Friday, August 10, 2012

Rolling Stone's Top 100 Albums of the 80's - #80 Suzanne Vega

Continuing the series on the Top 100 Albums of the 80's.  Or at least the ones I have....
Continuing to work backwards:

#80 - Suzanne Vega - Suzanne Vega

Suzanne Vega's debut came out in the middle of the decade, 1985.  As noted elsewhere, she was "the first major figure in the bumper crop of female singer/songwriters who rose to prominence during the late '80s and '90s."  I don't remember this album making much commercial splash, but I wasn't following commercial splashes very closely by 1985.  (It peaked at 91 on the US charts, with no singles making the Hot 100).  But one of my friends gave me a copy on cassette, and it really captured my fancy.  It's got a great sound, and it was new and different.  This would've been not long after we bought our first house, back when we lived in the DC area.  I think the first time I played the tape I was painting the room that would be my office.  At least until the kids started coming along....

Somewhere over the course of the years, the tape got lost, but I didn't forget the music.  Earlier this year I saw it mentioned on a music related internet forum, started thinking about it, and ended up buying it digital.



Recapping: 
#92 - Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever
#85 - Neil Young - Freedom




One to the photo:  I had thought of using a photo from around 1985, when Suzanne Vega's album came out.  But while wading through my files, this one jumped out at me, and sort of seemed to fit.  I dunno...  maybe not.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Suzanne Vega's music was wimpy, especially on her first three albums. But she was an excellent songwriter, and when she finally hooked up with a producer who turned her soft sounds into rock and roll (on 99.9F), you could really see the potential. Overall, she's an under-rated artist.