1987 was a big year for music, specifically, albums. And I know because I was a big customer of it. Maybe I didn't buy a lot of albums or CDs, but I did watch an s-ton of MTV and was pretty much a master of dubbing cassettes that I borrowed off friends. It was a magical time, friends. There are really waaaay too many to list, but here are some of the records that either were then or came to be some of my favorites as time went by or were at the very least memorable for the time.
If you read this blog at all, you know I'm a big fan of U2 and particularly of this album. Not seeing this anniversary tour was a heartbreak for me this year, but c'est la vie. I may not have loved this record as much as I did if not for the Rattle & Hum film that was made regarding the tour of this record. It seems kind of pretentious now, but to 12 year-old Becky, it was phenomenal. Best cuts on the record: Bullet the Blue Sky, With or Without You, Trip Through Your Wires, and my all-time favorite song: Where the Streets Have No Name.
Jane's Addiction released their self-titled debut in 1987, and even though it had one of their great long-standing hits, Jane Says, their true greatness will be seen a little later with Nothing's Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual. Just wait.
This is very obviously not the best Kiss record.....not even close. But I somehow procured a tour book from this record and found it just the most interesting thing ever. I'm not even gonna list any hits, because really, there weren't any. C'mon, guys, you know it's true.
I remember some girls in my junior high that got to go see these guys on this tour. Man, everybody was jealous! They even had their haircut like Michael Hutchence! Truthfully, few bands were cooler than INXS at this moment in time. Listening to the record now will still get you going if you don't let yourself get too bogged down in the sadness of losing MH so suddenly a few years later. The record has a lot of great and memorable songs, but I'm only mentioning one which is high up in my list of all time greats: Never Tear Us Apart.
Aaaah, 1987. One of those years I'm glad to say I was witness to and didn't just read about later in books. Someday, children will envy me. I also must note that several albums from 1986 were still thriving on the charts a year later, including Slippery When Wet, Licensed to Ill, Master of Puppets and several others. Everything great couldn't possibly be born in 1987......
I remember having Hysteria on a dubbed cassette and playing it to death. Nobody was cooler than Def Leppard at the time. I remember a boy I liked saying that DL videos always had the hottest girls in them, but all I cared about were the dudes. Hell, I had a pic of Steve Clark jumping in mid-air with his guitar on my bedroom wall! Those were the days. Favorite songs from the album: Hysteria, Armageddon It, and the song you could not get away from even if you tried, Pour Some Sugar on Me.
At this time, I probably only thought The Cure was weird-looking if I had even heard them yet at all. Give me about 3 years.....these guys would become my world and this record one be one of my lifetime faves. My high school sweetheart, later husband, gave me this cassette as a gift and I still have it to this day. I can't tell you how blissed out I have become seeing these guys play live. Favorite songs from the record: Catch, The Perfect Girl, A Thousand Hours and probably the song that I pretty much fell in love with my high school sweetheart/future husband to: Just Like Heaven.
Like the Weather may be my first entrée to the superb voice that belongs to Natalie Merchant. But this record also had the updated Peace Train and What's the Matter Here? It was probably the first time I realized how bands could speak to social change and climate. (I hadn't discovered the 60's and Bob Dylan yet, btw.)
My dad once said that Whitesnake were the only guys in my rock mags that actually looked like men. He was right. There was a certain toughness about Whitesnake that could not be found in bands like Poison or Ratt. Also, I loved Tawny Kitaen....but not for the same reason the boys I knew did. I didn't want to do her, I wanted to BE her. I've changed my perspectives on women since then, but I still like the record. Best songs on it: In the Still of the Night, Is This Love and the song that still gets played on adult contempo stations today: Here I Go Again.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that this was the record when Michael Jackson started being seen as a little bit weird. He just grabbed his crotch way too many times in the title cut video. But he was trying to be bad-ass, and maybe, it kinda worked? Anyhow, MJ could still not be topped at the moment and you were hard-pressed to escape hearing his songs anywhere you went. Top songs on the album: Dirty Diana, Man in the Mirror and the constantly covered Smooth Criminal.
At this point in time, I didn't yet know what R.E.M. would someday mean to me. And while this is not my favorite album of theirs it probably does have my all-time favorite R.E.M. song on it: The One I Love. Enough said.
Appetite has it's very own post right over here. I'm no amateur, people. Just sayin.
For those that have no idea, Less Than Zero was a mediocre book made into a barely recognizable movie with a so-so soundtrack that was probably the most depressing thing to ever happen to the late 80's. Seriously, you'll need to take a shower after you watch it, but the album does have The Bangles awesome cover of Hazy Shade of Winter.
Now, while I was not a big fan of Whitney Houston, my big sis loved her a lot, so I heard her an awful lot. But even if you weren't a big fan of mainstream pop, one could not deny Whitney's likeability. She was beautiful, she seemed fun and she had her own power....she was the Taylor Swift of her day! Best songs on this record: So Emotional and the ever-peppy I Wanna Dance With Somebody.
This is probably about the time that I discovered the more "classic" hits of Aerosmith, and those were the ones I preferred. However, one could not outrun the big hits of this record: Rag Doll, Angel and Dude (Looks Like a Lady) no matter how hard you tried.
I haven't thought about Terrence Trent D'Arby in forevs, but boy did I love the hit on this record, Sign Your Name. I also really loved the big hit, Wishing Well, but I most remember seeing him open for Duran Duran around 1993ish. He was singing the soulful and beautiful song, Delicate, while a man sitting near me sang along, almost tearfully. I still remember that site to this day and the realization of the power that music can have over people.
I liked The Police then, and appreciated them more later, but I think I always liked Sting. Seeing him in 1993 was a big thrill and so was The Police reunion tour years later. As far as albums go, this was probably not my favorite of Sting's, but it did have some good tunes. Faves on the record: Be Still My Beating Heart and Englishman in New York.
I loved me some George Michael back in the day. From Wham! on forward you could not have convinced me this fine, sexy man was gay. Because, well, then how could I ever marry him then? Faith was one of those entrees into my burgeoning, uh, womanhood so I will forever contact George to my early hormones and how he just seemed to know. Best songs on the album: Faith, Look at Your Hands, and a song even my kid likes, Kissing a Fool.
Aaaah, 1987. One of those years I'm glad to say I was witness to and didn't just read about later in books. Someday, children will envy me. I also must note that several albums from 1986 were still thriving on the charts a year later, including Slippery When Wet, Licensed to Ill, Master of Puppets and several others. Everything great couldn't possibly be born in 1987......