Popular: The 80s

1980: 14
1981: 7
1982: 8
1983: 9
1984: 6
1985: 8
1986: 10
1987: 13
1988: 8
1989: 5

Can’t pick July 1981-June 1982 – which was the best year (as in 12-month period) for pop in that decade, and maybe any other decade – so went for 1982 on balance.

Top: 81 – 82 – 89 – 80 – 88 – 83 – 87 – 84 – 86 – 85: Bottom

I think. More or less. As NOT, generally, reflected by the number ones. (Could quibble with the order of both the bottom two and the top two; and of some of the other adjacent pairs too)

I couldn’t rule out placing “The Model” as the best number 1 of the decade, either. Although I shall give the matter further thought.

#4 The strange thing is that for most of the time when I was a student (in the next decade) I barely listened to pop music at all. This was admittedly in St Andrews in all its glorious medievalness. I’d been a regular gig-goer (of an indie kind) in London when I was a sixth-former, but, well, living a good (and wholly impractical) 2 hour journey (be it to Glasgow or Aberdeen) from any gigs of that type I might have been inclined to attend, I found plenty of other things to fill my time and mind…

Despite favouring 1980 for #1 singles, the year comes up v short when it comes to tracks on my PC – some catching up to do there (altho this only includes tracks tagged with the correct year (probably about two thirds of my collection). Posting these as I was quite curious myself.

1988: 196
1981: 179
1982: 159
1989: 137
1984: 136
1983: 132
1987: 125
1986: 121
1985: 120
1980: 92

Those numbers actually seem quite low but I don’t tend to keep entire albums on this PC, just my favourite tracks. Glad it’s fairly well balanced across the decade at least.

I bet nobody’s consulted this for 20 years – the Melody Maker readers’ poll of the 1980s!

Best single

1. New Order – Blue Monday
2. Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
3. The Smiths – This Charming Man
4. The Sugarcubes – Birthday
5. Soft Cell – Tainted Love
6. The Smiths – How Soon Is Now?
7. Dinosaur Jr – Freak Scene
8. U2 – Pride In The Name Of Love
9. Band Aid – Do They Know Its Christmas?
10. Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill
11. Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon
12. The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary
13. The Sisters Of Mercy – This Corrosion
14. The Cure – The Lovecats
15. The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry
16. Joy Division – Atmosphere
17. New Order – Temptation
18. The Cure – Just Like Heaven
19. The Mission – Tower Of Strength
20. Prince – Sign ‘O’ The Times

Act of the eighties

1. The Smiths
2. The Cure
3. U2
4. REM
5. New Order
6. The Jesus & Mary Chain
7. Prince
8. The Sisters Of Mercy
9. The Mission
10. The Fall
11. Echo & The Bunnymen
12. Siouxsie & The Banshees
13. Depeche Mode
14. Sonic Youth
15. Guns N’ Roses
16. Simple Minds
17. Kate Bush
18. Duran Duran
19. Pet Shop Boys
20. Husker Du

Album of the 1980s

1. The Jesus & Mary Chain – Psychocandy
2. The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead
3. U2 – The Joshua Tree
4. The Cure – Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
5. Kate Bush – The Hounds Of Love
6. The Smiths – Hatful Of Hollow
7. The Sisters Of Mercy – First & Last & Always
8. REM – Green
9. Guns N’ Roses – Appetite For Destruction
10. The Cure – Faith
11. The Cult – Love
12. My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything
13. Simple Minds – New Gold Dream
14. Joy Division – Closer
15. Echo & The Bunnymen – Ocean Rain
16. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
17. Throwing Muses – Throwing Muses
18. The Cure – Pornography
19. New Order – Substance
20. Pixies – Surfer Rosa

Casting my eye around the other categories;

Event of the eighties: Live Aid (followed by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 1989 Reading Festival)

Greatest Loss of the eighties: The Smiths (followed by John Lennon and Ian Curtis)

Hope for the nineties: No more Thatcher (2nd: No more acid house, 3rd: A Labour government)

Man of the eighties: Gorbachov (2nd: Morrissey)

Woman of the eighties: Thatcher (2nd: Kate Bush, 3rd: Madonna)

Worst Influence of the eighties: Stock Aitkin & Waterman (2nd: The Thatcher Government, 3rd: Acid house)

My favorite 12-month period – early ’82 to early ’83 – corresponds to Marcello’s, I reckon, since in the States we were getting all of the wonderful British New Pop records about six months late. So we were getting “Don’t You Want Me,” “Tainted Love,” “The Look of Love,” “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” etc. AND at the same time we got Tom Tom Club’s first, “Planet Rock,” Grandmaster Flash’s “The Message,” Prince’s 1999, Thriller, & countless others. Unbelievable, in retrospect. Nice to be 14 then, though of course I didn’t fully appreciate it.

My general opinion as an ’80s survivor agrees with the poll results: first half of decade good; second half not as good. Although two of my favorite genres, freestyle dance & old-school hip-hop, peaked in all their baroque grandeur in 1987-1988.

I’m completely with Marcello on this. The charts covered by the Virgin Rock Yearbook Vol III (1 August 1981-31 July 1982) document the most magical 12 month period not just of the 80s but, well, ever!

Having to pick a calendar year, then 1981 just ahead of 1982, partly because of the excitement and anticipation that built throughout the year. The latter half of 1982 by contrast is a bit of an anti-climax.

Hang on, koganbot. As a certified scientist (that old BSc has to be good for something), I spot a flaw in your mathematical logic here. The best years for pop are clearly occurring every 11 years, like solar cycles. That suggests that the next best year for pop should be right now.

I reckon that koganbot should see off Rory’s +11 formula by ditching the idea that repeating 0s shouldn’t count (why shouldn’t they?). 2000 was a fabulous year for music: Kid A, Stankonia, The Marshall Mathers LP, Xtrmntr, Stories from the City Stories from the Sea, Madonna’s Music, Parachutes, + singles like Beautiful day, One More Time, Frontier Psychiatrist, and so on and on. I remember feeling a little embarrassed at how much 2000 stuff there was on my end o’ decade list.

Anyhow, here’s hoping you’re right about 2011! (If it’s as good as 2000, I think we’ll all be very happy.)

repeated post deleted

After a quick look through the Everyhit archives as reassurance, I’ve gone with 1982 – so many of my all-time favourite singles charted that year. I definitely prefer the pop (as in the top 40 hits) of the earlier half of the decade though there’s thrilling stuff outside the mainstream all the way through.

Can’t believe 1982 isn’t doing better.

My order would be 1982/1983/1989/1981/1988/1980 then a long long gap to 1984/1987 then an even longer gap to the awful 1985/1986 (worst ever 2 years in the history of pop music?).

How polarised the results of this were! I’m of an age that reckons 81/82 were amazing anyway because I was the right age, but just looking at the #1s there’s some duds in there mixing it up. I think 86/87/88 are really strong too, again just in the #1s alone but also in general, so I’m caught out by how little support they seem to have

WOO – 21 records each one number 1 for 2 days.

carrying on… 86 started with West End Girls and Sun Always Shines on TV – both in the FT readers top 50, and has Edge of Heaven and two Madonna #1s (ok and Nick Berry and de Burgh). Might tot up the years in the reader top 100 now…