579. Raising Hell

Raising Hell
Run DMC
1986

Tracks
1. Peter Piper
2. It's Tricky
3. My Adidas
4. Walk This Way
5. Is It Love
6. Perfection
7. Hit It Run
8. Raising Hell
9. You Be Illin'
10. Dumb Girl
11. Son Of Byford
12. Proud To Be Black

I was so excited to listen to the next album on this List, Skylarking, that I listened to two albums this week. Hey, a couple more random bursts of enthusiasm like that could ensure that I finish this List in less than two hundred years. 

I actually enjoyed this album, although there were a couple of low points. I thought "Dumb Girl" was really strange and the comment section for that video is some kind of Mecca for neckbeards. I did love their version of "Walk This Way." Some people might consider it ripping off, I prefer to think of it as a "homage" (unfortunately, my English professors never were enlightened in this way). 

I'm enjoying exploring this genre through the List. If only the Listmakers were as passionate about hip-hop as they are about metal. 

RATING: 4/5

578. Graceland

Graceland
Paul Simon
1986

Tracks
1. Boy In The Bubble
2. Graceland
3. I Know What I Know
4. Gumboots
5. Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes
6. You Can Call Me Al
7. Under African Skies
8. Homeless
9. Crazy Love Vol 2
10. All Around The World Or The Myth Of Fingerprints

I think we could all use a pick me up right about now and I can't think of a better man suited for the task. Paul Simon is amazing here, creating a happy and uplifting album that is still fresh today. 

The genius of this album is in its genre blending; you can hear many influences here and I love that he collaborated with so many great African artists. The album moves very gracefully through moods, going from playful to contemplative without feeling abrupt. It's hard to pick a favorite track; I will probably have the entire album on repeat over the next few days. Right now, I am obsessed with "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" and "Crazy Love Vol 2."

The perfect quarantine album and one of my favorites from the List so far.

RATING: 5/5

577. Throwing Muses

Throwing Muses
Throwing Muses
1986

Tracks
1. Call Me
2. Green
3. Hate My Way
4. Rabbits Dying
5. America
6. Fear
7. Stand Up
8. Soul Soldier

I hope everybody is holding up well and maintaining their sanity. It is, at the very least, a great time to catch up on projects like this one. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this album as much as I did, but I am happy to report that we have broken our streak of ho-hum albums.

You can tell they are breaking some new ground, and you can see the influence this album has had on future groups. Strangely, I haven't heard this band referenced very much. I am hoping they appear on the List again.

It's also a thrill to have a woman show up on this List, unfortunately it is a rather rare occurrence. Great album, great band.

RATING: 4/5

576. Reign in Blood

Reign in Blood
Slayer
1986

Tracks
1. Angel Of Death
2. Piece By Piece
3. Necrophobic
4. Altar Of Sacrifice
5. Jesus Saves
6. Criminally Insane
7. Reborn
8. Epidemic
9. Postmortem
10. Raining Blood

The last two albums were not heavy metal, and naturally, the Listmakers have found this unacceptable. So we are once again forced to endure songs with titles like "Necrophobic" and "Jesus Saves."

Mercifully, the album is very short, so the angry, repetitive songs are not weighed down by gratuitous guitar solos (looking at you, Metallica). If music is at its core a form of emotional expression, this album is really not interested in communicating anything other than pure rage. This isn't entirely relatable to me, my emotions (and I think most people's emotions) tend to be more complicated than that.

But complicated isn't really the word I would use to describe an album like Reign in Blood.

RATING: 2/5

575. EVOL

EVOL
Sonic Youth
1986

Tracks
1. Tom Violence
2. Shadow of a Doubt
3. Star Power
4. In the Kingdom #19
5. Green Light
6. Death to Our Friends
7. Secret Girls
8. Marilyn Moore
9. Expressway to Yr. Skull

So even this genre's champions have to concede that the sound is more similar to noise than music, hence the label "noise rock." 

There's one Sonic Youth song I really like, "Catholic Block" but it's not on this album. This certainly wasn't the worst thing I've ever heard, but I thought it was without form and without tune.  A couple weren't so bad, but for the most part, the album was grating.

I hope you enjoyed our brief respite from heavy metal. But worry not, because Paul Simon and XTC are on the horizon.

RATING: 2/5

574. Slippery When Wet

Slippery When Wet
Bon Jovi
1986

Tracks
1. Let It Rock
2. You Give Love A Bad Name
3. Livin On A Prayer
4. Social Disease
5. Wanted Dead Or Alive
6. Raise Your Hands
7. Without Love
8. I'd Die For You
9. Never Say Goodbye
10. Wild In The Streets

I have read some scathing reviews about this album, decrying Bon Jovi and declaring that it is music for the lowest common denominator. As the lowest common denominator, I fully expected to love this album. And I was a little disappointed.

I was recently at a bowling party for a friend that was celebrating his 24th birthday and, incidentally, was a total sausage fest. As I stood paralyzed by social anxiety in the corner, as per yoozh, I observed that every time somebody reached a score of 69, the subsequent announcement caused a stir in the crowd. All of the men in the area were delighted, either with joy or amusement, I'm not sure (those emotions are so foreign to me in a party setting that I have difficulty identifying them). I bring this up because Jon Bon Jovi was 24 when he made this album and um, this is the mindset we are dealing with.

The name of the album was inspired by a stripper the band saw, and "Social Disease" starts with pornographic sounds for seemingly no reason at all. I actually liked a couple songs, or at least, parts of songs, and "Livin' On a Prayer" is damn catchy. But I don't think Jon Bon Jovi has tapped into anything really special here, and his best moments are when he is imitating the Boss. 

In other words, he just didn't get deep enough. Note, if you thought "that's what she said," this album might be for you.

RATING: 3/5

573. Peace Sells... But Who's Buying

Peace Sells...But Who's Buying
Megadeth
1986

Tracks
1. Wake Up Dead
2. The Conjuring
3. Peace Sells
4. Devil's Island
5. Good Mourning / Black Friday
6. Bad Omen
7. I Ain't Superstitious
8. My Last Words

Oy, more metal. As heavy metal albums show up on this list with alarming frequency, it might be fun to turn it into some kind of drinking game. But that would no doubt kill me, and I really want to live long enough to hear Taylor Swift's next album. So we must soldier on, soberly and stoically.

So this was...another metal album. It is certainly not the worst I have ever heard and at least the songs were shorter, so you know Megadeth is less self indulgent than most. Still, not my favorite genre. I can Black Sabbath and maybe some Iron Maiden. And that's it.

Next up, Bon Jovi!

RATING: 2/5