You cannot be serious! HGWTY serves up 1981 and the ball is in your court to say if we think the smashes of the time were ace, or will the court of opinion rule them out?
A reminder of the premise of the thread
After a number of days of posting and reminiscing, we’ll be rating the music of the year out of ten, based on the albums, singles, gigs, whatever that stand out for you that year, and voting for our favourite nominated albums and songs.
Everyone can nominate one album and one song from the year which will then be collated into side-polls two days before the thread closes - please make it clear when you post a nomination for the poll (as opposed to just posting clips or lists of songs and albums you like, which are very welcome).
Leaderboard
Rank | Year | Rating | Top Album | Top Song |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1997 | 8.60 | Radiohead - OK Computer | The Beta Band - Dry The Rain |
2 | 1967 | 8.48 | Love - Forever Changes | Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Some Velvet Morning |
3 | 1992 | 8.29 | Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted | Pulp - Babies |
3 | 2013 | 8.29 | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Jubilee Street |
5 | 2019 | 8.14 | Self Esteem - Compliments Please | Big Thief - Not |
6 | 2004 | 8.10 | Madvillain - Madvillainy / Arcade Fire - Funeral | The Walkmen - The Rat |
7 | 2014 | 7.69 | FKA Twigs - LP1 | FKA Twigs - Two Weeks |
8 | 1970 | 7.61 | Neil Young - After the Goldrush | Curtis Mayfield - Move on Up |
9 | 1976 | 7.47 | David Bowie - Station to Station | Bob Dylan - Hurricane |
10 | 1986 | 7.42 | Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring | New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle |
11 | 2005 | 7.39 | Sufjan Stevens - Illinois | Amerie - 1 Thing |
12 | 1965 | 7.38 | The Beatles - Rubber Soul | Frank Wilson - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) |
13 | 2009 | 7.10 | Fever Ray - Fever Ray | Animal Collective - My Girls |
14 | 1974 | 6.95 | Neil Young - On The Beach | Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - The Bottle |
15 | 1985 | 6.53 | Tom Waits - Rain Dogs | Prince and the Revolution - Raspberry Beret |
16 | 1961 | 5.16 | John Coltrane - My Favourite Things | Roy Orbison - Crying |
1981 was the year of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer’s wedding, Bobby Sands’ ultimately fatal hunger strike, the Brixton Riots, the launch of MTV, the first flight for NASA’s space shuttle Columbia and the first London Marathon
We said goodbye to Bob Marley, Natalie Wood, Bobby Sands, Bill Haley and Bill Shankly and hello to Beyonce, Britney Spears, Natalie Portman, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Serena Williams.
How good was the music?
Going to let the threads from 1980 forwards have a little longer for now, so you have until Sunday 1st May to nominate one album and one song which will then go into a poll along with a number rating poll for year overall out of 10, which will close on Tuesday 3rd.
Some lists for inspiration:
Best Albums of 1981 : Best Ever Albums
https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1981/
100 Greatest Albums of 1981
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/ratings/6-highest-rated/1981/1
The Best Albums of 1981 - Paste Magazine
https://www.spin.com/photos/the-50-best-albums-of-1981/
1981 Best Albums And Tracks Of The Year - NME
100 Greatest Songs From 1981
Nominations will be tallied here as the week goes on:
Album Nominations
Track Nominations