29. Tom Tom Club by Tom Tom Club

29. Tom Tom Club by Tom Tom Club

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHL8Vi8Edt4&list=OLAK5uy_ljP5f9WWsGctDUkoeJ5epIn8Ir1aVm2Os

When this album came out in 1981, I was oblivious to its existence. And I remained that way until a couple years ago when I started looking for '80s wheelhouse songs that aren't in the wheelhouse yet. That's when I stumbled upon Tom Tom Club.

Nice cover. (THANKS!)

Tom Tom Club (the band) was formed by Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, the bassist and drummer of Talking Heads fame. Originally, Tom Tom Club was a side project that had the blessing of David Byrne, the front man for Talking Heads. Then when David Byrne went into full-blown diva mode and left the band, Tom Tom Club became Tina and Chris's full-time gig.

Since I discovered this self-titled debut album, it's become my favorite of all the Tom Tom Club albums. For me, there's just something about it being a 1981 album that makes it so much more enjoyable to listen to, as it was produced in the early days of rap music. Tom Tom Club's 1983 album Closer to the Bone also makes for a fun listen, but the music is a bit more polished and synthesized. I like the rougher sounds of the 1981 album, as the sounds seem to me to be a bit more raw and, consequently, creative and innovative. I mean, it certainly doesn't sound like any of the other albums that I've heard from 1981. But their 1983 album does sound a bit more like the other albums that came out around that time. 

There have been four different versions of the Tom Tom Club album that have been released with different songs on them. Since I don't have any recollection of the original album, I'm okay with listening to all of the songs on all of the versions. The more the merrier! There is one instrumental song titled "Spooks" that was put out as a B-side to "Wordy Rappinghood." It's basically 6 minutes and 28 seconds of the same kind background music featured on "As Above So Below." But here's the link, just in case you're keen to hear it.

https://youtu.be/RIfJk36SLuY

The only other thing that I would like to mention is that Tina sings in French on some of the songs, and back in 1981 I was very interested in learning French. I even bought an English-French dictionary. I thought it would be fun to say really stupid things in French--a take off on Steve Martin's jokes about the French language. (It's like those French have a different word for everything!) The phrase I tried to translate and memorize was "I'm on my way to milk the cows." I'm sure my translation was completely wrong, but for a time, every morning and night when I went to milk the cows, I would repeat it aloud just to amuse myself. I don't remember that phrase anymore. Later on in high school I played an angry French chef in some kind of drama comedy thing that we did. I just spoke English like Inspector Jacques Clouseau, only in an angry tone. I believe there's a yearbook image of me in the chef's outfit with me trying to look like an angry French chef. It's a dumb picture of me doing something dumb, just like all of the other yearbook pictures of me. 

Anyway, there's some French lyrics on some songs that I find to be quite enjoyable to listen to, even though they aren't sung in an angry tone or include phrases about milking cows. At least, I don't think they do. I don't know for sure because...and I want to be clear about this...I don't speak French.

Comprenz vous?

Nardo

30. Synchronicity by The Police

 30. Synchronicity by The Police

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si5CSpUCDGY&list=OLAK5uy_nhJjsyfDKdb9Yeacs52DRCuIvKJ2eVC_I

If the album cover image below doesn't match the one in your memory, it's because they made 36 different covers with different combinations of images and different color sequences. 

The reason for doing this is, of course, album sales. If you don't give fans a reason to buy 36 copies of your record, they won't. But they knew that there were some people out there that would feel compelled to add all 36 versions of the album cover to their record collection. When this album came out in June of 1983, my teenage wallet was pretty thin, so I opted to just buy one cassette tape.

The main reason I bought the album was because of all the monster hits from it that I heard on the radio, including "Murder by the Numbers," "Tea in the Sahara," "Walking in Your Footsteps," "O My God," and, most of all, "Mother." Once Casey played those warm, soft sounds of "Mother" on American Top 40, I knew it was destined to become my favorite senior year slow dance song, and possibly my favorite song of all time.

I wasn't wrong. 

The many memories I have of hearing "Mother" play while I danced in a close, tender embrace with Piney Votzel--well, that's why I look back on my senior year of high school with such fondness.

But my many good memories of the album extend to my mission, where this was one of the albums that the mission president said we could listen to without guilt during those long summer days of relaxing by the lake in our swimsuits. 

And when I got home off my mission, I selected one of the 36 copies of this record that my brother-in-law had in his record collection and made another tape of it to listen to while I drove around Arimo all summer long in the new white Buick Regal. And then, of course, there was the time that summer when Piney and I drove up into the mountains and we both lost our virginity to the dulcet tones of "Miss Gredenko."

Ah, yes. Those were the days! With so many good memories, is it any wonder why this album made my Top 60 list?

Nardo

31. Escape by Journey

 31. Escape by Journey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k8craCGpgs&list=OLAK5uy_kqG2N-54Vhei1yjslqVhFrS_thC_gZJuU

Since I liked Frontiers so much, you would have thought I'd have more than one Journey album at hom to listen to during my teenage years. But I didn't. Frontiers was it. However, I certainly heard more Journey songs during my high school years, and a lot of them came from Escape. In fact, we played "Don't Stop Believin'" as a pep band song. The other charting singles included the slow-dance favorites "Open Arms," "Still They Ride," and "Who's Crying Now?" However, since the album came out in 1981--which was about two years ahead of the time I was interested in slow dancing with the girls in school, these songs don't have any especially good memories associated with them. I might remember hearing them while driving tractor, but that's about it. Consequently, when I returned home from my mission and found Escape in my brother-in-law's record collection, I didn't think that I'd want to make a tape of this album because I didn't really want to listen to all those slow dance songs. I'd just spent two years listening to overly calm music, so I wanted some rock and roll with some zip to it, and all these slow songs weren't going to fit the bill. But since this album had a pep band song on it, I decided I should give it a listen. To my astonishment and delight, I found this album had a gigantic heaping helping of delicious zip mixed in with the slow songs. "Stone in Love," "Keep on Runnin'," Escape," and, most of all, "Dead or Alive" were barn-burning rockers that had the kind of energy that makes you want to find a gravel road with lots of curves, put the hammer down, and drive like you're behind the wheel of Old Blue. Even "Mother, Father," which starts out pretty slow,  picks up the pace enough to make a respectable driving song. So this album from my early teenage years quickly became one of the most played albums of my early 20s. 

If it's been a while since you had some real fun driving like a maniac, I highly recommend buying this album, finding a gravel road, cueing up "Dead or Alive" and then punching it! If you hit the skip button for all the slow-dance songs, you'll have at least 20 minutes of driving like the Duke boys ahead of you.

Nardo

32. Third Stage by Boston

 32. Third Stage by Boston

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4mCIsmiAWc&list=OLAK5uy_mBidq4wAzrJo82dOE--ILZnAUReiP_xAA

Third Stage was released in September of 1986, at which time I was in Eskilstuna, Sweden. So I didn't become aware of this album or any of the songs on it until I got home from Sweden in 1987. Even then, I don't think I had any memories associated with any of the songs on the album until after I started dating Julie in March of 1988. But after that, it became THE album of our courtship. We listened to this album all the time while driving around in the Chevy pickup. I especially remember listening to the album on my birthday date with Julie to Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park. By then I had completely fallen in love with her, and I knew I wanted to marry her. And the themes of the album of moving onto a new stage of life and discovering what it takes to be a man really resonated with me. 

The album has two of my Top 200 songs--"We're Ready" and "The Launch/Cool the Engines." But I like all of the songs on it. Even more, I like how all the songs support each other thematically throughout the album even more. And the guitars...oh, the guitars! If you like thunderous power chords, this album has got some of the best you'll ever hear. The guitar solos are also very well done. And none of the special effect sounds on this album were made by synthesizers. They were all made with guitars and special Rockman amplifiers built by Tom Scholz, one of the founders of the band. 

The other fun memory I have of this album is how Ryan used to sing alternate lyrics to "Amanda" in honor of the sexy immortal Amanda on "The Highlander." My favorite alternate line was, "I'm gonna spank you like a man and make you call me Stan, Amanda!" 

Ah, John would be proud!

Nardo

33. Heartbeat City by The Cars

 33. Heartbeat City by The Cars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXpJ0bM5zbM&list=OLAK5uy_l8zCHgq3Utr7f1dAf9jqop3lbCzugN2Dc

Released in March of 1984, Heartbeat City showed up just in time for senior year track and band tour. From the moment I first heard "You Might Think," I couldn't get enough of this album. And when I went to the state track meet and ended up rooming with Darin Woolstenthume from Bear Lake High School, my former track nemesis turned into an immediate friend when he agreed with me that Heartbeat City was an excellent album. 

This album had a strong radio presence all the way through the summer into freshman year of college too, with "Magic," "Drive," and "Hello Again," keeping the album on the charts through the end of 1984. "Why Can't I Have You" also charted in January of 1985, but it didn't get into the top 20 like the other four hits. However, it did have one of the best B-side songs ever with "Breakaway," which I think would have been a top-20 hit if it had been added to the original album. 

https://youtu.be/GkBqZKMROtA

But with "Breakaway" being a B-side release, plus it having some pretty obvious references to heroin in the lyrics, it was kind of doomed to not get the radio play it deserved. Still, I think it's a better song than the title track "Heartbeat City," which apparently made it onto the low end of the charts in September of 1985, but I was in Sweden by that time, so I don't remember ever hearing it on the radio. 

Listening to this album always makes me remember that last year of running track in high school, the summer of lifeguarding after that, and my first semester at Ricks. I had sworn off dating by then, and I stuck to that oath for over a year, so this album doesn't have any associated memories of any particular girls. I was just too depressed to want to risk dating anyone again. So, the major slow-dance song "Drive" only reminds me of living in the dorms and watching MTV late at night in the foyer while most of the other guys were out on dates. Chris also went home a lot during that first semester, so I was alone on quite a few weekends at the beginning of school. But that was actually a good thing, because I needed that time to do homework. And after leaving Arimo for college, I was determined to apply that self-discipline I'd learned from running track to change my life and prepare for my future, which is exactly what I did for that whole first year of college as I prepared for my mission. So by the time I got my call to Sweden in February of 1985, I felt ready to face whatever might come my way.

Of course, I was completely wrong about that, and my first two months in Sweden nearly broke me. And it was hard. So hard to take. There's no escape without a scrape. But I kept it goin' till the sun went down. I kept it...goin'.

When I got back off my mission, Heartbreak City was one of the albums that I pirated from my brother-in-law and played while driving around in the Black step-side Chevy, so I have some good memories of the album during my summer after Sweden and my sophomore year at Ricks, too. But it's definitely an album that I mostly associate with that time around when I turned 18, which mentally wasn't the best time for me, but physically I was in the best shape of my life. Oh, how I wish I could still run a mile in under five minutes like I did back then! And when I listen to this album now, I am able to feel just a little bit of that 18-year-old long-distance runner determination to change my life and make it better. And when that happens, it makes me say to that 18-year-old that still lives inside my head, "Hello! Hello again!"

Nardo

34. Breakfast in America by Supertramp

 34. Breakfast in America by Supertramp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-nrv4iVYFQ&list=PLIqdcWWN8Sl7YO-1CZeK5VBt19kiL9QRd

Three songs from this album are in my top 200 songs list, so yeah, it was destined to be on my Top 60 albums list. 

Of all the memories that my brain could dredge up about this album, for some stupid reason, it has chosen to remember that back at the beginning of the 9th grade, Breakfast in America was Piney Votzel's favorite album. I learned this from one of those student newspaper articles filled with factoids learned from a published interview with someone in the student body that warranted special attention. And at that time it simply struck me as odd that Piney would like Supertramp so much because one of my sisters had purchased Breakfast in America shortly after it came out in March of 1979, so I had heard the album plenty over the summer, and it just didn't seem like the type of album that would end up being the absolute favorite album of a girl like Piney Votzel. I guess I expected that she would have been into rock bands that didn't have album covers featuring a big glass of orange juice.  

Just to be clear about this, I never had a crush on Piney Votzel. Ever. And I'm pretty sure she never had a crush on me, either. She probably thought I was that annoying jerk that told pickle jokes in middle school and played his trumpet way too loud in pep band. I think I may have had her in some of my classes--probably something supremely forgettable like science or math or English. But I don't ever remember even talking to her at any time in middle school or high school. Piney wasn't in band or drama or track or any other extracurricular activity that I was involved in after school. As far as I know, Piney wasn't friends with any of the girls that I had a crush on, so I wouldn't have associated with her casually in the hallway. I don't remember her ever coming to Lava Hot Springs while I was lifeguarding during the summer. I did not ever dance with Piney at a school dance. I never sat next to Piney at lunch. No group project in any class ever put me and Piney into a forced exchange of ideas. I never unexpectedly ran into Piney at any store or restaurant in Pocatello. I do not recall ever seeing Piney at the truck stop in Downey. I never sat next to Piney on any bus. I did not ever drive to school and park next to Piney's car. No Halloween party or Christmas party or any other kind of party had me and Piney playing some ridiculous game together. Piney and I had zero friends in common. When my friends and I rated girls during our summer high adventure campouts, Piney was never a source of debate among us. I never had a fight with Piney. I never had a mutual laugh over something with Piney. As far as my addled brain can recall, I simply had zero connections with Piney. In fact, I have exactly four memories related to Piney Votzel. 

My latest memory is from when she got up at the one and only high school reunion I attended about 15 years ago and made a hilarious public speech in which she apologized for everything she had done in high school and expressed affection for everyone in the room. 

Before that, I remember running into her at the grocery store in Downey during those three weeks I was living in Arimo after my mission but before the family moved to Twin Falls. She was the cashier, and while I was paying for root beer and some Fig Newtons, she asked what I'd been up to since high school, and I said that I went to a year of college and then just got back from a two-year mission in Sweden. She gave the usual wow-Sweden response that I always got from people in Marsh Valley when they saw me and asked me why they hadn't seen me in three years.

I think I may have also had some dreams in which Piney Votzel had a guest appearance. But I don't remember the particulars of any of those dreams.

And the fourth memory is, of course, that Breakfast in America by Supertramp was her favorite album in 9th grade. 

That's it. That's all the Piney I've got. There ain't no more.

So why in the hell do I think about Piney Votzel every time a Supertramp song from this album starts playing on the radio?! I do have other memories associated with this album. Sometimes I'll remember hearing the songs on the way to and from scout camp at Little Lemhi. And sometimes I remember my sisters playing the album on the stereo. And once in a while, I'll think about drinking a tall glass of orange juice for breakfast. But I ALWAYS remember that this album was Piney Votzel's favorite. I just can't stop the thought. 

There are lots of other thoughts I could have about the album. Like how for those of us that like hearing keyboards in a rock song, this album is about as good as it gets. Or how the lyrics to "The Logical Song" and "Take the Long Way Home" only get better and better the older I get--and it's pretty much the same with all the other lyrics on the album. Or how even the non-hit songs on the album are pretty damn good and have a consistently high quality in both music and lyrics. Or how the album art is so clever and fun yet still communicates a rather serious message when you put it in the context of the lyrics of the songs on the album. I think the cover symbolized the way that people from other countries (like Sweden) look at America as some land in which they'll be welcomed with a smile and all of their needs will be taken care of and they'll find all of their fantasies fulfilled, but in the end, it's all an illusion, just like how all of the breakfast items look like the New York skyline when you see them from far away out the window of a jet plane, but up close, they're pretty common and colorless. 

But all those possible thoughts about the album take a back seat to the thought that Breakfast in America was Piney Votzel's favorite album in 9th grade. So what does that say about me? Why would my brain prioritize this fact over all the other thoughts i could have about this excellent album? Is there something wrong with me? Is this a sign that I'm losing my mind? And did I start losing my mind clear back in 9th grade? Is Piney a symbol of something deep in my subconscious mind that reveals how genuinely empty my relationships were with all the girls in high school? Or is she representative of the general disconnection I feel with all of humanity? Is Piney the Stranger that, like Billy Joel says, we all have to face at some point in our lives? Is Piney simply the Stranger that I just can't say goodbye to? 

The questions run too deep. I know it sounds absurd. But please tell me who I am.

Nardo

35. Purple Rain by Prince and The Revolution

 35. Purple Rain by Prince and The Revolution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXJhDltzYVQ&list=OLAK5uy_nZh8Bqp7b-jedaxIGOtSoNPwk_FnqtaCk

The summer between high school graduation and college was three glorious months of lifeguarding at Lava Hot Springs and driving tractor out in the fields. I didn't get to hang out with my friends as much as I wanted, but that's because we were all working on farms and making money for whatever was to come next in life. 

I remember that a lot of good music came out during that summer, but there was one album that I really found that I couldn't stand--Purple Rain. My friends and I had made fun of the Purple Pervert on his previous albums, so I was predisposed to dislike Purple Rain from the moment I first heard it. But it was impossible to go through that summer without hearing "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy." And the album had hit its full stride by the beginning of my freshman year of college with "Purple Rain," "I Would Die 4 U," and "Take Me With You" dominating the airwaves. I remember that some of the girls I met at college REALLY liked Prince, and I just didn't get why. I mean, just look at the cover of the album! This doesn't look like any of the rock and roll singers that the girls in high school liked. 

I had not seen the movie, but I heard it was pretty bad, and I kind of figured that the rest of the album besides the hit songs played on the radio must really suck, so I never listened to it all the way through. And of all the videos I saw on MTV from the movie, the one song that I liked the most was actually by Morris Day and The Time's "Jungle Love"--oh-ee-oh-eee-oh!

https://youtu.be/N2FPQvwhSDY

Purple Rain also wasn't one of the albums that I got into after my mission, even though Prince had become a much bigger deal by then with lots of other hits. And I'm not sure why, but the producers of "Batman" decided that Prince would make the ideal artist to do the soundtrack. So we all had to endure hearing "Batdance" on the radio in the summer of '89, which turned me off to Prince even more. 

But about eight years later, I went to graduate school at Utah State, and I ended up buying Purple Rain because Julie said that she liked the album, and I was trying really hard to please her during that time, so I put aside my dislike of the Purple Pervert and gave the entire Purple Rain album a listen. And I was pleasantly surprised by how good all of the other songs on the album were, with the exception of Darling Nikki, which I still hate. But the rest of the songs grew on me so much that I got to the point that I even put "Computer Blue" on my Top 200 songs list. I also like "Baby I'm a Star" very much. Because I enjoyed Purple Rain so much, I ended up getting a Prince greatest his album, and I found that I liked even more of his music. Moreover, I found that I liked the music from his Purple Pervert days much more than the tamer music he put out once he got religion and joined the Jehovah's Witnesses in 2001. 

So this is one of those rare '80s albums that I hated in high school and college but eventually grew to appreciate much later on in life. Of course, I also rented "Purple Rain" the movie, and I discovered that my instinct that it would be a truly crappy movie was...absolutely dead on. It was about as bad as a movie can get--except for the music, which was very purple and very rainish. So it just goes to show that the old saying is true--you can't judge all perverts by their color.

Daren