So Bob Dylan has said that no good records have been made in the last 20 years. So far, so typical for aging rockers who don’t get modern music.
But wait a minute – twenty years? That takes us back to 1986.
Yes, 1986. One wonders quite what the work of musical genius was that piqued the great Dylan’s interest in 1986. So I did a search of albums released in 1986, and found this Wikipedia entry. Some highlights –
Who Made Who – AC/DC (hardly their best work)
Scoundrel Days – a-ha (not a patch on Hunting High And Low)
Rapture – Anita Baker (a great record, but Dylan’s favourite album of the last 20 years??)
Licensed to Ill – The Beastie Boys (Fight for your right… to be a tragic old curmudgeon?)
Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi (yeah, his Bobness is definitely down with the ‘Jovi)
Third Stage – Boston (overblown codswallop? oh yes, in spades)
In America EP – Britny Fox (gimme an M, gimme an ‘ullet’…)
Solitude/Solitaire – Peter Cetera (I am a man who with fight for your honour… my arse)
Night Songs – Cinderella (debut) (uh-huh)
Constrictor – Alice Cooper (not so much billion dollar babies as £2.56 worth of teenage nonsense)
From Luxury to Heartache – Culture Club (Bob’s a spender of the pink pound?)
Into The Light – Chris de Burgh (the Lady In Red… no, please, stop)
Notorious – Duran Duran (another great record I’d never have associated with Mr Grumpy)
Emerson, Lake and Powell – Emerson, Lake and Powell (WTF?)
Wonderland – Erasure (pink pound pt II)
The Final Countdown – Europe (maybe Bob didn’t realise that Joey Tempest was a guy?)
August – Eric Clapton (Clapton at his best? Not. Even. Close.)
Whispering Jack – John Farnham (You’re the Voice. Not any more you’re not.)
The Divine Punishment – Diamanda Galás (yup, another certain Dylan fave).
Invisible Touch – Genesis (ewwwww)
Shot in the Dark – Great White (ha-ha!!)
Somewhere in Time – Iron Maiden (Somwhere.. in the mid 80s)
Rendez-Vous – Jean-Michel Jarre (yeah, this is clearly the one bob had in mind)
Control – Janet Jackson (What has Bob done for you lately?)
Psychocandy – The Jesus and Mary Chain (Yay!)
Raised On Radio – Journey (see Boston entry)
Turbo – Judas Priest (how did we not know Rob Halford was gay?)
Trilogy – Yngwie Malmsteen (wheeeeedly wheeeeeedly)
Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? – Megadeth (chugachug)
…and so on.
Bob, 86 was not even close to being a year of great albums. Try again.
What a tool.
“Trilogy – Yngwie Malmsteen (wheeeeedly wheeeeeedly)
Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? – Megadeth (chugachug)”
I just have to follow that with this link to one of my favourite Strongbad emails:
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail36.html
No,no… Bob’s obviously a C86 indie kid! He’s on about The Wedding Present, McCarthy, Primal Scream, The Weather Prophets, Felt…
My god… he’s right!
Yup, Jyoti, I think you’re right – it’s clearly his love for the BMX Bandits and Orange Juice that led him to that place. :o)
x
I’m not sure that BD’s somewhat garbled message is properly understood by any of us – myself included. I’m pretty sure he’s endorsing the Neil Young view that modern recording media – i.e. EVERYTHING digital is at fault rather than the music itself. If I’m correct then he is blaming the ‘messenger’ (CDs and so on) rather than the ‘message’ i.e. the performances. Rightly or wrongly he probably takes the view that vinyl reproduction, notwithstanding the occasional tape hiss, cracks and pops and so on are more musically truthful to the original sound he heard in his head and in the studio. Interestingly, Neil young is a strong advocate of DVD-Audio rather than SACD or CD. A pity that DVD-A seems not to have caught the public’s confidence. Anyway for what it’s worth, for those interested in these things, it might be worth looking behind Mr. D’s attention grabbing headline to try and divine what he was really saying.