August ’06 Q Magazine rates the 40 Best Albums of the ’80s with R.E.M.’s debut Murmur standing strong in the rankings at number 6. The record is celebrated as a “glorious return to guitar rock primacy after the floppy-haired, new romantic tyranny of the early 80s.” Murmur appealed to “a whole new generation of like-minded indie bands, for whom they (R.E.M.) opened the door.”
Q’s Top Ten albums of the 1980s:
1) The Joshua Tree–U2
2) Thriller–Michael Jackson
3) The Queen is Dead–The Smiths
4) Hounds of Love–Kate Bush
5) The Stone Roses–The Stone Roses
6) Murmur–R.E.M.
7) It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back–Public Enemy
8) Closer–Joy Division
9) Back in Black–AC/DC
10)Appetite for Destruction–Guns N’ Roses
The One I Love, R.E.M.’s first top-ten single, also makes the grade in Q’s 40 Best Tracks of the ’80s, landing at number 24.
For more information, please visit Q’s website.
Also, check out EntertainmentWeekly’s flashback to the USA top ten 15 years ago in which they see how the songs stack up today. Losing My Religion, a song about having one’s faith challenged by something or someone, according to Michael, “usually humorous, everyday and minor, that is trying, difficult, or hard to understand and therefore challenges your faith. Traffic, heat, a bank teller with attitude. Gas prices…” was at number 9 in July 1991.