40 year old albums

[Patrick Thistle]

I've been listening to Head Injuries by Midnight Oil recently. Released in 1979. I remember buying my copy in a long-gone record shop in Llandudno in 1994 when Midnight Oil were the most important band in the world imo and I was trying to collect their entire back catalogue as CBS released them on CD. (So I've had the CD 25 years!)

Back on the Borderline is still one of my favourite songs. No Reaction comes close.

[Hot Pepsi]

I have that on cassette somewhere and on CD, but I didn’t get it until sometime in the early 90s. It wasn’t really available here until then, as far as I know.

They were certainly the most important band to me in 1994.

[hobbes]

Gosh, there are a few.

japan - Quiet Life
The Cure - 3 Imaginary Boys
PiL - Metal Box
The Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Michael Jackson - Off The Wall
Gary Numan - Pleasure Principle
Talking Heads - Fear of Music

I think that’s all the 1979 I have.

[Satchmo Distel]

I have 'Unknown Pleasures' and 'The Specials'; 'Off The Wall' is on my shopping list if I ever have enough spare cash to start buying CDs regularly again.

[WOM]

If I suddenly started buying ceedees again, I'm not even sure I'd know where to go to scratch that itch.

[Satchmo Distel]

It's a tough dilemma. Youtube and Spotify, etc, make it easier to check out albums from any era but I know that I don't pay as much attention as I would if I'd spent money on a physical artifact and devoted an hour to listening to it while doing nothing else.

[Hot Pepsi]

It's a tough dilemma. Youtube and Spotify, etc, make it easier to check out albums from any era but I know that I don't pay as much attention as I would if I'd spent money on a physical artifact and devoted an hour to listening to it while doing nothing else.

I haven’t done that in so long. My anxiety won’t allow me to give myself that kind of uninterrupted time. Maybe doing that would be a good meditative exercise.

[Bored Of Education]

This year is all about "Bomber" and "Overkill" by Motörhead being released 40 years ago an amazing 7 months apart. A whole money-grabbinganniversary box-set and accompanying merchandise have been released (https://www.motorhead79.com/) which, cynicism aside, I would buy all of if I had the money.

[Wouter D]

1979 albums in my CD collection:

Supertramp - Breakfast in America
David Bowie - Lodger
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Michael Jackson - Off The Wall
The Police - Reggatta de Blanc

Decent year, that. Wikipedia tells me I'm missing quite a lot of classics.

[brian potter]

The Specials and One Step Beyond were both released on the same day in October, but as I was only 9 they arrived in my house much later. The first album I bought with my own money was The Boomtown Rats Fine Art of Surfacing, also 40 this year.

[Gangster Octopus]

I didn't really buy albums back then; I was too busy buying singles. But I did buy the following at the time.

Buzzcocks - A Different Kind Of Tension
Pere Ubu - New Picnic Time
Public Image Ltd. - Metal Box
Talking Heads - Fear Of Music
The B-52's - The B-52's
The Fall - Live At The Witch Trials
The Slits - Cut
Wire - 154

And the following some time later:

Michael Jackson - Off The Wall

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

The Clash - London Calling, despite what Rolling Stone thinks

[willie1foot]

I'd have thought I had a few more 1979 albums but based on the Wikipedia list of releases....

Armed Forces Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Look Sharp! Joe Jackson
Manifesto Roxy Music
Discovery Electric Light Orchestra
Candy-O The Cars
Communiqué Dire Straits
No Exit The Angels
The B-52's The B-52's
Off the Wall Michael Jackson
The Long Run Eagles
Reggatta de Blanc The Police
Eat to the Beat Blondie
On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II Donna Summer
Damn the Torpedoes Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
One Step Beyond... Madness
Head Injuries Midnight Oil
London Calling The Clash

[pebblethefish]

As I was only 5 at the time, obviously any albums I own from the year are retrospectively bought, but from the Wikipedia list I reckon about 12-15, mainly punk classics plus the Joe Jackson album (I really liked Joe Jackson in my mid-teens, despite not liking anything else that was anything like him).

One thing that did shock me from the list was to find out that the B52s were actually a real band. I thought they just did the two comedy songs in the mid eighties and disappeared. Finding out that they have actually released seven albums across three decades is something of a surprise.

[Satchmo Distel]

I have tended to think of 1979* as a singles year rather than albums but am now wondering if that's a misconception. There are several contenders for the Top 10 greatest albums ever in this thread: Unknown Pleasures, Off The Wall, The Specials.

On Costello, I think 'Armed Forces' is too polished and prettified compared to 'This Year's Model' (1978) and 'Get Happy!' (1980), and I suspect he gradually felt the same way.

*arguably the strongest singles charts ever across a whole year

[ale]

1979 was year started college. Being distant from home meant main priority socially or financially was no longer the local football club. Really stocked up on records-

Inflammable Material
Scared To Dance
Manifesto
Even Serpents Shine
Live Witch Trials
Never Alone With
Secondhand Daylight
Life In A Day
Y
Its Alive
Mission Accomplished
Three Imaginary Boys
Undertones
Do It Yourself
Lodger
Unknown Pleasures
Fear Of Music
Drums & Wires
Cut
Join Hands
Raven
Entertainment
154
Different Kind Tension
Days In Europa
Tusk
One Step Beyond
Specials
Dragnet
Broken English
Reproduction
Machine Gun Etiquette
Raincoats
Setting Sons
Metal Box
The Wall
London Calling
20 Jazz Funk Greats
The Crack
Teenage Warning

Thats a serious amount of grant money though did a summer at Butlins to subsidise

[Lucy Waterman]

Wasn’t around in 79 but my top three from that wiki list would easily be Entertainment!, Tusk and The Wall for lols.

[johnr]

Crumbs, I'm going to have to follow this thread for a year or so before I can start mentioning Phil Collins' Face Value...

[Satchmo Distel]

'The Wall' was probably the biggest commercial hit of all the above, and was a sacred object in my high school, but there's not much love for it these days except among Floyd die-hards. How many people would have predicted in 1979-80 that 'Off The Wall' would trounce 'The Wall' in the critical longevity stakes?

[G-Man]

I was a singles-buyer in 1979, but my album that year was The Boomtown Rats' The Fine Art Of Resurfacing. It still has its moments, but those moments that aren't such moments are really bad.

Other 1979 albums I remember I had when I was 13:

AC/DC - Highway To Hell
ELO - Discovery
Randy Newman - Born Again
ABBA - Voulez Vous
Supertramp - Breakfast In America

[Sits]

I like the idea of The Fine Art of Resurfacing.

[Sits]

It was 1980 when I got my first proper job and the LP buying cranked up, so I only bought two 1979 albums in the year itself: London Calling and the desperately disappointing (considering its predecessors) Eat to the Beat. Quiet Life I’d got within three years but that’s it.

[Jah Womble]

The Boomtown Rats' The Fine Art Of Resurfacing.

Ha. Great typo, that.

Unknown Pleasures Joy Division
Armed Forces Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Inflammable Material SLF
The Feeding of the 5000 Crass
Even Serpents Shine The Only Ones
Live at the Witch Trials and Dragnet The Fall
Secondhand Daylight Magazine
Y The Pop Group
The Undertones The Undertones
I Am EWF
Rust Never Sleeps Neil Young
Duty Now For the Future Devo
Fear of Music Talking Heads
Off the Wall Michael Jackson
Thriller Eddie & The Hot Rods
Drums and Wires XTC
Cut The Slits
Can Can
Three Imaginary Boys The Cure
Join Hands Siouxsie & The Banshees
Uncle Jam Wants You Funkadelic
A Different Kind of Tension Buzzcocks
Lodger David Bowie
Remote Control The Tubes
Entertainment! Gang Of Four
Ghostown The Radiators From Space
Look Sharp! Joe Jackson
Cool For Cats Squeeze
This Heat This Heat
Thanks, I'll Eat it Here Lowell George
Machine Gun Etiquette The Damned
Slow Train Coming Bob Dylan
Metal Box PiL
Joe's Garage (I & II) Frank Zappa
Force Majeure Tangerine Dream
Setting Sons The Jam
Life in a Day and Reel to Reel Cacophony Simple Minds
Quiet Life Japan
Manifesto Roxy Music
Damn the Torpedoes Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
The Raincoats The Raincoats
London Calling The Clash (1980 in US)

All were released in 1979.

What a year.

[Hot Pepsi]

I was 6/7 in 1979. I didn't own any albums except maybe the Sesame Street record.

[wittoner]

So you were the other person who bought that Lowell George album JW!