20 Favorite Songs of 1980 (pt.1 — 10 more next week)
A month or two ago I posted a list of 10 of my favorite albums from my birth year, 1979, that generated some good conversation. In that same vein, for the next 2 weeks I’m going to count down my top 20 favorite songs of 1980. The list will be in no particular order and my only real rule is that I will not be choosing more than one song per artist. Feel free to tell me that I’m an idiot for choosing “Atmosphere” over “Transmission” or “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and next week to tell me why I’m a total bum for leaving _______ off the list.
The Clash – “Magnificent Seven”
The opener on the challenging, but ultimately (or arguably, in some people’s opinions) rewarding, Sandinista!, “Magnificent Seven” highlights Strummer and company at their experimental best. It features a steady, pulsating beat that would be right at home in a club, lyrics that are almost rapped, and all sorts of dubby elements, while maintaining its punk underpinnings. What’s not to love?
Comsat Angels – “Independence Day”
This track off of Waiting For A Miracle is one of the finest examples of the spare, paranoid, atmospheric postpunk that the Comsats showed an absolute mastery of on each of their first three LPs.
Public Image Ltd. – “Careering”
Putting this one on the list might technically be cheating (you be the judge), as it originally appeared on 1979’s Metal Box in the UK. However, it saw its first US release in 1980 on Second Edition, a more affordable repackaging of that album, eschewing the metal film container and changing up the art. John Lydon’s first act, The Sex Pistols, due to their obvious historical influence and importance in the birth of punk rock, get a lot more written about them than PiL. But I think one listen to “Careering” with it’s manic vocal and guitars that sound like the roof being torn off of a semi-truck by a low hanging overpass (and I mean that in a good way), especially this absolutely blistering live version, is enough to make you understand why I play them much more than the Pistols.
Orange Juice – “Blue Boy”
The sound of indiepop being born.
Joy Division – “Atmosphere”
Legendary BBC DJ John Peel played “Atmosphere” on the radio as news of Ian Curtis’s tragic suicide came in. And it’s only fitting as the song seems to come from some other realm, owing largely to *Martin Hannett’s absolutely brilliant production. It is at once calming and jarringly sad. This is probably the closest that Curtis ever came to singing, in the conventional sense. His performance is bolstered by Peter Hook’s sober bass, Stephen Morris’s timely drum fills, and Bernard Sumner’s otherworldly keys.
The Sound – “Unwritten Law”
I believe that Adrian Borland’s band The Sound is the most underappreciated, underheard band of all time. And if I had to choose the one thing that I felt most indebted to Jack and The Big Takeover for it would be my discovery of this band’s catalog, thanks to Jack’s constant championing of them. This is the penultimate track on The Sound’s first album Jeopardy. I could as easily have chosen “I Can’t Escape Myself”, “Heartland”, or the title track for this list, but this is the song that has always most deeply affected me. The anthemic chorus, with its jagged guitar, is here bolstered by an almost motorik drumbeat and bassline. But it is the always present synth that really gives “Unwritten Law” its great sense of levity.
Teardrop Explodes – “Treason”
Compared to most of the bands on this list, I’m not a huge fan of Julian Cope’s Teardrop Explodes. But it’s hard to argue with the catchy and commanding vocal performance turned in on this Kilimanjaro standout.
The Cure – “A Forest”
Seventeen Seconds is the definitive Cure album, in my opinion. Not that I think it is their best (I’d give the nod to Faith), but in the sense that it is the album that defined and mapped out the sound that would feature on all of their great albums to come. And “A Forest” is easily the best track here, and arguably the best they ever did (though “Primary” would get my vote). Dark, moody, staccato minimalism from beginning to end. Everything that made The Cure the go-to band for boys who did cry.
The Fall – “Totally Wired”
Mark E. Smith says he’s totally wired and any listener would be hard pressed to argue the claim. This song, featuring Smith’s trademark spastic rant-like vocals (though in a more controlled manner than most Fall tracks, no seriously), is pure forward driving motion on a record. Try listening without bobbing your head to the constant, propulsive sound.
Television Personalities – “This Angry Silence”
One of the forebears of the shambling sound that would soon become known as the C86 sound in the UK, the hugely influential Television Personalities hit a grand slam with “This Angry Silence” and it’s distant, echoey, but still very intense vocals and (especially) drums. There couldn’t have been a more perfect name for this song. And not just because the title is the chorus.
