who agrees that Slippery when by the mighty and righteous rock gods Bon Jovi was the album of the 80's?

(Sigh) Am I a softy? Although I like a lot of albums you all have mentioned, my best albums of the 80s include 'The Seventh One' by Toto, 'Hunting High and Low' by A-HA and 'The Riddle' by Nik Kershaw. Although any album by Def Leppard can be included too.

> who agrees that Slippery when by the mighty and righteous rock gods Bon
> Jovi was the album of the 80's?

That may have been one of them, but how about Michael Jackson's "Thriller"? Def Leppard's "Pyromania"? Van Halen's "MCMLXXXIV (1984)"? Or even U2's "The Joshua Tree"? Those were great too!

That was a good one that I listened to a lot. I also remember Guns n Roses "Appetite for Destruction" as being a big one. As for the early eighties, it would have to be "Thriller" - that was when Michael was cool!

> That was a good one that I listened to a lot. I also remember Guns n Roses
> "Appetite for Destruction" as being a big one. As for the early
> eighties, it would have to be "Thriller" - that was when Michael
> was cool!

Stop the debate. For POP MUSIC it has to be either Culture Club's "Coulour by Numbers" or Prince's "Sign o' the Times."

As far as music that wasn't Top 10 goes, Violent Femmes are an excellent choice, but don't forget The Replacements' albums "Please to Meet Me" or "Let it Be", or Tom Waits "Rain Dogs".

P.S. Twisted Sister were pretty cool too! (note sarcasm)

> Stop the debate. For POP MUSIC it has to be either Culture Club's
> "Coulour by Numbers" or Prince's "Sign o' the Times."

> As far as music that wasn't Top 10 goes, Violent Femmes are an excellent
> choice, but don't forget The Replacements' albums "Please to Meet
> Me" or "Let it Be", or Tom Waits "Rain Dogs".

> P.S. Twisted Sister were pretty cool too! (note sarcasm)

For shame, "Jessie's Girl"! Based on your e-mail addy, you appear to be from Canada. What happened to classic '80s acts from the Great White North??? Have you no pride??? But I guess you've never heard of such artists as The Kings, Harlequin, Red Rider, Wrabit, Aldo Nova, Toronto, Payola$, Rough Trade, Coney Hatch, Headpins, Helix, Honeymoon Suite, Lee Aaron, Triumph, Platinum Blonde, Idle Eyes, Gary O', Gowan, Lisa DalBello, Luba, Kim Mitchell, Frozen Ghost, Haywire, The Parachute Club, etc., etc... ;-)

> For shame, "Jessie's Girl"! Based on your e-mail addy, you
> appear to be from Canada. What happened to classic '80s acts from the
> Great White North??? Have you no pride??? But I guess you've never heard
> of such artists as The Kings, Harlequin, Red Rider, Wrabit, Aldo Nova,
> Toronto, Payola$, Rough Trade, Coney Hatch, Headpins, Helix, Honeymoon
> Suite, Lee Aaron, Triumph, Platinum Blonde, Idle Eyes, Gary O', Gowan,
> Lisa DalBello, Luba, Kim Mitchell, Frozen Ghost, Haywire, The Parachute
> Club, etc., etc... ;-)

Sorry, my posting should be directed at 80smusicfreak

> For shame, "Jessie's Girl"! Based on your e-mail addy, you
> appear to be from Canada. What happened to classic '80s acts from the
> Great White North??? Have you no pride??? But I guess you've never heard
> of such artists as The Kings, Harlequin, Red Rider, Wrabit, Aldo Nova,
> Toronto, Payola$, Rough Trade, Coney Hatch, Headpins, Helix, Honeymoon
> Suite, Lee Aaron, Triumph, Platinum Blonde, Idle Eyes, Gary O', Gowan,
> Lisa DalBello, Luba, Kim Mitchell, Frozen Ghost, Haywire, The Parachute
> Club, etc., etc... ;-)

Crazydon

I'll give you Red Rider, Luba, Kim Mitchell, Dalbello and The Payola$ (and even Gowan (at times)). The rest are better kept secret. The Canadian output in the early eighties (at least when I was paying attention) was a class of wannabee rock stars with little or no orginality of their own. I mean, Loverboy, Triumph, Platinum Blonde? - forget it!!! I am not proud of this void in our music history, especially for a country that gave the world Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, The Northern Pikes, The Barenaked Ladies and Rush. However, any other artists you might suggest as required listening for the early 80's would be appreciated and welcomed. I am still willing to be converted.

> 80smusicfreak

> I'll give you Red Rider, Luba, Kim Mitchell, Dalbello and The Payola$ (and
> even Gowan (at times)). The rest are better kept secret. The Canadian
> output in the early eighties (at least when I was paying attention) was a
> class of wannabee rock stars with little or no orginality of their own. I
> mean, Loverboy, Triumph, Platinum Blonde? - forget it!!! I am not proud of
> this void in our music history, especially for a country that gave the
> world Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, The Northern Pikes, The Barenaked Ladies
> and Rush. However, any other artists you might suggest as required
> listening for the early 80's would be appreciated and welcomed. I am still
> willing to be converted.

Just so there's no confusion, let me first state that I'm American, and always have been. The music of the '70s and '80s is by far my favorite; the mid '70s to mid '80s, in particular (i.e., the music I grew up on). However, after American artists, I enjoy those from Canada more than any other-even more so than the many that have originated from Britain or Australia, for example. Hence my interest in (and extensive knowledge of) Canadian acts; I collect darn near every pop/rock artist of the '70s and '80s from the Great White North! In fact, a music buddy and I have been making semi-annual road trips to Canada for almost three years now, just to spend a full day or two doing nothing but music-shopping! So far, we've hit Montreal three times, and made one trip each to Toronto and Ottawa. As a matter of fact, this week, we've penciled in our 2nd trip to Toronto, which I'm very much looking forward to (see you on Yonge St.!)...

Anyway, I disagree w/ your trashing of both Loverboy & Triumph; I'll admit Platinum Blonde isn't in my personal top 10, but they certainly weren't horrible. In fact, if you've been paying attention, all of PB's CDs (which are long out-of-print) are in demand and thus go for big $$$ nowadays! Thumbs-up to Rush, BTW. Neil Young has always been hit-or-miss w/ me; he has indeed made some great music over the years, although he's produced some (ahem) horrible stuff as well. And besides, NY's associated w/ the '70s more than any other decade, which is why I omitted him from my list-although in late '89, he did manage to just barely squeeze in w/ what was IMO one of the best singles of the '80s, "Rockin' in the Free World". Personally, I wouldn't miss the Barenaked Ladies if they disappeared tomorrow; '90s dreck. I'll admit I've heard very little by the other '90s band you named, The Northern Pikes, but they sounded okay (don't have any of their albums at the present time, though). They managed only one minor hit here in the States, "She Ain't Pretty", in the Winter of '92. I've yet to try anything by Leonard Cohen, either, but from what I understand, it doesn't appear his musical style would be of interest to me, and besides, his peak occurred during the late '60s to mid '70s (i.e., a little before my time)...

I didn't mean to imply that all 24 of the acts that I named in my original post created critically-acclaimed, ground-breaking music (although some of them most certainly did!); it was meant to be more of a reminder of the some of the lesser-known and/or forgotten Canadian acts of the '80s, along w/ some personal favorites thrown in for good measure. Lord knows, I could name a couple-dozen others (let's see, Prism, Pat Travers, Eddie Schwartz, Saga, Men Without Hats, Martha and the Muffins, Gino Vannelli, Trans-X, One to One, Glass Tiger, The Nylons, The Partland Brothers, etc., etc.), not to mention the five or six Canadian artists of the '80s whose popularity crossed over here to the States, bringing them multi-platinum success (e.g., Rush, April Wine, Loverboy, Bryan Adams, Corey Hart, etc.). So I just thought I'd throw out all those names as possible topics of discussion, more than anything else-and I think few visitors to this site would argue that any of them were worse than what is being made today (i.e., so-called "alternative" music, the rap crap, etc.).

The '80s were by far the most productive in history for Canadian music. True, mass sales don't always mean critical acclaim, but the fact is, during the '80s more artists from the Great White North were signed and exposed internationally than at any other time, inc. the '90s! So to claim that the '80s were a big "void in [Canadian] music history", and that most of the acts from that period "are better kept secret", is nothing short of a major crime-to quote Jesse Winchester, "Say What"??? Better look/listen again! :-)

> Just so there's no confusion, let me first state that I'm American, and
> always have been. The music of the '70s and '80s is by far my favorite;
> the mid '70s to mid '80s, in particular (i.e., the music I grew up on).
> However, after American artists, I enjoy those from Canada more than any
> other-even more so than the many that have originated from Britain or
> Australia, for example. Hence my interest in (and extensive knowledge of)
> Canadian acts; I collect darn near every pop/rock artist of the '70s and
> '80s from the Great White North! In fact, a music buddy and I have been
> making semi-annual road trips to Canada for almost three years now, just
> to spend a full day or two doing nothing but music-shopping! So far, we've
> hit Montreal three times, and made one trip each to Toronto and Ottawa. As
> a matter of fact, this week, we've penciled in our 2nd trip to Toronto,
> which I'm very much looking forward to (see you on Yonge St.!)...

> Anyway, I disagree w/ your trashing of both Loverboy & Triumph; I'll
> admit Platinum Blonde isn't in my personal top 10, but they certainly
> weren't horrible. In fact, if you've been paying attention, all of PB's
> CDs (which are long out-of-print) are in demand and thus go for big $$$
> nowadays! Thumbs-up to Rush, BTW. Neil Young has always been hit-or-miss
> w/ me; he has indeed made some great music over the years, although he's
> produced some (ahem) horrible stuff as well. And besides, NY's associated
> w/ the '70s more than any other decade, which is why I omitted him from my
> list-although in late '89, he did manage to just barely squeeze in w/ what
> was IMO one of the best singles of the '80s, "Rockin' in the Free
> World". Personally, I wouldn't miss the Barenaked Ladies if they
> disappeared tomorrow; '90s dreck. I'll admit I've heard very little by the
> other '90s band you named, The Northern Pikes, but they sounded okay
> (don't have any of their albums at the present time, though). They managed
> only one minor hit here in the States, "She Ain't Pretty", in
> the Winter of '92. I've yet to try anything by Leonard Cohen, either, but
> from what I understand, it doesn't appear his musical style would be of
> interest to me, and besides, his peak occurred during the late '60s to mid
> '70s (i.e., a little before my time)...

> I didn't mean to imply that all 24 of the acts that I named in my original
> post created critically-acclaimed, ground-breaking music (although some of
> them most certainly did!); it was meant to be more of a reminder of the
> some of the lesser-known and/or forgotten Canadian acts of the '80s, along
> w/ some personal favorites thrown in for good measure. Lord knows, I could
> name a couple-dozen others (let's see, Prism, Pat Travers, Eddie Schwartz,
> Saga, Men Without Hats, Martha and the Muffins, Gino Vannelli, Trans-X,
> One to One, Glass Tiger, The Nylons, The Partland Brothers, etc., etc.),
> not to mention the five or six Canadian artists of the '80s whose
> popularity crossed over here to the States, bringing them multi-platinum
> success (e.g., Rush, April Wine, Loverboy, Bryan Adams, Corey Hart, etc.).
> So I just thought I'd throw out all those names as possible topics of
> discussion, more than anything else-and I think few visitors to this site
> would argue that any of them were worse than what is being made today
> (i.e., so-called "alternative" music, the rap crap, etc.).

> The '80s were by far the most productive in history for Canadian music.
> True, mass sales don't always mean critical acclaim, but the fact is,
> during the '80s more artists from the Great White North were signed and
> exposed internationally than at any other time, inc. the '90s! So to claim
> that the '80s were a big "void in [Canadian] music history", and
> that most of the acts from that period "are better kept secret",
> is nothing short of a major crime-to quote Jesse Winchester, "Say
> What"??? Better look/listen again! :-)

I admire your passion for the subject, but I still stand by my original post. None of it was terrible, but very little was memorable. By the way, if your looking for other titles by The Northern Pikes, here goes: The Northern Pikes (debut - great start)

Secrets of the Abili (my personal favourite)

Neptune (not strongly recommended)

Gig (Live - farewell album)

The Band was/is from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. They split up in about 1994.

P.S. Keep an eye for a new album from the husband and wife team that were Martha and the Muffins (should be released soon from what I hear) under the sometimes used moniker of "M+M".