Garry Mulholland, Fear Of Music: The 261 Greatest Albums Since Punk And Disco (2006)
I was slow in picking up Garry Mulholland's book because his previous one, This Is Uncool, concerned the 500 greatest singles since punk and disco. I have nothing against singles, aside from the annoying wankers who try to claim that singles are far more important than albums. People are downloading singles in lieu of albums, the album is dead, blah blah blah. Mulholland was one of those wankers, until he changed his mind. Enthusiastic readers of This Is Uncool kept asking him when he would write about albums. Because the thing is, albums are important, at least for those who truly love music. Singles are great as a gateway. They were the first records I bought as a kid because they were cheap, and were a safe way to check out a band before deciding they're worthy of a whole album. But when you find an artist or band you love, how could you not want a whole album? If you're going to listen to them all night, read the lyrics and sleevenotes, learn all their songs, pick your favorites, and get a better sense of what they're trying to do with the "deep cuts" and sequencing. Soon you want all their albums, to see them live, buy the t-shirts, etc. Eventually you'll fall in love for the first time with the great ones as the soundtrack, and inevitably break up to, cry and brood over, and move on to others. Albums are absolutely important. I've always had the suspicion that those who stick to just the singles simply don't like music all that much. It's only something worth spending a minimal of time with until it's time for your TV shows or chores or whatever non-music obsessives like to do.
With Fear Of Music, Mulholland admits that he's one of us, a real music geek. There's no shortage of list books, such as The MOJO Collection: The Greatest Albums of All Time and 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Fear Of Music is the first one I was able to read from start to finish, rather than just skipping around. Partly because it's like the ultimate version of the exercise, Albums That Changed Your Life that has been floating around in e-mail forwards and Facebook. Mulholland gives a personal narrative for a lot of the albums, and clearly wrote the entries chronologically, starting with albums from 1976, ending in 2003 ("because it takes at least 18 months to decide if any record truly stands the test of time or not"). The energy takes a bit of a dive in 1983, but I don't blame him. The albums he listened to between the age of 14 and 19 also happened to be arguably (according to Mulholland, Simon Reynolds, myself and a few others) the most creative period in pop and rock. It had to be disconcerting when he finally moved to London at the age of 20, ready to pursue rock 'n' roll, and realized that most of his favorite bands were either broken up or had started to suck. From 1988 to 93 his excitement perked up for hip-hop, though not quite as infectiously as his enthusiasm for the punk and post-punk era.
Signs that he was starting to lose the plot appeared when he chose the awkwardly creepy Hallowed Ground over the Violent Femmes' self-titled classic debut, Hüsker Dü's Candy Apple Grey over Zen Arcade, and Sonic Youth's Goo over Daydream Nation, Sister, basically any other Sonic Youth album. He totally overlooked Mission Of Burma, The Minutemen, The Feelies, The Raincoats, Beefheart, a ton of reggae and all metal albums. However, the point of Fear Of Music is to make it okay not to like every canonized rock album from Sgt. Pepper's, Pet Sounds and Astral Weeks to Nevermind and OK Computer. I love how he claims Bow Wow Wow's See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang, Yeah. City All Over! Go Ape Crazy is way better than OK Computer. While I don't exactly agree, he makes a good argument, and lead to my enjoying getting re-acquainted with the album. His narrative story-reviews moved me to relisten to other albums I have but hadn't heard since forever (Rezillos, Dr. Alimantado, Human League, Dexys Midnight Runners, Specials, Defunkt, Yazoo, Kate Bush, Prefab Sprout) and pick up copies of ones I didn't have (Earth Wind & Fire, Was (Not Was), Mantronix, Biz Markie).
Another taboo that Mulholland breaks is including compilations and greatest hits packages, something I try to avoid in my lists mainly to preserve sanity. However, his choices are pretty reasonable, including collections by Roxy Music, Can, Earth Wind & Fire, Chic, Blondie, Buzzcocks, Squeeze, The Cramps, The Smiths, The Fall, Madonna, Madness, and Rough Trade and Ze label compilations.
The one thing that bugged me was that Mulholland neglected to point out which ones are his absolute favorites. I searched the web hoping he had a page related to the book with some more notes, perhaps throwing us a bone with a top ten or fifty. No such luck. I'll take a whack at it myself, based on things he said in his reviews (usually along the lines of "this is one of the greatest albums of all time"). Perhaps it'll be outrageously wrong enough to flush him out and inspire him to make his own, heh. See the full chronological list here.
Garry Mulholland's Super-Duper Faves
- Wipers – Youth Of America 82
"This albums is the very essence of rock 'n' roll." - The Congos – Heart Of The Congos 77
"Better than the best of Marley you ask? Well . . . yeah. There's no insult in this. Heart of the Congos is better than most things." - Gang Of Four – Entertainment 79
"One of the very, very greatest records ever made. But not everyone will like. Some lives are so full they leave no room for doubt." - The Human League – Dare 81
"The best pop album of my lifetime." - Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols 77
"...one of the greatest albums ever made, a tune-packed tirade that balanced fearlessness, when it came to the crumbling establishment of Olde England, and terror, when it came to women, sex and the masses..." - Dexys Midnight Runners – Searching For The Young Soul Rebels 80
"...one of the very best albums ever made." - The Pogues – Rum Sodomy And The Lash 85
"...one of the greatest albums ever made." - Elvis Costello And The Attractions – Armed Forces 79
"Not just Costello's best, but one of the best albums ever made." - Wire – Chairs Missing 78
"One of the greatest guitar-rock albums of all time..." - Bad Brains – I Against I 86
"...one of the most rhythmically mesmerizing, sexy and mood-altering guitar music ever..." - ABC – The Lexicon Of Love 82
"...the Citizen Kane of British pop albums." - Talking Heads – Remain In Light 80
"...outrageously fucking fine." - Television – Marquee Moon 77
"...introduced beauty to punk rock and in doing so invented The Bunnymen and The Smiths and R.E.M. and any unequivocally male rock band since who has rejected post-Hendrix penile dementia and attempted to communicate romance, mystery and emotinal eloquence through the medium of the electric rock guitar." - Boogie Down Productiuons – By All Means Necessary 88
"...an inspiring and timeless classic." - Siouxsie And The Banshees – Juju 81
"...simply one of the most beautiful and inspired guitar recordings ever conceived." - Donald Fagen – The Nightfly 82
"One of pop's greatest hidden masterpieces." - Japan – Tin Drum 81
"...one of the most beautiful and artful noises ever to grace mainstream pop." - Public Image Ltd – Metal Box/Second Edition 79
"...a masterpiece made from sheer agony, and time - and many rip-offs - hasn't made it any easier for the faint of heart." - My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything 88
- The Clash 77
- Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back 88
- Happy Mondays – Bummed 88
"...the greatest album by the British band of their generation..." - The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead 86
- Public Enemy – Fear Of A Black Planet 90
- Simple Minds – New Gold Dream 82
"...one ofthe most purely beautiful sonic tapestries British pop hath woven..." - Magazine – The Correct Use Of Soap 80
"The only band good enough to look down their noses at us." - The Jam – Sound Affects 80
"The best compliment I can pay Sound Affects is to say that most of it is good enough to live with this masterpiece ['That's Entertainment']." - Echo And The Bunnymen – Crocodiles 80
"All this jazz made Crocodile an iconic album of its times, an made it snappy." - The Slits – Cut 79
"...the most wonderful denial of an oppressive and repressive world ever committed to tape." - The Undertones 79
"The best album ever made about a teenage boy." - The The – Soul Mining 83
"...a hidden masterpiece..." - Grace Jones – Nighclubbing 81
- X-Ray Spex – Germfree Adolescents 78
- The Beat – I Just Can’t Stop It 80
- Massive Attack – Protection 94
- Kate Bush – Hounds Of Love 85
- PJ Harvey – To Bring Me Your Love 95
- Iggy Pop – Lust For Life 77
- Tricky – Maxinquaye 95
- Au Pairs – Playing With A Different Sex 81
- Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures 79
- XTC – Drums And Wires 79
- Fela Anikulapo Kuti & The Africa 70 – Sorrow Tears And Blood 77
- A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory 91
- Fugazi EP 88
- De La Soul – Three Feet High And Rising 89
- The Modern Lovers 76
- Eric B. And Rakim – Follow The Leader 88
- Cypress Hill 92
- Lloyd Cole And The Commotions – Rattlesnakes 84
