720. The Fall, The Domesday Pay-Off Triad Plus (1987) Nothing about the Fall is particularly easy, and so it is with detailing the origins of the 1987 album The Domesday Pay-Off Triad Plus. To begin, let’s establish that the group … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #720 to #717
724. Michael Jackson, Thriller (1982) Looking at the list to this point, I wonder if Thriller was a major catalyst for the shift in the music college radio played, or, more accurately, what college radio chose not to play any … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #724 to #721
728. Joan Armatrading, The Key (1983) Joan Armatrading was deep into her career when she released The Key, and she was ready for a little more commercial success. “I would like to sell more records in America, not so people … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #728 to #725
732. Alex Chilton, High Priest (1987) Alex Chilton spend the first half of the nineteen-eighties scuffling through professional uncertainty. The former lead singer of the Box Tops and challenging genius at the core of blazingly brilliant and commercially underperforming power … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #732 to #729
736. Yello, Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess (1983) Boris Blank, the impresario of electronics who drove the musical agenda for the band Yello, had picked up a new toy ahead of the record of his group’s third full-length, Gotta … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #736 to #733
740. Ian Hunter, Welcome to the Club (1980) Former Mott the Hoople lead singer Ian Hunter had been a chipping away at a solo career for the latter half of the nineteen-seventies when he found himself with something of a … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #740 to #737
744. Robert Palmer, Secrets (1979) Secrets was the fifth solo album from Robert Palmer and his first after finally enjoying some success on the U.S. pop charts. The flamenco-tinged “Every Kinda People,” from the 1978 album Double Fun, pushed its … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #744 to #741
748. The Kinks, State of Confusion (1983) On the U.S. singles chart, the nineteen-seventies were rough for the Kinks. Previously shoulder to shoulder with the Who on the tier just below the Beatles and the Rolling Stones on the pyramid … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #748 to #745
752. Bleached Black, Bleached Black (1987) College programmers who first dropped the needle on the self-titled debut of Bleached Black might have been expecting to get a sweeping dose of glorious goth music. Instead, the band from New Haven, Connecticut … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #752 to #749
756. Malcolm McLaren, Fans (1984) Malcolm McLaren’s career as a musical provocateur took a strange turn in the nineteen-eighties, when he moved from behind the scenes promotional manipulations for the likes of the Sex Pistols, Adam Ant, and Bow Wow … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #756 to #753
Coffee for Two 