Max Picks …songs from 1984

1984

We have some mega hits this year and some alternative hits.

Prince – Purple Rain – This is the song that really made me a Prince fan. I will always say that I liked his Around the World in a Day the best but the title song of Purple Rain is great.

Prince and his peers such as Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and Michael Jackson were the artists who defined the decade of the 1980s in the top 40. In the late 70s my sister had a single that I would listen to. It was called “I Wanna Be Your Lover” and I didn’t pay attention to the artist. Later on, around the time Purple Rain came out…I looked at the single again and was surprised to see it was Prince. He had chart success before this but this album and movie broke him out internationally.

R.E.M – So. Central Rain – The song was on their Reckoning album released in 1984. REM. avoided the sophomore slump with Reckoning. It’s hard to beat this song as the first single off the album. I always thought So. Central Rain stands as one of the group’s most melodic songs.

The band chose to work with Murmur producers Don Dixon and Mitch Easter. They recorded the album in just a few weeks. Peter Buck told Rolling Stone magazine:  “We were going through this streak where we were writing two good songs a week, We just wanted to do it; whenever we had a new batch of songs, it was time to record!”

Stevie Ray Vaughan – Voodoo Child (Slight Return) – Around this time is when I noticed SRV. I heard his guitar playing in songs and then watched him later on Austin City Limits. His guitar playing was on another level. I’d never seen anyone that aggressive on guitar. I was never a huge fan of many of his songs but I was of his guitar playing. He did an excellent cover of this song.

He covers a Jimi Hendrix song here. This song is like an atom bomb going off. From the first words “Well, I stand up next to a mountain and I chop it down with the edge of my hand” you know Stevie means business.

The song was on his second album Couldn’t Stand The Weather.

The Replacements – I Will Dare -I Will Dare was released in 1984 as an independent single and then included on their Let It Be album. I loved this song in the 80s and after hearing it in the past weeks…it was like the first time I listened to it. Peter Buck from REM is playing the intro to this song.  Paul Westerberg wrote the song and plays mandolin. The Replacements were my top band of the 80s bar none.

Let It Be was the third full album by the band’s original lineup: lead singer and songwriter Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bassist Tommy Stinson, and drummer Chris Mars.

This song should have cracked the top 40 but it didn’t…mostly because they were on a small  Minneapolis record label named Twin/Tone.

Bruce Springsteen – Born In The USA – Springsteen wrote this about the problems Vietnam veterans encountered when they returned to America. Vietnam was the first war the US didn’t officially win, and while veterans of other wars received a hero’s welcome, those who fought in Vietnam were mostly ignored when they returned to their homeland.

The other song that has someone really ripping the vocals is “Twist and Shout” sung by John Lennon with the Beatles. I remember back in the 80s Chrysler offered Springsteen $12 million to use this in an ad campaign with Bruce… Springsteen turned them down so they used “The Pride Is Back” by Kenny Rogers instead. Springsteen never let his music be used to sell products at that time.

I knew a couple of Springsteen fanatics before this album came out. They loved everything Bruce but after this album…they wanted nothing to do with him. Why? Because he wasn’t their secret anymore. For me, I guess it would be like if Big Star had hit huge…but I would love it!

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

50 thoughts on “Max Picks …songs from 1984”

  1. Great pick with SRV. That is a nasty guitar tone Stevie had. Who didn’t buy Springsteen that year? lol. Prince with the bog movie/soundtrack. I just played that Replacements track and musically it has the Petty vibe. Pretty good and R.E.M. I was one of those who hopped aboard with Document in 87-88 so I missed them back in ’84
    Awesome stuff dude

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    1. This is the year I really started to get into alternative music because I didn’t like the charts as much. Some giant albums dominating the charts….

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  2. Yay REM! Definitely a good song from them…to me ‘Reckoning’ was a significant step up from their debut (though ‘Murmur’s not bad at all) though many critics disagree. A lot of good music that year to choose from.

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      1. It was when the bubble began to burst for the industry though – ‘Born in the USA’, ‘Purple Rain’ and then… well pretty much nothing when it comes to MEGA selling albums in the ’80s, though I suppose a couple of Madonna and Whitney records came close. Partly because of the fragmentation of the radio world but partly, I think, and you seem to echo, because mainstream music was getting boring rather quickly. I will get dissed for saying this, but ‘Born in the USA’ is still my fave Springsteen album.

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      2. LOL…it’s alright that being your favorite album…my favorite brings groans as well…his debut album is my favorite…I liked this one though.
        It started to go downhill for me…there were some one hit wonders I liked…coming up in a couple of years…like Keep Your Hands To Yourself…which had no business making it….but I’m glad it did.

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      1. To be American? I think the best records since Elvis Presley are about it. And there is also the book “Mystery Train” by Greil Marcus, which is still unsurpassed to this days.

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      2. Yes being American because of the Vietnam soilders coming back and being treated so bad in many cases.
        Yes I love Mystery Train…it’s been a while since I read it.

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    1. Yes it is…during the 80s…I didn’t much like the mainstream charts so The Replacements and REM is who I listened to the most.

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  6. Ronald Reagan famously misunderstood “Born in the USA”, trying to co-opt it for political means, having understood nothing beyond the title.

    Good choices. Other options include: Los Lobos became widely known for the first time with their second-best album “How Will the Wolf Survive?” Talking Heads released one of the best concert albums and films with “Stop Making Sense” – both conceptually and musically a tour de force. I wouldn’t try to pick individual songs here; I’m more of an album guy.

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    1. I was late getting into Los Lobos I hate to admit…I didnt’ know about them until the soundtrack to La Bamba…I wish I would have though.
      I really like that Stop Making Sense film.
      You brought up something interesting…maybe do this one day picking albums instead. Probably have the starting date of 1964.

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      2. Yes I can! I could start in the 50s but albums just wasn’t a big thing then…so it would probably be best to start in 1964.

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      3. The first albums I recall in my house were in 1959. Duane Eddy’s “Especially for You” and “The Buddy Holly Story”. Wikipedia says, “Especially for You is the second album by guitarist Duane Eddy. It was released in 1959. Unlike most albums of the time, it was not built around singles but was a collection of originals and cover material that featured Eddy’s guitar playing.” “The Buddy Holly Story” was released a few weeks after Holly died and was his fourth album.

        True, albums weren’t big in pop music back then, in a singles and AM radio oriented era. We mostly had stacks of 45s and 78s. Jazz players put out more albums because they didn’t hold themselves to 2 minute songs.

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      4. I’ve seen Elvis’s first album also…I’ll have to check out Eddy and Holly’s albums…I always went by songs only from that time period.

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    1. Oh that is cool that he was your first concert…seeing a legend first is great…I saw the legendary REO first..LOL.
      Born In The USA, Purple Rain, and Thriller was everywhere back in the day.

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      2. Oh ok…that makes me feel less jealous! I didn’t see Springsteen until the 90s with just acoustic and 2000 with the E Street band.

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  10. If you ever get a chance, try to find “Family Style” by Stevie Ray and Jimmy Vaughan. Some great guitar on that album.

    I read where Stevie used to tune his guitar down a full step because he’d take a set of light strings (.010-.047). throw out the .010 and use the 2nd through 6th strings as his 1st thru 5th string and get a .060 for the sixth. Guy must have had some serious calluses.

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    1. Ok I will…
      Oh geez I didn’t know that about the strings. He bent the hell out of them I know that. He was so damn aggresive but on…he took chances and it paid off.

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    1. Yea…during this period I knew more alternative music more than mainstream…I have a feeling more people will say that going forward for a little while.

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  14. Springsteen would be my pick of these, Max. This album and the hit, Dancing in the Dark, made him accessible to a whole wider audience. It was the first of his albums that I bought.

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  15. All great picks, Max. “Purple Rain” is probably my favorite Prince song. For some reason, the Replacements didn’t register on my radar screen back in the ’80s. I literally learned about them only a couple of years ago from you and a few other fellow bloggers.

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    1. I found The Replacements around this time. I mean…I don’t like Madonna or Jackson (as an adult…love the Jackson 5) and the synth bands that came in…so imagine my delight to hear a Rock band. I feel for them then.
      I always liked Purple Rain and the song off of his next album… Raspberry Beret

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    1. I remember that…Oh yea…to me that was the start of the decline lol…because of your site…I noticed that the first three years were pretty good…now 84 had some good ones…but from what I liked…I had to search for the last pick I made…SRV…this was the first time I had to do that since like 61…but…thats because I don’t like Madonna, Jackson, and many of the popular ones of the day….

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