My Top 20 Lists that I compiled as a kid 1973-1990

[Catfish]

January 1980 List
------------------------
1. Styx (no change)
2. Boston (No change)
3. Journey (+1)
4. Led Zeppelin (-1)
5. Van Halen (+4)
6. Bob Seger (+1)
7. Foreigner (-2)
8. Rush (No change)
9. Aerosmith (-3)
10. Eagles (No change)
11. Cars (+2)
12. Bad Company (-1)
13. Kansas (-1)
14. Steve Miller Band (+6)
15. Toto (+3)
16. Emerson Lake and Palmer (-1)
17. Foghat (-3)
18. Eddie Money (New)
19. Moody Blues (-2)
20. Fleetwood Mac (-1)

New Vinyl/Tapes
-----------------------
Toto- Self Titled
Van Halen- II

 

[Catfish]

February 1980 List
--------------------------
1. Styx (No change)
2. Boston (No change)
3. Journey (No change)
4. Toto (+11)
5. Led Zeppelin (-1)
6. Foreigner (No change)
8. Bob Seger (-2)
9. Rush (-1)
10. Aerosmith (-1)
11. Cars (No change)
12. Eagles (-2)
13. Kansas (No change)
14. Bad Comoany (-2)
15. Eddie Money (+3)
16. Steve Miller Band (-2)
17. Moody Blues (+2)
18. Emerson Lake and Palmer (-2)
19. Fleetwood Mac (+1)
20. Foghat (-3)

Vinyl/Tapes added
----------------
None

Concert: John Denver - February 24, 1980- Well........ sometimes you do things that your girl friend wants you to do so........

 

[Catfish]

March and April 1980 list
-----------------------------
1. Styx (No change)
2. Boston (No change)
3. Journey (No change)
4. Neil Young (New)
5. Toto (-1)
6. Led Zeppelin (-1)
7. The Cars (+4)
8. Van Halen (-2)
9. Foreigner (-2)
10. Bob Seger (-2)
11. Rush (-2)
12. Aerosmith (-2)
13. Eagles (-1)
14. Eddie Money (No change)
15. The Babys (New)
16. Bad Company (-2)
17. Kansas (-4)
18. Fleetwood Mac (+1)

Vinyl/Tapes Added
---------------------
None

Neil Young-. A couple of years ago Young became a laughing stock for staring down Spotify for the scraps and crumbs he might be making on downloads. He's a relic, and thinking he has any relevance as voice in his addled mind is pure folly. Now days, I seldom listen to his whiny ass voice. Tastes change that's for sure. Its been a couple of years since NY tried to exert his music industry dominance, by boycotting Spotify for political reason. Hey Neil.... how did that work out? Thinking he could out-advocate the likes of Beyonce, and Swift, was pretty humerous.

But back at the subject at hand. Way back in the day in a galaxy in time long ago, Neil was the closest thing to a rock poet laureate the business had since Bob Dylan. I was fascinated with his songwriting skills, and he was a tour de' force when he teamed up with Crazy Horse. Always enigmatic, his career was a strange journey of ebbs and flows. He has made among the greatest and worst albums of all time (Rust Never Sleeps vs. Everybody's Rocking). Speaking of Everybody's Rocking...... When I saw NY in 1985, the concert and tour supporting this LP was the absolutley worst concert I have ever attended..... BY FAR!!!! I felt violated when I left the arena. But you have to hand it to him in retrospect...... This is a guy who was part of Buffalo Springfield, played Woodstock, with Crosby Stills & Nash, Mega selling solo act in the '70's and '80's, and even used Pearl Jam as his back up band. Picking one clip of NY is like throwing a pebble in the ocean, hoping to hit water. Think I will go with this one....... Just because it seems Neil has gotten rusty before he burnt out.

The Babys- . Late '70's radio darlings that started out mostly as a straight out R & R band. But like others they let the success move themselves toward the pop side. In the grand scheme they were pretty forgettable.

 

[Catfish]

May 1980 list
-----------------------
1. Styx (No change)
2. Neil Young (+2)
3. Boston (-1)
4. Journey (-1)
5. Toto (No change)
6. Led Zeppelin (No change)
7. Cars (No change)
8. Eagles (+5)
9. Foreigner (No change)
10. Bob Seger (No change)
11. Rush (No change)
12. Aerosmith (No change)
13. Van Halen (-5)
14. Eddie Money (No change)
15. Fleetwood Mac (+3)
16. Bad Company (No change)
17. The Babys (-2)
18. Moody Blues (+2)
19. Kansas (-2)
20. Steve Miller Band (-1)

Vinyl/Tape added
----------------------
None

 

[Catfish]

June 1980

1. Styx- (No change)
2. Neil Young (No change)
3. Journey (+1)
4. Boston (-1)
5. Toto (No change)
6. Cars (+1)
7. Led Zeppelin (+1)
8. Eagles (No change)
9. Foreigner (No change)
10. Rush (+1)
11. Bob Seger (-1)
12. Eddie Money (-2)
13. Aerosmith (-1)
14. Fleetwood Mac (+1)
15. Van Halen (-2)
16. Queen (New)
17. Moody Blues (+1)
18. Bad Company (-2)
19. The Babys (-2)
20. Kansas (-1)

Vinyl/Tapes added
------------------------
None

Concert- Kenny Loggins- June 22, 1980- Well sometimes you do things that your girl friend wants to do so........ (Part 2)

 

[dr wu]

October 1979-
-------------------------
1. Styx (No change)
2. Boston (No change)
3. Journey (+4)
4. Led Zeppelin (+1)
5. Aerosmith (-1)
6. Van Halen (-3)
7. Foreigner (+1)
8. Rush (-2)
9. Bob Seger (No change)
10. Bad Company (+1)
11. Cars (+1)
12. Fleetwood Mac (-2)
13. Kansas (+3)
14. Emerson Lake and Palmer (No change)
15. Eagles (-2)
16. Moody Blues (-1)
17. Foghat (No change)
18. Chicago (+2)
19. Toto (-1)
20. Steve Miller (-1)

Vinyl/Tape added
-------------------------
Journey- Evolution
Journey- Infinity
Styx- Cornerstone

This was one of the absolute biggest disappointments I ever had in anticipation of an album. This was the follow-up to the legendary Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight masterpieces. This LP was a wretched unmittigatted piece of garbage. Dennis DeYoung had criminally hijacked the band into thinking they were pop stars, and the results absolutely SUCKED!!!!! Want an example of how bad this garbage was?

I stopped listening to new Styx after Pieces of Eight.......but as a matter of interest the last 2 lps by them....The Mission (2017) and Crash of the Crown (2021) both received higher ratings than any of their other lps on Prog Rock Archives.

 

[Catfish]

Great points. DDY at that point had wrestled artistic control of the band and ruined them. Criminal almost... IMO

 

[Catfish]

July 1980 List
------------------------
1. Styx (No change)
2. Neil Young (No change)
3. Journey (No change)
4. Boston (No change)
5. Toto (No change)
6. Led Zeppelin (+1)
7. Cars (-1)
8. Eagles (No change)
9. Rush (+1)
10. Eddie Money (+2)
11. Foreigner (-2)
12. Bob Seger (-1)
13. Fleetwood Mac (+1)
14. Queen (+2)
15. Chicago (New)
16. Aerosmith (-3)
17. Van Halen (-2)
18. Moody Blues (-1)
19. Bad Company (-1)
20. Kansas (No change)

Vinyl/Tapes Added- None

Memories about that time include how historically hot it was. Lot's of indoor time, sipping drinks and listening to music.

 

[Catfish]

August 1980 List
-------------------------
1. Styx (No change)
2. Journey (+1)
3. Neil Young (-1)
4. Boston (No change)
5. Cars (+2)
6. Led Zeppelin (No change)
7. Toto (-2)
8. Eagles (No change)
9. Eddie Money (+1)
10. Rush (-1)
11. Fleetwood Mac (+2)
12. Tom Petty (New)
13. Bob Seger (-1)
14. Rolling Stones (New)
15. Queen (-1)
16. Foreigner (-5)
17. Chicago (-2)
18. Moody Blues (No change)
19. Bad Company (No change)
20. Kansas (No change)

Vinyl/Tape added-
------------------
None

Rolling Stones- Never really was a fan of the Stones, but no doubt they are among the biggest legends in rock of all time. They just weren't my kind of band. So seeing this suddenly in my Top 20 list 40 years later was a kind of a mystery to me. But looking up their discography, and really reachng back for memories, I can remember a group of us, doing like a prehistoric rocker flash mob kind of act to the song "Shattered" at the bar. SHA-DOO-BEE!!!!! SHA-DOO-BEE!!! The strangeness of youth.

As far as any serious discussion of them musically, or historically and its merits, I am probably not the one to lead the narrative.

Tom Petty-. In my opinion, one of the all time greats..... TP did not make a bad album. I think Full Moon Fever is the best album of the '80's. And even today, is one of the acts that I listen to the most. He blended great singer/songwriter stuff with a good dose of the Byrds to iconic levels. Campbell's underated riffs just added a level of cut.

Hard to go wrong with anything in his repertoire of work. You could start with "Damn the Torepdoes", to as I mentioned "Full Moon Fever", to "Into the Great Wide Open" and beyond. Petty is the one act that I most regret not being able to see. As far as a sample?, too target rich of an environment. Think I will go with what I feel is almost requiem-ist farewell from the master himself. His passing left a gaping void in rock.

 

[Catfish]

September 1980 List
----------------------------
1. Styx- (No change)
2. Neil Young (+1)
3. Journey (-1)
4. Cars (+1)
5. Boston (-1)
6. Led Zeppelin (No change)
7. Toto (No change)
8. Eagles- (No change)
9. Tom Petty (+3)
10. Eddie Money (-1)
11. Fleetwood Mac (No change)
12. Off Broadway (New)
13. Pat Benetar (New)
14. Rush (-4)
15. Bob Seger (-2)
16. Queen (-1)
17. Foreigner (-1)
18. Rolling Stones (-4)
19. Moody Blues (-1)
20. Chicago (-3)

Vinyl/Tapes added-
-----------------------------------
None... In fact, a few months earlier I guess I had stopped documenting additons. This will be the last installment.

Off Broadway- . I mentioned in the beginning of this thread that there may be some obscure acts, and this one is about as obscure as it gets. According to wiki, none of their albums even charted in the Top 100, which is quite a shock since this band had some really good New Wave chops at the time. Maybe it was a case of luck being more important than being good. Glad I regurgitated this thing, because I pretty much had forgotten these guys. Sure, they aren't as good as The Cars or The Police, but sure didn't deserve anonymity. Here are some good tracks from album that I had.

Pat Benetar- Not obscure , and my favorite female artist. I don't know what Ms. Benetar's octave range is, but I do know she had operatic trainging, and IMO had the best voice of all women. Her and her band started rocking hard, but like many others went in a more pop direction as her success grew. In her case, it worked well, and I didn't mind because she did all so well. She was very listenable her entire main recording career. For kind of bookmark samples, I am adding a rocking John Cougar Mellencamp cover, and "We Live for Love"..... And latter the highly melodic tune..."We Belong". The last two really provide a great example of the incredible range this woman has.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86o_QuMt3SE


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxZInIyOBXk