// Category Archive for: Waxing Nostalgic

1988: Perk Up Your Ears

By Latanya

I was only seven in 1983, so I wasn’t as musically aware as I was in 1988. Granted, by 1988 I was 12 and in the seventh grade, and I was much more expressive by this point. Thankfully, my ears were perked up higher so the following albums stuck out
from that year.
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The Minutemen, Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat

By Jimmy Ether

It’s difficult for me to fully express the effect that the Minutemen had on me. “Life changing” may seem over-dramatic, but it would not be inaccurate. They were the ultimate underground band. A perfect blend of outrage, respect, art, sweat, and brotherly love. They never fit the hardcore genre into which they have been historically placed. They were not about aggression, rebellion, and noise. They were blatant self-expression and open-mindedness. They projected a very conceptualized vision of what a free, musical lifestyle meant. . . zen and the art of “the spiel.” They dabbled in self-mythology while remaining entirely modest everymen from blue-collar San Pedro, California.

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Jane’s Addiction, Nothing’s Shocking

By Christian Lipski

Nothing’s Shocking is a great example of an album that I liked more for the individual statement that those specific songs made than the band itself. I didn’t really follow Jane’s Addiction after their debut, and I never felt sad about that. What I do feel sad about is that I looked on my iPod and I do not have this album on it. Okay now I do.
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The Police, Synchronicity

By Jemiah Jefferson

This is the first music that I ever bought in a record store (or, I should say, that I begged my mom to buy for me—I had absolutely no money of my own at the age of eleven, since I never got an allowance as a child. . . or a teenager, for that matter). I bought this on cassette, probably from a Sam Goody or something similar, in a mall. I bought it months after its release, in the fall, after a punishing summer where “Every Breath You Take” kept its stranglehold on the Billboard #1 slot for what seemed like forever. I have always quite disliked that song, and after seeing so many other worthy songs attempt to break through and fail (most particularly “Is There Something I Should Know?”, Duran Duran’s vastly superior single, which topped out at #4, much to my rage and frustration) I learned to hate it, and I still hate it.
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New Kids on the Block, Hangin’ Tough

By Christian Lipski

I’m cheating a little on this one, as I didn’t actually own this album. But I do definitely remember when it was released, and when it exploded into a phenomenon. I would see the video for “Please Don’t Go Girl” from time to time, back when the boy band was a relatively new concept in the U.S. (at least for those who didn’t remember the Osmonds). It wasn’t until a couple years later that I really started getting into the NKOTB, but I did dip back into their “old school” stuff when “Step By Step” came out.
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The First Shall Be Made Last: David Bowie’s Let’s Dance

By Christian Lipski

I have to begin with the obvious by marveling at how long it’s been since Let’s Dance was released, simply because twenty-five years? It’s insane. I was fifteen and didn’t know anything about anything. When I taped Let’s Dance from a record I checked out from the library, I didn’t even know much about David Bowie at the time. I had heard “Changes” on the radio before, and probably other songs, but always on the fringe of my attention. 1983 was Bowie’s year to shine. Let’s look at the album in order, and I’ll see what each track dredges up.
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Thriller: My Introduction to Pop Culture

By Laura L.

It’s hard to believe it’s been twenty-five years since the release of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It’s even harder to believe it’s been almost as long since I listened to it for the very first time. I don’t remember exactly how old I was, and I don’t even remember whether it was the very first tape my dad bought me, but I know it was one of the very first. To go with this gift was my older cousin’s brown, hand-me-down cassette case, featuring some hand-me-down tapes. Thriller fit right in the collection.
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Duran Duran’s Seven and the Ragged Tiger

By Less Lee Moore

In the eighties, I became a Duranie. I grew fascinated with them after seeing the “Planet Earth” video on MTV. My friend later played Rio for me and I couldn’t get enough of it so I scrounged up allowance money and bought my own copy. Previously I’d been obsessed with Adam Ant, but since I didn’t think Strip was up to the standard he set with his previous albums, my interest began to wane. Enter the Fab Five.
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