Artist	Song
AC/DC	Hell's Bells
Ozzy Osbourne	Crazy Train
Motorhead	Ace of Spades
X	Los Angeles
U2	I Will Follow
The Soft Boys	I Wanna Destroy You
Visage	Malpaso Man
Suicide	Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne
Devo	Girl U Want
Loverboy	Turn Me Loose
Queen	Another One Bites the Dust
James Brown	Rapp Payback (edit version)
Kurtis Blow	The Breaks
Treacherous Three	The Body Rock
Stevie Wonder	Master Blaster (Jammin')
The Selecter	Too Much Pressure
Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers	I'm Straight
John Lennon	(Just Like) Starting Over

Comment:

The influence of Jamaican music is all over this year's comp (rap did, after all, have its origins in dancehall 'toasting'). Both ska (The Selecter, the English Beat) and hip-hop (Kurtis Blow, the Treacherous Three) thrived in '80, and rock seemed to be recovering from the AOR dregs of the '70s if you knew where to look- especially with collar-grabbing singles from speed-metal pioneers Motorhead, a bunch of young Irish kids named U2 and, in the comeback story of the year, AC/DC (who, mere months after losing frontman Bon Scott to alcohol, signed up Brian Johnson as their new singer and released 'Back in Black', the biggest album of their careers). On a more esoteric level, groups like X and the Feelies began building not only fanbases but precedents for the sound of '80s hipster kids everywhere. Even pre-punk veterans like Queen and Stevie Wonder managed to simultaneously adapt to the style of the time (Queen with post-disco funk, Wonder with reggae) and forge some of the best hits of their careers. But tragedy has a tendency to overshadow accomplishment: shortly after the release of his comeback album 'Double Fantasy', John Lennon was shot and killed- leaving his hit single "(Just Like) Starting Over" with a rather ironic burden, ending the year (and this comp) on a morbid note. With a Beatle dead and Reagan in the White House, pop culture- and music as a whole- would never be the same.

UPDATE, 12-18-02: Man, these blurbs were pretty cheesy. Anyhow, less 2-Tone and more synth weirdness. Yes, I added a Loverboy song. Go ahead, laugh. I'll be too busy rockin' out. I'm such a clown. (Oooh-hooh)

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