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jamesgeraghty
Sep 6, 20227 min read

Playlist: When I Was A Teenager

In this playlist I am looking at albums that I discovered during my teenage years. These are ones that are hugely important to me, forming a part of my musical voyage, but would not necessarily, make my Top10 albums list on any given day (spoiler alert - except for one).


I discovered many albums in that timeframe - we are talking mid to late 80s here - but these are the ten that particularly resonated with me for various reasons. I will be picking one song from each as a bit of a gateway - I will obviously leave it up to you whether you go away and check out the rest of the album content. (I am going to discount the 18 months of my teenager-ness from this, where I was at university, as that possibly warrants a playlist of its own, some time.)


1. U2: The Joshua Tree

I knew a bit about them from earlier stuff, especially Pride from The Unforgettable Fire album. But this is probably the one defining album of that entire era, in terms of popularity and cultural impact. For about 2 years, from the release of this album, through the iconic videos, the tour, to its documentation in the subsequent Rattle and Hum album and documentary - everything seemed to be about U2! There are some fantastic tracks on here and the album more than holds up to scrutiny 35 years later. The mood the album creates is fantastic - and along with the imagery from the cover and the videos, you are transported to southwestern USA. I'm going to go with this one for you.


2. Big Country: The Seer

This is ultimately probably my second favourite Big Country record, because their debut album The Crossing, is that good - but this was my gateway in. From seeing Look Away on Top Of The Pops (TOTP), I was hooked. Another album that totally transports you to a place - unsurprisingly with Big Country, that place being Scotland. This album isn't quite as soaked in the highland fog and mystery as The Crossing, but there is still plenty of intrigue - from the title track (featuring Kate Bush lamenting away in the background) to the beautiful and fragile Eiledon and the thunder of The Teacher - I can still see why young me bought into this. I hero worshipped Stuart Adamson through most of my teenage years and though he's been gone two decades, I still miss his passion and his guitar playing. To tempt you in, I'm going with this one - it starts gently, but stick with it as it builds....


3. China Crisis: Flaunt The Imperfection

The irony of the title is of course, that there are no obvious imperfections in here. China Crisis are the preachers of perfect pop - from the book of Steely Dan - so much so that Walter Becker produced this album (and later on, Diary Of A Hollow Horse). In many ways, their perfection was possibly their downfall (or at least why they never had more big hits) - people may say they were a bit too clever for their own good - but I think they were simply ahead of their time. And if you want to listen to great and well crafted pop tunes, there aren't many better albums than this. It is perhaps obvious to go with one of the more well known songs from it, but this will set you up nicely.


4. Simple Minds: New Gold Dream

I'm not going to say much on this one now - but do watch out for a lot more on this in a few weeks. Enough to say, that I first bought this in 1987 (it was released in 1982) as I worked my way through their back catalogue, having entered their world via 1986's Once Upon A Time. I didn't quite get it at first - the dense layers of keyboards and guitars were different to a lot of stuff I was listening to at the time. But, by about listen number six or seven, I started to get understand - and it still is my favourite album of all time now! Favourite song from favourite album - I have to start you with this one (and check out that Herbie Hancock solo).


5. Bryan Adams: Reckless

For a while, especially in the 1990s, I might have hidden this in the 'embarrassing' pile - but you know what? By this point, Adams had a tight band backing him and had honed his song writing (with Jim Vallance) through two pretty decent efforts, in You Want It, You Got It and Cuts Like A Knife. All that leads up to Reckless, which is simply a great, straight ahead rock album and although a few of the tracks have dated a bit (Heaven), songs like Summer of 69, Somebody and Run To You, still pack a heck of a punch!


6. Pink Floyd: Delicate Sound Of Thunder

I saw clips from this tour being shown on the TV and for the first time, I was able to rid myself of the frightening images of the Another Brick In The Wall music video, from my younger years (remember the marching hammers?). I now realised that they were actually a band that could provide great textures and epic soundscapes. I never fully got into Pink Floyd, but it was an early signal to me that there was stuff outside of the normal TOTP fare to be discovered. This is the one with epic Gilmour guitar solo - the version is off that tour, when they (of course - why wouldn't they) played on a massive barge in Venice!


7. Marillion: Clutching At Straws

Another band it was not especially 'cool' to like, they were lumped in with the prog crowd, but unlike impenetrable early Genesis and twiddly Yes stuff, this seemed much more accessible.

Songs like Kayleigh on Misplaced Childhood a few years earlier, had seen them start to move away from the dense poetry and medieval symbolism that covered their first two albums. Fish's poetry is still front and centre, but the imagery is more twentieth century, the music with a slightly harder edge, as he worked something of a concept album around the character of Torch - a man who doesn't appear to have much going for him.

Lyrically it is quite dark, a reflection of the strain of too much touring, with a lot of references to alcohol. Incommunicado rocked them into the Top10 UK singles chart, while Warm Wet Circles and Sugar Mice provided more melancholic counterpoints. I am signposting you with what I think is quite an epic track, with an attack on 80s Britain through the lens of men drowning their sorrows in the pub.


8. The Stranglers: Dreamtime

They were long past the angry punk phase at this point, but this was another album that started to take me away from the mainstream. The earlier big, sleazy bass riffs and waltzing jazz keyboards had by now been replaced with a slightly funkier and more American edge, with horns and all. It doesn't hold up quite as much as their earlier (and later work), but songs like Nice in Nice and this one, are well worth a listen still.


9. Stiff Little Fingers: See You Up There

This was a live album from their '88 comeback tour, which I seem to recall I purchased by accident. I don't remember what I thought I was getting, it wasn't this - but it ended up being a very happy mistake.

So, during this time, I had found the prog and the post-punk and former punk - but this was my first time properly listening to real punk. It blew me away, with its energy and urgency, and rage, something I don't think I had really experienced in music, up to that point.

This was late 80s Britain, so their songs about teenagers growing up in 'the Troubles' in Northern Ireland were already a decade old and shouldn't have still been relevant - but they were - which gave them a renewed sense of purpose. Like The Clash, they fully embraced and incorporated reggae and dub sounds into their music over the years (reflected in their cover choices - like Love Of The Common People and Johnny Was). But it was the direct fury of tunes like Alternative Ulster, Wasted Life and Tin Soldiers that grabbed me at first. And then there's this... (caution, there are some swears in this version).


10. Dead Kennedy's: Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

I still remember this. The refectory at Guildford College (where I was doing my A-Levels) had an old fashioned jukebox in the corner - playing 45's. One day I was sitting in there when this low growl started emanating from that corner. It was a rumbling bass riff that might have rattled your drink off the table, and it was followed by the startled howl of guitars, screeching over the top - and singing like I had never heard before! Vocals that yelped with a helium tinge, but full of undeniable anger as it berated the frat boys and jocks, before it built to a tumultuous climax - Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot - a startling and eye-opening experience!

It was Holiday In Cambodia. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before - and not much since. My mate Jim and I rushed out and bought the album. It is dark and seedy and humerous and angry and edgy and unsettling. So actually, this might be the album that impacted me more than any other in the 80s. Not because it is the best of them, but because of this last trilogy of punk related albums on the list it is far and away, the one that took me furthest out of my comfort zone. Music can occasionally challenge you and still be good - but this one most definitely won't be for everyone!

Holiday In Cambodia - https://youtu.be/Ub4E2RHwc30

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