Re: (TV) The most influential record of the 80's...

[Maurice Rickard <maurice@mac.com>]

At 8:03 PM -0800 2/20/02, Jay wrote:
> Beastie Boys--Paul's Boutique
>
> name one better
>
> and before you do, make sure you remember the
> qualification: influential

It depends on what you mean by "influential."

I'm going to run the risk of igniting one of our old list arguments 
again and bring up Public Enemy's _It Takes a Nation of Millions to 
Hold Us Back_.  Of course, we can go back further for rap much more 
influential than the Beasties.  "The Message," anyone?

Or...like it or no (I'll admit to a fondness for it), there's 
R.E.M.'s _Murmur_, the touchstone of 80s college rock.  (Scott's 
brought up _Document_, and some may point to _Lifes Rich Pageant_ or 
_Fables_ there--hey, maybe even _Chronic Town_, but _Murmur_ was a 
starting point for many of us...)

I'll agree with "Blue Monday" having a massive influence on club 
culture, and a lot of their ouvre being well worth listening to, as 
well.

Steve Lillywhite's U2 discs influenced all that 80s BIG DRUM SOUND. 
(Or was that some 80s Genesis thing?  I can't remember.)

Do you mean sheer units sold in the genre that came after them?  I'm 
reluctant to recall, for instance, the vanguards of hair-band-ism, 
but somebody had to be first.  (Ratt?  Poison?  Bon Jovi?  I 
dunno--but they influenced a ton of bad music.)  Shred stuff (Yngwie? 
Vai?  Satriani? EVH, of course) influenced the whole Saturday 
afternoon guitar-shop wank crew.  That seems pretty 80s to me, and 
walking into any guitar shop on Saturday afternoon can prove juuuust 
how influential it was.

Or there's the Live Aid "do they know it's Christmas" single, which 
influenced the flatulent "We Are the World" thing and set the 
template for every celebrity-studded benefit extravaganza since.

Stopping before I remember too much of the 80s...

--
Maurice Rickard
http://mauricerickard.com/
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