In the wake of the list-making mania of High Fidelity and VH-1’s recent tally of the 100 Greatest Rock Albums, we are overloaded with personal preferences of what makes a landmark record. Records are ranked according to sales, influence and durability, among other factors. While these lists can be both entertaining and infuriating, it is nice to take a historical perspective and examine what was popular, say, 20 years ago. To do so, we turn to the College Music Journal, a weekly magazine that charts an album’s popularity based on college radio airplay instead of sales figures. Here is a look at the top five albums from the week of January 29, 1981.
1. Talking Heads, Remain in Light. Though the Talking Heads are commonly (and unfairly) viewed as a typical `80s band, on par with Human League and Simple Minds, Remain in Light is a complete about-face from the synthesized sound of the era. Often heralded as their masterpiece, Remain in Light found the Talking Heads fusing its art-rock styles with African rhythms and instrumentation. What resulted was a multi-cultural union that intertwined David Byrne’s quirky and sideways lyrics with the beats and grooves of the world. The album contains the Haeads’ signature song, “Once in a Lifetime,” and helped validate the band as true innovators.
2. Bruce Springsteen, The River. This double-record set finds Springsteen still confronting the working-class struggle depicted in the 1978 Darkness in the Edge of Town, while coming to accept blue-collar life. The need for escape is both searing and touching in “Independence Day.” “Hungry Heart” finds the desire for freedom not easily satisfied. The River also shows Bruce’s playful side, as tracks like “Cadillac Ranch” rock without dire subject matter. While not as poetic as his earlier work, The River takes a more realistic view of life while reaffirming the need to break from the ties that bind.
3. XTC, Black Sea. XTC continues to be one of rock’s catchiest and most cerebral acts, and this album found it infusing `60s jangle and pop into modern new wave. Black Sea continued on this theme and was the most coherent of it albums up to that point. With the strength of tracks like “Generals and Majors” and “Towers of London,” Black Sea became its most successful American album.
4. Rockpile, Seconds of Pleasure. Rockpile was the touring band for both Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe, two innovators of British pub-rock. While both men have remained active in the music scene, Rockpile has gotten lost in the annals of popular music. Seconds of Pleasure, Rockpile’s only studio full-length, captures the band paying tribute to the `50s rock sound that helped influence it. A number of the tracks on the album are covers of songs by the likes of Chuck Berry and The Everly Brothers.
5. The Police, Zenyatta Mendatta. The world could not get enough of the pop-reggae sound produced by Sting and the Police, and this album, its second No. one, was sure proof. Zenyatta Mendatta contains pop classics like “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” and “Canary In A Coal Mine.” Tracks like “Driven To Tears” find Sting addressing political issues, long before he started selling computers and luxury cars. Zenyatta Mendatta displays the Police’s mastery of pop and acute social conscience, and helped make them one of the best bands of the era.
