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For those of you who have looped in here since July of this year, I will warn you that I occasionally do month-long projects of posting and discussing a song each day on a single theme or topic. You’ll find that I take these pretty seriously – perhaps unusually seriously. You’ll notice a couple of things about my posts during the month:

a) I go into a LOT of detail about the song, artist, and culture surrounding them. I curate these projects like collections of art (which I believe they are), so if you like reading descriptions next to paintings, then you should enjoy my approach.

b) I share videos, not just songs. I grew up in an era when MTV ruled our collective consciousness, so for me the video is often as important as the song itself. I know that Spotify-minded folks may have a difficult time with this, but I ask you to consider watching the videos for the full impact.

So, let’s talk about the topic.

My last list was “80s in July,” which grew out of a reaction to what I saw as a narrow awareness in current discourse about 80s music and videos. (Basically, everyone knows “Take on Me” and “Africa,” and little else.) So I piled on a bunch of videos that were at least as iconic – if not more so – for the time, focusing on trends mostly from the early 80s.

My new list is another deep-dive into the music of my youth, but with a different focus. I’m sure everyone has fond memories of the music that came out in their early teens, since that’s when we start to pick up more of what’s around us. I’m sure it’s not too uncommon for someone to say that the best year in music just happens to align with that time of their life, because that music tends to be both new and personally meaningful.

But then I started to look at it, and I realized that 1987 – the specific year that I consider to be the best year in music – really is quite amazing even through the broader lens that I have now. Sure, I was 12-turning-13 and particularly open to new music at the time, but the list is kind of astonishing. And while I expect that many of you have different “best years in music,” I think you’ll agree by the end of this exploration that 1987 was pretty special.

And so I present my topic for January’s song-a-day project:

1987, My Best Year in Music

Day 1 – U2, The Joshua Tree, “Where the Streets Have No Name”

I begin the list with one of my favorite openings of all time. The Joshua Tree was a transformative album for U2, taking them from the moderate popularity that had been growing since “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” “Pride,” and their iconic performance of “Bad” at LiveAid and launching them into megastar status. This iconic video shows a rare look into that space of time after they had achieved megastardom but before they had really bought into the pretentiousness that characterized Rattle and Hum, Achtung Baby, and most of their later career.

The Joshua Tree is an amazing album both musically and historically, but it is also incredibly important to me personally. In the summer of 1987, I traveled to Germany and spent a month visiting family, and this album is the one I listened to almost constantly during that trip. Then, in the fall, this tour became the first rock concert I ever attended.

In a serendipitous example of internet archiving, you can even watch that entire exact concert on YouTube – not just a show from the tour, but the very show I attended. (Link)

Day 2 – Midnight Oil, Diesel and Dust, “The Dead Heart”

Diesel and Dust is one of the greatest albums of all time, full stop. Musically, it is nearly perfect from start to finish, and it flows extremely well as a complete piece. Midnight Oil had been around for a decade in Australia, but this is the album that made them break big in America. “Beds Are Burning” exploded onto MTV, getting tons of airplay. “The Dead Heart,” the second single, was less widely seen, but is arguably the more important song in the broader context.

There had not been an unabashedly Australian band in the US consciousness since Men At Work (most Australian bands were mistaken for British), but we were coming off of the previous year’s popularity of Crocodile Dundee, so the country was ready for the visual imagery that Midnight Oil brought with this album. And after years of nuclear cold war fear and the music industry’s growing focus on Apartheid, we were ready for their politics as well. The band’s refocus to aboriginal issues caused some controversy in Australia, but the music was too powerful to be ignored.

Day 3 – 10,000 Maniacs, In My Tribe, “Like the Weather”

As you might be noticing by now, I’m starting the list with “breakthrough albums.” And while it wasn’t quite as big a breakthrough as The Joshua Tree, In My Tribe definitely represented a huge surge in popularity for 10,000 Maniacs. Of course, a lot of that was due to the first single and video, “Peace Train.” However, out of respect for the band’s decision to remove that song from the album, I’m going with a different single. (You can still find the video on YouTube if you look, and it’s worth seeing if you haven’t seen it before. Their version really was amazing.)

10,000 Maniacs was a standout in my own adolescent musical tastes – the first woman-led group that I started listening to. For anyone who knows my musical habits from college or later, the thought of me listening to just one woman-led band might seem ridiculous, but it was Natalie Merchant who led the way. 10,000 Maniacs were also significant in that they were my second concert (on the Blind Man’s Zoo tour a couple years later). Also, this video has a surprising crossover with my other interests in that it was directed by Adrian Edmonson, who I knew at the time as Vyvyan from The Young Ones.

Day 4 – R.E.M., Document, “Finest Worksong”

R.E.M. had been on a steady rise in the college charts since their inception. Life’s Rich Pageant even had a decently popular hit (“Fall On Me”), but Document was their first album to break 1 million sales, and it (along with the following year’s switch to Warner Bros.) started the band on a three album trajectory to superstardom. And while Green and Out of Time had the more popular singles, I think Document is the more solid album. This is R.E.M. at their peak – solid in writing and performance and probably the most confident they would sound at any point in their career.

Most casual observers remember Document for “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” but there’s so much more going on with this album. This is one that has definitely stuck with me through the years, and it opens with one of my favorite R.E.M. songs, “Finest Worksong.” If you’ve never listened to this album all the way through, I recommend you give it a shot.

Day 5 – INXS, Kick, “Need You Tonight/Mediate”

INXS is one of those “stealth Australian” bands I mentioned earlier – a lot of people failed to realize they were Aussies, especially because Michael Hutchens did a really good neutral singing accent, and he could easily come across as being from Southern California (probably the most common misconception that I heard).

Kick was another giant breakthrough album for 1987. Listen Like Thieves had been well-received and is actually my personal favorite, but Kick had multiple giant singles, including “Never Tear Us Apart,” “Mystify,” “Devil Inside,” and “New Sensation.” However, I’m sharing this video so that you get two for one. By 1987, bands were doing more and more clever things with their music videos, and this is a good example of that. It was originally two music videos that were released separately but designed to go together (because the songs blended together on the album). Once they were both out, MTV would occasionally play the full version as well.

INXS is one of those rare bands that was fairly consistent in their sound and approach throughout their career, and 1987 was really the moment when the world was ready for their particular style. This album matched the ethos of the time, and for a moment everyone was into INXS. And of course they were one of the bands that convinced me to take up the saxophone.

Day 6 – Depeche Mode, Music for the Masses, “Never Let Me Down Again”

Unlike INXS, Depeche Mode experienced a long but significant shift in their sound and tone over the course of their career. From their original New Wave pop beginnings, they were constantly shifting towards darker themes and a more intense sound. Throughout the mid 80s, various albums showed that they were developing in this direction, from early experimentation like “Everything Counts” to the album just before this one, Black Celebration.

But ultimately it was Music for the Masses that finally broke them through into the sound that they would be known for as time went on. 1990’s Violator would be the most popular and iconic example of that sound, but “Never Let Me Down Again” was the heralding of it. This song is who Depeche Mode became when they grew up. They were there. And it was amazing.

This is a rare example of a song that has been a road-mix song for as long as I have been driving. Partially because of the video, I was thinking about listening to it while driving even before I had my license.

Day 7 – Pet Shop Boys, Actually, “It’s A Sin”

When it comes to bangin’ club hits, no one beats the Pet Shop Boys. They exploded onto the scene with their first two albums in ’86 and ’87. Please (in ’86) showed what they could do, and then Actually (in ’87) showed that they were consistent about it, that their first album was not a fluke.

In addition to the new album, 1987 also saw the release of PSB’s cover of “Always On My Mind,” which is amazing and definitely worth a listen if you’ve never heard it. That song and its accompanying video promoted their stream-of-consciousness movie “It Couldn’t Happen Here,” which came out the following year, but 1987 was just about the music.

The other big single from Actually was “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” featuring Dusty Springfield. That song reintroduced Springfield to a new generation, and even ended up being her biggest hit in the US, amazingly outselling “Son of a Preacher Man.” However, I chose “It’s a Sin” as my selection because I feel it’s much more forward-looking. This is a song that would be a dance music staple well into the 90s, and might not be out of place in a club even today.

Day 8 – Men Without Hats, Pop Goes the World, “Moonbeam”

I already included the first single from this album on my previous list, “80s in July,” because it was a perfect example of New Wave that is too often ignored. Men Without Hats were scandalously underrated throughout the 80s, such that most people only know “Safety Dance” and that’s it. But for a couple of videos in 1987, they did get some airplay again, and that was when we realized that MWH had more to give.

“Pop Goes the World” (the song) and “Moonbeam” are both very upbeat, in some ways maybe even a little too poppy for the time, but they reminded us of the new wave pop hits of the earlier part of the decade. Being 12, I wasn’t very willing to admit it at the time, but “Moonbeam” in particular was one I would always hang out and watch. It was catchy enough to break through my moody shell, and I’m very glad for that in retrospect.

The video, by the way, is a sequel. It follows directly from the end of “Pop Goes the World,” although the songs did not appear adjacent to each other on the album.

Day 9 – Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Shaka Zulu, “Hello My Baby”

There were several reasons that the 80s generated a heightened political environment for music. Nuclear proliferation and the Cold War was one aspect we hear about a lot, but we don’t give as much time as we should to discussions of Apartheid. My own political awakening was shaped by the growth of Amnesty International around this issue. And in parallel, my introduction to world music (as with many at the time) came from Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Paul Simon had released Graceland the previous year, which gave the group a huge breakthrough in international awareness, but 1987 was the year that Warner Bros printed the first US-published album for Mambazo. Shaka Zulu collected new pieces with many of their classic songs, including “Hello My Baby,” a song they always performed at their concerts. I got to see them at Northwestern many years later, and this was still on their set list. I wanted to share a concert video to give you a taste of what it was like to see them live.

Note that with both Graceland and Shaka Zulu there was some initial criticism that Simon and Mambazo were breaking the UN boycott of South Africa, but the boycott specified that no one should sell cultural works TO South Africa (thus the Sun City album), not that they should not export them FROM South Africa. It’s a fine distinction, certainly, but considering the work that both albums did to raise cultural awareness at a critical time, I think it’s an important one.

Editor’s Note – This is not the original version of the song, but is a more recent remake with the fantastic Zimbabwean musician Oliver Mtukudzi. It’s a really great version in its own right, so I have no problem including it here.

Day 10 – The Alarm, Eye of the Hurricane, “Rain in the Summertime”

We’re moving away from blockbuster releases for the moment to show that 1987 was full of great music at all levels of popularity. The Alarm was a Welsh band that had been recording for a few years and had even toured with U2 (on the War tour). The band was mostly known for the punk anthem “68 Guns,” and many of their songs are what I would call punk power ballads. “Rain in the Summertime” isn’t necessarily a departure from their sound, but it is a slight shift to the more positive.

Although I never bothered collecting much music from the band, this song and video really captured me at the time, and the song has lingered in my head for decades. I often start singing it to myself on appropriately rainy summer days, and I go back and listen to it often.

This is one of two moments of specifically Welsh music that grabbed me in 1987, the other being the recording of the lullaby “Suo Gan” for the soundtrack of Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun (Christian Bale’s first starring role). If you’ve never heard it, go listen to it after you listen to The Alarm.

Day 11 – Sinéad O’Connor, The Lion and the Cobra, “Mandinka”

Quite a bit of my music exposure in the late 80s came from the MTV show 120 Minutes. This show helped to define what we called “alternative” back then (which was different from what the term later became – more on that in a future song list). I still remember the week that this video debuted – they did a whole discussion thing and kept advertising snippets of the song during the show until they finally played the whole thing. (They did teasers for music videos, if you young folks can imagine that.)

The Lion and the Cobra wasn’t as popular as Sinéad’s next album, but it was an extremely powerful debut. She burst onto the scene with a completely different look and sound than anyone was ready for. In the era of big hair, shaving was about as radical as you could get. And her vocals were amazing – such a strange mixture of rich melodic lines with her distinct yelling tones. It was clear she was going somewhere, and we were definitely excited to watch it.

Day 12 – Suzanne Vega, Solitude Standing, “Tom’s Diner”

Suzanne Vega had just come off of the popularity of her single “Left of Center” on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack. Her 1987 release, Solitude Standing, included one of the songs most often associated with her – “Luka.” But it also included a short a cappella piece that would later have a historic place in music and music technology. The “Tom’s Diner” on that album (shown here) is probably not the one you know, especially if you’re a child of the 90s instead of the 80s. British dance producers DNA later remixed it, turning the song into the huge dance hit you’ve almost certainly heard, and it was then used as one of the first songs ever compressed into MP3 format.

But I have to say, as catchy as the remix is, this version speaks to me. Looking back at the origins, you can see just how haunting it is. The poetry really stands out, especially in the slowdown/pause towards the end. And Vega’s performance in this video is raw and brilliant.

Day 13 – George Michael, Faith, “Faith”

We’re entering a short segment of fun music on the list before we get to the admittedly much longer section of moody music. (Sorry, that’s who I was at 12 and 13.) And while I was never personally that attached to George Michael’s music, it definitely influenced the musical conversation at the time. His first solo album, Faith, was very much the kind of departure from Wham! that says, “I’m an adult, and I would like to make adult music.” The most popular singles off the album were this, “Father Figure,” and “I Want Your Sex” (which you can hear playing on the jukebox at the beginning of this video). Clearly, Michael had things he wanted to talk about.

I’m not sure I can accurately compare the amount of airplay this had on MTV vs his first single, “I Want Your Sex.” It feels like this one played more, and I could theorize that it was because this is a catchier song (which it is), but more likely I just remember this one better because it was less embarrassing as a 13 year old to keep watching when someone else came into the room.

On a side note, there’s now a whole linguistic exploration into the recent growing trend of adding -uh to the ends of words as emphasis. Apparently George Michael was way ahead of his time.

Day 14 – Swing Out Sister, It’s Better to Travel, “Breakout”

In later albums, Swing Out Sister moved into more of an easy listening sound – the kind you might hear on radio stations that used “Lite” in their names. But their first big album and single were more upbeat. “Breakout” perfectly captures the pop sound of the mid to late 80s in an exceptionally catchy tune. And the video distills the thread of nostalgia that ran through a lot of 80s fashion and pop culture.

On a personal note, we can file this video among the images from my formative years that added to the list of “traits that Eric finds attractive.” Specifically, the short haircut and prominent eyebrows. I’m still a sucker for those things to this day.

Day 15 – Rick Astley, Whenever You Need Somebody, “Together Forever”

Okay, I feel a little guilty about doing this to you. But to be fair, I could have legitimately Rick-rolled you and it would have been even more on theme. “Never Gonna Give You Up” was, after all, Astley’s first big single, and it was recorded on New Year’s Day of 1987 and released later that year. But I just had to share this one, even though it was the fourth single off the album.

First, let me just say that Rick Astley had (and has!) an amazing voice, and he has taken his memetic fame with terrific humor. But seriously, if you think his most famous song is cheesy, you have got to see this. If anything, the production values are even lower and more 80s on the video, and the keyboard melodies are even more tinny.

I also wanted to share this so that I could point out that I always thought he was doing a weird attempt at dialect and heard “wit(ch) you” in the second line of the chorus. I used to wonder why he was saying “with you” two different ways – stick with one, Rick! But no, apparently he’s saying “we two.” Watch, listen, share my pain.

Day 16 – The Cure, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, “Catch”

Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me was another big breakthrough album for a band that had been around for a while. The Cure had released the singles collection Standing On a Beach the previous year, which introduced them to a lot of new fans, and this new album had much greater pop appeal. In 1987, the Cure had definitely made it big, and their wider audience laid the groundwork for Disintegration to have the biggest possible impact two years later.

I chose this lesser-known track for a couple of reasons. First, the two most popular singles have video issues – “Just Like Heaven” isn’t on YouTube because the director doesn’t want it to be (but you can find it on his site), and “Why Can’t I Be You?” includes some unfortunate blackface, so that was out. But also I wanted to point out one of the songs that was more meaningful to me at the time. “Catch” and “The Perfect Girl” were the kind of tracks that were just right for a nerdy, isolated boy just beginning his teens to listen to while he lamented his lot in life.

On a side note, you can tell that The Cure are actually performing this live, because Robert Smith messes up the lyrics that he always messes up when they perform this song live. (Mixing up his own lyrics is kind of Smith’s accidental signature move.) The part that he is pathologically incapable of getting right is the first pre-chorus. It’s supposed to go like this:

“You know I even think that she stared like you
She used to just stand there and stare
And roll her eyes right up to heaven
And make like I just wasn’t there”

Instead, he muddles it with the second pre-chorus. But oh well. You get the idea.

Day 17 – Siouxsie and the Banshees, Through the Looking Glass, “The Passenger”

Following a lineup change and a series of side projects, Siouxsie and the Banshees had taken a while to develop their 1986 release, Tinderbox (notable for the single “Cities In Dust,” which is on my Rockalypse playlist). After that, they decided to let off some steam by doing an album of covers of their various influences.

“The Passenger” is the only cover I’m including on this list, but it definitely deserves to be here. It is a brilliant rendition of the classic Iggy Pop tune, and it shows Siouxsie and the Banshees at what really became their second peak. They built off of the momentum of this album to record Peepshow, which included one of their most popular singles of all time (“Peek-a-Boo”). Also, both the song and the video show the band having so much fun that it’s a joy to watch. And it doesn’t hurt that Siouxsie just exudes charisma.

Day 18 – The Jesus and Mary Chain, Darklands, “April Skies”

In an era when most bands (both rock and alternative) still used keyboards at least a little bit, there were a few standouts leading the trend back towards a more pure guitar sound. New Wave was not over yet, but it was on its way out, and the groups ushering it out the door were paving the way for new movements like Madchester, Grunge, and more.

I wanted to share this song because it offers a sound that connects both to well-known 80s bands like Psychedelic Furs and Echo and the Bunnymen (more about that second one tomorrow), but also the early roots of what would become the new 90s/2000s Punk. This song isn’t as well known as the later “Head On” (partially because that was covered by the Pixies), but you can hear a similar thread building already. And you can also hear a lot of the shoegaze elements that would even later be incorporated by portions of the Emo movement.

As I occasionally say, I like to look for links in popular music trends – songs, albums, and bands that were the connective tissue between things we don’t always see as connected. The Jesus and Mary Chain were definitely one of those bands that was building on the music of their time but also influential towards the future.

Day 19 – Echo and the Bunnymen, Echo and the Bunnymen, “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo”

Since I am actually at B-Fest as we speak, I will keep this one fairly brief. Echo and the Bunnymen had been doing fairly well with their particular sound throughout the early 80s, but their big breakthrough in the US came more from their appearances on various movie soundtracks. In particular, their 1987 self-titled album release coincided with an extremely popular movie from that year: The Lost Boys. They did a cover of The Doors’ “People Are Strange” for that film, and it helped raise the band’s profile significantly. “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo” is one of those songs that I wish more people knew about, so it definitely belongs on this list.

Day 20 – Love and Rockets, Earth, Sun, Moon, “No New Tale to Tell”

In 1985, several former members of Bauhaus built the new band, Love and Rockets. Although you can still hear the threads of goth, they were clearly building more of a rock sound on top of it. Their sound fit very nicely into the alternative space they shared with Echo and the Bunnymen and XTC. Love and Rockets saw a decent amount of play on college radio and 120 Minutes throughout the mid to late 80s.

Earth, Sun, Moon was not their debut album (it was their third), nor was it particularly a breakthrough album. If any album was a breakthrough, it was their 1989 self-titled album, which made “So Alive” a giant hit. But this album did give me my personal favorite Love and Rockets song, which I share with you today. This song is just a perfect distillation of what’s amazing about this band.

Day 21 – The Sisters of Mercy, Floodland, “Dominion”

As you might have noticed, the last few days have been the Goth portion of the list. We’re going to wrap this section up with one of the most important albums of the year. Although Floodland was technically the second album by The Sisters of Mercy, it was the first to include Patricia Morrison, and it defined not only the band’s sound but an entire Generation of Goth culture. It was so iconic and influential that the humorous card game Gother Than Thou (published in 2000) included the card “Sing This Corrosion To Me,” which asked you to sing four lines from the song “This Corrosion” to gain Goth Points and punished you if you couldn’t.

The band’s look was also culture defining. While Siouxsie Sioux was moving on from her big-hair days, Patricia Morrison – along with Death from the Sandman comics – brought the look back so strongly that it was a staple of Goth culture throughout the 90s. I wanted to show this video not only because it’s an amazing song but because it demonstrates that you didn’t need to wear all black to be Goth.

Day 22 – The Smiths, Strangeways, Here We Come, “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before”

1987 was quite the climactic year for The Smiths. It began triumphantly, with the dual release of two amazing singles compilations: World Won’t Listen (UK) and Louder Than Bombs (US/International). But even as we heard that there would be a new album coming out as well, this news was made bittersweet with the knowledge that this would be the last Smiths album, because they were breaking up. And so, in the fall of 1987, the often-underrated Strangeways, Here We Come was released to appropriately depressing fanfare.

The video for “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before” seems to go out of its way to prove the point that both the music and the fandom had become too focused on Morrissey alone and not just Morrissey as frontman. It is, in many ways, a perfect precursor to Morrissey’s solo work, paralleling surprisingly well with the video for “Suedehead,” which has Morrissey riding around on a tractor and following after James Dean much the same way these bicycle-riding youths follow after him.

As I’ve implied in previous entries, The Smiths had a huge impact on my early teens. They’re definitely one of the better bands for being moody and self-absorbed. Which I was. Constantly. I still very much enjoy the entire Smiths oeuvre out of nostalgia, but I’m not necessarily proud of that fact. Oh sure, there are some fantastic individual songs that I think everyone should hear, but, taken as a whole, it definitely starts to wear on the listener.

Day 23 – Public Image Ltd, Happy?, “Seattle”

Public Image Ltd, John Lydon’s post-Sex Pistols band, went through a few different phases following its inception in 1978. After a strong initial showing in the late 70s, the band didn’t make much of a splash in the early 80s, partially due to its frequent internal strife and the revolving door of band members. But in the late 80s Lydon brought PiL to a three-album peak when he decided to write and record with a variety of session musicians instead of trying to bring a consistent touring band into the studio. Although 1987’s Happy? was arguably the weakest of the three albums, it still had a few standout singles, particularly “Seattle” and “Body.”

In my sea of moody music (see the last several days) and a few political bands (see the beginning of the list), I didn’t have a ton of what I would call “angry” music that I listened to in my early teens. I just wasn’t really into harder music at the time, and the popular metal and hard rock was more about sex and drugs than about rage and frustration. PiL filled a need that was a little more rare but still there nevertheless. After all, “Anger is an energy.”

Day 24 – New Order, Substance 1987, “True Faith”

How could I not include the album with 1987 right there in the title? Of course, Substance 1987 is technically a compilation album, so it might seem a little odd to include in a list that argues for a single year being the best year in music. But it’s so much more than just a simple compilation. Substance had a bigger impact than most collections. Not only did it include new versions and re-edits of several classic New Order tunes, it brought us “True Faith,” one of the most-played New Order videos in the history of MTV, and one of the band’s most popular songs of all time. This song brought many of us to New Order, and once we were there, we stayed.

In 1987, I discovered a number of bands that stuck with me for a long time and helped to mold my musical tastes. With many of those, and even with some (like U2) that I had loved prior to 1987, my interest has waxed and waned over the years. But without question, the two most persistent are Midnight Oil and New Order. They have been with me ever since.

This is also a good moment to talk about covers. I have talked about covers of songs a couple of times in this list – Pet Shop Boys did an amazing cover of “Always On My Mind,” and of course I actually included Siouxsie and the Banshee’s “Passenger.” In general, I’m very picky about covers, and my reasoning about what makes a good or bad cover is complex and better suited to in-person discussions. But one thing is for sure – don’t ever play me a cover of a New Order song unless you’re actively trying to make me angry.

Day 25 – Michael Jackson, Bad, “Man in the Mirror”

All told, Michael Jackson didn’t actually put out very many albums during the height of his popularity. He only recorded two studio albums in the 80s – Thriller and Bad – but both of them were HUGE deals. And while Bad didn’t produce quite as many giant singles as Thriller had, it still had quite a few. So, 1987 is notable in bringing the world this essential album.

More importantly, “Man in the Mirror” showed that Jackson had built off of the momentum from “We Are the World” to keep focusing on more serious topics. Although the official video for the song is also a landmark in its own right, I am including the ’88 Grammy performance because this was a moment where Jackson used his superstardom to say something meaningful while also demonstrating exactly why he was a superstar in the first place. It is an amazing performance.

Day 26 – Prince, Sign o’ The Times, “Starfish and Coffee”

On the other end of prolific spectrum was Prince, one of the most productive songwriters of all time. As I discussed in my 80s in July list, Prince wrote so much music that he spawned multiple artists’ careers with extra songs he didn’t need for his yearly album releases. And yet, even in a sea of releases, 1987’s Sign o’ The Times stood out. The album included some classic funk/rock hits like “U Got the Look” and some amazing soul like “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” but Prince’s versatility didn’t end there. Among other things, Sign o’ the Times continued the explorations into psychedelica he had been developing over his previous two albums. Sign o’ the Times ends up being an excellent synthesis of Prince’s many styles.

I considered sharing “U Got the Look,” which is a video worth watching just to appreciate the wonderful duet between Prince and Sheena Easton, but I decided I’d go with this one instead, even though there was no way I could have seen it at the time. This video is actually from Prince’s appearance on Muppets Tonight a decade later, but it’s such a fantastic rendition that I couldn’t help myself. It’s a great combination of a song you may not have heard and a show you may not have seen. Enjoy!

Day 27 – Yes, Big Generator, “Love Will Find A Way”

And now we’re entering a somewhat controversial section of the list. There were a few classic bands that put out albums in 1987 that were not received well by dedicated fans at the time, due to either a change in lineup or a change in sound (or both). But I think that these albums are vastly underrated, and they are part of what made 1987 so great.

Yes had already ripped off the bandage with its 1983 album, 90125. But Big Generator demonstrated that they were indeed planning to continue making music without Wakeman and Howe. More than that, it proved that they had settled into this new sound and were doing some pretty amazing things with it. 90125 had been a huge adjustment, but it also had some fantastic songs – it was just a little uneven. Big Generator showed what the new lineup could do now that it was comfortable.

90125, Big Generator, and Union (1991) tend to be pretty polarizing to Yes fans. I love them, but I also understand that they were a radical departure from the band’s history. However, I’m a firm believer in moving forward, and by the end of the 70s prog (ironically) had stagnated. I think that even if Wakeman and Howe had stuck around, the band would have needed to develop something new. Tomorrow’s entry is a demonstration of exactly that…

Day 28 – Rush, Hold Your Fire, “Prime Mover”

Like many people around my age, Rush’s Moving Pictures (1981) had a huge impact on my earliest musical tastes. In retrospect, that album stands out as introducing the new era while still holding on to elements of the old. Many older fans didn’t care for the direction the band took in the 80s – away from the prog epics of the 70s and towards more synthesizers and concessions to the short-form style of popular rock music. But by the time they had reached Power Windows (1985) and Hold Your Fire (1987), Rush had these adjustments solidly figured out. The sound was still very characteristic Rush, and the writing was as strong as ever, just different.

Hold Your Fire is, I am not ashamed to admit, one of my favorite Rush albums. It doesn’t get a lot of attention, largely because many of the songs do have an admittedly poppy structure, but what Rush shows throughout is the very potential of that structure. I think “Prime Mover” is an excellent example of what I mean. In many ways, it’s a stack of fairly straightforward riffs, but the genius comes through the constant fills and variations. They’re not super flashy, but there are so many of them that they create a rich texture that emerges gradually as you listen closely (or repeatedly). This song and album are also among my favorites because of Neil Peart’s lyrics. I love what he does here.

Day 29 – Pink Floyd, Momentary Lapse of Reason, “On the Turning Away”

And now we get to the most contentious of my short series of controversial releases by classic bands. Throughout the early to mid 80s, there was extremely bad blood between Dave Gilmour and Roger Waters as they each worked on solo projects following the de facto breakup of Pink Floyd. When Momentary Lapse of Reason was released, Waters didn’t just hate it (but he did, very publicly), he sued Gilmour and the band to try to get back the band’s name. As you can imagine with such a conflicted legacy, the bands were split as well. Many followed Waters and considered the new album to be a betrayal, but Gilmour’s fundamental revenge is that the album was extremely successful, partially because – in my view at least – it’s actually good.

Yes, it’s true that the sound changed without Roger Waters, but Pink Floyd still did some amazing things in this new era. There are many great tracks on Momentary Lapse of Reason, the most notable of which is definitely “On the Turning Away.” This is actually my favorite Pink Floyd song of all time. There are plenty of things I like from Dark Side of the Moon, Animals, and The Wall, but THIS is the song that gives me goosebumps every time. And its message remains eternally relevant.

No matter where you fall in the Gilmour/Waters feud, I hope that you will agree that this song stands out regardless of who wrote it.

Day 30 – Sting, Nothing Like the Sun, “Englishman in New York”

And we close out with two completely uncontroversial selections to drive the point home. First up is Sting’s 1987 album, Nothing Like the Sun. This was Sting’s second solo effort, and he had clearly found his footing by this point. A few of the songs, like “Englishman in New York,” still had the jazz feel of Dream of the Blue Turtles, but he also branched out into the more rock sounds of “We’ll be Together” and the very somber themes of “They Dance Alone.”

All in all, this album is another that can sit on a list of “best of all time.” It’s full of fantastic music both in terms of singles as well as the overall flow of the album. Also, I was privileged a few years ago to catch a duet version of this song by Sting and Peter Gabriel on their joint Rock, Paper, Scissors tour. It was one of many highlights of that show.

Day 31 – Mark Knopfler, Princess Bride Soundtrack, “Storybook Love”

Yes, The Princess Bride came out in 1987. Checkmate.

The whole soundtrack for the movie was written by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, so this is another example of a classic rocker doing important solo work. The story goes that Knopfler made Reiner put his Spinal Tap hat in the movie before he would agree to write the score, so Reiner had to scramble to find a version of the hat they could use. (It’s in the opening shot of Fred Savage’s bedroom.) But then on set Knopfler told Reiner he was only joking about the hat.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey into my/the best year in music, and I hope you can see now why I think it stands out. (I’ll have a YouTube playlist of the whole thing soon.)

But of course, like I said at the beginning, I bet other people have other best years in music. What’s yours, and why?