phunkdaddy said:

WorldofPeace said:

We also can't ignore the rise of MTV and the music video and their role in exposing artists who probably wouldn't have got a shot in previous decades. Back then, media was much more concentrated and potent, if you could break through, you broke big. Record labels were still juggernauts and could afford to put out a diverse array of artists to see what would stick in the consumers minds. It was like a perefect storm of commerce and art.

lrn36 said:

lrn36 said:

We also can't ignore the rise of MTV and the music video and their role in exposing artists who probably wouldn't have got a shot in previous decades. Back then, media was much more concentrated and potent, if you could break through, you broke big. Record labels were still juggernauts and could afford to put out a diverse array of artists to see what would stick in the consumers minds. It was like a perefect storm of commerce and art.

Your icon pic is brill

728huey said:

MotownSubdivision said:

SoulAlive said: 1983 was excellent for being the year things began turning around for pop music as the influence of MJ and Thriller began to set in as the album began to soar. I'd probably put 83 just behind 84 as far as the 80s go and maybe still in the Top 5 as far as best years for music go. [Edited 9/27/14 6:16am]

I'm sort of partial for 1983 myself being one of the best years ever for pop music, but an argument can be made that both 1983 and 1984 were one continuous period of great music. It began with Michael Jackson's Thriller and the height of the British New Wave with The Police, Culture Club, Duran Duran, etc., the breakout of U2, Def Leppard, Bryan Adams, and other rock and metal acts, the breakout success of Prince's 1999, continued from the end of 1983 into 1984 with Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down and the debut of both Cyndi Lauper and Madonna, and went even further with Prince's Purple Rain, Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA, and Tina Turner's comeback album Private Dancer. The culmination came with the release of Wham!'s Make It Big which introduced most of the world to George Michael. The following year (1985) had some good moments but wasn't as momentous as the two years proceeding it, and subsequent years would get more generic.

I'd take it back further. Looking at my vinyl collection, the period from the summer of '81 to the summer of '84 was one continuous stream of great music. As you said, the rest of the decade wasn't as strong.

MotownSubdivision said:

Another excellent year for mainstream music from what I've seen is 1976. The bicentennial seemed to have brought out a lot of creativity to commemorate the fun and patriotism that was going on at the time.

mrsnet said:

Because of a little guy named M I C H A E L J O S E P H J A C K S O N

[Edited 9/26/14 14:04pm]

Correction of MY original post (not you): Thriller was released in 1982, but MJ extended his run with the Jacksons' Victory album and tour.

[Edited 10/1/14 15:34pm]

I don't disagree with ANY of the arguments for killer years in small-r rock music.

But 1984 was an absolute MONSTER. Lionel Richie continued to dominate the charts, legendary bands from Bon Jovi to Run-DMC to The Smiths dropped albums, and you had monster hits like 1984 and Private Dancer.

But we'll never quite see titans like MJ (dominating with his extended Thriller run and the Victory album/tour, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, and Prince (and the Revolution) at their artistic and commercial peaks at the same time, dominating the charts, MTV, and culture as a whole. They were rock stars, video stars, and for one, a movie star.

The other years before MTV were different. A year in music like 1984 had never happened before, and it will never happen again.

nope----69-81 --were the bset years

you MJ fams are in denial if you claim that Purple Rain was not bigger than Thriller in 1984...

PURPLE RAIN IS 1984...

JoeTyler said:

you MJ fams are in denial if you claim that Purple Rain was not bigger than Thriller in 1984...

PURPLE RAIN IS 1984...

I still think the case can be made that MJ was the bigger star. Purple Rain was the bigger album that year (though Lionel Richie took home the Grammy for Album of the Year).

Which goes back to how big of a year 1984 was, Thriller is still white-hot, then along comes Purple Rain, Like A Virgin and Born In The USA. Any one of those albums would have "owned" any given year, and they were all hot at the same time.

namepeace said:

JoeTyler said:

you MJ fams are in denial if you claim that Purple Rain was not bigger than Thriller in 1984...

PURPLE RAIN IS 1984...

I still think the case can be made that MJ was the bigger star. Purple Rain was the bigger album that year (though Lionel Richie took home the Grammy for Album of the Year).

Which goes back to how big of a year 1984 was, Thriller is still white-hot, then along comes Purple Rain, Like A Virgin and Born In The USA. Any one of those albums would have "owned" any given year, and they were all hot at the same time.

Grammys never meant shit, then and now

Thriller and Purple Rain were released damn near TWO years apart, so I don't think we can pit them against each other at any awards show. The 1984 Grammys would have been all about awarding schitt from 1983.

By 1984, all of Michael's siblings were having their year. I guess that just reinforces how popular Michael really was.
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Cinny said:

Thriller and Purple Rain were released damn near TWO years apart, so I don't think we can pit them against each other at any awards show. The 1984 Grammys would have been all about awarding schitt from 1983.

By 1984, all of Michael's siblings were having their year. I guess that just reinforces how popular Michael really was.
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Where's the pic for this very important 1984 Jackson album?

JoeTyler said:

namepeace said:

I still think the case can be made that MJ was the bigger star. Purple Rain was the bigger album that year (though Lionel Richie took home the Grammy for Album of the Year).

Which goes back to how big of a year 1984 was, Thriller is still white-hot, then along comes Purple Rain, Like A Virgin and Born In The USA. Any one of those albums would have "owned" any given year, and they were all hot at the same time.

Grammys never meant shit, then and now

That was thrown in there for perspective. It's still crazy how Lionel Richie's album beat Purple Rain that year. Another

[Edited 10/2/14 15:24pm]

Cinny said:

Thriller and Purple Rain were released damn near TWO years apart, so I don't think we can pit them against each other at any awards show. The 1984 Grammys would have been all about awarding schitt from 1983.

. . . which is why I referred to the 1985 Grammys. As for my comment, I wasn't pitting them against each other per se, but you can't talk about 1984 without discussing how big Thriller still loomed over the music world at that point.

Of course, we know that at least 1984 was (probably) the greatest year in the music history of the Jackson Family!

sexton said:

Cinny said:

Thriller and Purple Rain were released damn near TWO years apart, so I don't think we can pit them against each other at any awards show. The 1984 Grammys would have been all about awarding schitt from 1983.

By 1984, all of Michael's siblings were having their year. I guess that just reinforces how popular Michael really was.
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Where's the pic for this very important 1984 Jackson album?

Let's not kid ourselves!

Dream Street had awesome tracks, no lie

I agree it was a great year overall musically, love every song I know from that year. I could kick myself for taping over the Solid Gold countdown I had on tape for years as a kid! Rockwell was performing Somebody's Watching Me, and some other cool performances!

[Edited 10/2/14 17:56pm]

alphastreet said:

I agree it was a great year overall musically, love every song I know from that year. I could kick myself for taping over the Solid Gold countdown I had on tape for years as a kid! Rockwell was performing Somebody's Watching Me, and some other cool performances!

haha not me, i still have tons and endless hours of Solid Gold shows on VHS at home

I won't pick a single year, but indeed the early eightees was a great and pivotal era

luvsexy4all said:

JoeTyler said:

JoeTyler said:

you MJ fams are in denial if you claim that Purple Rain was not bigger than Thriller in 1984...

PURPLE RAIN IS 1984...

Dude you're in serious denial. MJ owned the planet (and music industry) throughout the 80's. Prince never made it waaaay up there with MJ. Prince and Madonna were second. Were you born then? '83 was the year of Motown 25 and '84 was the year MJ swept the Grammy Awards as stated above.

And Thriller never stopped selling....to this day, btw. In '84 they were selling Beat It and Thriller jackets in department stores and everybody was wearing that white glove. oooh the memories

[Edited 10/4/14 16:16pm]

mrsnet said:

In '84 they were selling Beat It and Thriller jackets in department stores and everybody was wearing that white glove.

I remember there was Mike chewing gum with some baseball style cards. A sticker that came with it too. If you collected all of them, the sticker backs was sort of a puzzle. The Jacksons had some Victory cutouts on cereal boxes, I think Corn Flakes. I still have a couple of them somewhere. Mike seemed to be on the cover of People just about every week and on Right On! too. I had a Mike wallet and my cousin had a purse with a picture on it from the inside of Thriller with the baby tiger. People were wearing buttons with his picture on it. There was a lot of bootleg merchandise too that people were selling on the street.

Awe yes 67, the magical number

for me because I own a 67 Mustang

and also of course it was

"The summer of Love"

JoeTyler said:

look at that top10, you have ten albums that created or at the very least shaped the music that was made afterwards (at least until the mid-'90s), with the only exceptions of dance-pop and electronica (I consider psychodelia to be the electronica of that time, anyway): psychodelia/experimentation, hard-rock, R&B/soul, alternative rock, blues-rock, singer-songwriter, british pop-rock...

1984 was probably the best year of the '80s decade (1987 comes close), but, of all time?? J.H.C.

[Edited 9/26/14 16:44pm]

MotownSubdivision said:

luvsexy4all said:

nope----69-81 --were the bset years

Which individual year from 69-81 would you say was the best?

too hard to say probably 77 or 78

luvsexy4all said: