We’re nearing the home stretch of our Best of the ’80s Redux series of year-by-year song polls as we move on to the year 1987, giving Slicing Up Eyeballs readers the chance to vote for their 25 favorites as we rank the 100 best songs released that year.
The Best of the ’80s Redux polls launched in 2015 and covered 1980 and 1981 before fizzling out (the whole site went on hiatus for almost two years). But in 2018 we resurrected the series, and relaunched it with polls over the last two years that ranked the best songs of 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986.
VOTING: For the album polls (and our subsequent artist discography polls), we presented a list, sometimes hundreds of titles long, to choose from, plus the ability to offer write-ins. We inevitably missed titles, and some argued this skewed the results. So for the song polls, it’s a (mostly) free-for-all. You may vote for any songs you’d like — singles, B-sides, album cuts, etc. It’s all fill-in-the-blanks, not multiple choice.
A few important things to note:
- To be eligible, songs must have been released in some format — whether it be on an album, EP or a single — somewhere in the world for the first time during the year 1987. For example, The Church’s “Under the Milky Way” was released as a single in Australia and New Zealand in 1987, but nowhere else until 1988, after which it became a hit. That makes it eligible for the 1987 poll only. Splitting hairs? Sure, but we have to draw the line somewhere.
- But wait! There’s an exception. The so-called “Radio Free Europe” rule. Just as we allowed R.E.M.’s twice-released debut single to be voted on in two different years, we’ll let people vote twice for songs that are re-released in re-recorded versions — such as a-ha’s “Take On Me” and Pet Shop Boys’ “West End Girls,” which made the 1984 and 1985 lists.
- With the album polls, acknowledging the theme of this website, we limited voting to artists that fall under the very loose and ill-defined “alternative” banner, generally acts from the punk, post-punk, goth, college rock, indie, synthpop, industrial, New Wave and related genres. Not the case anymore — although that’s still likely how the results will skew. For the song polls, vote for whatever you want.
- Well, there is one limit. To prevent one-note fans from, say, simply listing every track off Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, you may only vote for a maximum of two songs by the same artist when filling out your Top 25. Any ballots submitted with more than two songs by the same artist will be disqualified.
DEADLINE: Voting will be open through 5 p.m. EDT Friday, May 1, and results will be posted at some point thereafter — after which we’ll launch the 1988 poll and take it from there.
Sound good? Then vote away via the survey widget posted below. And if you have trouble with that embedded widget, you may vote directly on Crowdsignal’s site.
And because there’s not a pre-set list to choose from, we encourage you to lobby for your picks (list your whole ballot if you want), and maybe sway some votes, in the comments below.
Finally, if you’re drawing a blank on what came out that year, take a look back at our Top 100 albums of 1987 poll results, or check out these other resources:
- Wikipedia: 1987 singles
- Songfacts: Songs released in 1987
- Billboard’s Top 100 songs of 1987
- NME’s albums and tracks of the year: 1987
- WLIR & WDRE 92.7 FM Screamer & Shrieks of the Week
- KROQ’s Top 106.7 songs of 1987
- 91X’s Top 91 of 1987
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Top 100 Songs of 1986: Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Best of the ’80s Redux — Part 7
- Top 100 Songs of 1985: Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Best of the ’80s Redux — Part 6
- Top 100 Songs of 1984: Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Best of the ’80s Redux — Part 5
- Top 100 Songs of 1983: Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Best of the ’80s Redux — Part 4
- Top 100 Songs of 1982: Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Best of the ’80s Redux — Part 3
- Top 100 Songs of 1981: Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Best of the ’80s Redux — Part 2
- Top 100 Songs of 1980: Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Best of the ’80s Redux — Part 1
- Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Best of the 1980s: The Top 100 albums from 1980-1989
‘Never Let Me Down Again’ by DM and ‘Just Like Heaven’ both combine the best of light vs darkness for both bands and signpost the critical/commercial peaks to follow of ‘Violator’ and ‘Disintegration’. And both of their legacies outstrip their orginksk chart positions that should have been higher….
Those will both be getting votes from me.
For Your Consideration: Just a few songs from 1987 that you may have forgotten.
Pop Goes The World – Men Without Hats
Big Decision – That Petrol Emotion
Driving Away From Home – It’s Immaterial
Happy voting!
Don’t forget peeps that Come on Pilgrim was released in 87 as was the Sugarcubes debut album.
Just sayin’
Birthday by the Sugarcubes was released as a single in 1987, but the album “Life’s Too Good” was released in 1988.
My ballot:
01 New Order “True Faith”
02 Sinéad O’Connor “Troy”
03 The Cure “Just Like Heaven”
04 Prince “If I Was Your Girlfriend”
05 U2 “With Or Without You”
06 Depeche Mode “Never Let Me Down Again”
07 M/A/R/R/S “Pump Up The Volume”
08 INXS “Need You Tonight”
09 Suzanne Vega “Luka”
10 U2 “Where The Streets Have No Name”
11 Pet Shop Boys “Always On My Mind”
12 Guns ’N’ Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine”
13 Eric B & Rakim “Paid In Full (Seven Minutes Of Madness – The Coldcut Remix)”
14 George Michael “I Want Your Sex”
15 Depeche Mode “Strangelove”
16 Sisters Of Mercy “This Corrosion”
17 The Cure “Hot Hot Hot!!!”
18 Bangles “Hazy Shade Of Winter”
19 INXS “Never Tear Us Apart”
20 Salt-N-Pepa “Push It”
21 Sinéad O’Connor f. MC Lyte “I Want Your (Hands On Me)”
22 LL Cool J “Going Back To Cali”
23 George Michael “Faith”
24 R.E.M. “The One I Love”
25 Pet Shop Boys “It’s A Sin”
Holy cow. This playlist is awesome. You have all my favorites on there.
Prince, “Sign o the Times”
R.E.M., “The One I Love”
New Order, “True Faith”
The Pogues, “Fairytale of New York”
Depeche Mode, “Never Let Me Down Again”
Prince, “If I Was Your Girlfriend”
The Sisters of Mercy “This Corrosion”
The Cult, “Love Removal Machine”
Inxs, “Never Tear Us Apart”
Tom Waits, “Innocent When You Dream”
The Wedding Present, “My Favourite Dress”
The Smiths, “I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish”
The Smiths, “Shop Lifters of the World Unite”
Fleetwood Mac, “Big Love”
Black, “Sweetest Smile”
Bruce Springsteen, “Tougher than the Rest”
Deacon Blue, “Dignity”
The Cure, “Catch”
Public Enemy, “Rebel Without a Pause”
Spear of Destiny, “Never Take me Alive”
Eric B Rakim, “Paid in Full”
The Christians, “Forgotten Town”
Pixies, “Vamos”
Butthole Surfers, “Human Cannonball”
My ballot:
1. Don’t Dream It’s Over – Crowded House
2. Where The Streets Have No Name – U2
3. Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns ‘N’ Roses
4. With Or Without You – U2
5. Mary’s Prayer – Danny Wilson
6. Alex Chilton – The Replacements
7. Need You Tonight – INXS
8. True Faith – New Order
9. Just Like Heaven – Cure
10. Welcome To The Jungle – Guns N’ Roses
11. It’s The End Of The World As We Know It – R.E.M.
12. Sugar Mice – Marillion
13. Cherry Bomb – John Mellencamp
14. Jane Says – Jane’s Addiction
15. Here I Go Again – Whitesnake
16. Man In The Mirror – Michael Jackson
17. The Way It Is – Bruce Hornsby and the Range
18. Over the Hills and Far Away – Gary Moore
19. Sign ‘O” the Times – Prince & the Revolution
20. Girls, Girls, Girls – Mötley Crüe
21. Pour Some Sugar On Me – Def Leppard
22. Running In The Family – Level 42
23. Love Removal Machine – The Cult
24. Don’t Shed A Tear – Paul Carrack
25. Mission – Rush
Paradise City would have also made my Top 25, but it was against the rules. Luka by Suzanne Vega just missed.
You can make room for “Luka” as “Don’t Dream It’s Over” was released in 1986 and made #6 on that year’s poll.
1987 was a great year! I look forward to the results.
As RobC just pointed out on Twitter, The Church’s “Under the Milky Way” was released as a single in Australia and New Zealand in 1987. So that makes it eligible for this poll, not the 1988 poll. Be warned.
Are you sure?
https://imgur.com/UzJYOmX
Discogs shows a 1987 release on Mushroom Records:
https://www.discogs.com/The-Church-Under-The-Milky-Way/release/601293
And this photo shows 1987 on the record label: https://bit.ly/3bqToEi
OK. I just want to be sure I vote for it in the right year.
This is a travesty. It is #1 in ’88… putting it on this list feels so absolutely wrong.
25. “Time Stand Still” by Rush24. “Everyday” by Guided by Voices23. “Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)” by Tom Waits22. “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker” by Prince21. “Sheila Take a Bow” by The Smiths 20. “Ironbound/Fancy Poultry” by Suzanne Vega19. “Alex Chilton” by The Replacements
18. “Preposterous Tales” by I, Ludicrous17. “Lips Like Sugar” by Echo and the Bunnymen16. “Exhuming McCarthy” by R.E.M.15. “Paint a Rainbow” by My Bloody Valentine14. “Sign O’ the Times” by Prince13. “Nimrod’s Son” by The Pixies12. “Hey, Hey Spaceman” by Guided by Voices11. “Gun” by Siouxsie and the Banshees10. “Solitude Standing” by Suzanne Vega9. “Son of a Gun” by The Vaselines8. “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” by R.E.M.7. “Isla de Encanta” by The Pixies6. “Captain’s Dead” by Guided by Voices5. “Catch” by The Cure4. “Vanishing Girl” by Dukes of Stratosphere3. “How Beautiful You Are” by The Cure2. “I’ve Been Tired” by The Pixies1. “Transfiguration” by Screaming Trees
The Ballad of Dorothy Parker! RESPECT
Thanks! Unfortunately, I totally cocked up my ballot by including three songs each by The Pixies and Guided by Voices. Had I read the rules carefully, I also would have seen that The Church’s “Under the Milky Way” was first officially released in 1987… and that would be my number one pick. So I replaced “Every Day” and “Nimrod’s Son” with “Under the Milky Way” and The Smith’s “The Death of a Disco Dancer”, resubmitted, and started hoping for the best.
In no particular order
The Cult Lil Devil
Flesh for Lulu I Go Crazy
INXS Never Tear Us Apart
Gary Numan Radio Heart
New Order All Day Long
PIL Seattle
Pseudo Echo Living in a Dream
Love and Rockets Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven
Divinyls Hey Little Boy
Pet Shop Boys What I Have I Done to Deserve This
Wall of Voodoo Do It Again
INXS with Jimmy Barnes Good Times
Echo and The Bunnymen People are Strange
Depeche Mose Route 66 Beatmasters Mix
Dream Academy Indian Summer
The Cars You are the Girl
Icehouse Electric Blue
Bryan Ferry Kiss and Tell
Screaming Blue Messiahs I Wanna Be a Flintstone
Echo and the Bunnymen Bedbugs and Ballyhoo
New Order 1963
U2 One Tree Hill
Oingo Boingo Pain
New Order True Faith
Sisters of Mercy This Corrosion
Psychedelic Furs Angels Don’t Cry
Squeeze Hourglass
Men Without Hats Pop Goes The World
X 4th of July
Mignight Oil Beds are Burning
The Bangles Hazy Shade of Winter
The Bolshoi Please
Peter Murphy All Night Long
PIL Rules and Regulations
INXS Need You Tonight/Mediate
The Cure Why Can’t I be You
Isn’t Bryan Ferry’s “Kiss and Tell” 1988?
re: Kiss and Tell
I had it ’87 (can’t remember why) then looked it up… and every pressing on Discogs i ’88 EXCEPT for a cassette single in ’87? Really? That is what we’ve come to?
sad, sad, sad… but it looks like ’87.
https://www.discogs.com/Bryan-Ferry-Kiss-And-Tell/master/58683
The album Bête Noire was released in November 1987.
Ah, and so it was.
Well, there’s another great song that is going to make limiting the final list to 25 even more impossible.
TOP 25 SONGS OF 1987 (THE YEAR I WAS BORN!)
1. The Smiths – Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before
2. The Cure – Like Cockatoos
3. Echo + the Bunnymen – Bedbugs and Ballyhoo
4. Guns N’ Roses – It’s So Easy
5. Mötley Crüe – Girls, Girls, Girls
6. Happy Mondays – 24-Hour Party People
7. Def Leppard – Animal
8. Siouxsie + the Banshees – The Wheel’s On Fire
9. U2 – The Sweetest Thing
10. Public Image Ltd. – Seattle
11. Eric Carmen – Hungry Eyes
12. Pet Shop Boys – Always On My Mind
13. Anthrax – Indians
14. New Order – True Faith
15. For Against – Daylight
16. The Jesus + Mary Chain – April Skies
17. George Harrison – Got My Mind Set On You
18. That Petrol Emotion – Big Decision
19. Icehouse – Electric Blue
20. Fleetwood Mac – Little Lies
21. Tom Petty + the Heartbreakers – Jammin’ Me
22. The Grateful Dead – Touch of Grey
23. Dead Can Dance – Summoning of the Muse
24. The Cars – You Are the Girl
25. Sting – Be Still My Beating Heart
BONUS 10
1. Sisters of Mercy – Emma
2. X – 4th of July
3. Depeche Mode – Strangelove
4. Smokey Robinson – One Heartbeat
5. Prince and Sheena Easton – U Got the Look
6. The Sugarcubes – Birthday
7. T’Pau – Heart and Soul
8. Throwing Muses – Reel
9. Whitney Houston – So Emotional
10. The Church – Under the Milky Way
Just so you know, Under The Milky Way was first released in 1987 in Australia.
Can I get a source on that? It is my #1 for 1988, but I see nothing about an ’87 release.
ack… now I see the commentary above… ugh.
There does seem to be some conflicting info on this, but our fearless blog leader has ruled it an ’87 release, so on the list it goes.
1. The Smiths, “Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before”
2. New Order, “True Faith”
3. The Replacements, “Alex Chilton”
4. The Cure, “Just Like Heaven”
5. Sisters of Mercy, “This Corrosion”
6. The Smiths, “Unhappy Birthday”
7. Prince, “U Got The Look”
8. Echo & The Bunnymen, “Lips Like Sugar”
9. Eric B. & Rakim, “Paid In Full”
10. Testament, “Do or Die”
11. The Jesus and Mary Chain, “Happy When It Rains”
12. Public Enemy, “Miuzi Weighs a Ton”
13. The Cure, “Catch”
14. The Replacements, “The Ledge”
15. Love & Rockets, “No New Tale to Tell”
16. Suzanne Vega, “Luka”
17. 10,000 Maniacs, “Peace Train”
18. Eric B. & Rakim, “I Know You Got Soul”
19. Gene Loves Jezebel, “The Motion of Love”
20. The Cult, “Love Removal Machine”
21. Boogie Down Productions, “The Bridge Is Over”
22. Pet Shop Boys, “It’s a Sin”
23. Midnight Oil, “Beds Are Burning”
24. Depeche Mode, “Strangelove”
25. X, “4th of July”
Guadalcanal Diary – Litany (Life Goes On)
The Replacements – Alex Chilton
Jesus & Mary Chain – April Skies
The Cure – Just Like Heaven
New Order – True Faith
The Smiths – Stop Me …
U2 – In God’s Country
Dukes of Stratosphear – Vanishing Girl
Grapes Of Wrath – O Lucky Man
Julian Cope – St. Julian
Love & Rockets – No New Tale To Tell
Sisters of Mercy – Leucretia My Reflection
Depeche Mode – Never Let Me Down Again
The Nils – River Of Sadness
For Against – Get On With It
The Go Betweens – Bye Bye Pride
Midnight Oil – Dreamworld
Game Theory – The Real Sheila
REM – Fireplace
The Cult – Love Removal Machine
X – Fourth of July
The Pixies – Levitate Me
Redd Kross – Lovedoll Superstar
Hoodoo Gurus – What’s My Scene?
Husker Du – Could You Be The One?
Dumptruck – Carefree
O Positive – Not Enough
Dramarama – Steve & Edie
The Connells – Try
The Chills – Wet Blanket
Echo & The Bunnymen – Lost & Found
Beat Farmers – God Is Here Tonight
The Silencers – Painted Moon
P.I.L. – Seattle
The Godfathers – Birth School Work Death
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Song From the Edge of the World
Blue Aeroplanes – Warhol’s 15
Housemartins – People Who Grinned Themselves to Death
Oingo Boingo – We Close Our Eyes
Figures on a Beach – No Stars
House Of Love – Shine On
Screaming Tribesmen – Casualty Of Love
The Reivers – In Your Eyes
The Silos – Mary’s Getting Married
Dinosaur Jr. – Raisans
Butthole Surfers – Sweet Loaf
Sonic Youth – I Got a Catholic Block
Caterwaul – Connamon Color of My Heart
The Ramones – Something To Believe In
Big Dipper – She’s Fetching
Psychedelic Furs – Midnight To Midnight
Railway Children – A Gentle Sound
Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper – Elvis Is Everywhere
Scruffy The Cat – Land of 1000 Girls
Screaming Blue Messiahs – Sweet Water Pools
Dead Milkmen – Bitchin Camaro
Downsiders – Curl of Hair
Huxton Creepers – Autumn Leaves
Ups & Downs – The Living Kind
Luv me some Nils!!! I think Doughboys’ debut Whatever was also released in 1987 as well. Both great Montreal bands. Also, Sweet Water Pools, yes!!! Great selection of 25 errrr 59 songs, whatever. Lol
Heads up, Ups & Downs, “The Living Kind” was released in 1986.
My list:
Marc Almond – Mr. Sad
Camouflage – The Great Commandment
Cocteau Twins – Crushed
The Communards – Tomorrow
The Cure – How Beautiful You Are…
The Cure – One More Time
Depeche Mode – I Want You Now
Depeche Mode – Strangelove
Echo & the Bunnymen – Bedbugs and Ballyhoo
Erasure – Hideaway
Eurythmics – Shame
INXS – Mystify
New Order – Touched by the Hand of God
Sinead O’Connor – Troy
Pet Shop Boys – Always on my Mind
Pet Shop Boys – It’s a Sin
Siouxsie and the Banshees – The Hall of Mirrors
Siouxsie and the Banshees – This Wheel’s on Fire
The Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection
The Smiths – A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours
The Smiths – Sheila Take a Bow
A Split Second – Colonial Discharge
10,000 Maniacs – Don’t Talk
This Mortal Coil – Acid, Bitter and Sad
The Young Gods – Did You Miss Me?
oh, OUTSTANDING catch on Crushed by the Cocteaus! the Lonely Is an Eyesore comp was indeed released in ’87. that record was epic. i’m going to add this song and Throwing Muses’ Fish to my final list!
Great year for some fine independent music…
1 HUSKER DU – Could You Be the One?
2 LOS LOBOS – Is This All There Is?
3 R.E.M. – The One I Love
4 FIREHOSE – Sometimes
5 ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN – Lips Like Sugar
6 X – Fourth of July
7 REPLACEMENTS – Alex Chilton
8 ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN – Bedbugs and Ballyhoo
9 REM – Finest Worksong
10 JESUS & MARY CHAIN – April Skies
11 THE SILOS – Get Back my Name
12 LOVE AND ROCKETS – No New Tale to Tell
13 SMITHS – Girlfriend In a Coma
14 JULIAN COPE – World Shut Your Mouth
15 DINOSAUR JR. – In a Jar
16 THE THE – Infected
17 DEPECHE MODE – Never Let Me Down Again
18 THE CURE – Just Like Heaven
19 U2 – I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
20 WORLD PARTY – Ship of Fools
21 SISTERS OF MERCY – This Corrosion
22 THE CULT – Li’l Devil
23 GENE LOVES JEZEBEL – Desire (Come and Get It)
24 SUGAR CUBES – Birthday
25 MIDNIGHT OIL – Beds are Burning
Matthew;
World Shut Your Mouth, Ship of Fools and Desire (Come & Get It) are all 1986. They all made the 1986 list. You’ve gor three more choices if you haven’t sent in your ballot, yet.
Also, Infected came out in 1986 and made that list. 4 choices
may as well post mine:
THE CURE “JUST LIKE HEAVEN”
DEPECHE MODE “STRANGELOVE”
AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB “OUTSIDE THIS BAR”
THE SMITHS “STOP ME IF YOU THINK YOU’VE HEARD THIS ONE BEFORE”
R.E.M. “EXHUMING MCCARTHY”
INXS “NEW SENSATION”
10,000 MANIACS “DON’T TALK”
BRYAN FERRY “THE RIGHT STUFF”
X ” 4TH OF JULY”
SQUEEZE “HOURGLASS”
ABC “WHEN SMOKEY SINGS”
LOS LOBOS “SET ME FREE(ROSA LEE)”
PAUL KELLY AND THE COLOURED GIRLS “DUMB THINGS”
THE POGUES “FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK”
THE COLOURFIELD “RUNNING AWAY”
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN “LIPS LIKE SUGAR”
THE ALARM “RAIN IN THE SUMMERTIME”
U2 “WITH OR WITHOUT YOU”
TERENCE TRENT D’ARBY “IF YOU LET ME STAY”
SUZANNE VEGA “LUKA”
HOODOO GURUS “I WAS THE ONE”
PRINCE “HOUSEQUAKE”
THE STYLE COUNCIL “IT DIDN’T MATTER”
SQUEEZE “FOOTPRINTS”
X “SEE HOW WE ARE”
I can tell already the final results will piss me off, but here are your correct answers:
1. Wedding Present: Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft
2. The Chills: Night Of Chill Blue
3. Julian Cope: Spacehopper
4. Dramarama: Worse Than Being By Myself
5. I Ludicrous: Preposterous Tales
6. Psychedelic Furs: All Of The Law
7. The Fleshtones: Way Down South
8. Guadalcanal Diary: Litany (Life Goes On)
9. Jerry Harrison: Man With A Gun
10. The Replacements: Can’t Hardly Wait
11. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Behind The Sun
12. Motorhead: Eat The Rich
13. The Mad Daddys: I Rock
14. Echo and the Bunnymen: Rollercoaster
15. Wire: Ahead
16. Painters and Dockers: Nude School
17. Luxuria: Redneck
18. Screaming Blue Messiahs: Sweet Water Pools
19. Carmaig De Forest: Crack’s No Worse Than The Fascist Threat
20. Stan Ridgway: The End Of The Line
21. Sisters Of Mercy: Dominion/Mother Russia
22. Paul Kelly and the Messengers: Big Heart
23. Jane’s Addiction: Pigs In Zen
24. Wooden Soldiers: The Highway Talking
25. Joe Satriani: Surfing With The Alien
I have “Man With a Gun” on ’88… “Rev It Up” was released prior to the album in 87, but all I read is “Man With a Gun” is ’88. Your source?
Hmmm, looks like I nerfed that one; swear when I researched it I saw both singles came out in ’87 before the album in ’88. Alas, swap out Gun for Rev It Up.
Luxuria!!! great forgotten record by Howard Devoto. and Noko’s guitar work on that record was excellent. saw them open for the Fall and it was a good show.
Stan Ridgway: The End Of The Line, I have “Bing Can’t Walk” from the Slam Dance Soundtrack.
“All Of The Law”: The most underrated song from one of the most underrated bands ever.
Wedding Present’s George Best was the best LP of 1987.
It does feel weird having to make sure that songs more associated with 1988 have to get added here in order to be counted (see last three songs).
My list in no particular order:
The Smiths – Stop Me If…
Depeche Mode – Never Let Me Down Again
U2 – With Or Without You
U2 – I Still Haven’t Found…
R.E.M. – The One I Love
R.E.M. – It’s The End Of The World…
Jesus And Mary Chain – April Skies
Replacements – Alex Chilton
Replacements – The Ledge
The Cure – Just Like Heaven
Sinead O’Connor – Mandinka
INXS – Need You Tonight
The Cult – Love Removal Machine
Love And Rockets – No New Tale To Tell
Siouxsie & The Banshees – The Passenger
10,000 Maniacs – Like The Weather
Echo & The Bunnymen – Lips Like Sugar
Wire – Ahead
New Order – True Faith
Dinosaur Jr – Little Fury Things
Sonic Youth – Schizophrenia
Pixies – Caribou
Sugarcubes – Birthday
The Church – Under The Milky Way
The Pogues – Fairytale Of New York
wait, what? Birthday, Under hte Milky way and Fairtale are ’87? No way… I’ve looked those up and down… what source?
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the-sugarcubes/birthday-1/
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the-pogues/fairytale-of-new-york-the-battle-march-medley-1/
I don’t have the link for Under The Milky Way
https://www.discogs.com/The-Church-Under-The-Milky-Way/release/601293
Those three would likely have been Top Ten for ’88
Some of the links are pointing at 1986 lists instead of ’87.
Fixed. Thanks.
Well, here we go again to another poll:
1 – The Bolshoi – Please
2 – The Cure – Just like heaven
3 – Depeche Mode – Never Let Me Down Again
4 – The Smiths – Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before
5 – REM – Finest Worksong
6 – INXS – Need You Tonight
7 – Echo & The Bunnymen – Lips Like Sugar
8 – Jesus & Mary Chain – Happy When It Rains
9 – Sisters of Mercy – Dominion
10 – Pet Shop Boys – Rent
11 – Erasure – The Circus
12 – Housemartins – Build
13 – Bryan Ferry – Kiss & Tell
14 – Suzanne Vega – Solitude Standing
15 – Oingo Boingo – Not My Slave
16 – David Bowie – Never Let Me Down
17 – Gene Loves Jezebel – Suspicious
18 – Laibach – Geburt Einer Nation
19 – Marc Almond – Ruby Red
20 – Pet Shop Boys – It’s A Sin
21 – U2 – Bullet The Blue Sky
22 – Depeche Mode – Behind The Wheel
23 – New Order – True Faith
24 – Boy George – Sold
25 – Camouflage – The Great Commandment
Bonus Tracks:
Level 42 – Running in the Family
Midnight Oil – Bed Are Burning
Indochine – La Chevauchée Des Champs de Blés
REM – The One I Love
Sisters of Mercy – This Corrosion
REM – It’s The End Of The World As We Know It
Terence Trent D’Arby – Wishing Well
M/A/R/R/S – Pump Up The Volume
George Michael – Faith
Cabaret Voltaire – Here To Go
Dead Or Alive – Son of a Gun
Nitzer Ebb – Let Your Body Learn
Can anyone verify that the following are frome 1987 and thus qualify?
Understanding Jane – The Icicle Works
Girlfriend in a Coma – The Smiths
Balloon Man – Robyn Hitchcock
The Passenger – Siouxsee and the Banshees
Limiting the list to 25 is proving to be brutal — moreso than usual.
Ok, per Discogs, Understanding Jane was released as a single in 1986, even though the album it’s from was released in 87, it’s ineligible for 1987.
Per Discogs, Balloon Man wasn’t realeased as a single and on the Box of Frogs albums until 1988.
So, you have two songs for 1987 and one for 1988.
Thanks. As much as I hate to do it, it’s bye-bye to “Undesrtanding Jane” but at least that makes room something else in a difficult process.
“Balloon Man” was indeed released as single, and in the US two. I still have the 45 of it. Will do some digging for a date.
Well, that was quick. The internets are my friend, right?
Anyway, both the album and the single were indeed released in 1988, so it will go on next year’s list.
http://www.45cat.com/record/am3023
i definitely know that Girlfriend in a Coma and The Passenger are both from 1987. I’ll check the other two.
Man… missed this being posted… sad I didn’t get my list up earlier.
Here is my first pass… then I’ll go through and look at what others have posted for what I missed.
All songs vetted on Wikipedia primarily and limited to one per artist for more diversity.
25. Hunters & Collectors, “Faraway Man”
24. The Alarm, “Rain in the Summertime”
23. Depeche Mode, “Strangelove (album version)”
22. The Apartments, “The Shyest Time”
21. X, “4th of July”
20. Suzanne Vega, “In the Eye”
19. R.E.M. “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”
18. Midnight Oil, “Beds are Burning”
17. Immaculate Fools, “Tragic Comedy”
16. Marillion, “Sugar Mice”
15. U2, “With or Without You”
14. Age of Chance, “Kiss”
13. Love & Rockets, “No New Tale to Tell”
12. The Cult, “Love Removal Machine”
11. INXS, “Need You Tonight”
10. Terence Trent D’Arby, “Wishing Well”
9. The Replacements, “Alex Chilton”
8. Drivin’ & Cryin’, “The Friend Song”
7. Sisters of Mercy, “Lucretia My Reflection”
6. Echo and the Bunnymen, “Lips Like Sugar”
5. Bourgeois Tagg, “I Don’t Mind at All”
4. Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, “My Bag”
3. Sinead O’Conner, “Troy”
2. The Cure, “Just Like Heaven”
1. Robbie Robertson, “Broken Arrow”
Almost Rans
The Smiths, “Shoplifters of the World Unite”
Guns ‘n Roses, “Paradise City”
Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Fight Like a Brave”
Prince, “U Got the Look”
The Psychedelic Furs, “
Flesh for Lulu, “I Go Crazy”
The Dead Milkmen, “Instant Club Hit (You’ll Dance to Anything)
Squeeze, “Hourglass”
Eurythmics, “Beethoven (I Love to Listen To)”
Julian Cope, “Planet Ride”
Bryan Ferry, “Kiss and Tell”
Pixies, “I’ve Been Tired”
Billy Bragg, “The Milkman of Human Kindness”
Sting, “Little Wing”
Pet Shop Boys, “What Have I Done to Deserve This?”
Curiosity Killed the Cat, “Ordinary Day”
Level 42, “It’s Over”
10,000 Maniacs, “What’s the Matter Here?”
Jesus & Mary Chain, “Cherry Came Too”
The Housemartins, “The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death”
Warren Zevon, “Sentimental Hygiene”
Icehouse, “Crazy”
Marshall Crenshaw, “Somebody Crying”
One Too Many
Depeche Mode, “Never Let Me Down” (or several other tracks off of Music for the Masses)
Drivin’ N’ Cryin’, “Detroit City”
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, “Hey Rusty”
Sinead O’Connor, “Jerusalem” (or basically anything off of The Lion & the Cobra)
The Replacements, “Can’t Hardly Wait”
R.E.M., “Disturbance at the Heron House”
Great lists and other comments, Neil. Am curious: What was your Psychedelic Furs choice?
Thanks! These polls are a blast and seeing other’s choices is great. I end up expanding my collection after every year’s results are posted, and discussing music that was (and is) so important to us… good times.
My choice for the Psych Furs was either, “All of the Law” or “Shock” (a bit of guilty pleasure that second one). Probably why I forgot to fill that out, as I was still trying to decide.
Agreed, agreed, agreed!!!
Those were also the two Furs songs I considered. I played “All of the Law” first, then hit repeat again and again, and never looked back! It still sounds so GREAT. But I need to revisit “Shock” before submission time, since that was my original plan. Thanks for the reminder, man!
Hey Rusty came soooo close to making my list; best on that record by far.
Ok… with “Under the Milky Way” and “Birthday” both requiring spots on the ’87 list… I also need a ruling on “Man With a Gun” from Jerry Harrison. Those are essential votes. Both Wikipedia and Discogs put it at ’88, but I don’t want to miss my chance to vote for it. https://www.discogs.com/Jerry-Harrison-Casual-Gods-Man-With-A-Gun/master/105869
I now feel i should post my ’88 list just to see what else actually belongs in ’87.
I think you’re safe. Rev It Up was the first single and the album didn’t come out until February, 1988
Not seeing any Eurythmics tracks on these lists!!!! It’s one of their best albums! I’m going to have an incredibly difficult time with this year, it means more to me than any other year of music.
I’m debating between Beethoven (I Love To Listen TO) and I Need a Man. One of them will be on my list.
“Beethoven (I Love To Listen To)” will absolutely be on my list.
For what it’s worth, WFMU had an advance recording of Robyn Hitchcock’s Vibrating in fall of ‘87. Not available to the public unless you taped it from Our Old Pal Irwin.
1987 (What the F*ck Is Going On?)
1. New Order – True Faith
2. New Order – Touched by the Hand of God
3. Depeche Mode – Never Let Me Down Again
4. Depeche Mode – Strangelove
5. Nitzer Ebb – Join in the Chant
6. Stockholm Monsters – Partyline
7. Happy Mondays – 24 Hour Party People
8. Happy Mondays – Tart Tart
9. Echo & The Bunnymen – Lips Like Sugar
10. The Cure – Just Like Heaven
11. The Smiths – Sheila Take A Bow
12. The Smiths – Stop Me…
13. Erasure – It Doesn’t Have To Be
14. Wire – Ahead
15. Felt – She Lives by the Castle
16. Felt – The Final Resting of the Ark
17. M|A|R|R|S – Pump Up The Volume
18. The Wake – Gruesome Castle
19. The Wake – Pale Spectre
20. Pixies – Nimrod’s Son
21. A.R. Kane – Lollita
22. Renegade Soundwave – Cocaine Sex
23. Pet Shop Boys – It’s A Sin
24. Pet Shop Boys – Always on my Mind
25. Rhythim Is Rhythim – Nude Photo
The Church – Under the milky way
New Order – True Faith
The Cure – Just Like Heaven
Bangles – Hazy Shade of Winter
Depeche Mode – Never Let Me Down
Echo and the Bunnymen – Lips Like Sugar
Pet Shop Boys – What have I done to deserve this
Prince – U Got the look
Siouxsie and the Banshees – The Passenger
U2 – With or Without You
Depeche Mode – Strangelove
INXS – New Sensation
Men without hats – pop goes the world
New Order – 1963
Pet Shop Boys – It’s a Sin
U2 – I still haven’t found what I’m Looking for
When In Rome – The Promise
REM – It’s the end of the world
Replacements – Alex Chilton
Depeche Mode – Behind the Wheel
Camouflage – The great commandment
Figures on a beach – No stars
Alarm – Rain in the summertime
Flesh For Lulu – I go crazy
Squeeze – Hourglass
What a year! And what a fantastic, albeit tough, batch of songs to choose from. But here goes nothing (which I nearly chose as a second Depeche Mode entry :P)!
The Alarm, “Rain in the Summertime”
David Bowie, “Time Will Crawl”
The Church, “Under the Milky Way”
The Cure, “Just Like Heaven”
Depeche Mode, “Never Let Me Down Again”
Echo and the Bunnymen, “Lips Like Sugar”
Bryan Ferry, “Kiss and Tell”
Flesh for Lulu, “I Go Crazy”
Gene Loves Jezebel, “Vagabond (A New Adventure)”
Michael Hutchence, “Rooms for the Memory”
Icehouse, “Crazy”
INXS, “Need You Tonight”
INXS, “Never Tear Us Apart”
The Jesus and Mary Chain, “Darklands”
New Order, “True Faith”
Public Image Ltd, “Seatte”
The Psychedelic Furs, “All of the Law”
R.E.M., “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”
R.E.M., “The One I Love”
The Replacements, “Alex Chilton”
The Replacements, “Can’t Hardly Wait”
The Smiths, “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before”
Sting, “We’ll Be Together”
U2, “One Tree Hill”
U2, “With or Without You”
good list!
Thanks, man. And more thanks for the “Fragile” mention elsewhere. That slip is another reminder that it really has been 33 years!
one band you forgot though: TRIUMPH. seriously man, TRIUMPH had an album and two singles that year! hell yeah, TRIUMPH!
D’OH!!! A major, major oversight on my part. But the good news is I haven’t submitted my selections, yet! Cue two Triumph-ant votes! And “Surveillance” will also be getting my vote for Best Album Cover of 1987.
See… this is what is so great… not only did our comments here get me listening to “Midnight to Midnight” front to back again… but now I’m listening to PIL’s “Seattle” which I’d probably not listened to in twenty years. Great song.
Cool! Yeah, I love “Seattle”–both song AND city. And it’s also one of those tunes you can file under that unique category of great songs with titles that don’t appear in the lyrics, like “Space Oddity,” “Pop Song 89,” “How Soon Is Now?” and friends.
pretty predictable this year, probably owing to the surplus of legitimately good songs that somehow also became hits, and i still need to pare this down to 25. still:
New Order – True Faith
The Cure – Just Like Heaven
The Cure – Why Can’t I Be You
Depeche Mode – Never Let Me Down
Depeche Mode – Strangelove
The Smiths – Sheila Take a Bow
The Smiths – Shoplifters of the World Unite
Game Theory – The Real Sheila
Game Theory – Together Now, Very Minor
REM – ITEOTWAWKI(AIFF)
REM – The One I Love
The Replacements – Alex Chilton
The Replacements – Can’t Hardly Wait
The Church – Under the Milky Way
Husker Du – Could You Be the One
Throwing Muses – Reel
JMC – April Skies
Echo & the Bunnymen – Lips Like Sugar
American Music Club – Outside this Bar
X – Fourth of July
Wire – Ahead
10,000 Maniacs – What’s the Matter Here
Pixies – Caribou
The Gun Club – Breaking Hands
The Gun Club – Bill Bailey
M/A/R/R/S – Pump Up the Volume
The Fall – Hit the North
Psychedelic Furs – Heartbreak Beat
Skinny Puppy – Addiction
Sisters of Mercy – This Corrosion
Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection
Game Theory!
damn right, Game Theory! Lolita Nation was epic and got a lot of college airplay too. i thin Spin magazine wrote up Lolita Nation and Guns n Roses in the same issue, if you can believe that. what times those were!
And Also The Trees – Shaletown
The Cure – Just Like Heaven
Depeche Mode – Never Let Me Down Again
The Fall – Hit The North
Front 242 – Masterhit
House of Love – Shine On
The Invincible Spirit – Make A Device
INXS – Devil Inside
Jesus & Mary Chain – April Skies
Jesus & Mary Chain – Happy When It Rains
Lowlife – A Sullen Sky
Lowlife – Eternity Road
New Model Army – The Charge
New Order – True Faith
One Thousand Violins – If I Were A Bullet (Then For Sure I’d Find A Way To Your Heart)
One Thousand Violins – Locked Out Of The Love In
Psyche – Uncivilised
R.E.M – The One I Love
Sad Lovers & Giants – Seven Kinds Of Sin
Salt n Pepa – Push It
Sisters of Mercy – Dominion/Mother Russia
Sisters of Mercy – Flood II
The Smiths – Stop Me If You Think…
Stone Roses – Sally Cinnamon
U2 – Bullet The Blue Sky
My tentative list. If anyone could be so kind as to let me know if there is anything on it that is ineligible before I officially submit it I would be grateful. (The order may change as well.) 1987 was such an important year for me personally, so I want to get it right!
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – U2
Fairytale of New York – The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl
A Campfire Song – 10,000 Maniacs
With Or Without You – U2
The One I Love – R.E.M.
Dreamworld – Midnight Oil
Strangelove – Depeche Mode
Like The Weather – 10,000 Maniacs
Welcome To The Occupation – R.E.M.
Beds Are Burning – Midnight Oil
Big Decision – That Petrol Emotion
Pop Goes The World – Men Without Hats
Troy – Sinead O’Connor
A Hazy Shade Of Winter – The Bangles
True Faith – New Oder
Girlfriend In A Coma – The Smiths
Driving Away From Home – It’s Immaterial
Beethoven (I Love To Listen To) – Eurythmics
4th of July – X
The Passenger – Siouxsee and the Banshees
Under The Milky Way – The Chruch
Build – The Housemartins
Just Like Heaven – The Cure
Luka – Suzanne Vega
A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours – The Smiths
I’ve dedicated my Top 25 to songs that might not get as much love as they should. Perhaps there are a few you might want to add to your list?
Shelleyan Orphan, “Anatomy of Love”
Big Pig, “I Can’t Break Away
Prince, “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker
Cindy Lee Berryhill, “Damn, Wish I Were A Man
Corps Diplomatique, “The Picture”
Danielle Dax, “Big Hollow Man”
The Rainmakers, “Snakedance”
Roger Waters, “Radio Waves”
The Reivers, “In Your Eyes”
Blue Rodeo, “Til I Am Myself Again”
The Bolshoi, “Please”
Deacon Blue, “Chocolate Girl”
The Dream Academy, “The Lesson Of Love”
Drivin’ N’ Cryin’, “Can’t Promise You The World”
Fishbone, “It’s A Wonderful Life (Gonna Have A Good Time)”
Guadalcanal Diary, “Litany (Life Goes On)”
Hoodoo Gurus, “What’s My Scene”
The Housemartins, “Five Get Over-Excited”
Jon Astley, “Jane’s Getting Serious”
Thrashing Doves, “Beautiful Imbalance”
Wendy And Lisa, “Waterfall”
Wet Wet Wet, “Wishing I Was Lucky”
The Lucy Show, “A Million Things”
The Mighty Lemon Drops, “The Other Side Of You”
Screaming Blue Messiahs, “I Wanna Be A Flintstone”
Damn… both Big Pig and Danielle Dax were on my 88 list… but they have these non-North America releases that put them on ’87. Well, they can’t make the cut for this year. Too bad.
But the Big Pig debut album, “Bonk” was not released until 1988. Some of those cuts will almost certainly make my 1988 list.
Whatever happened to Big Pig anyway?
One album I have forgotten was 1987 was Lone Justice’s “Shelter.” Not nearly as good as the debut but “I Found Love” and/or “Dixie Storms” might bump a song or two out of my top 25 list.
Ugh. This really is brutal.
Yeah… I knew ’87 would be tough, but that was before all these ’88 songs got bumped up a year… now it is truly grueling. I’m having to choose simply based on what I remember enjoying the most at the time, vs. any kind of arguable artistic merit.
Yeah, this triage is just agony.
I just remembered another song that must make my 25:
“Pick Up The Pieces” by The BoDeans.
I have Danielle Dax on my list, even though I didn’t hear the song until 1988. Amazing song.
I had Big Hollow Man on my pre-cutdown list, but I’m keeping my powder dry for Cat House.
My list in alphabetical order:
Butthole Surfers – Sweat Loaf
The Cure – Catch
Danielle Dax – Big Hollow Man
Dinosaur Jr. – Little Fury Things
Echo & the Bunnymen – Lips Like Sugar
Eurythmics – I Need a Man
Bryan Ferry – Kiss and Tell
The Godfathers – Birth, School, Work, Death
Husker Du – Could You Be the One?
The Jesus & Mary Chain – April Skies
Love & Rockets – No New Tale To Tell
My Bloody Valentine – Strawberry Wine
Nitzer Ebb- Join In the Chant
Sinead O’Connor – Mandinka
Pixies – Caribou
R.E.M. – Finest Worksong
Siouxsie & the Banshees – The Passenger
The Sisters of Mercy – This Corrosion
The Smiths – Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before
Sonic Youth – (I Got A) Catholic Block
The Sugarcubes – Birthday
The Vaselines – Son of a Gun
Suzanne Vega – Tom’s Diner
Wire – Ahead
X – 4th of July
Birth School Work Death by the Godfathers, like the Sugarcubes Birthday came out as a single in 1987 even though the album it’s the title track of cane out in 1988.
Yeah, the Godfather’s were on my ’88 list as well… now they don’t make the cut for ’87. It is sad.
My picks for the best songs of 1987:
Happy Mondays – “24 Hour Party People”
New Order, “True Faith”
New Order, “Touched by the Hand of God”
The Cure, “Just Like Heaven”
The Church, “Under the Milky Way”
Echo and the Bunnymen, “Lips Like Sugar”
Echo and the Bunnymen, “The Game”
The Pogues, “Fairytale of New York”
Jesus and Mary Chain, “Happy when it Rains”
Jesus and Mary Chain, “April Skies”
The Vaselines, “Son of a Gun”
The Vaselines, “Rory Rides Me Raw”
Rodney Allen, “Happy Sad”
REM, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”
World Party, “Ship of Fools”
Siouxsie and the Banshees, “The Passenger”
Love and Rockets, “No New Tale to Tell”
Sisters of Mercy, “This Corrosion”
Sisters of Mercy, “Lucretia My Reflection”
Front 242, “Quite Unusual”
Sinead O’Connor, “Mandinka”
Sinead O’Connor, “Just Like You Said it Would Be”
10,000 Maniacs, “Like the Weather”
REM, “Finest Worksong”
Men Without Hats, “Pop Goes the World”
Dead Milkmen, “Instant Club Hit”
Can’t choose between what Smiths songs or Depeche songs to put down, they are both brilliant albums. Like choosing a favorite child, best not thought about.
“Ship of Fools” is on the ’86 list. So if you haven’t voted, you can take that off and pick another.
“Quite Unusual” was ’86 too. Great song btw. “Masterhit” was ’87 so you could have that instead ;-)
Ah NO! I just realized another song I had for ’88 is actually from ’87.
Public Enemy’s “Bring the Noise” was issued on the Less Than Zero in 1987, prior to ’88s “… Nation of Millions…” and the rerelease of the single.
This is a must have.
I missed Faith No More’s We Care a Lot. The Radio Free Europe role would apply to it as it is a re-recording of the title track of their 1985 album. I think they had a different lead singer by 87, too. Wish I had remembered it!
Yeah, I have mixed feelings about the “Radio Free Europe” scenarios… as with “Take on Me” and “West End Girls”. I feel anyone voting for the earlier, basically unknown and often significantly worse version is either a) trying to be hipster, b) revisionist to say they even knew about that original version back then, or c) most likely confused and not realizing that they aren’t voting for the song they actually know and like.
The ’81 RFE was noteworthy, but in the case of the two above, and “We Care a Lot” as you mentioned… the second version was the good version, and it screws up the voting tremendously to have the good one compete with the lesser original. I voted for We Care a Lot on ’85 because I saw others note it… not realizing that it wasn’t actually the song I knew and loved.
Same thing with Hunters and Collectors “Throw Your Arms Around Me”… they re-recorded that almost a half-dozen times, and it was a later version that was quite different that was the more notable version.
I mean, I know this is all meaningless fandom, but I’d like to see the votes accurately reflected.
I honestly think one of the coolest things would be, once we are through ’89, that the Top 100 songs of the decade (inevitably a poll in the future) can be constructed from ALL the votes across the ten years. Even if someone voted for “Bitchin’ Camaro” in ’87 while it was actually from ’85, that vote counts for the decade. (Just to reflect something I saw here.)
You might get a more pure reflection of “favorite songs of the 80’s” that way. If nothing else would be cool to see how that plays out compared to what ultimately is voted on.
Actually, I can think of one example of this where the original recording was by far the best, Pretty in Pink by the Psychedelic Furs. The original is wonderful. The rerecording for the movie is so watered-down and blah.
Fair point. I actually like both, but I agree the original is better… but I’d also think it is likely that 99% of people only know the soundtrack rerecording. Though the people voting here are the ones who likely do know them both, and the difference.
I have no idea how known/popular the original was, as I didn’t discover it until I’d heard the movie version. I didn’t discover them until ’85ish when I got to college. It was all “The Ghost in You” and other Mirror Moves tracks. I remember a few years later being amazed when I discovered the original Pretty In Pink and how edgy and different it was.
Add “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo” to that as well; the original b-side is a curiosity, no more.
With “We Care a Lot,” I really think it depends on the station you listened to. I was actually ONLY familiar with the original version and didn’t find out that it had been re-recorded until way later, as my station (San Francisco) didn’t really play the 1987 version OR the Mike Patton version. (I just went back and listened and yeah, the 1985 version is the one I’m familiar with)
This rule really threw me on some early Go-Go’s songs.
/s/ Not a Hipster ;)
SO many great songs this year!!!! Can’t wait for ’88 and ’89 either. Thanks Matt for all your hard work. I love listening to your Dark Wave shows. I wish Darkwave had its own Sirius station. My list, in alphabetical order:
Camouflage, “The Great Commandment”
The Church, “Under The Milky Way”
The Cure, “Catch”
The Cure, “Just Like Heaven”
Depeche Mode, “Behind the Wheel”
Depeche Mode, “Nothing”
Echo And The Bunnymen, “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo”
Echo And The Bunnymen, “Lips Like Sugar”
Front 242, “Masterhit”
INXS, “Mystify”
INXS, “Never Tear Us Apart”
The Jesus And Mary Chain, “April Skies”
Love And Rockets, “Mirror People”
Love And Rockets, “No New Tale To Tell”
Midnight Oil, “Beds Are Burning”
New Order, “Touched By The Hand of God”
New Order, “True Faith”
Pailhead, “I Will Refuse”
Pet Shop Boys, “Rent”
Pet Shop Boys, “What Have I Done to Deserve This?”
Siouxsie And The Banshees, “The Passenger”
Siouxsie And The Banshees, “This Wheel’s On Fire”
The Sisters of Mercy, “Lucretia My Reflection”
The Sisters of Mercy, “This Corrosion”
The Smiths, “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me”
Sisters of Mercy, “Lucretia My Reflection”
Sisters of Mercy, “Dominion / Mother Russia”
The Smiths, “Death of a Disco Dancer”
The Smiths, “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me”
The Cure, “Just Like Heaven”
The Cure, “Hot, Hot, Hot!!!”
Midnight Oil, “Put Down That Weapon”
Midnight Oil, “Dreamworld”
Front 242, “Quite Unusual”
Depeche Mode, “Strangelove”
Depeche Mode, “Never Let Me Down Again”
R.E.M, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”
Echo & The Bunnymen, “Lips Like Sugar”
The Replacements, “Can’t Hardly Wait”
Dead Can Dance, “Xavier”
Dead Can Dance, “Dawn of the Iconoclast”
Pet Shop Boys, “It’s a Sin”
Pet Shop Boys, “Heart”
Siouxsie and the Banshees, “The Passenger”
10,000 Maniacs, “Like the Weather”
Nitzer Ebb, “Join In the Chant”
INXS, “Never Tear Us Apart”
The Church, “Under the Milky Way”
New Order, “True Faith”
Love and Rockets, “No New Tale to Tell”
December 7, 1987. Baltimore. Johns Hopkins University. Shriver Hall. 10,000 Maniacs,
I was there.
Wish I could include all 12 songs off of “In My Tribe”on my list, but oh well.
Jacob’s Ladder – Huey Lewis & The News
The Way it Is – Bruce Hornsby & The Range
True Faith – New Order
01 New Order – True Faith
02 U2 – With or Without You
03 U2 – Where the Streets Have No Name
04 The Smiths – Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before
05 Prince – U Got the Look
06 Prince – I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
07 R.E.M. – Finest Worksong
08 INXS – Need You Tonight
09 Depeche Mode – Never Let Me Down Again
10 Depeche Mode – Behind the Wheel
11 The Cure – Hot Hot Hot!!!
12 The Cure – All I Want
13 Pet Shop Boys – It’s a Sin
14 Pet Shop Boys – What Have I Done to Deserve This?
15 10,000 Maniacs – Hey Jack Kerouac
16 Def Leppard – Armageddon It
17 Midnight Oil – The Dead Heart
18 Midnight Oil – Beds Are Burning
19 Erasure – Victim of Love
20 Echo + the Bunnymen – Lips Like Sugar
21 R.E.M. – The One I Love
22 INXS – Devil Inside
23 Echo + the Bunnmen – Bedbugs and Ballyhoo
24 The Smiths – Sheila Take a Bow
25 Sisters of Mercy – Dominion/Mother Russia
Initially thought I’d end up with a more dance-oriented list.
Then I came across an old 120 Minutes video and fell down an American indie rabbit hole.
Of course those had to cram in with the songs that are just too big to fail. Corporate America, amirite?
All Going Out Together/ Big Dipper
Back From Somewhere / Husker Du
Birth School Work Death / The Godfathers
Brilliant Disguise / Bruce Springsteen
Clean Sheets / Descendents
Don’t Talk / 10,000 Maniacs
Eat The Rich / Motorhead
Eternal Ice / Yung Wu
Geburt Einer Nation / Laibach
Going Back to Cali / LL Cool J
In Spite of These Times / Close Lobsters
Just Like Heaven / The Cure
Les histoires d’a / Les Rita Mitsouko
Love Removal Machine / The Cult
Moonhead / Thin White Rope
Never Let Me Down / Depeche Mode
Pump Up The Volume / M/A/R/R/S
Starfish and Coffee / Prince
The Breaking Hands / Gun Club
There’s a Ghost in My House / The Fall
True Faith / New Order
Under the Milky Way / The Church
We Care A Lot / Faith No More
What Have I Done To Deserve This? / Pet Shop Boys
Your Gonna Get Yours / Public Enemy
I’m going to let the marinate a couple of days before submitting. But it’s close.
Sweet list. ’nuff said.
The Wedding Present “Give My Love to Kevin”
The Cure “Just Like Heaven”
McCarthy “God Made the Virus”
The Smiths “Girlfriend in a Coma”
Front 242 “Quite Unusual”
Joe Strummer “The Unknown Immortal”
Sinéad O’Connor “Jackie”
Hunters & Collectors “Do You See What I See?”
Pet Shop Boys “Rent”
The Triffids “A Trick Of The Light”
Depeche Mode “Behind the Wheel”
The Jesus and Mary Chain “Happy When It Rains”
R.E.M. “Finest Worksong”
Siouxsie and the Banshees “Hall Of Mirrors”
David Bowie “Never Let Me Down”
Sisters of Mercy “Lucretia My Reflection”
Swans “Children of God”
Spear Of Destiny “Never Take Me Alive”
The Fall “Hit The North”
Nitzer Ebb “Let Beauty Loose”
The Housemartins “Me And The Farmer”
The Replacements “Alex Chilton”
Green on Red “Sixteen Ways”
The Screaming Blue Messiahs “I Wanna Be a Flintstone”
Wire “Advantage In Height”
“Trick of the Light” was an especially nice choice. Forgot the Triffids!
It says a lot about what a great year 1987 was that songs near the bottom of my ranked list would have likely made the top ten in other years. Here is the top 25 list I submitted, with an extension to 40 of 15 songs that just couldn’t quite make it. Making this list was probably the hardest one yet. The extended portion of the list sticks with the no more than two songs per album poll.
1 I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – U2
2 Fairytale of New York – The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl
3 A Campfire Song – 10,000 Maniacs
4 One Tree Hill – U2
5 The One I Love – R.E.M.
6 Dreamworld – Midnight Oil
7 Strangelove – Depeche Mode
8 Like The Weather – 10,000 Maniacs
9 Welcome To The Occupation – R.E.M.
10 Put Down That Weapon – Midnight Oil
11 Big Decision – That Petrol Emotion
12 Pop Goes The World – Men Without Hats
13 Troy – Sinead O’Connor
14 A Hazy Shade Of Winter – The Bangles
15 True Faith – New Oder
16 Girlfriend In A Coma – The Smiths
17 Driving Away From Home – It’s Immaterial
18 Beethoven (I Love To Listen To) – Eurythmics
19 The Passenger – Siouxsee and the Banshees
20 Under The Milky Way – The Chruch
21 Build – The Housemartins
22 Pick Up The Pieces – The BoDeans
23 Luka – Suzanne Vega
24 Gypsy – Suzanne Vega
25 A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours – The Smiths
26. Just Like Heaven – The Cure
27. Dixie Storms – Lone Justice
28. I Found Love – Lone Justice
29. Tougher Than The Rest – Bruce Springsteen
30. Big Love – Fleetwood Mac
31. Fragile – Sting
32. Jackie – Sinead O’Conner
33. Don’t Shed A Tear – Paul Carrack
34. I Don’t Mind At All – Bourgeois Tagg
35. I Got My Mind Set On You – George Harrison
36. I Need A Man – Eurythmics
37. Five Get Overexcited – The Housemartins
38. Hot, Hot, Hot – The Cure
39. Hot, Hot, Hot – Buster Poindexter
40. Never LEt Me Down – Depeche Mode
Great selection as always. And finally… someone else at least mentions Bourgeois Tagg. That album is tremendous, and “I Don’t Mind At All” simply amazing.
I honestly do not own any Lone Justice. I remember them, but they never reached the “gotta buy ’em” level. I’ll have to reacquaint myself with them.
Thanks!
Lone Justice only made two studio albums. The first one is the one to start with. The second tried to be a bit more radio friendly with more polished production, but some of the songs, like the two listed above, were excellent.
I remember listening to the debut album in college in my dorm room. Other guys on the hall when stop by and say “what is that?” Some in an awed way, some in a totally didn’t get it sort of way.
Yeah, I don’t get why “I Don’t Mind At All” isn’t well remembered. Had it been a weaker year for music it would have easily made my top 25. Leaving it off was painful.
Ok… did some brief Lone Justice research… and I can see how they were a decade ahead of when their core southern roots/country influenced songs would have been huge. And you can hear on “Shelter” how they were pushing her into a Stevie Nicks vibe, which sounds great, but really isn’t what they are all about.
Yeah, “Shelter” was a blatant play for commercial radio attention, and the rest of the album was sort of a mix of that and attempts to stay true to their roots. That album has some good stuff on it, but it is the debut that really put them on the map — well, my map, at least!
I’d also add that in regards to Bourgeois Tagg, not only are both their albums out a print in any physical format, there are not available on either Apple or Amazon streaming. “I Don’t Mind At All” is a forgotten gem.
Saw Lone Justice open up for U2 at the Cow Palace in ’87. A great double bill for a mere $16.50. Again, what a year!
Too late, but I just realized that It’s Immaterial “Drive Away From Home” is from ’86.
I know half these songs won’t make the list, but all of them deserve to be there.
Jon Astley – Jane’s Getting Serious
Big Black – Bad Penny
The Church – Under the Milky Way
The Cure – Just Like Heaven
Dead Milkmen – Instant Club Hit (You’ll Dance to Anything)
Echo & the Bunnymen – People Are Strange
Eleventh Dream Day – Cascade
Eurythmics – Beethoven (I Love to Listen To)
Faith No More – We Care a Lot
The Fall – Australians in Europe
Guadalcanal Diary – Litany (Life Goes On)
My Bloody Valentine – (Please) Lose Yourself in Me
Sinead O’Connor – Just Call Me Joe
Oingo Boingo – Not My Slave
Pailhead – I Will Refuse
Pixies – Levitate Me
R.E.M. – Fireplace
The Replacements – Alex Chilton
Screeching Weasel – Experience the Ozzfish
Siouxsie & the Banshees – Song From the Edge of the World
The Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection
The Smiths – Sheila Take a Bow
Sonic Youth – Schizophrenia
Soundgarden – Nothing to Say
Suzanne Vega- Solitude Standing
Damn. I could I have forgotten Guadalcanal Diary?
In any case, had the no more than two songs per album not been in place the following albums would have almost certainly had more than two songs on my list.
The Joshua Tree – U2
In My Tribe – 10,000 Maniacs
Document – R.E.M.
Diesel and Dust – Midnight Oil
The Lion And The Cobra – Sinead O’Conner
I try to limit myself to one per artist, so I can vote for more artists. Love the last three albums you posted.
My list in no particular order; all singles (and one B-side that got heavy airplay):
U2, “In God’s Country”
Grateful Dead, “Touch of Grey”
Johnny Hates Jazz, “Shattered Dreams”
Squeeze, “Hourglass”
Bruce Springsteen, “Brilliant Disguise”
Los Lobos, “La Bamba”
The Stone Roses, “Sally Cinnamon”
The Replacements, “Can’t Hardly Wait”
Suzanne Vega, “Luka”
Bruce Hornsby & The Range, “The Way it Is”
Rhythim Is Rhythim aka Derrick May, “Strings of Life”
Pat Metheny Group, “Last Train Home”
World Party, “Ship of Fools”
Danny Wilson, “Mary’s Prayer”
Phuture, “Acid Tracks”
The Wedding Present, “My Favorite Dress”
Hoodoo Gurus, “What’s My Scene?”
U2, “The Sweetest Thing”
The Fall, “Hit the North”
Bomb The Bass, “Beat Dis”
Pet Shop Boys, “It’s A Sin”
R.E.M., “The One I Love”
INXS, “Never Tear Us Apart”
The Sugarcubes, “Birthday”
10,000 Maniacs, “Like The Weather”
Hard list to make, but I decided to go with my gut and boost some more of my “underdog” favorites. I could easily list at least 100 – 150 singles from ’87 that I really, really enjoy. And then there’s all those great album cuts. What an excellent year for music.
Love seeing “What’s My Scene?” on here.
Also, “Ship of Fools” was on the ’86 list (released as a single in ’86) so that frees up a spot if you haven’t voted, yet.
Argh! Wikipedia lied to me, (had said January ’87 single release)…
I’ve got it down to 100 from over 400. Now I just have to cut out 75 of these. At least 30 or so probably have no chance of making the final list, so I won’t bother voting for those, but that still leaves at least another 40 I have to cut.
ABC – When Smokey Sings
Eric B. & Rakim – Paid In Full (Seven Minutes Of Madness – The Coldcut Remix)
The Bodines – Skankin Queens
The Cat Heads – Hangin Around
The Chesterfield Kings – Baby Doll
Cleaners From Venus – A Mercury Girl
Close Lobsters – Just Too Bloody Stupid
Julian Cope – Trampolene
Marshall Crenshaw – Somebody Crying
Marshall Crenshaw – This Is Easy
The Cure – Hot Hot Hot !!!
The Cure – Why Can’t I Be You?
Martha Davis – Don’t Tell Me The Time
Danielle Dax – Inky Bloaters
Danielle Dax Big Hollow Man
The Downsiders – Another Horn’s Cry (Count On Your Hands)
The Dukes Of Stratosphear – Collideascope
The Dukes Of Stratosphear – Vanishing Girl
Echo & The Bunnymen – The Game
Echo & The Bunnymen – People Are Strange
Flesh For Lulu – I Go Crazy
Frazier Chorus – Sloppy Heart
The Groove Farm – Surfin’ Into Your Heart
Guadalcanal Diary – Get Over It
George Harrison – Got My Mind Set On You
The Heart Throbs – Bang
Hoodoo Gurus – What’s My Scene
The Housemartins – Five Get Over Excited
The Jesus And Mary Chain – Happy When It Rains
Joan Jett (aka The Barbusters) – Light Of Day
Kid Creole And The Coconuts – Dancin’ At The Bains Douches
Lime Spiders – Just One Solution
Lime Spiders – Weirdo Libido
Los Lobos – Shakin’ Shakin’ Shakes
Love And Rockets – Mirror People
Love And Rockets – No New Tale To Tell
Paul McCartney – Dont Get Around Much Anymore
John Cougar Mellencamp – Paper In Fire
Men Without Hats – Pop Goes The World
Midnight Oil – Beds Are Burning
Midnight Oil – The Dead Heart
The Mighty Lemon Drops – Out Of Hand
Mighty Mighty – Built Like A Car
Alison Moyet – Love Letters
My Bloody Valentine – Strawberry Wine
The Nomads – (I Can’t Use) The Stuff I Used To Use
Oingo Boingo – Elevator Man
Oingo Boingo – We Close Our Eyes
Oingo Boingo – Pain
Opal – Magick Power
Primal Scream – Gentle Tuesday
Primal Scream – Imperial
The Primitives – Stop Killing Me
Public Image Limited – Seattle
Rank And File – Black Book
Redd Kross – Play My Song
Redd Kross – Neurotica
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry – Open Up
R.E.M. – It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
R.E.M. – Exhuming McCarthy
The Replacements – I Dont Know
The Replacements – Can’t Hardly Wait
Stan Ridgway – Bing Cant Walk
Stan Ridgway – End Of The Line
Royal Crescent Mob – Get On The Bus
The Screaming Blue Messiahs – Bikini Red
The Screaming Blue Messiahs – I Wanna Be A Flintstone
The Silencers – Painted Moon
Siouxsie & The Banshees – The Passenger
Sisters Of Mercy – Dominion/Mother Russia
Sisters Of Mercy – This Corrosion
The Smiths – Girlfriend In A Coma
The Smiths – I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish
The Soup Dragons – Head Gone Astray
Squeeze – Hourglass
Squeeze – Footprints
Chris Stamey – Cara Lee
The Stems – Sad Girl
The Stone Roses – Sally Cinnamon
The Stranglers – All Day And All Of The Night
The Style Council – Wanted
The Sugarcubes – Birthday
Swing Out Sister – Twilight World
Talulah Gosh – Talulah Gosh
Tot Taylor – The Wrong Idea
10,000 Maniacs – Like The Weather
10,000 Maniacs – Peace Train
That Petrol Emotion – Genius Move
That Petrol Emotion – Big Decision
They Might Be Giants – Were The Replacements
Thompson Twins – Get That Love
Toy Dolls – How Do You Deal With Neal?
Toy Dolls – Fisticuffs In Frederick Street
Transvision Vamp – Revolution Baby
The Weather Prophets – Why Does The Rain
The Windbreakers – Better Left Unsaid
Peter Wolf – Come as You Are
Stevie Wonder – Skeletons
The Wylde Mammoths – I’m Going Out
Yello – Call It Love
Great to see someone else mentioning Marshall Crenshaw. (Doesn’t get the love he should.) And I love the call out to Transvision Vamp.
My 25 in no particular order:
INXS “New Sensation”
Jimmy Barnes and INXS “Good Times”
U2 “One Tree Hill”
U2 — “Running to Stand Still”
The Cure — “Just Like Heaven”
The Bangles — “Hazy Shade of Winter”
The Smiths — “Half a Person”
The Smiths — “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before”
The Jesus and Mary Chain — “April Skies”
The Jesus and Mary Chain — “Cherry Came Too”
10,000 Maniacs — “Don’t Talk”
10,000 Maniacs — “Peace Train”
Guadalcanal Diary — “Litany (Life Goes On)”
The House of Love — “Shine On”
R.E.M. — “Exhuming McCarthy”
R.E.M. — “Disturbance at the Heron House”
Gene Loves Jezebel — “The Motion Of Love”
Gene Loves Jezebel — “20 Killer Hurts”
Camouflage — “The Great Commandment”
Echo & the Bunnymen — “People Are Strange”
Midnight Oil — “Beds Are Burning”
The Stone Roses — “Sally Cinnamon”
Depeche Mode — “Never Let Me Down Again”
Midnight Oil — “The Dead Head”
Icehouse — “Crazy”
1 The Wedding Present – My Favourite Dress
2 The Wedding Present – A Million Miles
3 The Cure – Just Like Heaven
4 The Jesus and Mary Chain – Happy When It Rains
5 The Smiths – Death of a Disco Dancer
6 Echo and the Bunnymen – Bombers Bay
7 The Smiths – Shoplifters Of The World Unite
8 New Order – Temptation (1987 ver.)
9 The Cure – The Kiss
10 The Stone Roses – Sally Cinnamon
11 Echo and the Bunnymen – The Game
12 The Jesus and Mary Chain – April Skies
13 Flesh for Lulu – I Go Crazy
14 The Church – Under the Milky Way
15 Flesh for Lulu – Postcards From Paradise
16 The Replacements – Alex Chilton
17 The Cult – Love Removal Machine
18 Dinosaur Jr – Tarpit
19 The Psychedelic Furs – All of the Law
20 Love and Rockets – No New Tale to Tell
21 The Replacements – Skyway
22 The Cult – Aphrodisiac Jacket
23 The Stone Roses – All Across the Sands
24 Jane’s Addiction – Whores
25 R.E.M. – King of Birds
This list absolutely ROCKS!!!
My list, self debated and changed far too many times.
Camouflage, “The Great Commandment”
The Communards, “Don’t Leave Me This Way”
The Cure, “Why Can’t I Be You”
Depeche Mode, “Behind The Wheel”
Depeche Mode, “Strangelove”
The Dukes Of Stratosphear, “You’re a Good Man Albert Brown”
Flesh For Lulu, “Postcards From Paradise”
The Housemartins, “Caravan Of Love”
Icehouse, “Crazy”
Icehouse, “Electric Blue”
It’s Immaterial, “Driving Away From Home”
Midnight Oil, “Beds Are Burning”
Midnight Oil, “Dead Heart”
New Order, “Shellshock”
New Order, “True Faith”
Oingo Boingo, “Not My Slave”
Paul Kelly And The Coloured Girls, “Dumb Things”
Pet Shop Boys, “Always On My Mind”
Pet Shop Boys, “What Have I Done To Deserve This”
The Smiths, “Girlfriend in a Coma”
The Smiths, “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before”
Squeeze, “Hourglass”
Stan Ridgway, “Bing Can’t Walk”
Stan Ridgway, “End Of The Line”
Wire, “Ahead”
Interesting that numerous people have selected the song Alex Chilton by The Replacements but no one has mentioned Alex Chilton himself. I had a couple of his songs on an earlier list (Dalai Lama and Take It Off), but those got cut along with lots of other great music just to get to my final 100.
Meat Puppets “Automatic Mojo”
Meat Puppets “Sexy Music”
Replacements “Nightclub Jitters”
Replacements “Skyway”
dBs “Today Could be the Day”
dBs “Molly Says”
Chris Stamey “It’s Alright”
Chris Stamey “If You Hear my Voice”
Alex Chilton “Take it Off”
Alex Chilton “Make a Little Love”
Awesome list, here is mine, in no particular order
New Order – True Faith
Sinead O’Connor – Mandinka Instr. Dub Mix
U2 – With Or Without You
The Smiths – Paint A Vulgar Picture
The Cult – Love Removal Machine
The Jesus and Mary Chain – April Skies
Erasure – Victim of Love
The Cure – Catch
Echo and Bunnymen – Lips Like Sugar
INXS – Mystify
Psychedelic Furs – Heartbreak Beat
Depeche Mode – Never Let Me Down Again
Camouflage – The Great Commandment
Flesh For Lulu – I Go Crazy
Love and Rockets – Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven
The Silencers – I Can’t Cry
The Sisters Of Mercy – This Corrosion
Pet Shop Boys – Always On My Mind
That Petrol Emotion – Big Decision
Men Without Hats – Pop Goes The World
Public Image Limited – Seattle
A-ha – The Living Daylights
The Housemartins – Build
Icehouse – Electric Blue
Midnight Blue – Lou Gramm
submitted as my final list, but ran out of time to do a thorough research, will likely have some other / additional picks for my personal Spotify list once its final
The Chills, “Wet Blanket”
The Chills, “Look For The Good In Others And They’ll See The Good In You”
Descendents, “Clean Sheets”
That Petrol Emotion, “Big Decision”
The Wedding Present, “My Favourite Dress”
Big Dipper, “Younger Bums”
Mighty Lemon Drops, “Out of Hand”
Front 242, “Master Hit (parts 1 and 2)”
Dukes of Stratosphear, “Vanishing Girl”
Faith No More, “Anne’s Song”
Guadalcanal Diary, “Litany (Life Goes On)”
Hoodoo Gurus, “What’s My Scene”
Housemartins, “People Who Grinned Themselves to Death”
Hüsker Dü, “Could You Be The One?”
It’s Immaterial, “Driving Away From Home”
O Positive, “Talk About Love”
Pailhead, “I Will Refuse”
Pixies, “Levitate Me”
Public Image Ltd, “Seattle”
Siouxsee and the Banshees, “The Passenger”
Sisters of Mercy, “This Corrosion”
The Bolshoi, “Please”
The Damned, “Alone Again Or”
The Fall, “Hit The North”
Wire, “Ahead”
I see several votes for It’s Immaterial – “Driving Away From Home” but it is from ’86 as far as my collections and Discogs indicates.
https://www.discogs.com/Its-Immaterial-Driving-Away-From-Home/master/96669
My 25 in no particular order
Sugarcubes – Birthday
The Church – Milky Way
Screaming Blue Messiahs – I Wanna Be a Flintstone
Echo & The Bunnymen – Lips Like Sugar
R.E.M. – The One I Love
U2 – Where the Streets Have No Name
Replacements – I Don’t Know
The Cure – Just Like Heaven
The Smiths – Sheila Take A Bow
The Triffids – Bury Me Deep in Love
Sinead O’Connor – Mandinka
The Go-Betweens – Right Here
The Housemartins – Five Get Over Excited
Midnight Oil – Dreamworld
10,000 Maniacs – Don’t Talk
The Pogues – Fairytale of New York
New Order – True Faith
The Cult – Wildflower
Hoodoo Gurus – What’s My Scene?
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – My Bag
Julian Cope – Trampolene
Husker Du – Could You Be The One?
The Wonder Stuff – Unbearable
Love And Rockets – Mirror People
Hunters & Collectors – Do You See What I See?
Tried to pick one track off of the great albums released in 1987. I thought alt music was slowing down but this list just shows there still some great music being made.
Honorable mentions:
54-40 – One Day In Your Life
Pixies – Nimrod’s Son
Screaming Blue Messiahs – Sweet Water Pools
Bryan Ferry – Kiss and Tell
Lots of Cure, Smiths, R.E.M. Replacements, U2, Echo, the Nils, Doughboys, some INXS, some Depeche.