Matt's Books and Music

[This post is part of a large project in which I am going through the popular music released in each year. Please see the note at the bottom of the post re: omissions and limitations.]

Introduction

If I had to provide a tagline for 1989 in music it would be “Return of the cool.” After two years in which popular music swung wildly away from the cool toward the broad, easy listening vibes of adult contemporary, suddenly youthful, interesting, cool music roared back in 1989. And thank God for that. What’s special about the year is that it felt like a perfect microcosm of the decade as a whole. Older artists (Donna Summer, The Rolling Stones, Don Henley, Tina Turner) released strong albums, artists from the mid-decade ‘new wave’ (The Cure, Simple Minds, New Order) returned with a vengeance, indie singer-songwriters (Indigo Girls, Tracy Chapman) left their mark, and the revitalized R&B continued to dominate, even as sectors of it had morphed into the emerging genre of hip hop. (In fact, four rap albums made my top twenty of the year.) The year also proved to be a great bridge into the nineties, with, in addition to the emergence of hiphop into the mainstream, strong albums from Canadian indie rock darlings 54.40, Blue Rodeo, and The Tragically Hip, and the debut album from Nirvana. What a year!

Top 10 Albums

The last year of the decade ended with two albums in a statistical tie for the top spot of for me:

1. (Tie). Disintegration (The Cure): I had a fascinating trajectory with The Cure through the decade, with their first three albums faring poorly, then their last three growing exponentially, all building to this luscious album. I don’t often go for long songs with long instrumental breaks, but the band sounds so good and so interesting on this album that it works for me.

1. (Tie). The Stone Roses (self-titled): I’d been waiting impatiently through the last half of the decade for this album to appear and it’s so worth the wait. No-skip albums are a rarity for me, but this is definitely one of them. The mixture of vintage 60s guitar sounds, a 70s punk attitude, and contemporary pop hooks is unbeatable and unmistakably The Stone Roses.

3. … But Seriously (Phil Collins): Speaking of unbelievably deep albums, I didn’t expect this to fare so well. With its heart-on-its-sleeve, humanitarian messaging, there’s no question a lot of this album is cheesy. But no one in 1989 was doing the kinds of interesting big band orchestral arrangements Phil Collins was doing here (and no one has done them since). It’s just so well done. (Highlights include: “Something Happened on the Way to Heaven,” “Find a Way to My Heart,” and “I Wish It Would Rain Down.”)

4. Rhythm Nation 1814 (Janet Jackson): Where Phil Collins’ socially conscious music comes across as cheesy, Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 managed to make similar messaging sound fresh and cool. Everything about this album, from its visuals and fashion to its choreography and production is so cohesive and absolutely iconic.

5. The Raw & the Cooked (Fine Young Cannibals): This is one of those lightning in a bottle albums, where everything comes together perfectly. “She Drives Me Crazy,” “Good Thing,” “It’s Okay (It’s Alright”), “Tell Me What”? I mean come on.

4. The Other Side of the Mirror (Stevie Nicks): While only one track from this album (”Ooh My Love”) made my year-end playlist, this is a deep album. Stevie Nicks is a brilliant enough songwriter that even an ‘off’ album can be this good.

5. 3 Feet High and Rising (De La Soul): Considering my musical and social sensibilities, it’s fitting that the first rap album to make one of my year-end lists is one that is all about good vibes, social uplift, and Black joy.

6. Like a Prayer (Madonna): Led by the eponymous single, this is a pop masterpiece.

7. Street Fighting Years (Simple Minds): After a hiatus following their brilliant 1985 album (Once Upon a Time), Simple Minds came back with a different, more pensive sound in 1989. While the album was divisive at the time and remains so, it works for me.

8. Full Moon Fever (Tom Petty): Tom Petty is often imitated, but never duplicated, and this deep album shows why. Fun fact: nine years after its release, my high school graduating class selected “Free Fallin’” as its grad song — which felt very weird at the time, and even weirder in hindsight.

Other Albums of Note

• Hats (The Blue Nile): My rankings are based on aggregate numbers and so they privilege longer albums. The fact that this gorgeous, luscious album finished twelfth in my overall rankings despite only having seven songs on it goes to show how good it was.
• Up to Here (The Tragically Hip): Featuring the hit “New Orleans Is Sinking,” this debut from Canadian icons The Tragically Hip was a sign of big things to come.
• Doolittle (Pixies): This was the breakout album for your favourite 90s band’s favourite 90s band.

Top 10 Songs

1. “Pictures of You” (The Cure): This song breaks all the rules of pop music: It’s over seven minutes long, has seven verses with no chorus, and it buries its hook in the production. And yet it is one of the most iconic songs of its era. (Favourite lyric: “If only I’d thought of the right words / I wouldn’t be breaking apart / All my pictures of you”)
2. “Closer to Fine” (Indigo Girls): Possibly the most famous ‘singer/songwriter’ song written since the ‘70s, its honest yet life-affirming lyrics and beautiful melodies and harmonies make it shine. (Favourite lyric: “Well, darkness has a hunger that’s insatiable / And lightness has a call that’s hard to hear”)
3. “The Downtown Lights” (The Blue Nile): I admit I wasn’t super familiar with The Blue Nile before doing this deep-drive (Taylor Swift’s callout of this song on “The Black Dog” notwithstanding), but I’ve literally spent three days with this song on repeat, and consider it time well-spent. (Favourite lyric: “Wrong or right, be at my side”)
4. “This Is the One” (The Stone Roses): A shockingly earnest love song from a cynical band. (Favourite lyric: “I’d like to leave the country / For a month of Sundays / Burn the town where I was born”)
5. “Waterfall” (The Stone Roses): The ‘ingenue escaping her small town’ is a classic rock music trope, but it’s rarely been done as well as it is here. (Favourite lyric: “Stands on shifting sands / The scales held in her hands”)
6. “Lovesong” (The Cure): This is a simple song lyrically, but for all its complexity love is often pretty simple, and this song does exactly what it says on the box. (Favourite lyric: “However far away / I will always love you”)
7. “Move This” (Technotronic): I feel that half of 90s dance music was trying to recreate this club classic. (Favourite lyric: “Baby, let me show you how to do this / You’ve gotta move this”)
8. “Headlights on the Parade” (The Blue Nile): The production on this song manages to feel energetic and uplifting but also incredibly relaxing. (Favourite lyric: “Headlights on the parade / Light up the way”)
9. “Escapade” (Janet Jackson): On what is a pretty heavy social-justice themed album, this track provides a welcome escapist break. (Favourite lyric: “Come go with me, we’ve got it made / Let me take you on an escapade”)
10. “Crossroads” (Tracy Chapman): Lots of artists have written about the downsides of sudden fame, but there is only one Tracy Chapman. (Favourite lyric: “All you folks think you own my life / But you never made any sacrifice”)

Other Songs of Note

• “She Drives Me Crazy” (Fine Young Cannibals): This is one of those songs that is immediately identifiable from the first notes
• “Eye Know (ft. Otis Redding)” (De La Soul): Between the fun sampling, great flow, and uplifting lyrics, this is De La Soul at its best.
• “If I Could Turn Back Time” (Cher): No one does a comeback like Cher.

Most Surprising Inclusion

• “The Heart of the Matter” (Don Henley): I thought a Don Henley song might make the list, but I was surprised it was this one and not “The End of the Innocence.”

Notable Song that Missed the Cut

• “Don’t Wanna Lose You” and “Get on Your Feet” (Gloria Estefan): I feel like Gloria Estefan (and her Miami Sound Machine) are consistently underrated in my rankings. These songs are unquestionably a big part of the sound of 1989 and I’m never sad or sorry when they come on.

[Note: It’s of course impossible to listen to everything, so while I’ve tried to be as comprehensive as possible, omissions are inevitable. For consistency’s sake, I’ve gone with the year music was released, rather than when it became popular. Any ratings or rankings are my own and entirely subjective. This has nothing to do with objective quality but is simply reflective of my personal taste.]