185. Big Country, Steeltown (1984) Big Country has the kind of debut album a rock act longs for. Boosted in part by the surging influence of the new cable network MTV, The Crossing and its single “In a Big Country” … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #185 to #183
188. The Jam, The Gift (1982) “For me, the songs on The Gift have less stops and starts,” Rick Buckler, drummer of the Jam, observed several years after the release of the band’s final album. “This is what I’m getting … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #188 to #186
191. X, See How We Are (1987) The sixth X record, See How We Are, found the Los Angeles band in transition. On their previous studio outing, Ain’t Love Grand, they undertook a shift that proved faulty. They parted ways … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #191 to #189
194. Big Audio Dynamite, This is Big Audio Dynamite (1985) “We put on a great show, unless you turn up hoping to see the old Clash,” Mick Jones explained as his band Big Audio Dynamite embarked on a tour to … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #194 to #192
197. The Bongos, Beat Hotel (1985) RCA Records thought this new band they signed held some promise of crossing over. There were already some little inklings that the Bongos had the makings of mass appeal. Two of the singles from … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #197 to #195
200. Los Lobos, By the Light of the Moon (1987) “We were trying to take it somewhere else — a step further or something, just to not repeat what we’d done,” David Hidalgo, guitarist and vocalist of Los Lobos, later … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #200 to #198
203. JoBoxers, Like Gangbusters (1983) Subway Sect was a band that spun like a revolving door. Their first single, released in 1978, featured them playing with fervor and fury. By the early nineteen-eighties, their sound shifts entirely to lounge-tinged pop … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #203 to #201
206. Kate Bush, Hounds of Love (1985) After releasing four studio albums in the span from 1978 to 1982, Kate Bush was conspicuously absent. Following the release of her 1982 album, The Dreaming, Bush retreated to the countryside, in part, … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #206 to #204
209. Yes, 90125 (1983) As work commenced on the album 90125, Yes was no more. The venerable prog rock band, already unsettled by lineup changes and other internal complications, decided to call it quits after the tour in support of … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #209 to #207
212. M+M, Mystery Walk (1984) Like John Mellencamp finally completing the long, compromise-laden transition away from the unwanted performing pseudonym that stuck him with Cougar as a moniker for more than a decade, Martha Johnson and Mark Gane were finally … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #212 to #210
Coffee for Two 