One day at Amoeba Hollywood I proclaimed that Aztec Camera's 1983 release High Land, Hard Rain was one of the best records of the '80s. This single statement eventually led to over 200 Amoebites ranking their top 10 favorite albums from the ‘80s.

From the beginning we realized that it was impossible for most of us to condense our favorites from all genres into a tiny top ten list. So, we limited our lists to Rock/Pop and its sub-genres like punk, metal, goth, and new wave. Even so, it was a difficult selection process because not only are there hundreds of amazing records to consider, there is also the added dynamic of time.

The '80s were a long time ago and the music has had many years to gestate. We have a deep sense of nostalgia and sentiment with these albums as our fondest memories are associated with them. These are albums we LOVE.

- Henry Polk

See all entries in our ‘80s list series.

P.P.S. The '80s List Book is available for sale at Amoeba Hollywood.

Daniel Tures
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation (1988)
The Durutti Column – LC (1981)
Prefab Sprout – Steve McQueen (1985)
Van Halen – 1984 (1984)
Love Tractor – Themes From Venus (1989)
Tears For Fears – Songs From The Big Chair (1985)
The Outfield – Play Deep (1985)
The Legendary Pink Dots – Basilisk (1983)
The Judys – Warsharma (1981)
Def Leppard – Pyromania (1983)

One day at Amoeba Hollywood I proclaimed that Aztec Camera's 1983 release High Land, Hard Rain was one of the best records of the '80s. This single statement eventually led to over 200 Amoebites ranking their top 10 favorite albums from the ‘80s.

From the beginning we realized that it was impossible for most of us to condense our favorites from all genres into a tiny top ten list. So, we limited our lists to Rock/Pop and its sub-genres like punk, metal, goth, and new wave. Even so, it was a difficult selection process because not only are there hundreds of amazing records to consider, there is also the added dynamic of time.

The '80s were a long time ago and the music has had many years to gestate. We have a deep sense of nostalgia and sentiment with these albums as our fondest memories are associated with them. These are albums we LOVE.

- Henry Polk

Frankie Delmane
The Wipers – Over The Edge (1983)
Black Flag – My War (1984)
Fang – Landshark (1982)
The Clash – London Calling (1980)
Redd Kross – Neurotica (1987)
The Chills – Brave Words (1987)
The Go-Betweens – Liberty Belle & The Black Diamond Express (1986)
Greg Sage – Straight Ahead (1985)
Celtic Frost – Morbid Tales (1984)
The Lotus Eaters – No Sense Of Sin (1984)

Today, April 12th 2010, is Joe Pop-O-Pie's 51st birthday. And to celebrate the occasion, the key figure behind the legendary SF punk outfit The Pop-O-Pies, who formed in 1981 and disbanded sixteen years ago, decided to reform the group and perform on a bill at the Warfield in San Francisco tonight (they play tomorrow & Wednesday also), along with another recently reformed SF group -- Faith No More. Coincidentally, Joe was an original member of Faith No More!

Besides being a unique way to celebrate his birthday, another reason Joe chose this time to reform the group was that he recently found himself with a lot of free time on his hands and needed to fill that void. "This is what recessions are good for. If you get laid off and you've got nothing to do, you gotta do something," laughed the long time San Francisco resident, speaking by phone a few days ago from his new home in Reno, Nevada.

After living in the deep and gritty heart of San Francisco for three decades, including having spent the past eighteen years in the Tenderloin, the New Jersey born and raised Joe Pop-O-Pie has embraced his recent move to Nevada. "One of the things that is so fantastic about Reno, NV is that cockroaches can't live up here. Yeah, the Tenderloin is just rife with cockroaches. It was such an amazing thing. Cockroaches can survive a nuclear war but they won't follow you up the mountains to Nevada," he said. Shortly after finishing college in NJ Joe packed up and moved west to the city by the Bay, where, in September of 1981, he formed The Pop-O-Pies. Labeled 'punk,' the Pop-O-Pies, which essentially consisted of Joe and an ever rotating list of musicians, were really a concept band. For the first two years of their existence at their live performances the band played only one song for their entire set, the Grateful Dead's "Truckin.'"

In my first blog about wrong lyrics exposed, I shared how as a kid I somehow added the name Wilt Chamberlain in The Commodores' song "Easy." I have to think that he was so much in the news at the time that I must have had his name embedded in my head. Even growing up in the Showtime-era Lakers of Magic and Kareem, we still heard about Wilt The Stilt.

Another guy who was in the news a lot during that time was Uganda's dictator Idi Amin. Every day as my father watched the nightly news I heard his name. Maybe that's why when Valen Halen did a cover of the Kinks "You Really Got Me," I thought they were singing: "YOU IDI AMIN!" I thought his name was an insult. To many, I'm sure it was.

Here is former Uganda dictator Idi Amin, taken from the great Barbet Schroeder directed autobiography, General Idi Amin Dada:



Here's Van Halen doing "You Really Got Me":



And for good measure, Here's the O.G. version. It doesn't much sound like Idi Amin on the O.G. version.