It Was A Very Good Year

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The results are in

Last week, with a €50 Golden Discs voucher redeemable in any Golden Discs store on offer and inspired by a new documentary that argues 1971 was the greatest year for music, I wanted to know the top music year of your life with the top tune of same.

You answered in your dozens.

But there could be only one winning year.

Third:

Running Free by Iron Maiden

Clampers Outside writes:

1985… was the year I fell in love.. With HEAVY METAL! Metal of all types! If it was gnarly or heavy I was listening :)

“Guns N’ Roses, Janes Addiction, Sabbat, Stormtroopers of Death were some of the bands formed that year.

“Album releases included Anthrax ‘Spreading The Disease’, Slayer ‘Hell Awaits’ and ‘Live Undead’, Exodus ‘Bonded by Blood’, S.O.D. ‘Speak English Or Die’ … And a whole heap of great metal albums from the like of Onslaught, Motley Crue, Celtic Frost, Loudness, Kreator, Overkill, Pantera, Faith No More, Twisted Sister, Megadeth… Ireland’s own Mama’s Boys ‘Power & Passion’ … and of course, Iron Maidens’ ‘Live After Death’. As well as, special mention for The Cult ‘Love’ :)

“How was I going to get a hold of all this new music? Well, a summer job of course!

“And what made things even much better was working in my local Esso station and all those drivers not collecting Tiger Tokens!!! Best dual-brand promo ever! That Golden Discs /Esso promo meant that I got at least one album every week and sometimes two or three, aaaaall summer long :)

“It was Maiden’s Live After that solidified my love of metal, but that didn’t come until later in the year, well after that glorious summer.

“And the track from the album… It has to be…Running Free (Live)

“Enjoy! :)”

Runner-up:

Waterfront by Simple Minds

GoldenBrown writes:

1985 was of course Live Aid the year before my Leaving Cert and that Saturday was a day very like today – beautiful, sunny and warm. We lived on the edge of Dublin in a town technically in a different county but totally “down the country”.

“Up to my much wealthier best mate’s gaff to organise a very busy day (and because I fancied his sister rotten although she was 3 years older than me), started off with a round of par 3, then jumping off the bridge into the canal, back to his gaff for food, underage drink and watch the events of the day on an expensive Sony Trinitron.

“Had been through a couple of genres already in my early teens up to that point but the band that caught my eye for some reason was Simple Minds…playing live in Philadelphia – LIVE I tells ya!! (it’s hard to put into words just how awesome that was at the time), super confidently stole a kiss. One of the best days.

“The following week I went straight into town to Freebird and bought an album called “Sparkle In the Rain” by Simple Minds with the money I’d saved from picking strawberries at the fruit farm up the road (not a lot because I mostly ate the strawberries).

“I still have it on the shelf and it gets the odd spin to this day some great songs on that album but I will nominate “Waterfront” .

“Simpler times and very glad and fortunate that I lived my teenage years in the ’80s!”


Winner
:

Fight The Power by Public Enemy

Capernosity & Function writes:

“I was too young for punk and new wave and there were no equivalent movements in the early 1980s that I could get my teeth into. By the late 80s I was moving beyond the Top of the Pops/Smash Hits phase to the NME/Hot Press phase. MTV Europe had arrived and opened up new horizons.

1989 was the end of first and the beginning of my second year in college. It was a very disruptive and turbulent time in my life so my bedroom with headphones and my music was my retreat. For me my late teens and early twenties were THE period when I had the most passion for music. I started owning it and looking for other stuff beyond the charts, started going to gigs and clubs.

“What signified 1989 for me was the Madchester/Baggy scene and the wave of rap and hip hop coming from the US. Indie music was also a separate entity then with genuinely independent labels with their own charts and songs that barely skirted the Top 40. Taping off the radio and Fanning’s Fab 50, happy days.

“Here are the albums that meant most to me. I played these to death at the time on my radio cassette player:

De La Soul – Three Feet High and Rising
The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
The Pixies – Doolittle
New Order – Technique
Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
NWA – Straight Outta Compton
The B-52s – Cosmic Thing
The The – Mind Bomb
Faith No More – The Real Thing

“Song of the year would have to be Public Enemy – Fight the Power from Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing”: ‘1989/Another summer /Get down /To the sound of the funky drummer’.

“I don’t mind if I do.”

Nick says: Well done Capernosity & Function and thanks all.

Last week: Win Nick’s Golden Voucher

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24 thoughts on “It Was A Very Good Year

    1. scottser

      have you seen or heard john mayer’s new album SOB rock? he goes all out to make it look and sound like an 80s release..

  1. CapernosityandFunction

    Wow. Thank you very much Nick! This competition involved a lot more thought than usual. There were some really great entries. It was a good idea to mix it up a little.

      1. scottser

        i’m getting an awful goo on me for live music, nick. twould possibly make a decent competition – best live acts or live albums maybe?

    1. Clampers Outside

      Great win Caper! Love the album list you have for ’89!

      Great to see Faith No More made both our nominated years too :)

      1. CapernosityandFunction

        Great to see Guns N’ Roses and Jane’s Addiction mentioned in your contribution. Loved the Tiger Tokens story

  2. H

    I never had you down as a metaller Clampers, did you also frequent Bruxelles before they ruined it?

  3. eamonn

    great win – well done.
    De la Soul, The stone roses , The Pixies and The The got heavy rotation at eamonn’s

  4. Slave to the Rhythm

    Great choices and deserved winner, honourable mention to U2’s Bad Live at Live Aid if no-one picked it already

    1. bertie blenkinsop

      The best part about that was that Bono’s antics almost broke the band up.

      1. Slave to the Rhythm

        Yea, was it really that bad Bertie? I did read they were all fairly disgusted by it, but looking back now with the benefit of hindsight… I’ve been watching a bit lately, and I find it utterly mesmerising…

        1. Bertie blenkinsop

          Ah, I was exaggerating for comedic effect. To be fair to them, outside of Queen, it was probably the most memorable performance on the day.
          They seized the moment in a way that the likes of The Style Council and Adam Ant failed to.

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