Here’s how bad things were for rock and roll music forty years ago. By 1986, new wave was old. The genre that had attempted to breathe new life into some of the more tiresome corners of old school rock less than a decade earlier had mostly run its course. Its synths had become objects of derision.
Sure, there were pockets of resistance. There always would be. But maybe the most emblematic rock release of the year came from 1970s favorite Boston, who put out Third Stage in September of that year.
The public had been awaiting Tom Scholz’s new album for eight long years. When it finally dropped, everyone bought it. But … how do I say this without pissing off all the Boston fans out there? Screw it – they all consider me a philistine already. Third Stage just wasn’t very good.
I mean, “Amanda” is a perfectly nice song. But eight years? Really? If Boston was symbolic of the way rock and roll had morphed into something pretentious – the same neat and clean, overproduced and undercharged music it had rebelled against three decades earlier – they were not alone. Rock and roll was at a crossroads. It was about to cede its place at the head of the table to something new.
The 20 best rock songs of 1986
So you can probably guess that “Amanda” is not on my list of the 20 best rock songs of 1986. Nothing from the tepid Journey release Raised on Radio (which makes Boston sound positively incendiary). The Stones had a new album out. Critics at the time kindly opined that it was remarkable they could even manage to put out a mediocre album after all this time.
You get the point. No need to belabor it. Almost all the great rock and roll that came out in 1986 came from new or marginalized sources. New bands looking for new sounds. The cousins' punk and metal, which bravely stepped into the void and kept the ball moving for a little while.
And yes, there were even some throwbacks. Established bands still reminding us that old-school rock wasn’t completely dead – no matter how much Kansas’ hysterically misnamed Power may have suggested otherwise.
So here’s a pretty eclectic mix of the rock and roll that actually deserved the mantle in 1986, even though some of these songs only touched on traditional rock at an angle. They rocked in spirit if not in form. And as I said, they kept things moving.
Even though rock was never destined to seize the crown back from hip hop as the dominant cultural force of the future, it was far from dead. Down but not out – these songs helped keep the flame alive.
20. “Tuff Enough” by the Fabulous Thunderbirds
Let’s start with one of those throwbacks. The boys from Austin had been around for a decade by 1986, keeping old school blues-based rock alive. Jimmy Vaughan (Stevie Ray’s brother, who will be playing some shows with Bob Dylan this year), handled the down and dirty guitar licks while Kim Wilson’s baritone was the epitome of “tuff.”
19. “Guitar Town” by Steve Earle
Both something new and a throwback, Earle helped usher in the neo-country movement, which in turn helped reinvent country music with a nod toward rock and roll. As he makes clear in his words, Earle was interested in reviving the guitar. There is an organ providing the bed, but this is a guitar song from a guitar player.
18. “Blood and Roses” by the Smithereens
The band from New Jersey was also something of a throwback, even though this track was from Especially for You, their debut album. It was a darker form of power pop with a prominent bass and a riff-heavy attack. Pat DiNizio's singing and guitar playing carry a heft, while the presence of guest artist Marshall Crenshaw hints at power pop roots.
17. “Run Now” by Tommy Keene
Speaking of power pop, Tommy Keene grew up a few miles from me in suburban Maryland, playing along with fellow inside-the-Beltway prodigy Nils Lofgren. “Run Now” came out on his Run Now EP and every time I hear it,
I have the same questions I had way back then. Why wasn’t he ever bigger? This is just pristine power pop. Had he come along a decade earlier or a decade later, Tommy Keene would have been huge.
16. “Brilliant Mistake” by Elvis Costello
Even the great Elvis was not immune to the ennui of the mid-‘80s. He had been a seminal figure a decade earlier, bridging punk with new wave to create a truly innovative rock sound. But Elvis was forever restless, and his sojourns didn’t always score with his fans. I’m not sure any rock icon is as divisive amongst his own fans.
Try publishing an album ranking, and you’ll quickly find no one agrees on anything. But the genius of his songwriting sustained him wherever he journeyed. What would I give to have written …
“She said that she was working for the ABC News
It was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use.”
15. “Guitars, Cadillacs” by Dwight Yoakam
Since this song is so similar to Steve Earle’s “Guitar Town” mentioned above, I’ll just leave you with this amusing anecdote. The lyric in the chorus is “Guitars, Cadillacs, hillbilly music…” and the title of the album is Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. Why is the song reduced to “Guitars, Cadillacs?”
Yoakam's label, Reprise, was afraid to use the term “hillbilly music “ in a 1986 album. Surely the public was too sophisticated to buy such a thing. So they stripped back the single’s title. After the album hit number one on the country chart, they didn’t really care anymore.
14. “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” by the Georgia Satellites
The first track off the debut album, “Keep Your Hands to Yourself,” seemed to announce a major new player on the southern rock circuit. The inability of Dan Baird and company to follow it up with anything even half as successful begs the question.
Were the Satellites simply a standard-issue one-hit wonder? The band’s subsequent music, as well as Baird’s solo work, suggests otherwise. They put out more good music, but popular tastes were moving on. “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” proved to be a dinosaur, but at least it is a dinosaur that still rocks 40 years later.
13. “Lifeblood” by That Petrol Emotion
The Undertones were one of Ireland’s seminal punk bands, featuring guitar-playing brothers John and Damien O’Neill. When they split up in 1983, the brothers formed their own band that explored more complex song structures and more ambitious subject matter.
They churned out a series of quality albums but never had a breakout single. “Lifeblood,” from their debut album Manic Pop Thrill, shows off that new direction in its hardest rocking and most successful form.
12. “Don’t Let’s Start” by They Might Be Giants
John Flansburgh and John Linnell shared as much with a humorist like Tom Lehrer as they did with many of the alt-rock bands they tended to get lumped in with in their early days. The fact is, the recording industry really didn’t know what to do with TMBG, in the same way that they could never really pin down Sparks before them.
The Johns could rock, but the wit and obscure literary tone of their lyrics didn’t sit comfortably in simple rock or blues tunes. “Don’t Let’s Start” is their closest thing to pop rock – an insanely catchy singalong that is still just a little too weird to ever be a major hit.
11. “Wild Wild Life” by the Talking Heads
The Talking Heads were one of the few bands that appeared to weather the transition from late ‘70s indie stardom into the new wave fever of the early ‘80s, but by 1986, they were nearing the end. True Stories – their penultimate album – was a mixed bag, but David Byrne was still capable of writing a great song while the rhythm section of Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz could still deliver, as they do on this effervescent rocker.
10. “Master of Puppets” by Metallica
The thrash kings’ third album was a high watermark. Bass player Cliff Burton would die in a bus crash six months later, and things would change.
Though the band would continue its ascent to become the preeminent metal band in the world, many early fans felt they had peaked. “Master of Puppets,” the title track and only single release from the album, shows off the brilliantly controlled heavy sound and the band’s ability to explore tempo and mood changes without becoming pretentious.
Later albums would not be as successful in avoiding a ponderous quality. There is nothing ponderous here.
9. “No Sleep till Brooklyn” by Beastie Boys
Another debut album – another hand grenade tossed into the stagnant world of arena rock. They were a pretty bad rock band, but when the trio used their primitive rock sensibilities in the service of their street-wise rapping, the mixture was combustible. Licensed to Ill may not have been the most important rock-rap crossover of the year, but its impact was still immense.
8. “Dream Dream Dream” by Mekons
Mekons were phenomenally important as an inspiration for any punk band that lacked technical ability but had something to say and the intelligence to say it well. No one will ever agree on what their best albums or songs were because they wandered quite a bit.
I think “Dream Dream Dream “ captures the raucous energy and attitude of one of England’s original punks. The album it came from, The Edge of the World, was their fifth release. They have a new one due out later this year.
7. “Happy Hour” by Housemartins
They had only been together a few years when the Housemartins released their debut. The first track was insanely catchy jangle dance music that formed a blueprint for the Britpop that would soon take over the UK and the world.
The Housemartins only lasted a few years, but their offshoots – the Beautiful South and bass player Norman Cook’s alter ego Fatboy Slim – would keep their sound alive for years to come.
6. “Angel of Death” by Slayer
Many fans consider Slayer’s Reign in Blood the ultimate thrash metal album. It gets off to a blistering start with Dave Lombardo’s undeniable drums carrying a punishing twin guitar attack through the intro. Then Tom Araya begins singing, and we begin to realize that boundaries are being blown up.
Even if you don’t immediately associate Jeff Hanneman’s lyrics with Josef Mengele, it is very clear that this song is a portrait of horrific evil. Hanneman has said he was merely painting a picture and not championing Nazism. If you can listen with that mindset, the song stands as a stunning and challenging experience.
5. “Bigmouth Strikes Again” by the Smiths
I don’t really feel qualified to say much of use about this song, so I’ll leave you with this. When you put together these kinds of lists, sometimes you surprise yourself. I don’t like the Smiths. I didn’t back in the ‘80s and I don’t today. But this song got into my head in a weird way because I was working with a fledgling musician when the album dropped and he kept singing it every day for about three months.
I developed a genuine revulsion. Forty years later, I felt like I ought to reconsider, and this time I was the one who couldn’t stop singing it. I haven’t changed my opinion on the Smiths. But I have definitely seen the light with Bigmouth.
4. “40 Days and 40 Nights” by Scruffy the Cat
Scruffy had a little bit of the Georgia Satellites thing going on. They were throwbacks to a Chuck Berry riff-heavy brand of early rock that they sold with a bit of modern polish. They were a fun, dance-rock band that should have stuck around longer.
But the call for their kind of music was confined to small clubs and did not show up on the radio in the late ‘80s. So Scruffy called it a day. But not before leaving some great rocking dance tunes, highlighted by this gem.
3. “Walk Like an Egyptian” by the Bangles
The Bangles were one of the few bands that actually thrived in the dying days of new wave, which only goes to show that if you are good enough, you have a chance of transcending.
There may have been even better songs on their Different Light album – the Prince composition “Manic Monday” is a gem – but “Walk Like an Egyptian,” despite its obvious novelty roots, became a timeless slice of the mid-‘80s.
2. “I Against I” by Bad Brains
In a just world, Bad Brains would have been one of the biggest bands in the world. Then again, had frontman H.R. (Paul Hudson) wanted that, he would have steered his incendiary punk songs toward metal and away from reggae. “I Against I,” from the album of the same name, shows off all of what the Washington, DC quartet was capable of.
Dr. Know’s lighting guitar pierces the silence, and H.R.’s unique delivery soon takes over. But almost as soon as the song reaches ramming speed, it morphs, and it will continue morphing. “I Against I” is barely three minutes long, yet it seems to convey an entire world as it flips through sonic chapters with an unrelenting pace.
Somehow, H.R.’s brother Earl on drums and Darryl Jenifer on bass manage the tempo changes seamlessly.
1. “Walk This Way” by Run-DMC (featuring Aerosmith)
“Walk This Way” had been a solid hard rock hit for Aerosmith back in 1975. That was when rock and roll still carried a big stick in the recording industry, and Aerosmith were new royalty. Things had changed in the ensuing decade. Both the band and the whole genre were in disrepair. Then Rick Rubin and his Def Jam partner Russell Simmons had a thought.
Russell’s brother Joseph had a rap group, and like a lot of early rap groups, they considered themselves a rock band who just happened to rap. Rubin put them together. The rappers didn’t want to do it. The rockers were game. Joe Perry and Steven Tyler recorded new material, so Aerosmith wasn’t merely being sampled.
The result? An international hit that made it all the way to number four on the main Billboard chart in the USA. The mega rock-rap crossover hit had arrived, and the world would never be the same.