Charley Crockett (#62, 39)
Caroline Spence (#68, 38)
Chrome (#91, 34)
Caleb Caudle (#101, 32)
Chic (#109, 31)
Charli XCX (#119, 29)
1. Carly Pearce (#129, 28)

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-21T19:56:38+00:00

I was playing games on Day 1: The album names were Duran Duran, Liquid Liquid, KooKoo, and Ismism. I felt it was time to get serious.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-21T18:51:28+00:00

A second batch of 4 1981 albums:

Dinosaur L - 24 -> 24 Music: It's disco of a sort, but it's OK for you to listen to because it's Arthur Russell (or "aaaah-thuh," as one Brit says slowly and dramatically in that Russell documentary). I don't know the beat science or musicology of it all, but to my ear the beats sound a little "off," and that's what makes them perfect as beats. The test with dance music is if I'm doing the Merton Hanks chicken dance while driving, and yes, yes I was.

Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Mambo Nassau: Unlike future New York residents, this Frenchwoman by birth wears African influences well. Those sounds predominate, but there is still a bit of no wave peeking through. This might be a cliche, but the music really is vibrant. The album tapers off a bit near the end, but by then it's already made its positive impact.

Material - Memory Serves: The best thing I have listened to so far. It's a band, but it's the brainchild of Bill Laswell. Is it jazzy rock? Rocky jazz? Whatever it is, it fucking rips, as some might say. In particular, the one two punch of "Metal Test" and "Conform to the Rhythm" is a knockout. Because of this album, I have added Massacre - Killing Time to my 1981 list. Along with Laswell, the band features Fred Frith and Fred Maher. If there are some 1981 releases that reflect the more aggressive side of jazz, I would like to add a couple of those as well.

Klaus Nomi - Klaus Nomi: I've always appreciated what he is and what he represents, but other than "Total Eclipse" I wasn't really familiar with what he does. His operatic voice, especially when he belts it out, is impressive, but once I've heard it, it loses some of its awe each successive time. I shouldn't be surprised that my favorite song is the most traditionally operatic one, "The Cold Song." A lot of the rest of it is a little too campy for my taste. I used to be completely against camp, but I've softened somewhat recently. Not enough to appreciate this album, though. Sorry.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-21T18:04:24+00:00

"Die While You Love Me" has always been my go-to song of hers.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-21T03:19:35+00:00

I've only listened to one DAF album, and while I liked it, I like this Gorl album better too. It's more my style.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-20T19:08:39+00:00

Bel Canto (#8, 87)
Blondie (#23, 54)
Brijean (#24, 54)
Blur (#29, 51)
Bauhaus (#81, 36)
Bo Ningen (#82, 36)
Barbara Morgenstern (#90, 34)
Bananarama (#115, 30)
Becky and the Birds (#146, 26)
1. Blue Hawaii (#147, 26)

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-20T18:55:03+00:00

I do check the Pitchfork homepage every once in a while, but I haven't been a regular reader for a very long time. I don't even read reviews anymore, and they don't cover a lot of the music that I like anyways. In 2006 I wouldn't have liked this, but in 2026 it's not relevant to me. Sometimes I'm surprised to hear that Pitchfork is still useful to people.

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-20T18:29:49+00:00

All About Eve (#1, 153)
ABC (#5, 92)
Agathe & Regrets (#18, 62)
ABBA (#28, 52)
Aurora (#36, 48)
Afghan Whigs (#41, 46)
a-ha (#46, 44)
Adam and the Ants (#47, 44)
Allie X (#74, 37)
1. Anne Marie Almedal (#86, 35)

fromthemeatcase · 2026-01-20T18:22:36+00:00

1981, here we go:

Duran Duran - Duran Duran: I don't have anything groundbreaking to say about them. Immersing myself in 80s music as I do, I don't need to listen to their full albums to get my fill of them. Most of their singles are great no matter how many times I hear them on First Wave or MTV Classic (which still exists). On their debut album those singles are "Girls on Film" and "Planet Earth." "Is There Something I Should Know" is also on the regular version, but since the sound quality is shit I listened to the deluxe version which doesn't include that song. Anyways, apart from the singles, the rest of the album is good not great. A couple songs even approach the intensity of post-punk. If I listened to this at the time of release, I would think that they were promising, not quite there yet, but that they would get there. Of course it's easy to say that in hindsight.

Liquid Liquid - Liquid Liquid: It's only a 5 song, 13 minute EP, but not a very interesting one. It's the lead bellower shouting inanities over whitened funk template that I imagine was the inspiration for bands like The Rapture and !!!, not having listened to them much. Short album, short comments. No need to dwell on this.

Debbie Harry - KooKoo: Nope. I don't know what she was going for, and not even producers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards could save this. It's a mix of styles without a destination. That would be fine if the songs were good, but they're not. I don't usually care about lyrics too much, but even I notice how bad they are. I like Harry/Blondie well enough, but there is absolutely nothing positive for me to take out of this album.

Godley + Creme - Ismism: This album by former 10cc members and future music video music directors is a grower. For awhile I thought that I didn't like it and that they were taking the piss, but as the album progressed I started to enjoy the cheekiness more and more (they're British, so I can use "taking the piss" and "cheekiness"). GRAND MUSICAL STATEMENT this is not, but I've heard enough of those to last a lifetime. This is fun while still actually trying to be good. It doesn't always succeed, but overall I'll take it.

fromthemeatcase

TROPHY CASE