OK folks - here it is - my take on the best albums of 1987. I think this is a year that's important to many of us in these parts and so I expect plenty of dissent
As before I've rated these albums "present day" rather than allowing big points for life influence as I did in my Top 50 - it hasn't worked out too different in the end anyway.
The Top 10 contains a wide variety of artists from hair metal to basic hard rock (bordering on melodic rock/AOR) to instrumentals and classic metal. Even a live album which normally ain't my thing. I can't see myself having the stamina to do this again in the melodic rock/AOR thread and so , where there were songs on an album sitting on either side of the divide I have allowed them into this list.
A few happenings for the year:- Udo departs Accept
- Headbangers Ball debuts on MTV *unfortunately this wasn't shown much in Oz
-Nikki Sixx almost tops himself with a heroin overdose
The top 10 was tough to judge and I've ended up with a tie for 1st and a 3 way tie for 10th. The "missed by a bees dick" entries all scored 90+ and there were stacks of 88's and 89's , so it's highly likely that any glaring omissions that you see had a high rating but just missed. The HM's below that I have just done alphabetically so that you can easily see if your faves got a mention. As in past years an album had to get a rating of 80%+ to make the list at all and there are 74 albums all up
Feel free to tell me but I can only think of one album that may seem an obvious shock miss and that's Anthrax's Among The Living. It does little for me , but Spreading The Disease is an all time fave....so go figure.I also expect that many will find that I have over rated the Gary Moore and under rated the GnR. And of course Tim thinks all Savatage is over rated
Just remember that the lowest rating in the Top 10 is 91% so we're talking fractions of greatness here.
Without further ado ,here's the list.....
THE TOP 10 OF 19871) Whitesnake : 1987 / Whitesnake (TIE)
1) Ozzy Osbourne: Randy Rhoads Tribute (TIE)
3) Dokken: Back For The Attack
4) Joe Satriani: Surfing With The Alien
5) Gary Moore : Wild Frontier
6) Savatage: Hall of the Mountain King
7) Jimmy Barnes: Freight Train Heart
8) Guns 'N Roses: Appetite For Destruction
9) TNT : Tell No Tales
10) Grim Reaper: Rock You To Hell (TIE)
10) Shy : Excess All Areas (TIE)
10) Vinnie Moore: Mind's Eye (TIE)Missed By A Bee's Dick:White Lion: Pride
KISS: Crazy Nights
Triumph: Surveillance
Lizzy Borden: Visual Lies
Honourable MentionsAB/CD :Victim Of Rock
Ace Frehley: Frehley's Comet
Aerosmith: Permanent Vacation
Alice Cooper :Raise Your Fist.......
Angus :Warrior of the World
Armored Saint :Raising Fear
Autograph : Loud and Clear
Black Sabbath :Eternal Idol
Bonfire :Fireworks
Breaker :Get Tough
Brian McDonald Group :Desperate Business
Def Leppard :Hysteria
Dio :Dream Evil
Great White : Once Bitten........
Helix : Wild In The Streets
Helloween :Keeper Of The Seven Keys
Hybrid Ice :No Rules
Icon :An Even More Perfect Union
Impellitteri :Impellitteri EP
ISOM : Hearts On Fire
Jimmy Davis and Junction :Kick The Wall
John Norum :Total Control
Kane Roberts :Kane Roberts
Keel:Keel
King Diamond :Abigail
Leatherwolf :Leatherwolf
Lion :Dangerous Attraction
Malice :License To Kill
Mama's Boys:Growing Up The Hard Way
Meghan :Meghan (EP)
Motley Crue :Girls,Girls,Girls
MSG : Perfect Timing
Obsession :Method of Madness
Phenomena :Dreamrunner
Pretty Maids :Future World
Racer X :Street Lethal
Rankelson :The Bastards of Rock n Roll
Raven Life's A Bitch
Razormaid First Cutt
Reckless :No Frills
Sammy Hagar :I Never Said Goodbye
Sanctuary :Refuge Denied
Shok Paris : Steel and Starlight
Statetrooper :Statetrooper ( in the context of it basically being a demo)
Stormwitch :The Beauty and the Beast
The Cult :Electric
Tokyo Blade :Ain't Misbehavin
Tony Macalpine : Maximum Security
Treat :Dreamhunter
Tuff Luck: Tuff Luck
Tygers of Pan Tang :Burning In The Shade
Vice : Hot........Just Looking At You
Vicious Rumors :Digital Dictator
Warlock :Triumph and Agony
WASP :Live..............In The Raw
Wild Dogs :Reign of Terror
Wild Force :Wild Force
Y&T :Contagious
Phew! Now I can start my Winger marathon in preparation for The TAC Roulette.
Fire away.