MotownSubdivision said:

Dasein said:

Nope! I was truly impressed.

{Wow, this was very perceptive of you to recognize this feat!}

Impressed at what? That all these legends dropped projects in the same calendar year or that I pointed that very thing out? [Edited 2/12/17 12:50pm]

That you pointed that very thing out.

But, I've never worked this hard to make sure someone knew I was giving them a compliment!

NorthC said:

Dasein said:

Yeah, but the context of this thread is "seminality" and considering that all four recording artists
have died within the past ten years or so while being four of the biggest pop stars of all time, I
don't think "any other year" is quite so easily selected.

This means, obviously, that TTD's debut, although it was pretty good, doesn't belong on this list.

Okay... I just looked at classic albums, didn't pay much attention to whether or not the artists were still alive...

Yeah, but I guess I would say that when TTD dies, we still couldn't put him in this list because
he was never the pop star that George Michael, Prince, Whitney Houston, and Michael Jackson
were.

Is his debut album seminal?

Dasein said:

Dasein said:

NorthC said:

Dasein said: Okay... I just looked at classic albums, didn't pay much attention to whether or not the artists were still alive...

Yeah, but I guess I would say that when TTD dies, we still couldn't put him in this list because
he was never the pop star that George Michael, Prince, Whitney Houston, and Michael Jackson
were.

Is his debut album seminal?

I agree, TTD's debut hinted at a superstar future, but that promise was cut very short, with Flesh nor Fantasy flopping and then Symphony or Damn having two Top 10 hits, better but hardly legend making, plus 6 years had flowed under the bridge. 1995's Vibrator was decent, but really only had 2 or 3 chart songs and after that he became very underground with the name changes.

.

At best he is a great cult artist, at worst he is a tragic Prince imitator (Name change, similar sound, gay acting but straight).

.

But had he gone on to make superstar quality releases each year or 2 into the late 90s/2000s he may have been in that rarefied league and I am all sure we would be having a discussion here that was different.

.

Also using these benchmarks, would George Michael even count, as Faith was a big seller, Listen without Prejudice was a flop selling barely 2million copies and considered a massive let down (Although I think its great), and then there was 6 years of one off songs and 1996's Older, while critically acclaimed was only a moderate sized hit. Then a pattern of erratic songs and releases, gems followed by rubbish like "Songs from the last century" and "Most of Patience". I would seriously put George in with TTD rather than, MJ, Prince, Madonna and Whitney.

.

I think we are only including GM as he died recently, in reality GM had not released anything viable in years and was collecting on past legacy. If anything Georges big moment in the sun ended in the late 80s, as the Wham! and Faith eras were his biggest chart ones, and his post 1989 music was more legendary and cult like.

.

Even Whitney could be excluded after 1995, her first, second and fourth albums were mega smashes, but even 1990's I'll be your baby tonight, was a bit of a let down and her career may have declined from there had it not been for the bodyguard. She had some good mid 90s and even late 90s songs, but with Bobby de Crackhead Brown, things were heading in the wrong direction.And let's face it, we were being kind about "I look to you" that was crackhead warbling. The fact Bobby Brown is not in jail for 100 years is a miracle. This is a man so wasted, he once claimed a ghost had sex with him.

[Edited 2/12/17 14:11pm]

Adorecream said:

Dasein said:

Yeah, but I guess I would say that when TTD dies, we still couldn't put him in this list because
he was never the pop star that George Michael, Prince, Whitney Houston, and Michael Jackson
were.

Is his debut album seminal?

I agree, TTD's debut hinted at a superstar future, but that promise was cut very short, with Flesh nor Fantasy flopping and then Symphony or Damn having two Top 10 hits, better but hardly legend making, plus 6 years had flowed under the bridge. 1995's Vibrator was decent, but really only had 2 or 3 chart songs and after that he became very underground with the name changes.

.

At best he is a great cult artist, at worst he is a tragic Prince imitator (Name change, similar sound, gay acting but straight).

.

But had he gone on to make superstar quality releases each year or 2 into the late 90s/2000s he may have been in that rarefied league and I am all sure we would be having a discussion here that was different.

.

Also using these benchmarks, would George Michael even count, as Faith was a big seller, Listen without Prejudice was a flop selling barely 2million copies and considered a massive let down (Although I think its great), and then there was 6 years of one off songs and 1996's Older, while critically acclaimed was only a moderate sized hit. Then a pattern of erratic songs and releases, gems followed by rubbish like "Songs from the last century" and "Most of Patience". I would seriously put George in with TTD rather than, MJ, Prince, Madonna and Whitney.

.

I think we are only including GM as he died recently, in reality GM had not released anything viable in years and was collecting on past legacy. If anything Georges big moment in the sun ended in the late 80s, as the Wham! and Faith eras were his biggest chart ones, and his post 1989 music was more legendary and cult like.

.

Even Whitney could be excluded after 1995, her first, second and fourth albums were mega smashes, but even 1990's I'll be your baby tonight, was a bit of a let down and her career may have declined from there had it not been for the bodyguard. She had some good mid 90s and even late 90s songs, but with Bobby de Crackhead Brown, things were heading in the wrong direction.And let's face it, we were being kind about "I look to you" that was crackhead warbling. The fact Bobby Brown is not in jail for 100 years is a miracle. This is a man so wasted, he once claimed a ghost had sex with him.

[Edited 2/12/17 14:11pm]

This is a great and interesting post; damn, don't read too many of those around here.

And the OP is very specific with its presented context: "4 of the 5 megastars of the 1980s, all of
which have passed on" so I don't know why other albums not of the "5 megastars of the 1980s"
are even being talked about in the first place save for the thread initiator's merciful attitude to-
wards incongruent posts.

Adorecream said:

Dasein said:

Still at the end of the day, Sign o the Times and Bad are two of the most deeply satisfying pieces of music ever made. Neither of them have dated and they still sound like the best work of two geniuses. Both of them get HEAVY rotation here.

Adorecream said:

Also using these benchmarks, would George Michael even count, as Faith was a big seller, Listen without Prejudice was a flop selling barely 2million copies and considered a massive let down (Although I think its great), and then there was 6 years of one off songs and 1996's Older, while critically acclaimed was only a moderate sized hit. Then a pattern of erratic songs and releases, gems followed by rubbish like "Songs from the last century" and "Most of Patience". I would seriously put George in with TTD rather than, MJ, Prince, Madonna and Whitney.

.

I think we are only including GM as he died recently, in reality GM had not released anything viable in years and was collecting on past legacy. If anything Georges big moment in the sun ended in the late 80s, as the Wham! and Faith eras were his biggest chart ones, and his post 1989 music was more legendary and cult like.

.

You have to keep things in perspective here. I've always thought that every artist has their Thriller; that one album that defies all logic, and is its own beast forever. Thriller, Purple Rain, Like A Prayer, Can't Slow Down, No Jacket Required, Funky Divas, Faith - every artist has one (before and after Thriller of course). There's no accounting for when it'll happen, it just does (obviously with the work put in during the writing process). Around The World In A Day was considered a flop. Prince had only really averaged about 3M per album, then PR spent 24 weeks at #1. There were only five #1 albums that year. That's how big it was. It took up half the damn year. That's amazing shit for anyone. Thriller had a similar streak.

Listen without Prejudice was marred by the bad press, really. GM's attempt to not be in that Faith-bubble of mega-attention did sort of backfire. Then the Sony fight started shortly after. What did keep GM alive (although his success has always been harder in the U.S., and even he said he didn't think Wham! was nearly as big in the U.S. was it was in the UK) were those one-off singles. "Too Funky" wasn't on LWP or Older, yet was a big hit. So was "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me", and "Killer/Papa Was a Rolling Stone" - the latter of which was on the same EP as the popular "Somebody To Love".

I quite enjoyed Songs From The Last Century. It's an artist trying his best to stay an artist, while going through some serious shit in his life and suffering writer's block. His creativity with arrangements and still singing like an angel held the album together. It was #2 (his only #2 record), which still ain't crumbs.

George chose not to release any more music, and he said as much in 2004. Patience would probably be his last real record, because he'd made more than enough money in his life. But, then you have him doing wonderful tours like the 25Live and Symphonica Tour (the latter of which is beautiful, especially at 423Hz). Him releasing live stuff truly shows where he's best - singing live. I mean, what an accomplishment to only really release 4 solo records of original material, and 1 cover album, and have enough to live the rest of your life, and barely be approaching 50 years old. I'll be 50 in 13 months, and I surely can't say that.

In a way, GM is a lot like MJ. MJ had 3-4 years between albums. He died in 2009, and hadn't released a studio album since 2001.

For me, the biggest difference is that GM was a British artist. He simply had a bigger career over there, than here. But here was no shit show, either. Unplugged helped keep him relevant and staged a faux "comeback" (even he admitted that to Kurt Loder or John Norris). However, the original post about about albums that redefined music that came out in 1987. Faith was certainly one of those.

MotownSubdivision said:

spacedolphin said:

Also the deserved Grammy-winner The Joshua Tree, Apetite for Destruction, Floodland, Tango in the Night, Dawnrazor, Electric, Diesel and Dust, Surfing with the Alien, Kick, That Total Age, Within the Realm of a Dying Sun, Music for the Masses, Document, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, Sister and Songs About Fucking.

[Edited 2/10/17 16:05pm]

I know there's more where that came from but I think it's very interesting how 4/5 the biggest names of the decade all dropped an album in 1987.

Where does Bruce fit here?

He undeniably is in the cream of the crop in terms of 80s icons (arguably bigger than 80s Whitney or George).

Born In The USA dropped in '84, and Tunnel of Love , though less heralded than Born, dropped in '87.

TrivialPursuit said:

Adorecream said:

Also using these benchmarks, would George Michael even count, as Faith was a big seller, Listen without Prejudice was a flop selling barely 2million copies and considered a massive let down (Although I think its great), and then there was 6 years of one off songs and 1996's Older, while critically acclaimed was only a moderate sized hit. Then a pattern of erratic songs and releases, gems followed by rubbish like "Songs from the last century" and "Most of Patience". I would seriously put George in with TTD rather than, MJ, Prince, Madonna and Whitney.

.

I think we are only including GM as he died recently, in reality GM had not released anything viable in years and was collecting on past legacy. If anything Georges big moment in the sun ended in the late 80s, as the Wham! and Faith eras were his biggest chart ones, and his post 1989 music was more legendary and cult like.

.

You have to keep things in perspective here. I've always thought that every artist has their Thriller; that one album that defies all logic, and is its own beast forever. Thriller, Purple Rain, Like A Prayer, Can't Slow Down, No Jacket Required, Funky Divas, Faith - every artist has one (before and after Thriller of course). There's no accounting for when it'll happen, it just does (obviously with the work put in during the writing process). Around The World In A Day was considered a flop. Prince had only really averaged about 3M per album, then PR spent 24 weeks at #1. There were only five #1 albums that year. That's how big it was. It took up half the damn year. That's amazing shit for anyone. Thriller had a similar streak.

Listen without Prejudice was marred by the bad press, really. GM's attempt to not be in that Faith-bubble of mega-attention did sort of backfire. Then the Sony fight started shortly after. What did keep GM alive (although his success has always been harder in the U.S., and even he said he didn't think Wham! was nearly as big in the U.S. was it was in the UK) were those one-off singles. "Too Funky" wasn't on LWP or Older, yet was a big hit. So was "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me", and "Killer/Papa Was a Rolling Stone" - the latter of which was on the same EP as the popular "Somebody To Love".

I quite enjoyed Songs From The Last Century. It's an artist trying his best to stay an artist, while going through some serious shit in his life and suffering writer's block. His creativity with arrangements and still singing like an angel held the album together. It was #2 (his only #2 record), which still ain't crumbs.

George chose not to release any more music, and he said as much in 2004. Patience would probably be his last real record, because he'd made more than enough money in his life. But, then you have him doing wonderful tours like the 25Live and Symphonica Tour (the latter of which is beautiful, especially at 423Hz). Him releasing live stuff truly shows where he's best - singing live. I mean, what an accomplishment to only really release 4 solo records of original material, and 1 cover album, and have enough to live the rest of your life, and barely be approaching 50 years old. I'll be 50 in 13 months, and I surely can't say that.

In a way, GM is a lot like MJ. MJ had 3-4 years between albums. He died in 2009, and hadn't released a studio album since 2001.

For me, the biggest difference is that GM was a British artist. He simply had a bigger career over there, than here. But here was no shit show, either. Unplugged helped keep him relevant and staged a faux "comeback" (even he admitted that to Kurt Loder or John Norris). However, the original post about about albums that redefined music that came out in 1987. Faith was certainly one of those.

I agree totally, I love Listen without Prejudice Vol 1, but I was merely saying the chart world less so, although Praying for time was a #1 smash. But I did not like Last Century and there is not much on Patience that is great, still I really like Freeek!, that song was way ahead of its time and just made George cool again all over. It should have done better.

.

I think Sony did make life hard for George and he did have a lot of internal demons, LWP was at the time he was really coming to terms with being gay, especially now Anselmo was in his life. Plus add to the fact he was doing a lot of stuff then. GM was conscious of his commercial clout and still had these big one off hits like "Don't let the sung go down on me, Too Funky, Someone to love" all being big hits in the early 90s. George also had the writers block. Fastlove came out in late 94 and Jesus to a Child in 1995, yet Older was mid 1996. Same with Freeek!, George shipped it as a single in late 02 and Shoot the dog in 03, yet Patience was a year later.

.

Still when George gave anything, it usually hit and that was good in keeping the momentum between singles.

.

I am not so sure about 1 big album per artist though. Some lesser artists may have one huge smash like "Street Songs" by Rick James and "Blood sugar sex magik" by RHCP. They had successes before and after, but only one huge album. For George it was Faith, but all his other albums sans Songs of the last century were successful, but not blockbuster level. The Wham albums Fantastic, Make it Big and the Final were decent sellers and so was the 2 greatest hits collections - Ladies and Gentlemen (1998) and Twenty Five (2009), but Faith was a Diamond album, the others were merely Platinum to Triple Platinum.

.

To me the best artists have more than one smash, Take MJ, Thriller did sell over 50 million copies at least, but Bad sold 30 million, Dangerous 32 million, OTW at least 15 million to date (Although only 6 million initially), History sold 10 million sets of 2 discs so 20 million. Only Invincible and the EP album Blood on the Dancefloor sold less and they were both 2 million US and 5 million worldwide each. In the 80s and 90s, only MJ could get such numbers, 4 albums in a row.

.

There were smashes that sold over 10 million albums, but mostly it was no more than 2, Whitney ahd 3 (Whitney Houston, Whitney and The Bodyguard), Madonna had 3 (Like a virgin, True Blue and Like a Prayer - 4 if you include immaculate collection), even Shania Twain had 2, but Prince only had 1 album in that league Purple Rain. The next best sellers were Batman (About 5 million) and Diamonds and Pearls (Anywhere 4 - 6 million).

.

Also before Purple Rain, Prince's albums sold quite poorly, they only really took off with Purple Rain. Initially sales were.

For You - about 150,000

Prince - 1,000,000 barely

Dirty Mind - 400,000 (Less than the Time)

Controversy - about 1 - 1.5 million

1999 - Around 4 million by the end of 1983, but before LRC dropped as a single around 500k.

Adorecream said:

Still at the end of the day, Sign o the Times and Bad are two of the most deeply satisfying pieces of music ever made. Neither of them have dated and they still sound like the best work of two geniuses. Both of them get HEAVY rotation here.

Bad has dated a little bit, but who cares. Still, Dangerous is a better album.

namepeace said:

MotownSubdivision said:

spacedolphin said: I know there's more where that came from but I think it's very interesting how 4/5 the biggest names of the decade all dropped an album in 1987.

Where does Bruce fit here?

He undeniably is in the cream of the crop in terms of 80s icons (arguably bigger than 80s Whitney or George).

Born In The USA dropped in '84, and Tunnel of Love , though less heralded than Born, dropped in '87.

I view Bruce as being just a notch below the others. He was a red hot act and while he was popular throughout the decade (and after becoming super popular in 1984), Whitney and George shot up to that stratospheric level even quicker than he did with the former essentially being an overnight success. Where he is in comparison to George is more arguable than where he was compared to Whitney.

Either way he's definitely worthy of inclusion but with or without him, the biggest names of the 80s all dropped albums in 1987, making it the only year where this happened.

Prince had Sign 'o the Times

Whitney had Whitney

Madonna had the Who's That Girl soundtrack

MJ had Bad

Bruce had Tunnel of Love

George had Faith

The only other year that comes close is 1984:

Bruce had Born in the U.S.A.

Prince had Purple Rain

MJ had his contributions on Victory

Madonna had Like a Virgin

By sheer numbers as well as each act having albums, 1987 beats out 1984 on this front.

[Edited 2/14/17 3:24am]

NorthC said:

Yeah... But... I really don't remember Springsteen's Tunnel of Love having a lot of impact back then... Former band mate Little Steven had a bigger hit with Bitter Fruit... And U2 released The Joshua Tree, which was ome of the biggest albums of 1987...

It probably didn't but in terms of name value, 1987 was brimming with it. Like I said, it's the only year in history where the absolute biggest stars of the 80's each released an album. The circumstances surrounding each artist and their respective releases vary but they all released projects the same year nonetheless.

I don't think Sign 'o the Times had much impact either but it's still remembered as the excellent album that it is and was commercially successful as well, hitting the Top 10.

[Edited 2/13/17 16:32pm]

214 said:

Adorecream said:

Still at the end of the day, Sign o the Times and Bad are two of the most deeply satisfying pieces of music ever made. Neither of them have dated and they still sound like the best work of two geniuses. Both of them get HEAVY rotation here.

Bad has dated a little bit, but who cares. Still, Dangerous is a better album.

Sorry I disagree .

Put Bad on your bassiest, boomiest sound system and blast Smooth Criminal, Bad, the Way you make me feel and you have some very fresh sounding and satisfying beats. I really love Dangerous too, but there are a couple of lesser tracks there, and its a bit larded over (I usually skip the talking bit on Black or White), Still Dangerous has Who is it and in the Closet. But Bad has Smooth Criminal and TWYMF forcrissake

.

About Springsteen, okay he is not my cup of tea, but his success can not be denied, Born in the USA gave Purple Rain a serious run for his money. I am not really a follower of his, but I know he has had some really big selling albums and a devoted fan base. Some of his songs are good, but he is a bit too rock for me. I guess I am very much a Pop, R&B, Disco and Soul fan at heart. Music that makes you dance and has a beat has always appealed to me more than anything else, along with powerhouse vocals.

Adorecream said:

I think Sony did make life hard for George and he did have a lot of internal demons, LWP was at the time he was really coming to terms with being gay, especially now Anselmo was in his life. Plus add to the fact he was doing a lot of stuff then. GM was conscious of his commercial clout and still had these big one off hits like "Don't let the sung go down on me, Too Funky, Someone to love" all being big hits in the early 90s. George also had the writers block. Fastlove came out in late 94 and Jesus to a Child in 1995, yet Older was mid 1996. Same with Freeek!, George shipped it as a single in late 02 and Shoot the dog in 03, yet Patience was a year later.

.

Just a correction: "Fastlove" was on Older, which came out in the summer of 1996. The song was released in the spring, if memory serves (I remember it being a summer song).

You could be thinking of "Jesus To A Child", which he first sang live (and debuted it) in 1994. It was one of the Euro awards (probably MTV VMA?).

I loved "Freeek" when it came out. It was slightly remixed for Patience, but either is fine by me. I downloaded the UK songs that were deleted from the US version of Patience, and added them back to the tracklist. I looked it up, and it's interesting to see how the one-offs were staggered:

DLTSGDOM: Nov 1991

Too Funky: July 1992

Killer/PWARS: April 1993

Someone To Love: May 1993

If I Told You That: August 2000

Freeek: March 2002

Shoot The Dog: July 2002

It was an interesting little trickle of music that, really, at least kept him in people's ears.

I still think Faith belongs on the list of things that were highly relevant in 1987.

Adorecream said:

214 said:

Bad has dated a little bit, but who cares. Still, Dangerous is a better album.

Sorry I disagree .

Put Bad on your bassiest, boomiest sound system and blast Smooth Criminal, Bad, the Way you make me feel and you have some very fresh sounding and satisfying beats. I really love Dangerous too, but there are a couple of lesser tracks there, and its a bit larded over (I usually skip the talking bit on Black or White), Still Dangerous has Who is it and in the Closet. But Bad has Smooth Criminal and TWYMF forcrissake

.

About Springsteen, okay he is not my cup of tea, but his success can not be denied, Born in the USA gave Purple Rain a serious run for his money. I am not really a follower of his, but I know he has had some really big selling albums and a devoted fan base. Some of his songs are good, but he is a bit too rock for me. I guess I am very much a Pop, R&B, Disco and Soul fan at heart. Music that makes you dance and has a beat has always appealed to me more than anything else, along with powerhouse vocals.

Sorry i disagree

Hey boy, don't forget Jam, another great song, Remember The Time, Will You Be There and so on. Monkey Business and DYKWYA had been in Dangerous it would have been even better.

214 said:

Bad has dated a little bit, but who cares. Still, Dangerous is a better album.

Both have somewhat of a dated sound. The difference in albums that sound dated (or from a specific era) if they're still viable to listen to. Something like Taylor Dayne's albums sound very dated, or even Bobby Z's album (not that it was a charter burner), but a new jack swing album like Dangerous is still funky and fun. I think those songs are so well crafted, well produced, and minus a couple of fillers, it's a 97% solid album. The 2nd side is pure bliss, ranging from R&B, to rock, to gospel, to balladry, to flat out dance music.

Bad has its own set of uniqueness and dated-ness. I do think Bad, while a near-perfect album, does have a bit more of a time stamp on it than Dangerous. Stuff like "Another Part Of Me", or "Speed Demon" have sounds specific to that time in music; to the point that it's like "Oh, that's a late 80s record".

As far as better of the two - for the sheer volume of material and diversity, I'm going with Dangerous. But, I do like the very first pressing of Bad because of it's stand-apart sound compared to all the remixes that were incorporated on the record with subsequent pressings.

TrivialPursuit said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Wasn't trying to be a downer or a killjoy but man... it's crazy how all 4 artists released an album in the same year and now all 4 are gone. It's definitely a bitter pill to swallow As for 1987 in general, that year saw many significant releases. It's probably the most stacked year of the decade next to 1984.

It's not a downer; just truth.

I'd agree that 1987 seems to be a reboot to music in general. MJ had new sounds on his record, Whitney certain took WH to a new level - a tough task considering how big the Whitney Houston record was in 1985. She changed up her sound, too. Went with the late 80s synth-heavy Ric Wake type sound. Folks had to keep up with that Taylor Dayne sound.

It was a watershed for Prince too, with a new band, and a double record.

Then GM comes out of the gate talking sex in an age of AIDS (ironically it was a message of monogamy, not casual sex), and was one of the first albums to be recorded digitally. People forget that George Michael played most every instrument on there, and wrote all the songs, or at least co-wrote with his friend David Austin ("Look At Your Hands"). He wrote, played, produced... sounds like someone we know.

that's the thing though, the Whitney album did not take Whitney to greater heights because her debut album "Whitney Houston" was her best selling album......

w/the exception of George Michael who didn't release his first major album until 1987......

1987 marked the beginning of music's overall decline compared to the period that proved to be its apex some 2-3 years earlier....music started to decline in increments beginning that year but cleverly disguised through the years of the music video

the Pop ascension led to immediate downward sales for Michael Jackson, Prince, Whitney, Lionel Richie, and eventually other stalwart contributors such as the late George Michael.....

HIs album faith sold 25 million copies worldwide just like Michael Jackson's Bad did......

But after that mark, George MIchael was pressed by the Pop ascension mold and he never had another studio album that sold over 10 million copies...

1987 was the beginning of music's decline to what we are seeing today.

NorthC said:

Springsteen, Tunnel of love, Paid In Full, Mellanhead, Lonesome Jubilee, Faith No More, Warehouse, songs and stories, Solitude Standing, InXS, Kick, SqueeZE.

Scorp said:

NorthC said:

And it was also the time that hip hop became popular...

Exactly, And if it was done correctly and with balance without shunning out the adult record buyer There would never have been a decline in music

Not so sure the year hip-hop "became popular" wasn't 1986, with Raising Hell and Licensed to Ill becoming landmark crossover smashes.

namepeace said:

NorthC said:

namepeace said:

Not so sure the year hip-hop "became popular" wasn't 1986, with Raising Hell and Licensed to Ill becoming landmark crossover smashes.

Yeah, that's why I said "it was also the time", not the year. The second half of the 80s was when hip hop really broke through.

Okay, the thread was specific as to '87, but I got you.

Scorp said:

that's the thing though, the Whitney album did not take Whitney to greater heights because her debut album "Whitney Houston" was her best selling album......

w/the exception of George Michael who didn't release his first major album until 1987......

1987 marked the beginning of music's overall decline compared to the period that proved to be its apex some 2-3 years earlier....music started to decline in increments beginning that year but cleverly disguised through the years of the music video

the Pop ascension led to immediate downward sales for Michael Jackson, Prince, Whitney, Lionel Richie, and eventually other stalwart contributors such as the late George Michael.....

HIs album faith sold 25 million copies worldwide just like Michael Jackson's Bad did......

But after that mark, George MIchael was pressed by the Pop ascension mold and he never had another studio album that sold over 10 million copies...

1987 was the beginning of music's decline to what we are seeing today.

Not really true. George was in Wham! which in reality was 99% him, he wrote most of the songs, did 90% of the singing and the whole sound and feel of Wham! was him Andrew played guitar and some keyboards, but it always seems to be George's voice on the songs.

.

The first Wham! album Fantastic was a band effort, with George and the female backing singers Pepsi and Shirley doing all the vocals, Andrew and a couple of other guys took care of the rhythm section. From the start they were promoting the sex combination of George and Andrew out front.

.

Like George, Andrew Ridgeley was also of an exotic background, having an Italian/Egyptian father Mario Rashik (Changed to Ridgeley to sound less "wog") and was clearly eye candy, but had very little musical talent. Unlike George Andrew was very straight.

.

Fantastic was not a big seller outside of the UK, and only sold a few hundred thousand on release in mid 1983. Sales took off after Careless Whisper though and it was a couple of million.

.

The second album - Make it big, was more George and less Pepsi and Shirley and Andrew. The sound was more synthesised, and thus the rhythm section was dispensed with. Also the smash hit Careless Whisper was released as George Michael solo tune and went way beyond the kiddie pop/boy band sound of most of the Wham! material (Although it was great). They then hit big with Wake me up before you go go!, which was a global smash and #1 everywhere and became iconic for its "Choose Life" tshirts and general mid 1980s colourful ness and the poppy upbeat sound of the song with George's incredible singing.

.

They kept the momentum up through 1984 and into 1985, with 4 or 5 more big hits. In 1985 they went to China, but George wanted to move away from the boy band sound and do more mature and thoughtful music. There was a 1 year hiatus in new music between I'm your man and "A different corner" and the latter song was a moodier more introspective GM solo number. At the same time, George sang backing vocals on Elton's hit Nikita, which went Top 10 in late 1985.

.

In May 1986, they announced that Wham! would be breaking up, which angered and scared a lot of young fans. A new collection - The Final was released with 10 of their biggest hits and 5 new songs including the new hit - A different corner and the next hit "Edge of Heaven". Wham! played their farewell concert in London in July 1986 and then it was over. The Final album sold at least 10 million copies worldwide and was a major album for GM, along with "Make it Big" which also went multiplatinum.

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In mid 1986 George started writing and recording the songs that became "Faith", yet he also recorded a duet with Aretha Franklin which promptly went platinum and another Global hit at the start of1987. Then the first single from Faith - I want your sex was rushed released in June 1987, in promotion of the Beverley Hills Cop 2 movie. It was another smash and by the time, the album and single dropped a few months later - Faith! was a big hit.

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Faith was another smash single, with the uber cool video and then came Father figure, one of the most mature sounding songs ever, this was followed by "One More Try" and all 3 of these songs were Top 5 or #1 on global charts. The 5th single Monkey did less well, but is still one of his catchiest songs ever. About drug addiction, the song hinted at George's only developing drug problems. The momentum from faith carried through until the end of 1988, and 1989 was the first year where we were not met with a deluge of George Michael material.

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Of course July 1990 saw the release of Praying for time, which was another Global number 1. The album Listen without Prejudice 2 was great as well, but many of the fans who bought Faith, did not get it and Sony did not promote it much. Freedom 90 was less of a smash (But still a decent hit) and then the next singles were essentially flops. George joked about this calling the album "Listen without Purchasing" - still the album sold some 4 million copies globally.

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It proved George was more of a singles artist than an album one, as through to the millennium at least, George Michael would have hit after hit, but only really ahd 3 major albums - Faith was his Rubicon, he knew he could never top that, but the Wham! albums Make it big (1984) and The Final (1986) are pretty much George Michael albums.

MotownSubdivision said:

namepeace said:

Where does Bruce fit here?

He undeniably is in the cream of the crop in terms of 80s icons (arguably bigger than 80s Whitney or George).

Born In The USA dropped in '84, and Tunnel of Love , though less heralded than Born, dropped in '87.

I view Bruce as being just a notch below the others. He was a red hot act and while he was popular throughout the decade (and after becoming super popular in 1984), Whitney and George shot up to that stratospheric level even quicker than he did with the former essentially being an overnight success. Where he is in comparison to George is more arguable than where he was compared to Whitney.

Either way he's definitely worthy of inclusion but with or without him, the biggest names of the 80s all dropped albums in 1987, making it the only year where this happened.

Prince had Sign 'o the Times

Whitney had Whitney

Madonna had the Who's That Girl soundtrack

MJ had Bad

Bruce had Tunnel of Love

George had Faith

The only other year that comes close is 1984:

Bruce had Born in the U.S.A.

Prince had Purple Rain

MJ had his contributions on Victory

Madonna had Like a Virgin

By sheer numbers as well as each act having albums, 1987 beats out 1984 on this front.

[Edited 2/14/17 3:24am]

This is a very narrow argument about Bruce's place among the cream of the crop, 1987 from a creative standpoint looms larger than '84.

The numbers bear you out on Whitney. Whitney's 80's albums outsold Bruce's 80's albums, even counting USA.

But even including Wham!, George wasn't there with Bruce in the 80's. Bruce collectively sold about 18M units of USA and Tunnel in the US; George moved about 16M when you include Make It Big with Faith.

It's also worth noting that while largely overlooked today, Tunnel sold 3 million to SOTT's 1 million (double album units), and finished second in the Pazz and Jop poll behind Sign.

I would say 1984 was a close second all 5 had some kind of output

as mentioned...although not her own album, Whitney did appear on

two albums that year....with Teddy Pendergrass (Duet "Hold Me"),

and with Jermaine Jackson (Duet "Take Good Care Of My Heart")