MARTIEN:
This was of course THE year of Dutch soccer as "our" boys won the European Championships, defeating the Russians with 2-0 in 
the finals. However the most memorable game was of course the semi-final in Hamburg against Germany, were we beat our long
time enemy with 2-1. Finally we got our revenge for the lost final back in 1974.
But this is a music site, so let’s talk about the music in good old 1988. At the famous Pinkpop Festival I saw and heard the
Red Hot Chilli Peppers for the first time in my life and at the notorious metal festival Dynamo Open Air I banged my head and
screamed along to songs of Exodus, Candlemass and Laaz Rockit.
'This album blew me of my feet'
My favourite album of 1988 is without any shadow of a doubt 'Operation Mindcrime' by Seattle rockers Queensryche. This album
blew me of my feet when I was listening to it for the first time and songs like 'Spreading The Disease', 'Suite Sister Mary'
or 'Eyes Of A Stranger' still give me goose bumps, even if the album is already 21 years
old.
'Operation Mindcrime' is a
classic metal/hard rock album that every self respecting music lover should have in his/hers album collection.
Van Halen with Sammy Hagar on vocals released a very good album as well. The songs were great but most of all I liked the
title of the album OU812 (Oh, you ate one too). Metal heroes Metallica came up with 'And Justice For All', an album
filled with great heavy riffs, hooks and grooves and even had an almost hit with one of Metallica’s best known songs: 'One'.
A couple of "new" bands entered my music scene like King’s X, Living Colour and Kingdom Come. These three bands, that I still
cherish after all those years, all released brilliant debut albums. And although lots of people labelled Kingdom Come as a
nasty and irritating Led Zeppelin clone, I simply loved their debut album.
Songs like 'Pushin’ Hard' or 'What Love Can Be' still sound amazing and this is of course especially due to the astonishing throat of Lenny Wolf.
'the most underrated rock band ever'.
Swamp rockers King's X's 'Out Of The Silent Planet' was filled with dirty, boogie-like hard rock, dominated by the phenomenal
dark voice of Doug Pinnick. This super band, of which I have all their albums, is till this day the most underrated rock band
ever.
Living Colour surprised me with a mix of hard rock, metal, funk and blues rock on 'Vivid' and finally the music
business had their first black metal band! The trademarks of the band are of course Corey Glover's vocals and Vernon Reid's
Jimi Hendrix-like guitar playing.
Other great rock albums in 1988 were: 'Dragon's Kiss' by super speedy guitar picker Marty Friedman, 'No Exit' by Fates
Warning and 'Transcendence' by the masked Crimson Glory.
Greatest hits on the radio were: 'Sweet Child Of Mine', 'Every Rose Has Its Torn', 'Love Bites', 'Angel' and 'Desire'. Def Leppard who had a hit with 'Love Bites' had had some rather difficult years (the drummer lost his arm and the singer lost his voice) but with this song the band had their first chart-topper.
'Rock music was still not taken very seriously'
Bon Jovi returned in the charts with 'Bad Medicine' on which Jon and Richie
collaborated with Desmond Child again. Rock music was still not taken very seriously as "musicians" like Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, George Michael and Rick Astley hit
the charts and sold lots of singles and albums.
For me 1988 was a good rock year, but not very
exceptional, also due to the
fact that my all time fav band Rush did not release a new album.
KIMMO:
1988 wasn't necessarily as great a year as the one before or the one after, but it still was one of the "golden years" of hard rock. Looking back, some of the albums released that year have really found their way to my favourites over time, back then I wasn't so fond of them. Sure, I liked Queensryche and Dare when I heard them for the first time, but did I consider them classics then? No way, I'm afraid. Then again, something like Joshua's "Intense Defence" was utterly fantastic back then, but now 20 years later, it hasn't aged that well and I haven't played it nearly as much as I've played Dare or 'Ryche.
Some of the albums on the list bring back memories of being in a record store, and hearing the tunes for the first time. The sensation of being utterly blown away by a killer song almost never happens these days, but back then it did. I remember being floored by the title track of Skagarack's album, Dare's "Into The Fire" and Bon Jovi's "Born To Be My Baby", just to name a few. What's cool is that those songs haven't lost their magic.
Choose a year:
[ 1988 ]
[1980] [1981]
[1982] [1983]
[1984] [1985]
[1986] [1987]
[1988] [1989]
Alan, Bandi, Kimmo, Martien, & yours truly, Urban of RockUnited.Com have been spending weeks, months, wading through a bunch of weird looking artcovers and albums of the eighties! Indeed, not an easy task, tracking back in space and time, especially since some of us were almost still in diapers (sticky) at the early days of this era of grand and fantastic music. Check out the left-side border for our yearly write-up in 'black', and this is RockUnited's official 'Best-Of-Album Chart of 1988', calculated from the individual charts. No live-ones, EP's or compilations are included, merely studio albums. You can find them all and complain about our personal taste (or rather the complete lack of it) further down this page! This is merely our humble and tiny celebration of the hairmetal days or daze for that matter. Enjoy or not - this is the eighties: 1988.
THE ALBUMS OF
THE YEAR: 1988
80. Kreator - Terrible Certainty
79. China - China
78. Fate - Cruisin' For A Bruisin'
77. Night Ranger - Man In Motion
76. China Sky - China Sky
75. Scanner - Hypertrace
74. Idle Cure - Tough Love
73. Return -Attitudes
72. Testament The New Order
71. Lillian Axe - Lillian Axe
70. King Kobra - III
69. Michael Katon - Proud To Be Loud
68. Forbidden - Forbidden Evil
67. 1927 - ...ish
66. Sha-Boom - R.O.C.K
65. Slayer - South of Heaven
64. Lita Ford - Lita Ford
63. Bad Company - Dangerous Age
62. Bonnie Tyler - Hide Your Heart
61. Death Angel - Frolic Through The Park
60. Armored Saint - Saints Will Conquer
59. Sanctuary - Refuge Denied
58. Hurricane - Over The Edge
57. Talk Of The Town - Talk Of The Town
56. Sacred Warrior - Rebellion
55. Brighton Rock - Take A Deep Breath
54. Vicious Rumors - Digital Dictator
53. Saxon - Destiny
52. Guns N' Roses - Lies
51. Scorpions - Savage Amusement
50. Dirty Looks - Cool From The Wire
49. Joe Satriani - Dreaming #11
48. Danny Wilde - Any Man's Hunger
47. Crimson Glory - Transcendence
46. Cinderella - Long Cold Winter
45. Impelliteri - Stand In line
44. Marty Friedman - Dragon’s Kiss
43. Stage Dolls - Stage Dolls
42. Skagarack - Hungry For A Game
41. Rick Springfield - Rock of Life
40. Anthrax - State Of Euphoria
39. Ya Ya - II
38. Witness - Witness
37. Manowar - Kings of Metal
36. Kansas - In the Spirit of Things
35. Ozzy Osbourne - No Rest for the Wicked
34. Vinnie Vincent - All Systems Go
33. Survivor - Too Hot To Sleep
32. Warrant - Dirty Rotten Stinking Filthy Rich
31. Chicago - 19
30. The Jeff Healy Band - See the Light
29. Honeymoon Suite - Racing After Midnight
28. Running Wild - Port Royal
27. Soundgarden - Ultra Mega Ok
26. Vinnie Moore - Time Odyssey
25. Poison - Open Up and Say Ahh
24. Winger - Winger
23. King's X - Out Of The Silent Planet
22. Petra - On Fire
21. Alien - Alien
20.
Megadeth - So Far, So Good...So What!
The
snarling, ehh, close to, whining, voice of Dave Mustaine (ex-Metallica),
not every man's poison. One of the 'Big Four' of Thrash Metal, along
with Anthrax, Metallica and Slayer. Contains the hit single, 'In My
Darkest Hour', written by Mustaine as a tribute to his previous band's
bassist and buddy, Cliff Burton. Mega Thrash !
19.
Fates Warning - No Exit
Check
out the artcover. Ugly as hell and one of the worst ever!!! The music on
the other hand is a completely different issue. Cincinatti Techno, Prog,
outfit, who did Dream Theater kind of music years before they did.
Queensryche fans should feel right at home too. This was their bestseller
and yet it merely reached #111 on the US chart.
18.
House Of Lords - House Of Lords
The
new project by Gregg Giuffria of Angel. Signed to $immons Records by label
owner: Gene Simmons of KISS. Originally meant as the thrid 'Giuffria'
album. However, Gene didn't fancy the vocalist and demanded a new one, as
well as a new monicker. The Stan Bush penned, 'Love Don't Lie', a minor
hit and the album peaked at #79 in US.
17.
Van Halen - OU812
The
album's title was supposed to be a play on David Lee Roth's, 'Eat 'Em and
Smile', release. Not sure what they've been eating really? This was a
major disappointment after the excellent '5150' album. However, it killed
any and all opposition in the US chart (#1). The catchy hit single, 'When
It's Love', peaked at #5 in the charts.
16.
Stryper - In God We Trust
'In
Him We Must Believe'. They didn't trust their old, 'To Hell With The Devil',
sound however. 'In God We Trust', an even more commerical and radio
friendly affair as they sold their souls to MTV (ouch!). The single,
'Always There For You, peaked at #71 on the US chart. The album didn't
chart at all really. Sweet and sort of catchy.
15.
Metallica - ...And Justice For All
...And
a crappy sound picture for bass guitar and drums. Seriously, what were
they thinking about? Let's get a new bassist (Jason Newsted), but do not
let anyone hear him play on the new album. And the drums? Tin cans? The
songs are actually kind of underrated tho'. Good stuff. Their break
through album, #6 in the US chart.
14.
Toto - The Seventh One
Their
most succesful release since 1982 and 'IV'. It's also the second and last
album to feature Joe Williams on lead vocals (he would however return in
the '00's as a backup singer). The hit single, 'Pamela' reached the top-40
in the states. They were more popular in Europe by now and would tour over
here for many years to come. Nice!
13.
Vixen - Vixen
Formed
in 1980 by guitarist Jan Kuehnemund, signed to EMI in '88 (many line-up
changed in between those years). The all-female band (not a bunch of
cross-dressers as the rest of the 80's acts) re-recorded three songs from
the Jeff Paris album, 'Wired Up'. Richard Marx co-wrote the minor hit, 'Edge
Of A Broken Heart'. Catchy and fun stuff.
12.
Dan Reed Network - Dan Reed Network
A
superb Hard Rock/Funk album by Dan Reed and his multi-coloured and
ethnical band. Think Bon Jovi mixed with Prince and you're close to
the core. Signed to Mercury with the aid of Derek Shulman (Bon Jovi,
Cinderella). The song' Ritual' cracked the US top-40. Very underrated act.
Max Martin stole the sound to create pop hits for Britney, etc.
11.
Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part: II
The
second part of the grand and fantastic speed/power metal saga of the seven
keys. MTV put the single 'I Want Out' into heavy rotation on its 'Headbanger's
Ball' show and smiley pumpkins were Helloween's chosen brand of imagery.
Not sure why the pumpkins, really? The quirky sounding, 'Dr.Stein', was
another weird, but great metal moment.
10.
Living Colour - Vivid
Hey,
look, it's some kind of fusion of heavy metal, jazz, hard rock, punk, and
lots and lots of f-u-n-k. 'Vivid' to say the least. The brilliant
guitarist Vernon Reid delivers some truly wicked licks here. Scored a deal
with Epic after a demo produced by Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger. The album
reached #6 in the US. The single, 'Cult Of Personality' #13.
9.
David Lee Roth - Skyscraper
The
second solo album by the former frontman of Van Halen. Also the last to
feature the super-group line-up of Steve Vai (guitar) and Billy Sheehan (bass).
The latter would set up his own band (Mr.Big) and Vai joined the
Whitesnake.
The catchy hit single, 'Just Like Paradise', peaked at #6 in the US. More
fun than most VH albums with DLR.
8.
Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Yet
another Maiden LP about good and evil, heaven and hell. However, this one
is more of a concept idea. There's a lyrical storyline inspired by
folklore, mysticism, prophecy, afterlife. Ehhh.. wait, that could be any
Maiden album really. Peaked at #12 in the US. Number 1 in the UK were they
also had four Top-10 singles. Can I Play With Madness?
7.
Kingdom Come - Kingdom Come
Took
a massive beating in the press for its Led Zeppelin sound? Yeah? Who cares
what a bunch of old farts thinks anyhow? Led Zep were never originals in
the first place, they stole most of their sound from black artists.
Marvelous vocals by Lenny Wolf (ex-Stone Fury) and impressive material,
took the album to #12 in the US. Great!
6.
Yngwie Malmsteen - Odyssey
1988,
a rather difficult year for the Swede. He crashed his Jaguar E-Type into a
tree and ended up in a coma for a week. Worst of all, nerve damage to his
right hand was reported. His album featured Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow) and
contains his best material ever? Fender honored him with his own signature
guitar (first ever alongside Clapton).
5.
Magnum - Wings Of Heaven
Magnum's
seventh studio album and the third and last in the essential 'trilogy' of
albums by the band (On A Storyteller's Night, Vigilante). Recorded in the
Wisseloord studio and produced by the Dutch, Albert Boekholt, the sound is
more of a return to the pompous work. The epic, 'Don't Wake The Lion',
clocks in at 10:34. Marvelous schtuff.
4.
Dare - Out Of The Silence
Merely
the second best 'Out Of...' album of the year (Europe). Strangely enough,
the two acts also went out on tour together in '88. Dare is the project of
former Thin Lizzy keyboard player, Darren Wharton. It's a grand AOR debut
and they've sadly never quite managed to re-create the formula since.
One-hit album kind of band.
3.
Europe - Out Of This World
Considering
the success of 'The Final Countdown', this was a bit of a let down in
actual sold copies. However, 'Out Of This World' achived platinum status
in the states as well as the #19 spot on the billboard chart. 'Superstitious',
peaked at #31. It's a great album and new boyo, Kee Marcello, came up with
a superb tone and sound.
2.
Bon Jovi - New Jersey
Yet
another commercial as well as charting success for the Jeresy lads. The
album stayed at the #1 spot for four weeks and sold five million copies in
six months in the states. 'Bad Medicine' and 'Ill Be There For You'
reached #1 on the billboard singles chart. The album's three other singles
all reached top ten (a record for hard rock music).
1.
Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
Who
killed Mary? The concept album of all concept albums. Well, it's actually
more of a Metal/Rock Opera. There's been talks about an off-Broadway stage
version too. A great story-line about a man's disillusion with society,
thus, anarchy, conspiracy, and finally, revolution. Strong secondary
chracters, monologues, and most importantly, songs (duh!), makes this one
fantastic metal/prog album of '88. (all album comment nonsense
by: Urban)
INDIVIDUAL LISTS OF 1988 *Personal Stuff* | |
|
Urban (Wally):
1. Queensryche
- Operation Mindcrime 11.
Bon Jovi - New Jersey 21.
Soundgarden - Ultra Mega Ok 31.
Scanner - Hypertrace |
Kimmo:
1.
Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime |
|
Martien: 1. Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime |
Alan: 1.
Kansas - In the Spirit of Things |
|
Bandi: 1. Europe - Out of This World 198:
Songs
of the year:
Bon Jovi - Born To Be My Baby Roxette - Dangerous |
Urban
(Wally): POP/Rock albums of the year: 1. Roxette - Look Sharp
|
|
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