Tell it to her Tuesday

Janet's Tell it to me Tuesday is "What are your top ten eighties artists or bands?"

Man, this one is hard.

I spent most of the Eighties avoiding popular music. Back BiP (Before iPod) we had to use tapes and a primitive device called a "Walkman" to avoid radio. I listened to a lot of Sixties and Seventies music in the Eighties.

However, there are some things that stand out. I won't put them as a top ten, because I simply can't choose an order:

AC/DC, specifically Back in Black- You can't beat this as a hard rock band. You can't beat this album in the Eighties. You may think you can, but you can not.

Styx- Now, I know many of the better Styx albums came out in the Seventies, but I wasn't listening to them then. Paradise Theater and Kilroy are Eighties albums, and were the jimmy john when they came out. (If you don't know what the jimmy john is, well, recognize that I just dated myself big time and leave it at that.) I must've worn out my tape of Paradise Theater, playing it over and over while I played Monopoly with my friend Carin. Interestingly, the only time I saw Styx play was in the 90s- 1991, to be exact, the night before I graduated from college.

Prince- Was a huge fan of Purple Rain and 1999. I completely lost interest after that.

Guns and Roses- Appetite for Destruction was a revelation, a true hard-rock album right when the hair bands were starting up. I first heard it when a college roommate played it in the fall of 1987 and we must've played it hundreds of times. When "Sweet Child o' Mine" became the overplayed single of the summer of 1988, I was already ready to never hear it again. But it was a great, great album.

Asia- I'm not defending it. I liked them. I did. I don't think I ever owned any of their albums, but they were one of the first bands I thought of for this list.

Don Henley- I was a massive Eagles fan, am still. I even paid the exorbitant price to see them in concert once. Henley's solo work was really good. It's part of the soundtrack from the Eighties, fer sure.

Phil Collins- Again, no defense. Face Value, No Jacket Required, Hello I Must Be Going: loved 'em. Lost interest after that, too.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers- Are they an Eighties band? Sorta. I include them because the first video I ever saw on MTV was "You Got Lucky." That's when I started listening to them. Plus, Tom's solo Full Moon Fever is a great album.

The Hooters- I lived in South Jersey in the Eighties and was lucky enough to know of the Hooters in their very early years, before their brief stint in the spotlight. I have all their early albums and EPs on vinyl, just sitting in the basement waiting for me to replay them. Once upon a time, I couldn't hear the "Nervous Night" version of All You Zombies without thinking of the original; now I can't remember the original. I should get those albums back out. Someday.

I'm sure I'll think of someone else later. For now, that's my list.