ESPN.com proclaims 1984 the best year ever in ESPN's existance. They site all the sports moments plus music and movies..thought this stuff was great, including some Prince references ...






Music
43. Let's see . . . Prince, Springsteen, Madonna, Van Halen, "Footloose," Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper, Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Huey Lewis, Year Two of Jackson's "Thriller" album, plus "Unforgettable Fire" by U2. Has that year ever been topped? Except for Madonna, all of those people were in their primes (and Madonna was in her sexy/skanky/"anyone has a chance with me" prime).

44. If that wasn't enough, '80s college music took off -- that Cure-Smiths-REM-Depeche Mode-New Order sound that holds up to this day. There was even some decent mainstream stuff from Wang Chung, Duran Duran, the Eurythmics, Bronski Beat, Thompson Twins, Howard Jones, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Tears for Fears and John Waite as well (among many others). Again, things were happening in '84.

45. The Police broke up (good career move, in retrospect). So did Van Halen and David Lee Roth (not so good).

46. You know what? U2's breakout year gets its own paragraph. I went back to "Boy" and "October" with them . . . I was fully invested. It felt good. I have to admit.

47. You know what? Bruce gets his own paragraph as well. I was just as invested, maybe even more so. And it wasn't just his music, his lyrics, his ceaseless energy, his comical underbite . . . it was those emotional concert stories between songs. You know, like this one:

Can you quiet down for one second? (Dramatic pause, clears throat.) When I was growing up, there was only three things unpopular in my house -- me, my hair and my guitar. My Dad hated my guitar. He just hated it. One time he lit my guitar on fire, then smashed me over the head with it a hundred times. I was covered in second-degree burns. When I was in the hospital, I didn't want to see nobody, but then my Dad came into the room, and he looked me in the eye, and he shook my hand, and he said, "I'm sorry." And then he tried to strangle me with my catheter. I fended him off, finally stabbing him unconscious with a salad fork. Me and my Dad were never the same. Anyway, here's Thunder Road.

48. Come on, tell me you didn't like these songs: "99 Luftballoons" . . . "Darling Nikki" . . . "Cruel Summer" . . . "Yah Mo Be There" . . . "Sister Christian" . . . "Sunglasses at Night" . . . "Relax" . . . "Head over Heels" . . . "Pride (In the Name of Love)" . . . "Caribbean Queen" . . . "Panama" . . . "Billie Jean" . . . "Hot for Teacher" . . . "Somebody's Watching Me" . . . "Boys of Summer" . . . "Jungle Love" . . . "Missing You." Like you wouldn't download those for your iPod. Come on.

(Note: Chuck Klosterman is having a heart attack right now.)

49. Run DMC became the first rap act to produce a gold record. It's true.

50. ZZ Top's "Legs" was released -- one of the five greatest strip-joint songs of all-time. Since "Tush" was on the same album, the album should have come with a complimentary stripper's pole. 51. That's right, this was the holiday season when Band Aid came out with "Do They Know It's Christmas" -- one of the three greatest Christmas songs ever (along with that Crosby-Bowie song and Elvis's "Blue Christmas"). It's not officially Christmas until I hear this song. It just isn't. Well, tonight thank God it's them -- instead of yooooou!

52. The launch of the wacky "Synth Era" -- Jan Hammer ("Miami Vice"), Harold Faltemeyer ("Beverly Hills Cop"), Herbie Hancock, Thomas Dolby and the last 10 minutes of "Revenge of the Nerds." There is no rational explanation for any of this. But it still holds up.



Movies....

.....64. "Purple Rain" -- I always wonder if I would have liked this movie as much if Prince didn't make Appollonia purify herself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka. I'd like to think yes. Also, the whole subplot with his abusive Dad grows creepier and more inexplicable over the years -- although every scene with Morris Day and the Time makes up for it. Did we ever figure out what Jerome did? Was he actually in the band? Did he get paid as much as anyone else? All right, I'm babbling

No question 84 AND 85 was P's years. "Purple Rain" put P on top, largely I feel because of the movie. People were definately diggin' Prince. Being a longtime fan of P's and a "rude boy" myself, I was happy for Prince. I had been hyping P for so long that he was the shit, but not a lot of people were hearing me. Not untill "Little Red Corvette" broke, then it shifted. But I had already been there.

1984 was definately the best year ever. This was the start of my senior year in high school, 1984-1985. I'm so glad I didn't graduate a year later because music started going down the next year.

newpower99 said:

Yes. In the '70s.

Fuck the 70's. It was all about the big 80's!!!!!

NWF said:

i like em both for different reasons....but yeah the 80's were the SHIT!!

Yeah 84 was great. I liked 87 better though musically.

stoned edit
[Edited 9/4/04 12:40pm]

[quote]

Marrk said:

There was still some good rock in 1987 but R&B was becoming VERY boring.....Yawwwn.....ballads were taking over, funk was dying, Whitney Houston was around.

Supernova said:

the '70's

UptownDeb said:

the '60's

ESPN - Tune in, Turn on, Drop out
(what their marketing campaign should have been)


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm
[Edited 9/4/04 18:07pm]

1983 and 1984 were two of the best years for pop music.The 80s went downhill after that.

but like Supernova said,the 70s rule