At dire risk of aging myself, the late ‘80s and early ‘90s are the era that had more influence on me than any other in terms of my taste in music – and many other things besides.
While there are plenty of popular albums represented in the 15 best albums from 1988 that were selected for the best 1,000 albums ever project – from the likes of U2, Guns N’ Roses, and Roxette, for example – it’s fascinating to look at the albums that have a deeper resonance for me (and of course for many others as well).
From that perspective, it’s really cool to see the innovative hard rock of Living Colour’s Vivid and alt rock of the Pixies’ Surfer Rosa right at the top of the list.
Here we go: the best 15 albums from 1988, with a pull quote from each associated best 1,000 albums ever piece.
1) Living Colour – Vivid (#57 of the best 1,000 albums ever)
In the winter of 1988, we were hanging out at school waiting for a concert to begin. And I’ll never forget that Mike reached for one side of his late ‘80s Walkman-style headphones and said to me, “You’ve got to listen to this.”
Seconds later, Vernon Reid’s blistering guitar riff from “Cult of Personality” flooded my ears. A moment after, we were both scampering down the school hallway like a pair of fools, each with one side of the headphones held to the side of our head.
2) Pixies – Surfer Rosa (#109)
I am bonkers obsessed with the gloriously screechy and delicious noise punk that is “Something Against You.” I’m not typically a noise anything guy – especially these days! – but man oh man this one simply crushes.
Less screechy (okay, slightly!) but just as glorious: the delightful, fun, and strange “River Euphrates.” On some days, it’s my favorite Pixies song.
3) Run-D.M.C. – Tougher Than Leather (#132)
The greatest of them all is “Mary, Mary.” It’s a perfect rap song, expertly blending in samples from “Mary, Mary” by The Monkees and “I Can’t Stop” by John Davis and the Monster Orchestra. Fresh to death and then back to life again. I can literally never get enough of it.
4) R.E.M. – Green (#180)
Green is an album that was really important in helping me to understand – in the pre-internet suburbs of Long Island, New York – that there was more to music (and to life) than the hair metal and power ballads I mostly rejected at that time and the classic rock of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and The Doors that I had taken refuge in.
5) U2 – Rattle and Hum (#197)
Let’s rewind back to the fall of 1988, shall we? Rattle and Hum was released in October of that year, and it’s one of the first album releases that I recall being a pretty big deal in my life (especially as I was just getting into “classic rock” at that time, much of which had been around for years or even decades by then).
I had just purchased my first portable cassette tape player, and the very first non-mixtape that I got my hot little hands on was Rattle and Hum. I recall it being an iconically autumnal day in New York, and I remember getting on my bicycle on a cool, sunny gorgeous Saturday with fall colors blooming all over the place.
6) Good Morning, Vietnam soundtrack (#263)
I realized that the Good Morning, Vietnam soundtrack – a movie I watched countless times on cable over the late ‘80s and early ‘90s – is not only fantastic, but it serves up an outstanding array of more eclectic fare from the early to mid-1960s that make it ideal to “fill in” some of the gaps, so to speak, on helping to build the fortress that is the best 1,000 albums project.
7) Jimi Hendrix – Radio One (#309)
“Fire” is one of my favorite Hendrix tracks, and the Radio One live cut is by far my preferred version. I never fail to get a kick out of the BBC announcer with a super posh accent talking over the scorching intro with:
The Jimi Hendrix Experience sounding off again now with one of Jimi’s own, called “Fire.”
8) Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation (#426)
Sonic Youth is a band that I struggle with. The fact that I actively struggle to understand their music – and, honestly, how much I even like it at times – proves I’m motivated to get them.
And then I’ll have an epiphany where I’m like, “I get it!”
Perhaps a little bit like Tony Soprano after taking mescaline and going on a gambling binge in Las Vegas, finally shouting his seeming (and, importantly, fleeting) understanding of the Universe and Meaning and The Cosmos into the Nevada desert dawn. Until reality and the Blue Comet – and maybe even the guy in the Members Only jacket – hit, at any rate.
9) N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton (#461)
Dr. Dre and Ice Cube are both essentially cultural institutions these days, so it’s a combination of exhilarating and bracing and even slightly unnerving to dial all the way back to 1988 to revisit N.W.A’s groundbreaking, raw, surprisingly funky, and dynamite debut record.
10) Roxette – Look Sharp! (#563)
“The Look” is a perfect late ‘80s pop song. It’s got an exquisitely catchy Duran Duran-esque hook, synth-y sounds for days, and fantastic harmonizing from Roxette’s Swedish duo of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle.
11) Guns N’ Roses – G N’ R Lies (#572)
While the lyrics of “Used to Love Her” might “read” as a little sinister (I used to love her, but I had to kill her…) with its light, singalong vibe (that happens to be catchy as hell), I take it as very much tongue-in-cheek. Slash’s acoustic guitar work here also sounds very Jimmy Page in acoustic Led Zepp mode.
12) Danzig – Danzig (#622)
“Mother” was the first Danzig song that I ever heard – and I wasn’t yet familiar with The Misfits at the time, Glenn Danzig’s other band. I didn’t really know what to make of it at first, but I’ve come to really like it. There’s a slow, dark buildup to a huge, bellowing chorus, with Danzig’s vocals showing off its considerable powers. “Mother” also reminds me that Danzig the band is an unusual hybrid of metal and goth sounds.
13) Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (#627)
Raw yet meticulous. Highly political, as relevant now as it was in 1988. Caustic and savagely unique. Exceptionally crafted lyrics that are often surprisingly witty and even very funny (the song titles “Rebel Without a Pause” and “Party For Your Right to Fight” alone are brilliant).
14) The Traveling Wilburys – The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1 (#635)
There are “supergroups,” and then there are supergroups. Looking back, it’s almost unbelievable that this collection of obscenely talented megastars decided to get together to produce a few albums near the end of the 1980s.
And then part of the genius of The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1, is that the band members in no way tried to “outdo” their previous efforts as solo artists and as part of other bands you might have heard of (ex: The Beatles). Instead, everything about The Traveling Wilburys feels easy and enjoyable in equal measure. It’s light and loose and fun and obvious that the Wilburys enjoy being with one another and producing music together as a simple good time.
15) Paula Abdul – Forever Your Girl (#661)
We all throw the term “catchy” around, and I for sure use it pretty loosely. There’s “bad catchy,” of course, that hook or jingle that gets trapped in your head, which becomes a doom prison as the music plays on a misery loop (example: you can take your baby back ribs back and keep them forevermore).
But mostly we tend to use “catchy” for things, and typically musical things, that are pleasing and make us want more of the same. There’s also something about hearing “catchy” music at a formative age when music is tremendously important to us, where certain musical styles, certain songs, and certain bands’ or artists’ output gets kind of hardwired into our creative DNA and becomes a part of our own fully matured take on art and the world.