80s Classic Albums (Featuring: King Crimson)

[Lowdz]

Lmao I had never heard of this band till now. So not my thing but those music videos were pretty entertaining. 

Hey that's how we lived back in the 80s 

[KevShmev]

I know it sounds like a cliche, but unless you were around in 1982 and 1983, it is impossible to grasp how massive Thriller was.  This album dominated like no other album ever had, or has since.  Even more amazing is that only three of the seven had videos, but those three - "Beat It, '"Billie Jean" and "Thriller" - were all iconic videos that those of us who were around still know like the back of our hand. Sales and popularity aside, it is a damn good album.  I won't call it the best album ever, like some do, but that's neither here nor there.  It's about as classic an album you will find from any genre.

[TAC]

I can't comment on whether it was a good album or not, but it truly is the album that all others are judged by.

He really was a supreme talent and his life and death remain an enigma like none other.

[sneakyblueberry]

This album... there is a reason it's one of the, if not THE biggest selling album of all time.  Excellent songwriting, production is impeccable, and of course the fact that MJ is the greatest male pop vocalist of all time.  Once I got it on vinyl I truly came to appreciate it, it's just perfect.

[BlobVanDam]

I just listened through my favourites off the album yesterday. I'm not overall into the pop style, but the back to back run of Thriller - Beat It - Billy Jean is hard to top. Beat It was such a good crossover song, and showed how versatile MJ was.
It also gets bonus scifi points for being in BTTF2.

[bl5150]

I can't say that I ever listen to it , but it's an absolute classic as is almost anything with EVH on guitar  - that's probably why I bought it 

I do hear a fair bit of it these days through passive listening as my son is a big MJ fan and an even bigger fan of the Weird Al versions 

[wolfking]

Amazing album from start to finish.

[Outcrier]

Really, that stretch of Thriller, Beat It and Billie Jean is fantastic.
That plus some other pretty good songs such as Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' and Human Nature and you get a stone cold classic.

[Calvin6s]

Classic from beginning to end.

Talk about nostalgia.  Christmas presents:  brother got Thriller and I got Styx - Kilroy was Here.  Van Halen ripping it up on Beat It.  Paul McCartney on The Girl is Mine.  Weird Al's Eat It.  Just great times.

[TempusVox]

Great album. While Rod Temperton did great work with Heatwave, the title cut here was his Magnum Opus.

[Zydar]

Never been a fan of MJ, but the two songs I like from him are both here - Beat It and Billie Jean. Great stuff.

[King Postwhore]

I never owned this album or any other album by MJ.  That being said, the big hits off this album were very well done and hearing them on the radio as well as seeing them on MTV, I knew the songs by heart.  They we outstanding songs.

While most will throw out EVH's solo on Beat It, I will say Steve Lukather's rhythm guitar work on the song is killer.

[hefdaddy42]

One of the greatest albums of all time.  Just an insanely awesome collection of great pop tunes.  This is one of those albums that cannot be overrated.

[masterthes]

A masterpiece of pop perfection. There's hardly a weak track on the album.

[Kotowboy]

My bro listens to a lot of MJ and I have to say - some of the album cuts from later albums are really poor compared to his best stuff.

There's some album tracks from Invincible and onwards that sound like Michael Jackson pastiches with an MJ impressionist at the microphone.

[King Postwhore]

But what about this album Kotowboy?

[Kotowboy]

  this one and Bad are classics !

[KevShmev]

While most will throw out EVH's solo on Beat It, I will say Steve Lukather's rhythm guitar work on the song is killer.

Agreed.  Great riff, for sure.

Great album. While Rod Temperton did great work with Heatwave, the title cut here was his Magnum Opus.

Ya know, I always think of Billie Jean and Beat It as being the tops, but you really can make a strong argument for Thriller.  It's so easy to jump straight to thinking of the video when that song is mentioned, but on its own, the video notwithstanding, the song is definitely pretty awesome.

My bro listens to a lot of MJ and I have to say - some of the album cuts from later albums are really poor compared to his best stuff.

There's some album tracks from Invincible and onwards that sound like Michael Jackson pastiches with an MJ impressionist at the microphone.

But what about this album Kotowboy?

 

This is funny, Kotowboy, because you do that a lot, jumping ahead instead of discussing the album currently being featured.  You always have a lot to say, which is always good, but still.

[King Postwhore]

I'm his DTF life coach.

[Kotowboy]

  today i eated a cake

[TempusVox]

Great album. While Rod Temperton did great work with Heatwave, the title cut here was his Magnum Opus.

Ya know, I always think of Billie Jean and Beat It as being the tops, but you really can make a strong argument for Thriller.  It's so easy to jump straight to thinking of the video when that song is mentioned, but on its own, the video notwithstanding, the song is definitely pretty awesome.

I meant Rod Tempertons Magnum Opus. I always thought it bizarre that the biggest hit from MJ was written by a white boy from England. And the work he did with Heatwave was pretty damn special too.

[sneakyblueberry]

While most will throw out EVH's solo on Beat It, I will say Steve Lukather's rhythm guitar work on the song is killer.

Yes!  Not to mention Steve Pocaro writing Human Nature, and Toto playing all over the record!

[BlobVanDam]

Ya know, I always think of Billie Jean and Beat It as being the tops, but you really can make a strong argument for Thriller.  It's so easy to jump straight to thinking of the video when that song is mentioned, but on its own, the video notwithstanding, the song is definitely pretty awesome.

Speaking of which, I actually really dislike the edit of the song as used in the music video, smooshing together all of the verses, then holding off until the end for the chorus, which is mixed pretty weak with less of the background vox. No flow to it at all. The video is an all time classic, the song is great, but I don't particularly like the way they combined the two.

[KevShmev]

I don't mind it.  Since it is supposed to be something other than a normal length video, I kind of like that they broke the song up the way they did, giving us snippets of it here and there instead of the usual "here is a video over the song exactly as is."  Very ground-breaking for its time, in several ways.

[Calvin6s]

Yes.  The Thriller video was major playground talk.  Keep in mind, this was a time when not every kid on the playground had MTV, let alone a YouTube/Internet.  So we'd actually have sleepovers and wait for videos like this to come on.  If I recall correctly, it wasn't played until after 10pm or something like that.  This wasn't a video. It was an event.  I even recall 30min/1 hour specials where they would show them working out the choreography.

I honestly can't think of any other music video that had this much attention.  Even stuff like Dire Straits Money for Nothing was small time compared to the Thriller video.

[KevShmev]

IIRC, there was a spell there for a while where they'd play Thriller every Friday night at 9 p.m. CST.  It became something forward cool to look forward to every week.  Since the video was too long to be in their normal rotation, when it was played, it was an event.

It is also worth very noteworthy that MJ was the reason MTV started playing more videos by black artists.  Prior to Thriller, with a few exceptions, you simply didn't see videos by black artists, but that changed thanks to Michael Jackson.

[Lolzeez]

I don't listen to MJ's music anymore but i fucking loved him when i was like 7. A ton of memories listening to his music...

[KevShmev]

While technically a 1979 album, this was released in the States in January 1980, so it's basically an 80s album.

Anyway, this stands high on my list of classic albums I don't get. Granted, I am not much of a fan of punk, but I've given this albums several tries over the years, and it bored me to tears every single time.  Considering it wasn't even that popular, at least not in the sense of being one of the best selling albums ever, I think this is a case of critics (whom I have little respect for as a whole) banding together and overhyping this snot out of this album and giving it classic status on their own.  Most of the time when an album I do not care for is considered a classic, I can listen to it and think, "Okay, it might not be my cup of tea, but I can see why it's considered a classic."  That is not the case with London Calling.  This is mediocre stuff.

[King Postwhore]

I too am not a fan of punk.  That's not to say I don't like it's influences like with early Joe Jackson and The Talking Heads but I never bought albums by most of the punk outfits.  Not, I do recognize that The Clash to it's art to another level and I appreciate that.  I do like a few of their songs but not enough to get into their albums.

[Kotowboy]

I like London Calling.





But I much prefer their later work....

[LudwigVan]

This a fine album. Certainly their creative peak. Much more melodic and accessible than their previous albums, yet retains that raw punk edge that's lost in their later efforts.

[jammindude]

A HUGE paradigm shift in the world of punk.    Punk had come about as a backlash to "art rock", and this was the first time a punk band had tried to be something other than the one-dimensional punk rock template.    In effect...proving that punk rock could have broader artistic merit.    A very ground breaking, and yet very ironic album.   

[Outcrier]

Not really a fan of The Clash but London Calling is great.

My favorites here are Lost in the Supermarket, Spanish Bombs and the title track.

[TAC]

Rock The Casbah!!

Oh wait..

[Outcrier]

...I think this is a case of critics (whom I have little respect for as a whole) banding together and overhyping this snot out of this album and giving it classic status on their own.

Well, any music site ranks this album high so i don't think that's the case