’89 was a big year. If you walked around the streets it wouldn’t be uncommon to hear people talking on their forearm sized mobile phones saying words like dude, gnarly, fresh, rad, and eat my shorts! 1989 also saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, the opening of Disney World (not land), the introduction of the first Nintendo Gameboy, and the “gnarliest” invention of them all, THE INTERNET!!!!!!! With so many awesome things happening, it’s no surprise that ’89 had an equally awesome soundtrack. Check out the full list below and let us know what your favorite music of 1989 were.
Dolittle – Pixies
Dolittle is the second album from Pixies and follow up to their 1988 release, Surfer Rosa. Dolittle expanded on the band’s previous success with cleaner recordings and a more refined sound. The Pixies continued their intense and ferocious deliveries, but with tighter songwriting and a wider range of songs, Doolittle is arguably Pixies most accessible and strongest album. It went gold in 6 months and in 1992, the album was still selling 1,500 copies per week. Heather Phares of AllMusic calls Doolittle “A fun, freaky alternative to most other late-’80s college rock, it’s easy to see why the album made the Pixies into underground rock stars.” Notable songs from the album include “Debaser” , “La La Love You” , “Here Comes Your Man” , “Monkey Gone to Heaven” , and “Wave of Mutilation“.
3 Feet High & Rising – De La Soul
3 Feet High & Rising is the emphatic debut album from rap trio, De La Soul. Heavy samples from producer Prince Paul set the tone for not just fun and playful rhymes, but also more serious and contemplative topics such as drug abuse and life in the ghettos. Widely regarded as one of the best, most inventive, and most influential rap albums of all time, it’s no surprise that their style and flare has been mirrored by many artists to follow. Straying away from gangster rap, 3 Feet High & Rising is a less hardcore, more positive version of conscious rap.
3 Feet High and Rising not only proved that rappers didn’t have to talk about the streets to succeed, but also expanded the palette of sampling material with a kaleidoscope of sounds and references culled from pop, soul, disco, and even country music. Weaving clever wordplay and deft rhymes across two dozen tracks loosely organized around a game-show theme, De La Soul broke down boundaries all over the LP, moving easily from the groovy my-philosophy intro “The Magic Number” to an intelligent, caring inner-city vignette named “Ghetto Thang” to the freewheeling end-of-innocence tale “Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin’s Revenge).”
The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses self-titled debut album The Stone Roses ranks among the most influential rock albums of the 1980’s. NME ranks it as the second best album of 1989, and in retrospect the album’s reputation has only gotten better. “What the Stone Roses did better”, writes Thomas Erlewine, “was marry smart psychedelic pop to dance grooves in an incredibly accessible and powerful way that appealed both to rock and rave fans, lovers of hooks and beats, punks and people who actually welcomed 10-minute guitar solos. If influence matters, the album influenced scores of other bands, including Spiritualized, Primal Scream (which bassist Mani joined after the Roses collapsed), the Manic Street Preachers, the Beta Band, the Libertines, and, as the Gallagher brothers have never missed an opportunity to assert, Oasis.” Songs like “I Wanna Be Adored” , “I Am the Resurrection” , “Elephant Stone” , and “She Bangs the Drum” all sound so familiar, that had they been released this year, they most likely would’ve seen a great deal of success, and cements The Stone Roses as a must have. Amy Granzin of Pitchfork concludes “The Stone Roses made a stunning debut, then bled out in a slow agony of contractual disputes, internal discord, and, eventually, public indifference (though their sophomore release and swan song, Second Coming, is nowhere near as bad as people say). More prosaic than drugs or young death, this trifecta killed a career that now essentially consists of just one great record.”
Disintegration – The Cure
Disintegration is the eighth studio album from The Cure, and saw the band moving back towards their Gothic-rock sound, with deeper, more serious themes. At the time, vocalist and guitarist Robert Smith found himself at defining moment in his life. He was nearing 30, he was married, and as a result had many thoughts running through his head. He was unhappy with the way the band was working and felt a lot of pressure to follow up the success of their previous, more pop style records. As a result, Smith went off on his own to write this album and relapsed with hallucinogenic drugs, whose influence is very apparent. While the album has a reputation of being dark and gloomy (which it can be), it’s also a very calming sense bout it. As Nitsuh Abebe writes:
"A whole lot of this album’s appeal is that it’s comforting, practically womb-like, big, warm, slow, full of beauty and melody and even joy. The trick, I think, is how well it serves as a soundtrack to that feeling that everything around you is meaningful, whether it’s beautiful or horrible or sublime. Listening to Disintegration is more like standing in the middle of some vast, empty space– the kind of ocean or plain where you can see the horizon in all directions. You can sense that focus straight from the first minute, during which some wind chimes knock around in an empty void, and then the band bursts out with one of the most overwhelmingly grand openings I ‘ve ever heard on a pop record."
Bleach – Nirvana
Bleach is the debut album from Nirvana. The album was not an initial commercial success. Their sound was rough, and as legend has it, Bleach only cost the band $606 to record. Although recordings may not be perfect, that’s not what this album was about. Classified as “sub-pop” and “grunge”, the album purposefully takes the “imperfectly perfect” route. At the time Kurt Cobain said “I think a lot of music today sounds far too polished. There’s no energy. It’s too programmed and fake, you hear too much. I want a little mud in my music.” And that’s exactly what you get. Cobain continues, explaining how content for the album came about.
When I write a song the lyrics are the least important thing. I can go through two or three different subjects in a song and the title can mean absolutely nothing at all. Sometimes I try to make things harder for myself, just to try to make myself a bit more angry. I try out a few subconscious things I suppose, like conflicts with other people. Most of the lyrics on the Bleach album are about my life in Aberdeen
Notable songs from the album include “About a Girl” , “Blew” , “Love Buzz” , “Negative Creep” , and “School“.
Paul’s Boutique – Beastie Boys
Paul’s Boutique is the second album from the Beastie Boys. The group’s label Capitol Records thought the album was a commercial failure compared to the groups debut License to Ill, and quickly stopped promoting it. Little did they know, Paul’s Boutique would become the breakthrough album for the Beastie Boys and by 1999 had gone double Platinum. As Thomas Erlewine explains, “[Paul’s Boutique] is so dense, it’s bewildering at first, revealing its considerable charms with each play. To put it mildly, it’s a considerable change from the hard rock of Licensed to Ill, shifting to layers of samples and beats so intertwined they move beyond psychedelic; it’s a painting with sound.” Erlewine continues his review, going on to say:
"Lyrically, the Beasties have never been better — not just because their jokes are razor-sharp, but because they construct full-bodied narratives and evocative portraits of characters and places. Few pop records offer this much to savor, and if Paul’s Boutique only made a modest impact upon its initial release, over time its influence could be heard through pop and rap, yet no matter how its influence was felt, it stands alone as a record of stunning vision, maturity, and accomplishment. Plus, it’s a hell of a lot of fun, no matter how many times you’ve heard it."
Louder Than Love – Soundgarden
Louder Than Love is Soundgarden’s second studio album and first to make it onto the Billboard Top 200, reaching #108. The album featured quite a few naughty words, resulting in the “Parental Advisory” sticker being put on it, which in retrospect probably didn’t hurt the album. Boarding on heavy metal and hard rock, this wasn’t an album most protective parents would have let their kids listen to anyways. Taking inspiration from Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and other British colleagues, Soundgarden assaults listeners with soaring vocals, fast guitar riffs, and “bludgeoning drumbeats”. The only negative critics seem to find is the simplicity, and at times “dumb as rocks” lyrics. But nothing is wrong with simplicity in my mind. Simplicity is often harder to achieve, and throughout all forms of art appears as the final, most sacred goal of expression. But more importantly, as J.D. Considine of Rolling Stone points out, “Louder Than Love isn’t about words; it’s about sound.” And even though lyrics may be “basic”, “Cornell delivers them with such full-throated intensity that they actually sound impressive. And if that ain’t the mark of a great metal album, then what is?”
Full Moon Fever – Tom Petty
Full Moon Fever is the first solo album from Tom Petty. After finishing up a tour with his band Petty had decided he wanted to work on a solo project in order to further explore his music roots. Petty wrote the album with former leader of Electric Light Orchestra, Jeff Lynne, resulting in a similar but distinctively different sound from Tom Petty & The Heartbreaks. The album was a great success, reaching the #3 spot on the US Billboard Top 200, and attaining 6 x Platinum certification.
Full Moon Fever didn’t have a weak track; even if a few weren’t quite as strong as others, the album was filled with highlights: “I Won’t Back Down,” the wistful “A Face in the Crowd,” the rockabilly throwaways “Yer So Bad” and “A Mind with a Heart of Its Own,” the Byrds cover “Feel a Whole Lot Better,” the charging “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” and “Free Fallin‘,” a coming-of-age ballad that could be Petty’s best song. Full Moon Fever might have been meant as an off-the-cuff detour, but it turned into a minor masterpiece. – Thomas Erlewin, AllMusic
Avalon Sunset – Van Morrison
Avalon Sunset is the 19th studio album from Van Morrison. It is Morrison’s fastest selling album of all time and is one of his best. Avalon Sunset brought Morrison back to his peak year of the 60’s and 70’s, but without all of the self-doubt and struggle for complacency. “More than anything, Avalon Sunset seemed to present a picture of a man at peace, which was a position he’d audibly struggled to attain throughout his career while attempting to reconcile his growing fame — and the business obligations that came as part of the package — with his efforts to strip away all that outside interference and simply play.” writes Jeff Giles of Ultimate Classic Rock. Spin Magazine’s Karen Shoemer continues this though, “He celebrates nature, love and poetry too; this is contemplation without conflict, remembrances without bitterness. And no matter how esoteric things get, a charged sensuality permeates.” Notable songs from the album include “Whenever God Shines His Light” , “Have I Told You Lately” , “When The Saints Go Marching In” , and “Coney Island“.
New York – Lou Reed
New York is Lou Reed’s fifteenth solo album. Perhaps due to concurrent success of The Velvet Underground, New York helped reignite Reed’s solo career, and is widely considered his best solo project.
New York found Reed writing about the larger world rather than personal concerns for a change, and in the beautiful, decaying heart of New York City, he found plenty to talk about — the devastating impact of AIDS in “Halloween Parade,” the vicious circle of child abuse “Endless Cycle,” the plight of the homeless in “Xmas in February” — and even on the songs where he pointedly mounts a soapbox, Reed does so with an intelligence and smart-assed wit that makes him sound opinionated rather than preachy — like a New Yorker. Produced with subtle intelligence and a minimum of flash, New York is a masterpiece of literate, adult rock & roll, and the finest album of Reed’s solo career. – Mark Deming, AllMusic