I love factoid threads like these! Also it kind of makes me miss the days when people actually used to put out great albums consistently. Ahhh those were the days. I agree, they probably shouldn't even both ranking albums these days with the rise in mixtapes and people just putting out singles with no albums.

rogifan said:

You're right. It's just for me, what I prefer is their early stuff. I think So Emotional and I Wanna Dance With Somebody are just brilliant pop songs.

Adorecream said:

1725topp said:

Exactly, Hammer had 4 major albums, 1988's Lets get it started which had "Put me in the mix" which was a minor hit on the R and B charts and Rap charts. 1990s. Please Hammer don't hurt him" was a huge hit and a great album with him covering Soft and Wet and sampling When Doves Cry in Pray. The first huge rap album to have samples. It was good and despite "U can't touch this" stalling at #8 in the USA, it was a massive hit in the rest of world including 10 weeks at #1 in New Zealand. The album was packed with hits, Soft and Wet, Pray, Yo Sweetness and Here comes the Hammer. Also hammer was on the 1990 anti gang song "We're all in the same gang".

"(Hammer Hammer) They Put Me In The Mix" and "Let's Get It Started". LAWD!

gandorb said:

sro100 said:

Well here's an interesting tidbit for you.

Purple Rain spent 24 weeks at #1 during 1984 and on the Billboard Year End Chart for that year, Purple Rain isn't even in the Top 10! Thriller, was the #1 album of 1984 according to Billboard.

I remember I used to watch Casey Kasem Top 10 on TV and they were counting it down...getting to #1... I was positive it was Purple Rain and it was freaking Michael Jackson!

Billboard has changed its methodology since then....

I saw that two when I searched to see if it was the top selling album of the year. It was unclear if this was their top 10 favorites or what. I do believe that PR was at least the 3rd best selling album of the year. The flaw in Billboard's methodology is that it heavily penalizes an album or song coming out later in the year. So, all those weeks in the calandar year that PR wasn't release but another release was somewhere on the charts, the earlier release was racking up chart points. Still surprised that an album can be number one for that long and not make it in the top 10. They may have had an early deadline too (like the Grammys). I remember those year end charts were released before the end of the year. Any way, it is a fluke.

No it's definitely NOT favorites. It was for "sales;" the criteria that Billboard used back then was obviously crazy, so they eventually replaced it. Think about it: #1 for 24 weeks and not even in the Top 10! I really thought it was a conspiracy.

rogifan said:

gandorb said:

I saw that two when I searched to see if it was the top selling album of the year. It was unclear if this was their top 10 favorites or what. I do believe that PR was at least the 3rd best selling album of the year. The flaw in Billboard's methodology is that it heavily penalizes an album or song coming out later in the year. So, all those weeks in the calandar year that PR wasn't release but another release was somewhere on the charts, the earlier release was racking up chart points. Still surprised that an album can be number one for that long and not make it in the top 10. They may have had an early deadline too (like the Grammys). I remember those year end charts were released before the end of the year. Any way, it is a fluke.

Oh wow that is weird. I don't even think they should have album charts anymore. So many people are using streaming services now it's impossible to get a good figure on sales.

That shit is to typical, I felt like a large sector of the mainstream media ignored Prince as much as possible and only grudgingly mention Purple Rain. Even now a lot of websites and pages have 80s threads and shit and they all go on about Michael Jackson, Springsteen, Culture Club, Madonna and others as the sound of the 80s, but forget Prince.

.

Nealry always these are white and right wing media, who either thought Prince was the devil, or to be completely ignored. Many of them will downplay his chart success and often mention that he had no other real hits outside of Purple Rain and Kiss and then go on about how bad Batdance was. Most have never heard of Sign o the Times and 1999. Even Rolling Stone did it, reviewing Born in the USA and Purple Rain in June 1984, they gave Born in the USA 5 stars and said it would be the blockbuster of 1984 while Purple Rain was given 4 stars and told it may be a platinum hit! They never admitted they were wrong when Purple Rain trumped Born in the USA which was pushed to #2 behind Purple Rain in early August. The fact Purple Rain remained number one until late February 1985 when like a Virgin took over means nothing?

.

Be interesting to see where Purple Rain ranks on the 1985 album charts, given it was Number one for January and February and then ATWIAD dominated April and May. 1999 the album was spent by 1984, with the flop lets Pretend were married issued in November 1983 and flopping, it was gone by Jan 1984 and sales of 1999 in early 1984 were low, with probably more sales of it in later 1984, with newly minted Purple Rain fans buying Prince's back catalogue, especially when many realised that Little Red Corvette and 1999 were not on Purple Rain.

.

Early 1984 was dominated by Thriller which sold at least 10 million more with the lee of the Thriller video and Human nature hitting and the Grammy awards slaying.

.

Getting into Prince in the early 1990s, it was hard to find much in the music press about Prince, the Diamonds and Pearls single put him in Smash hits type mags in 1991/92, but that was it. In the mainstream media he was only mentioned when one of his songs was being censored (Sexy MF - moral panics over foul language rap and R and b songs in the early 1990s). Until I found the org, the only way to talk about Prince was with other fans, whom I did not meet until the late 2000s.

TrivialPursuit said:

Adorecream said:

Exactly, Hammer had 4 major albums, 1988's Lets get it started which had "Put me in the mix" which was a minor hit on the R and B charts and Rap charts. 1990s. Please Hammer don't hurt him" was a huge hit and a great album with him covering Soft and Wet and sampling When Doves Cry in Pray. The first huge rap album to have samples. It was good and despite "U can't touch this" stalling at #8 in the USA, it was a massive hit in the rest of world including 10 weeks at #1 in New Zealand. The album was packed with hits, Soft and Wet, Pray, Yo Sweetness and Here comes the Hammer. Also hammer was on the 1990 anti gang song "We're all in the same gang".

"(Hammer Hammer) They Put Me In The Mix" and "Let's Get It Started". LAWD!

Those damned parachute pants!

purplethunder3121 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

"(Hammer Hammer) They Put Me In The Mix" and "Let's Get It Started". LAWD!

Those damned parachute pants!

But, y'all rocked them back in the day, we had our aunties make them for us back then. And you all know that music is a guilty plasure. Its good come on! come on! Come on, u know its good.

.

And like Bobby Brown, you know he hand picked his "fly" girls.

[Edited 12/3/16 0:28am]

rogifan said:

... I still contend 1984 was the best year of that decade (and in general) musically.

Check out this list I made of stuff that was released in 1984!

Purple Rain - Prince & the Revolution
U2 – The Unforgettable Fire
Cocteau Twins - Treasure
This Mortal Coil - It'll End in Tears
Peter Gabriel - Birdy (original movie soundtrack)
The Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Eurythmics - 1984 (soundtrack)
Madonna - Like A Virgin
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
Simple Minds - Sparkle in the Rain
Echo and the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
Tina Turner - Private Dancer
Don Henley – Building the Perfect Beast
Rush - Grace Under Pressure
The Pretenders – Learning to Crawl
Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward
The Replacements – Let It Be
Husker Du – Zen Arcade
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Hyaena
Psychedelic Furs – Mirror Moves
Bronski Beat – Age of Consent
Talk Talk – It’s My Life
Alphaville – Forever Young
The Cars – Heartbeat City
Public Image Ltd – This is What You Want—This is What You Get
The Smiths - The Smiths
The Time - Ice Cream Castle
Sheila E. - The Glamorous Life
Marillion - Fugazi
Franke Goes To Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome
Thompson Twins - Into the Gap
Howard Jones – Human’s Lib
The Alarm – Declaration
Nena – 99 Luftballons
Scandal - Warrior
REM - Reckoning
Art of Noise - Who's Afraid of? (The Art of Noise!)
The Cure - The Top
Herbie Hancock – Sound-System
Madness – Keep Moving
OMD - Junk Culture
Dead Can Dance - Dead Can Dance
Roger Waters - The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking
Hall and Oates – Big Bam Boom
INXS - The Swing
Duran Duran – Arena
A Flock of Seagulls – Story of a Young Heart
Foreigner - Agent Provocateur
John Waite – No Brakes
Elvis Costello - Goodbye Cruel World
Elton John – Breaking Hearts
Bon Jovi – Bon Jovi
Metallica – Ride The Lightning
Y & T – In Rock We Trust
Harold Budd (with Brian Eno) – The Pearl
Van Halen – 1984
Queen – The Works
Scorpions – Love at First Sting
Judas Priest – Defenders of the Faith
Footloose (original movie soundtrack)
Dire Straits – Alchemy
Michael Jackson – Farewell My Summer Love
Janet Jackson – Dream Street
Jermaine Jackson – Jermaine Jackson (titled “Dynamite” outside the U.S.)
Deep Purple – Perfect Strangers
Ronnie Milsap – One More Try For Love
Ratt – Out of the Cellar
Band Aid – “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (single)

Adorecream said:

But, y'all rocked them back in the day, we had our aunties make them for us back then. And you all know that music is a guilty plasure. Its good come on! come on! Come on, u know its good.

.

And like Bobby Brown, you know he hand picked his "fly" girls.

I had a pair!

1984 was great, but I have it behind each 80s year that preceded it.

Moonbeam said:

rogifan said:

Moonbeam said:

1984 was great, but I have it behind each 80s year that preceded it.

Then you have it wrong.

It all depends on the person, I guess!

I have a big database of songs that I have rated (13,000+), and here are the years with the most songs that I've rated 8 or higher (out of 10):

• 1982: 357
• 1983: 272
• 1980: 271
• 1981: 249
• 1979: 194
• 1984: 178
• 1987 and 1989: 163

Moonbeam said:

rogifan said:

Moonbeam said: Then you have it wrong.

It all depends on the person, I guess!

I have a big database of songs that I have rated (13,000+), and here are the years with the most songs that I've rated 8 or higher (out of 10):

• 1982: 357
• 1983: 272
• 1980: 271
• 1981: 249
• 1979: 194
• 1984: 178
• 1987 and 1989: 163

What? 13,000 songs, how do you get to listen 13000 songs?

214 said:

Moonbeam said:

It all depends on the person, I guess!

I have a big database of songs that I have rated (13,000+), and here are the years with the most songs that I've rated 8 or higher (out of 10):

• 1982: 357
• 1983: 272
• 1980: 271
• 1981: 249
• 1979: 194
• 1984: 178
• 1987 and 1989: 163

What? 13,000 songs, how do you get to listen 13000 songs?

The best Ipods and Itune libraries can accommodate up to 40,000 songs. They can burn an album in a couple of minutes.

.

Moonbeam interested in your oldest year on your itunes list and how many great songs you have rated there. Mine is 1926 with 2 songs -My Blue Heaven and The Song of the Prune (Both 3 stars)

It was a GREAT year.

The Huey Lewis album is a great album. Incredible musical chops on it.

I was living in Dallas for a short part of 1983 and the Hotel Anatole opened a club. They had two private concerts, and Huey Lewis and the News was one of them (the Pointer Sisters was the other). I was three feet from the band all night. They were GREAT.

I was lucky to be around then. Music was so great.

Adorecream said:

214 said:

What? 13,000 songs, how do you get to listen 13000 songs?

The best Ipods and Itune libraries can accommodate up to 40,000 songs. They can burn an album in a couple of minutes.

.

Moonbeam interested in your oldest year on your itunes list and how many great songs you have rated there. Mine is 1926 with 2 songs -My Blue Heaven and The Song of the Prune (Both 3 stars)

You can see my shreadsheet here. I still am going through my collection and adding new ratings, so I expect it to top 15,000 soon.

As far as the earliest song included, it is Gymnopédie No. 1 by Erik Satie from 1888. Nonetheless, that's a misleading glimpse into my taste. I only have rated 7 songs an 8 or higher from before the 1960s.

rogifan said:

The other 4 were: Thriller Footlose (soundtrack) Sports (Huey Lewis) - this was #1 for only 1 week Born in the USA Looking back at Billboard charts going back to 1970 (and even earlier) no other year has had only 5 or fewer albums hit #1 in that year. The closest is 1983 where 6 hit #1 (Thriller top selling) and 1978 where 8 hit #1 (Saturday Night Fever soundtrack top selling). In contrast, in 2013 44 albums hit #1. That's nearly a different album every week of the year. I still contend 1984 was the best year of that decade (and in general) musically. You had Thriller and Purple Rain as bookends for the year. Van Halen's 1984 was huge (and would have been #1 if not for Thriller's massive success) as was Springsteen and his Born in the USA anthem. These days you regularly have over 30 albums hit #1 in a year (last year there were 39). Just shows what a dearth of great albums we have and how awful music really is these days. I mean seriously how many albums get released these days that are like a Rumors or Purple Rain where every song on the album is amazing and there is no filler. It just doesn't happen anymore which is really sad.

Rumours and Purple Rain are masterpieces for sure; When Doves Cry in 2016 is way much better than many songs, but there´s a lot of great music going on... Jack White, Black Keys and P.J. Harvey are good examples.

One thing I'd like to add, which this thread brought to my attention.

Prince being great (and arguably the best and our favorite) doesn't mean that other acts like Huey Lewis, Springsteen, etc. weren't also great. It's not "either-or". That's the great thing about music.

Huey Lewis was about the opposite of what Prince was doing in 1984, and that's OK. ZZ Top was also huge.

People need variety, and balance.

Se7en said:

One thing I'd like to add, which this thread brought to my attention.

Prince being great (and arguably the best and our favorite) doesn't mean that other acts like Huey Lewis, Springsteen, etc. weren't also great. It's not "either-or". That's the great thing about music.

Huey Lewis was about the opposite of what Prince was doing in 1984, and that's OK. ZZ Top was also huge.

People need variety, and balance.

Amen.

TrivialPursuit said:

Se7en said:

CandaceS said:

rogifan said:

... I still contend 1984 was the best year of that decade (and in general) musically.

Check out this list I made of stuff that was released in 1984!

Purple Rain - Prince & the Revolution
U2 – The Unforgettable Fire
Cocteau Twins - Treasure
This Mortal Coil - It'll End in Tears
Peter Gabriel - Birdy (original movie soundtrack)
The Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Eurythmics - 1984 (soundtrack)
Madonna - Like A Virgin
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
Simple Minds - Sparkle in the Rain
Echo and the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
Tina Turner - Private Dancer
Don Henley – Building the Perfect Beast
Rush - Grace Under Pressure
The Pretenders – Learning to Crawl
Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward
The Replacements – Let It Be
Husker Du – Zen Arcade
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Hyaena
Psychedelic Furs – Mirror Moves
Bronski Beat – Age of Consent
Talk Talk – It’s My Life
Alphaville – Forever Young
The Cars – Heartbeat City
Public Image Ltd – This is What You Want—This is What You Get
The Smiths - The Smiths
The Time - Ice Cream Castle
Sheila E. - The Glamorous Life
Marillion - Fugazi
Franke Goes To Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome
Thompson Twins - Into the Gap
Howard Jones – Human’s Lib
The Alarm – Declaration
Nena – 99 Luftballons
Scandal - Warrior
REM - Reckoning
Art of Noise - Who's Afraid of? (The Art of Noise!)
The Cure - The Top
Herbie Hancock – Sound-System
Madness – Keep Moving
OMD - Junk Culture
Dead Can Dance - Dead Can Dance
Roger Waters - The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking
Hall and Oates – Big Bam Boom
INXS - The Swing
Duran Duran – Arena
A Flock of Seagulls – Story of a Young Heart
Foreigner - Agent Provocateur
John Waite – No Brakes
Elvis Costello - Goodbye Cruel World
Elton John – Breaking Hearts
Bon Jovi – Bon Jovi
Metallica – Ride The Lightning
Y & T – In Rock We Trust
Harold Budd (with Brian Eno) – The Pearl
Van Halen – 1984
Queen – The Works
Scorpions – Love at First Sting
Judas Priest – Defenders of the Faith
Footloose (original movie soundtrack)
Dire Straits – Alchemy
Michael Jackson – Farewell My Summer Love
Janet Jackson – Dream Street
Jermaine Jackson – Jermaine Jackson (titled “Dynamite” outside the U.S.)
Deep Purple – Perfect Strangers
Ronnie Milsap – One More Try For Love
Ratt – Out of the Cellar
Band Aid – “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (single)

1984 is also the last time i bought so many albums in one year. Now i'm lucky if there are 3 albums a year i like

LondonIrish1970 said:

I read somewhere that Purple Rain was the no.3 album of 1984 overall in the USA behind Thriller and Sports, is that true?

Extremely unlikely it was behind Sports, which was released in Sep 83 and went 7x platinum, compared to Purple Rain's 13x, spending most of it's 24 weeks at #1 in 1984 (just a couple of weeks in Jan 85)

rogifan said:

MotownSubdivision said:

rogifan said:

livewire said: